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Wizard of the Winds begins in a pastoral setting where we meet Safar Timura, boy potter and amateur magician. All he wants to do is avoid getting punched out by the Ubekian brothers and be as good a craftsman as his father. Into his life comes Iraj Protarus, a boy sent to the village to protect him from a vengeful family. The boys bond (natch), do boyish things until Safar heads off to school, a reward for saving a rich caravan from the demon hoards. Split up, Safar learns his craft, hears stories of his boyhood friend and generally carries on as a boy should until it comes time for him to leave.

Along the way, he joins the circus, loses his virginity to an older woman and gets into lots of trouble. (Can Allan Cole tap into my lifetime of daydreaming? Naw...) He hooks up with his old buddy and they head off to conquer the world. But you know what can happen when too much success happens too quickly. By the end, Iraj and Safar are at odds. Safar wonders whether he can save his friendship and his life by journeying to the ends of the world.

Wizard of the Winds (released in the UK as When the Gods Slept) is the first part of an Allan Cole epic. He's written a fistful of my favourite fantasies over the last few years. I know picking up a Cole novel is going to be a rewarding read. Why? Because Cole is one of the few authors I've found who will take a fantasy trope or three and kick sand in its face, throttle it until it squeals or make it dance to his tune. How? His characters' quests fail, his characters' magic goes awry, his demons have a life, his women don't lay about and swoon and so on.

C'mon, Cole, crank it out. I'm waiting.

Rodger has read a lot of science fiction and fantasy in forty years. He can only shake his head and say, "So many books, so little time."