Mage Guardian 1

Mage Guardian, Book 1

By: Dante King

Narrated by: Rozelyn Rader, Lewis Alexander

Rune Tellarus always wanted to become a Guardian: a powerful warrior bonded to a magic-wielding woman known as an Adeptal Mage.

Except he failed the test as a youth. He thought he would never get the chance to study at their Academy nor learn magic. But after a terrible tragedy in a nobleman's home, he finds himself suddenly bonded with the nobleman's daughter, Narcissa. This bonding is an irrevocable merging of two spirits that grants both Mage and Guardian magical gifts.

Yet Rune hardly knows Narcissa. The beautiful nobleman's daughter hides a secret, one that the kingdom's mages would do anything to uncover. Now, Rune and Narcissa find themselves on the run, in a city filled with Mages and Guardians who will do anything to capture them. If the pair is going to survive, they'll need to cultivate their bond and learn new magical abilities. But will it be enough for their bond to grow into something more?

Rune might have to discover something about himself he never knew, a secret that could lead to establishing bonds with multiple Adeptal Mages...

Mage Guardian contains unconventional relationships and multiple bondings between the main character and mages.

©2023 Dante King (P)2023 Podium Audio

Excellent duet narration!!!

I absolutely love duet narration & this book didn't disappoint in that way. The narrators worked fantastically together!!
I'm not much for smut & this book was drenched in it written off in the synopsis as "multiple bondings" which I think was a tad deceitful & the reason I deducted a 🌟 from the story & overall category.
The premise was good.
And the ending does entice you to want to hear more, but not enough to spend a credit on, so I'll wait for a series sale.
Onto another freebie until then...

Needed a bit more world background.

Unless I missed other books set in this world, as I found this title as an included in subscription, a chapter or so really explaining the world setting would have been nice. Over all its touched upon enough to understand, but a bit more upfront would have helped more.

Good story, but some inconsistencies

I have enjoyed this series. Great performance and good writing. My only complaint is that there are some inconsistencies that are used to move the plot forward. For example, a magic bond allows the MC to know exactly where his bonded are, but then there is a huge effort to find someone rather than just sensing them. It isn't enough of an issue to spoil the book for me though.

From Crass Plot Armor to Gentle Romance

Do you recall how important the first few sentences are to a review? If someone would skip reading before continuing? If you made it this far, I actually enjoyed this book. But, not for the story, but the Romance. Other reviews misplace love for lust, but they are one and the same, emphasized through the relationship building with each woman. The MC is challenged by his own feelings, trying to guard his own heart against puppy love, but caving to lust, as any man would when interacting with a turned on partner.

The romance I found thrilling belongs to a craving, a yearning for his women, a desire to please and do anything for them. Despite all his plot armor, as he collects more, his Achilles heel grows larger and dangerous.

The Cons: If you read this far, thanks! I believe the greatest crux out of all the cons, would be Chapter one. The way it was written was too comic book-like, and the narrators couldn’t do it Justice, like they do throughout the book. Last, I have come to despise justification of having knowledge from your backstory. It pulls me out of the story too often with an eye roll. Even if that trope is popular with Isekai & LITRPG novels. This story isn’t an Isekai, but each occurrence made me think it was.

The Pros: Incredible performance by our narrators! I would come back to this story just for every bookmark created, and for the “working the problem” to the very end. The MC is very empathetic, which I resonated with.

how a simple Gardner becomes guardian prime

Rune your average person falls into adventure that bec9mes bond to a princess, thief and a few others. fighting to clear their names and live a normal life.