This book was very close to getting a 4-star rating from me. Its failings had less to do with the author than with the editor, I feel. I'm not talking about copy editing, now, but in the true sense of a partner in writing who can shine a light when a story has gone astray and help the author bring things together in revision. This was the great let-down, and it's unfortunate that it should be so.

The story of Librarian is quite interesting and the cast seems engaging at first glance. I want to care for the sheltered librarian who finds herself unwillingly host to an eccentric quest with a childhood friend. I care for the friend who has struggled to do something right despite it costing him everything. The pieces in between are where the story loses focus and pacing.

When a major character turning point occurs halfway through the book, it becomes an opportunity to toss our heroine into the center of the action, not as a pawn being dragged along, but as the motivated "changer" who shapes the story forward. It was disappointingly not to be, however, as we were instead treated to a series of unnecessary travel tales with plenty of stops for good food. So little focus was on the main character's sense of loss, or her conflicting feelings of duty and safety. And this type of ill-chosen pacing was not isolated to the middle of the book.

The only other aspect of the book that left me making a "McKayla is not impressed" face was the exposition. Sure, Mr. Fence had a lighthearted time calling it out early in the book and I was obliging in my forgiveness. Sometimes you just want to give folks some backstory and you have to cut the guy a little break. But by the end of the story I'd run into so many of these little pockets I couldn't help but see them for what they were--missed opportunities. Every one of those little tidbits could have been a scene to help lend life to the landscape and provide a new setting for character to grow. Instead we had one inn or dressing after another. This again was something that should have been called out by the editor with a big highlighter.

All in all, the book was still successful. I will read the sequel when it passes my way, and that is the most important test of all. Brian Fence shows a great aptitude for storytelling despite this books flaws, and in many ways I find his potential to be much greater than I could say about Brandon Sanderson after reading Elantris. Perhaps a few more books will make Mr. Fence into a whirlwind of quality like the Mistborn series did for Sanderson.