Black Gate Online, April 21, 2013

“The Cremator’s Tale” by Steven H Silver

Reviewed by John Sulyok

An explosion rocks the city of Espin, a mage in Pargama’s Tower has met a nasty end, and Hoggar the cremator is summoned to collect the remnants. Hoggar, however, gets a nasty surprise of his own, and over the following days and months, he must learn how to take matters back into his own hands.

Hoggar finds himself in a unique situation and becomes privy to some powerful information. The problem is that this story focuses on the less exciting events and leaves the promise of greatness by the wayside. There was potential here to tell a captivating story, but instead there is just some confusing and, at times, grammatically problematic prose that leads the reader nowhere interesting.