The cover art is by one Todd Lockwood, with whom I am not familiar. I think it does an excellent job of representing the science-magic in the sword and shield being wielded, and the font chosen is a great fit. While I didn't have a clear picture of the protagonist in mind, the figure here displayed reminded me too much of a youngish Arnold Schwarzenegger; YMMV.

The HIGHLY significant introductory material is listed in the TOC as "A Map of the Territory." It's NOT a literal map; it just explains things that I found to be important. Don't automatically skip it.

In that introductory material, he discloses that he is using "The Matter of Britain," known to most as the stories of King Arthur, as the basis for this series. Thus, here we have a mix of non-magical themes of people brought into conflict with other people and the environment, but with strong elements of skills we would call magical. NOTE: it may just be sufficiently advanced technology! (I'm gonna call it magic, though, and let it go at that.)

The tragic core of the story of King Arthur is the romantic love between Arthur and Guinevere, between Guinevere and Lancelot, and the brother love between Arthur and Lancelot. As depicted, all of these relationships are true, and therefore desolation is inevitable.
For the person of wisdom and understanding, it's a ridiculous set-up, as it supposes that both Guinevere and Lancelot possess the fidelity virtues that commend them to Arthur, and simultaneously the complete LACK of fidelity virtues that would permit them to ignore their attraction to each other.
So, a great deal of the interest of the mature reader (ie, someone older than the eight-year-old reading Disney's "Sword in the Stone) has to examine the skill in which the author breathes reality into an utterly unreal set-up. In "The Spark," Drake manages this by admitting the infidelity of Guinevere (the Consort Jolene), and MOSTLY ignoring the character of Lancelot (Lord Clain). It works, for the purposes of the story.

Instead of banging on about that worn-out drama, Drake gives us the character of Pal. He's a bumpkin, raised somewhat incompetently by a couple he discovers to be his foster parents, who do manage to instill in him a profound respect for others, and a code of behavior that the greatest Southern Gentleman would envy. The fact that his mother (surrogate) can't boil water without burning it does have some value eventually, in that he can accept the rudest food without dismay. However, it's his chivalrous conduct, even as a bumpkin, that sets him apart.

Another trait that sets him apart is his ability as a Maker, one who can manipulate reality at the atomic (or at least molecular) level by mental processes (one of the magic bits). Despite that ability, what he intensely desires is to become one of the Champions of the Leader Jon (the Arthur figure). So, he sets out for the court of the Commonwealth in Dun Add, with great virtue and inadequate weapons, to join Jon in his unification of the scattered elements of the Here.

The Here is another of the magic bits; it being the reality that people can perceive. There is also the Not-Here and the Waste, and don't worry about it. Nobody else understands it, either; they just live their lives in what they have. And YOU must accept that as an element of the story, else you'll get flummoxed.

A brief seduction attempt, exposing a left breast, and an attempted act of necrophilia, interrupted by the lethal punishment of the wrong-doer, makes this NOT the right reading material for the aforementioned eight-year-old who is looking for something after Disney. However, there is NOTHING at all erotic about the corpse-raping scene, and with appropriate guidance about the nature of the depravity, I might offer this to my 15 year-old son. You be the judge on that; there are also gory fighting scenes.

I found it to be a fast read, and I'm immediately starting on the next installment.

CREATIVE, WELL WRITTEN, CAPTURES YOUR INTEREST & HOLDS IT!! THE BEST THAT DRAKE HAS WRITTEN SO FAR!!

Not what I expected from David Drake, but a very good book. If he chooses to write more from this world, I'd read it.

An uncomplicated, smooth taste of fantasy.

Great book. Would love to see more of this as a series or as a world. Very unique. Makes one wonder how this world got that way.

Very good, but dang it, Now I have to wait for more. That's the trouble with getting in on the ground floor of a great series!

I can't wait for more books in this series. As usual I enjoyed each chapter and would read a dozen more in the series if they existed.