Would you buy this best-seller?

As previously mentioned, one of my favorite writing sites, Writer Unboxed has this fun feature that asks whether you the reader would shell out money to read more than the first page of some bestseller and if not, why not? I thought it might be fun to do something similar here this week since plan A & B fell through.

So, here's the beginning of a novel that popped up on amazon as "new for you." It isn't a best-seller, but I thought I'd mix things up:


"Prologue

The meeting of the Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers was well under way, and the entrance hall was almost empty. Only the occasional tardy magician passed through, scarcely sparing a glance for the child waiting there.

   Boy children of his type were not an uncommon sight in the Society's rooms. The child was unusual less for his complexion than for his apparent idleness. Unlike the Society's splendidly liveried pages, he was
soberly dressed, and he was young for a page boy, having just attained his six summer.

   In fact, Zacharias held no particular employment, and he had never seen the Society before that morning, when he had been conducted there by the Sorcerer Royal himself. Sir Stephen had adjured him to wait, then vanished into the mysterious depths of the Great Hall."

***

I'd be surprised if you recognized this author, but perhaps you've heard of this debut book?

The red cover drew me in, and it occurred to me that it would be nice to feature an author who wasn't a best-seller. What did you think of the opening? Intrigued? Enough to buy?

I admit this is one extra tempting. It's fantasy/alternate history, which is right up my alley, and unless I miss my guess, we have our orphan in Zacharias, a bunch of wizards who are meeting (about what?), which means there's going to be some sort of adventure involving magic.


Out of the three books featured here this week did any appeal?

I'm torn between this one and The Good Neighbor...