Just happened to come across this book on amazon, and it looked interesting. Just got it in today, and I read the first of five parts earlier today. I must say, it's a pretty good start to the book. It's supposed to be one of the best logical explainations of magic in literature, so I was curious to see just how good the explainations were. The first portion of the book is all about the main character practicing thaumaturgy, which, from what I've read, seems to be all about making/controlling/changing real world objects. Right off from the beginning, the main guy Alodar is working on using some kinda incantation to lift this platform thing way up high in the air. The descriptions weren't quite what I imagined, but maybe it gets more detailed later in the book. I don't read alot, just because I never really liked it. But so far I'm liking this book very much. The only thing that seems out-of-place in the book is these people with magical skills are considered as mere craftsmen. They can pretty much instantly mend a wound (as they do to several soldiers who get shot by arrows), and move massive objects using spells, yet they recieve no special honor, while the regular guys with their regular swords get the glory. If you're into fantasy-fiction, check this book out.