Hawkmaiden

Spellmonger Cadet, Book 1

By: Terry Mancour

Narrated by: Finty Williams

Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

The Falcon’s Call!

From the moment Dara of Westwood spied the Silver Headed Raptor nesting in Rundeval Peak, the precocious redheaded 12-year-old girl was enchanted. The youngest daughter of the Master of the Wood lived in ramshackle Westwood Hall, in the independently minded Westwood estate of Sevendor. Her determination to capture a baby falcon and train it wasn’t hampered by the fact that Dara had never climbed a mountain, had never been trained in falconry, or even remotely had permission from her father to do it. Dara wanted the falcon...and the only thing in her way was the mountain, an angry mother falcon, and her own fears.

But the daring climb up Rundeval and actually capturing the fledgling falcon is just the beginning of her troubles. Actually learning falconry and training the willful bird is a responsibility she had barely considered. Worse, there is trouble afoot in the domain: A new lord has come to rule over Sevendor and all of her people, replacing the corrupt old Sir Erantal. While everyone welcomes the change, the new lord is a wizard: a magelord, the first of his kind in 400 years: Lord Minalan the Spellmonger. And he’s not alone. He’s brought thousands of oddly dressed Wilderlanders with him, families escaping the wars in the west...and settling in Sevendor.

Within weeks of holding his first court as lord of Sevendor, the wizard's magic begins to cause problems. Magelord Minalan turns Sevendor Castle, the entire mountain of Rundeval, and a good portion of the Westwood - including Dara’s home - into enchanted white stone when a spell goes unexpectedly awry one fateful night. As a result, Dara learns that she, too, may become a mage someday. Soon after she discovers that she can see through her falcon’s eyes and share her thoughts, the talents of a beastmaster, opening up a brilliant new world for her.

The folk of the valley have enough to eat for the first time in a generation, there are wizards all over Sevendor, and the castle glows with a magic light at night. The fortunes of the Westwood estate rise. But the Magelord finds foes as well as friends in Sevendor.

Though prosperity flows from the Magelord’s benevolent rule, the changes are frightening to some who have lost power since the Magelord came. Outside the Westwood, the other natives of the domain are upset by their magical lord and his strange new people, and there are whispers of rebellion. And outside of the domain, the neighboring lords, urged on by sinister forces, conspire to plunge Sevendor into war - with Dara and her family along with it!

What can one girl and her falcon do? When the Magelord leaves on business and his enemies close in on her home, Dara discovers she may hold the answer to saving them all! The fate of the entire domain rests with Dara of Westwood, the girl they’ll call the Hawkmaiden!

©2015 Terry Mancour (P)2019 Podium Publishing

A great addition to the main series

This book takes place prior to Minalan's arrival to Sevendor and shortly after the first magical trail detailing the life of Dara before her introduction into the main series. The narration is excellent, although it is a bit strange to hear the voices of the characters from someone other than John Lee at times. Dara herself was a pleasant surprise as a character and got the same treatment as Tindell and Randal in Knights-Magi in terms of development. While not as grand/adventurous a tale as her fellow apprentices, Dara's story gives a lot of backstory to the land of Sevendor and the reactions of its residents to the changes brought by the Spellmonger. I feel anyone interested into the lore of the main series will appreciate this book. Overall, a great entry to the series and I will definitely be picking up the next two volumes when they arrive to audible!

it was short, but I liked it.

I'm glad this one was on sale when it was, as I was just finishing the book from the main series that matches this timeline. I don't think I would have burned a credit or paid full price for the short story, but now I'm considering it to follow the story of Dara. I also loved getting more backstory on the Spellmongers new domain, and it's people. I'm the sort of nerd that likes that sort of detail.

A Great Story and Performance!

Once again Terry has written a story that pulls you in and keeps you interested in The Hawkmaden.

The reading matched the story perfectly.

thank you for hours of enjoyment.

Need more of this! Spellmonger’s Wedding?

Another great story in the world of the Spell Monger! I love the voice for her as it gives you a great feeling you are seeing the storyline from another perspective. Terry Mancour doesn’t get enough praise for not just being a talented author for but creating a unique storyline that doesn’t just flow from A to B. As a reader we take for granted incredible events to get to the next part. The cadet series explains the struggle of the people and how they were nearly doomed.

Amazing Listen! Other than pronunciation issues...

Wonderful work as always by Terry Mancour! I thoroughly enjoyed the story and look forward to the pending release of Hawklady! My only issue was the pronunciation of certain words by the narrator. After listening to all the currently available Spellmonger series audiobooks, hearing words like "magi", and names of certain characters constantly mispronounced was extremely off-putting and uncomfortable. I hope this is brought to the attention of Finty Williams for the remainder of the series.

A lovely addition

Okay, not the same narrator, but the protagonist of this story IS a young girl! DUH!!!

Thank you, the Mancours, for including this story and additional depth to the Spellmonger adventure! I love the world you have created. Thank you for sharing it with us!

loved it

the narrator is amazing and perfectly suited to the telling of this tale. all three books are spectacular. where is book 4?

Delightful characters and beautiful reader

The main character is so well written. It’s a beautifully slow lead into the story and the depth of Dara unfolds perfectly. The reader was very well suited for this book. Well done! Can’t wait to listen to the next two.

Pronunciation is off.

As always a great story in the Spellmonger series.

The narrator should have listened to John Lee’s readings of the main series, for the proper pronunciations.

As always 100 stars

Terry, I need 2 books a week. Get to work.
Ok the review needs 5 more words.