Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm a pretty wide reader of fantasy, but I have to demur a little bit from all the rave reviews on this book. I didn't hate it, but I wouldn't say that I liked it. The worldbuilding is pretty good, and the protagonist is likable. The story is pretty standard: getting the smaller band of good guys to win against the overwhelming numbers of the bad guys. Fine, acceptable. What I disliked most about this book, though was the magic system. Without giving too much away, the idea of the magic in this world, called the Medium, is that if you have faith, the Medium will reward you. That is, if you're confident in yourself and what you're doing, you'll succeed. I can understand the parallels that the author is trying to draw behind the Medium and real-world religious faith, but this magic system doesn't make for an interesting story. It robs the characters of initiative. Instead of working hard to find an innovative solution to their problems, the characters just believe in themselves, and the Medium makes them succeed. It's not a terrible story, but because of this big flaw, it's just not engaging.