Delver Magic, Book 1, The Inner Sanctum by Jeff Inlo

To the best of my knowledge Jeff Inlo has never had a publishing contract. Yet he has written many novels and makes them widely available on the internet. This immediately raises my suspicions. Surely if he was any good some publisher would have picked him up and he wouldn't be reduced to "vanity" publishing his books on the internet?

Well I am happy to report that contrary to my initial prejudice Jeff can actually write and this novel the first of a trilogy is actually a pretty good fantasy Yarn. The plot is set in a world long purged of magic where only a few believers still remember it's existence. Strange things start to happen when the magic starts to leak back due to the machinations of a malevolent force and humans are once more confronted with long forgotten creatures such as Elves, Dwarves, Goblins and Vampires. The good aligned races must overcome their own prejudices and work together in order to breach the inner sanctum where this malevolence waits.

While this is all fairly standard stuff the book's main protagonist is a Delver, a race of Inlo's own creation. Delvers are gifted with a curiosity for all things and they have extremely keen senses combined with an agility and physical endurance that makes them well suited to any job that requires investigation. Ryson Acumen our hero is just such a Delver and Inlo has drawn him well creating a likeable and interesting character who held my attention to the end of the book.

Although this is the first of a trilogy the story is complete in itself. I liked the book well enough that I will probably read the other books later but I don't feel the need to look for them straight away.