About

Dear Spellbook series is written by Peter J. Lee.

Dear Spellbook book cover

Blurb

Hello stranger, my name is Tal, and I’m not an adventurer—those people are crazy. I’m just a sorcerer who is masquerading as a wizard. Oh, and I’m searching for answers about my parents’ mysterious deaths. Also monsters and other foes seem to show up wherever I go.

…All right, I see it.

My new traveling companions are seasoned adventurers and are teaching me their ways—or at least they were before something happened to Time.

The same day is repeating itself over and over, and I’m the only one aware of the resets. If I ever want to get past this day—and the horrific hangover it always starts with—I’ll need to find a way out by myself.

It turns out there are mysteries aplenty to unravel in this remote forest town of Crossroads, where I’m living the same day over and over. But my most vital resource might already be in my possession. My previously useless Spellbook is starting to exhibit some very strange abilities, and they could be just what I need in my quest to escape this temporal prison.

This is my story. My diary of sorts. Don’t judge too harshly, I had a rough day.

Review

It took me until 25% of the first book to get used to the narration style and the setting. I've been reading a lot of easier progression fantasy books lately, so this was bit of a challenge for me. Once I got halfway through the first book, I pretty much binge read the rest of the trilogy in less than five days. The story is far from done though, and I hope the author will start writing them soon (after finishing the ongoing work that's set 100 years later).

I especially liked the main character and his adventurous team. They meet by chance across multiple events that were connected by the overarching plot. And they all have some unfinished business that'd hopefully get addressed in the sequels. It was nice to see their bond grow close as they tackled the time-loop (especially in the third book). Many side-characters were interesting as well, so I'd say character work was a strong point for the series.

The magic system was cool — I think this was the first time where the difference between Sorcerer, Wizard and Mage was clear for me (didn't have the patience to fully understand the system though). The Spellbook was an amazing magical item and there's a cool explanation for the creation of such items. The worldbuilding was the toughest part for me — too many names/places/races and some of it was literally info dumped. It took me a long while to comprehend that the entire world was flooded during a clash in the past. The continent where the story takes place wasn't currently flooded — I think it was explained but I hadn't paid enough attention at that time.

It was almost funny to watch the events escalate throughout the series and the mind-boggling amount of different things going on at Crossroads (a small town where this story is set) and the surrounding areas. All of these helped to keep the day-long time-loop interesting. Sometimes though, multiple events collided and the main character would jump from a still ongoing plan/practice to another — this was another minor annoyance for me as it added to the complexity of an already muddled timeline.

The ending of the time-loop was done well and different compared to the stories I've read before. Overall, I'd highly recommend the series for those who enjoy time-loops. Progression aspect is there, especially visible in books 2 and 3 but don't go expecting overpowered main characters.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟☆

What others are saying

From Justin's review on goodreads:

Consistency in the world is key for these types of plots, and Lee’s main character has a lot of fun figuring out the intricacies and loopholes needed to move the world along despite the time resets. Good separate characters and depth of the world round out what looks to be a great series.

From David Ketelsen's review on goodreads:

Wizard is a much more interesting book than Sorcerer, the first book in the series. While the Groundhog Day gimmick of repeating a single day over and over became tedious in the first book, the introduction of a new character in this volume energizes the plot and allows Wizard to shine. Linking the local situation to the bigger picture also creates more excitement.