The world building is great, the characters are interesting and relatable and the humor is silly and nice (or foolish I guess). But as it usually happens with royal road stories, the pace is wonky and random. We had some long chapters on baking just too suddenly skip to a chapter with big consequences. On his eighteenth birthday, he is Marked by prophecy as one of his kingdom’s five Heroes, chosen to fight the Ravener, his land’s great enemy. But his brand is ‘The Fool’. Worst of the marks.

From my own observations, I would say that it is part of any narrative to select what of a fictional world (and its characters) should be shown to the reader. This story is mainly about the journey the MC goes after be provided with the holy powers of the 'Mark of The Fool': grow in power (and in friendships) and defeat the antagonist. So the narrative follows the point of view of the MC for the most part, and skips the progress of what happens with other characters.

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The initial plot hook is intriguing. A hero that runs? Quite unusual. The first few chapters are engaging, and we can't wait to get into the actual world-building, and fleshing out the mythology of this world... The golem stood frozen, watching his creator—his father—through marble eyes. Feelings rushed through their link; surprise, relief and…a bubbling, rising feeling of happiness.

So far the authors biggest flaw is a poor description of choreography, scale, and distances. I can piece together how the imaginative fight went down after the fact, but it doesnt flow well enough for me to follow allong during the scene.So far it's a decent series though the male MC is being portrayed (yet again) as a blundering incompetent fool, and the female he likes is strong, intelligent, and confident (never wrong about anything). Maybe he grows out of it in the second book, but in the first book he repeatedly screams in terror at things the the female MC shrugs off (in fact, everyone but him reacts better), and it's hard to relate to someone so cowardly. He even thought of Brutus—brought home from the woods by Theresa as a pup—with his six eyes shining bright with curiosity.

Alex blinked. Well, he had been right; remembering details about people did make them more friendly. He certainly felt a bit more friendly toward Paul. He’d have to do something nice for him later. Beside the four grand figures—who watched the square with benevolent granite eyes—crouched a caricature. It was an ugly sculpting of a man with a chin too curved, eyes too bulging, and a nose that looked like a pumpkin’s stem. A jaunty jester’s hat sat on his head and his statue was the only one that had been stained by bird droppings. I have a plan for that, Paul, don’t you worry,” Alex said. “But thanks for asking. You’re good people.” I mean not for today, obviously, but there was yesterday and Firstday so that’s two silver pieces—” Father,” the voice said, its confidence growing. There was less of a question in it when he said the word now. It sounded more natural, more comfortable.Super-Strength: Body enhancing magic, again. Thundar as a minotaur is naturally very strong, but Grimloch, as a ten-foot tall humanoid shark, is by far the strongest. And then he starts learning lifeforce enhancement from Theresa...