'The Vengekeep Prophecies' - Book Review

The Vengekeep Prophecies by Brian Farrey is a fantasy novel for those in the 10 to 14 range, starring Jaxter Grimjinx - born into a successful family of thieves, he stands out for both his inability to pick a simple lock and his skills with non-magical solutions to magical wards. Jaxter is our narrator through this enjoyable tale of saving the town he lives in - mildly self-deprecating but not excessively so, he's aware of his limitations and becomes more aware of his skills as the book progresses. The book carries a fairly clear message to its readers ("do what you love"), but does it gently with grace and humour. And the belief that your family - who love you very much - will support you in whatever you want to do. I'm not a fast reader, but the print is fairly large and of course a book targeting an audience as young as this doesn't use heavy prose ... I got through the 400 pages of this one in about four hours of reading.

Despite having enjoyed it, I should add that I have almost zero interest in looking up the sequels: this one was a lot of fun, but nothing unique and I rather doubt he's done anything better in the follow-ups.