Spellscribed: Provenance

Spellscribed, Book 1

By: Kristopher Cruz

Narrated by: Kevin Kemp

Born the night that the Archmagus Valeria died, Endrance was gifted with the talent and mind for magic.

He'd proven that he was more than capable of mastering the forces of magic and intellectual study at the hands of a master as mad as he was crafty. He was one of the Scribed; mages who had undergone a painful yet powerful ritual that granted them the ability to tattoo spells upon their very skin. He had finally proven himself to his master, and was free to practice magic at his own pace.

If that were all fate had in store for him, he would have been happy. However, fate wanted more of this man's potential than a lifetime of quiet study. Instead, he was appointed the Spengur of Balator, a country radically different from his own. He would face an entire city of people that prized physical might and shunned the mystic. There he would meet staunch allies, and dangerous foes. There, he could change the world, if he could only survive.

It is through the fires of strife that a person is melted down into the core of who they really are, and fate has stoked the flames white hot. Can he survive the blaze? And even more importantly, who will he be if he emerges from the other side?

Spellscribed is a series of fantasy novels revolving around the protagonist, a young and inexperienced Wizard named Endrance.

©2022 Kristopher Cruz (P)2022 Podium Audio

I didn't like this book

I don't like harem books. That might be why.
It wasn't the worst, but I don't recommend it.

Good

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Excellent

I enjoyed the book, very good coming of age story. Good pacing, interesting and well explained magic system, solid character development.

I am really looking forward to the next book!

Choppy writing style

The author has a choppy writing style, as in he skips forward when chapters start. This leaves gaps as he tries to start with excitement but it just doesn’t work and leaves chapter transitions as frustrating.
The bigger issue is that most of these chapters just seem to be dead end story lines that add to a secondary story line that is weakly done.
Spoilers:
The early chapters are tough for me. Sending a feminine boy into a hostile environment seems odd for a starting point of a series. A bodyguard who won’t let a boy take a bath alone in his room but sends him in to the forest alone? Odd situations to tell the story the writer wants. Will this MC ever get red in the face with anger or just embarrassment? Oh good, he gets mad for the poor women who have to spend time with him.
Later chapters are better and the story logic improves to the point to were I start to enjoy it, but of course our MC walks right back into a knucklehead move at the end.

Good not great

My original review gave this book a 4 star rating. I gave it this rating because I didn't like how the main character was voice acted but liked the writing. My new rating is 3 stars because I have just discovered that the main character doesn't reach the place the book is about until chapter 24/25. There are 35 total chapters. Reading the series descriptions for each book I can see that this is a common trend for the author. SPOILERS FOLLOWING!!!

Book 2 audible description mentions MC trying to reach a trial. Book 3 audible description mentions MC finally reaching what is presumably the same trial. I don't know if this is fact, but I can't spend any more time with this book. This series is a travel montage. Great character concepts, great writing style and magic system. Poor execution of story with travel filler.