Enchanter

Spellmonger, Book 7

By: Terry Mancour

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 24 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's Summary

Minalan the moody!

Meanwhile, back at the castle...Minalan the spellmonger faces the boredom of house arrest after being confined to his lands by Prince Tavard for his defiance with the Wilderlands refugees. The Alka Alon have returned to their seclusion, dealing with their own crisis, the dead god is being quiet within the Umbra, and Min’s plans toward reestablishing a functional Duchy of Alshar are progressing. 

Min sees his punishment as a unique opportunity to indulge in thaumaturgical research. When the Sevendor Magic Fair brings a tide of enchanters eager for snowstone, irionite, and opportunity to his door (as well as the newly formed Arcane Knights of Nablus, the successors of the Censorate in Merwyn), Minalan uses his wealth and position to invite them to stay on in Sevendor over the winter and focus on the developing art of enchantment.

He forms the first Bouleuterion, a conclave of enchanters dedicated to producing and researching the creation of magical items, since the fall of the Magocracy. Such notable enchanters as Lanse of Bune, Taren, and Masters Andalnam and Cormoran arrive to help Minalan and his staff of experts push the frontiers of magical science as far as he can. Even Lorcus, Tyndal, and Rondal help out. His secret mission is, of course, to fathom the complexities of the secret Snowflake of Sevendor, the enigmatic pseudo-molopor created from Minalan’s fevered subconscious...but not before they improve the lot of the peasantry by creating a wealth of labor-saving (and potentially socially revolutionary) devices.

But enchanters and former Censors are not the only ones to arrive at the fair: Baron and Baroness Greenflower, Magelords Dunselen and Isily, come to Sevendor as well...and the results are explosive. Before they depart Minalan’s entire life is thrown into doubt. Especially when a new divinity appears to make him an offer the spellmonger just can’t refuse.

As Minalan works through his psychological issues by obsessively focusing on his craft, he must also nimbly maneuver his way around an inevitable war between Sendaria and Sashtalia, protect his vulnerable domains, deftly negotiate his course through the tangle of feudal law and obligation in the Bontal Vales, and contend with his troubled marriage.

His frustration, guilt, and doubt are soon revealed to be authored by a secret plot against him. The return of an old enemy and the revelation of new foes challenges his position as head of the Arcane Orders and puts his entire family in jeopardy. Could it be that Minalan’s new 11-year-old apprentice, Ruderal, is the only one capable of seeing through the deceptions in time to save them all even as he struggles with his own guilt about his role in releasing Korbal the undead Demon God from his tomb? Or will their fates lie on the whims of a former lover who has ambitions of her own for Minalan?

©2018 Terry Mancour (P)2019 Podium Publishing

more of the same as the other books

It was a good listen but the characters do stupid things just to move the plot in certain directions which breaks the emersion.

1st book of the series I was dissapointed with.

Spoilers ahead: It just felt so anti climactic. The story was build up to what was coming up to this final battle and it was just meh at best. With all the foreshadowing going on, I was expecting something more spectacular. I had thought that Minalan's wife Alia (sp?) would get some serious mojo behind her b/c of asking for Brigga's vengeance? Instead the battle is cut short. And we're transported months later and given a lil backstory of what happened. Just left me with an icky feeling.

Good Enough

The first 3/4 of the book were extremely slow and focused entirely too much on the science of enchanting and "Thaumaturgy". As a long time reader and fan of the series, I was disappointed at Terry Mancour's deviation away from the more exciting aspects of combat and magic use. This book did too much summarizing of events and didn't allow the reader to really get sucked into the scenes as well as the other books did. Excellent job by John Lee narrating the book as always.

Proves again why this is in my top 3 series EVER!

Another amazing performance by Terry Mancour, and author John Lee. it's getting harder and harder to find a good long book full of magic and with detailed magic system. if you like epic fantasy books full of magic then I'm sure it will quickly rise to one of your favorites. one of the ways I judge a book is how emotionally connected I get with the characters and I found myself a few times cheering out loud or yelling NOOOOOO. Either way you wont be disappointed

The whole series is Amazing!

Never Ending world you want to be in minus the goblin war haha, now just need to fast forward to the next audible release.

Excellent

As always Spellmonger series is a delight. The stories & performance excellent. Can't wait for the rest.

Great writing that went nowhere

I've seen episodes of dragon ball Z that moved story lines forward more than this.

Kept falling asleep or

I loved the series, but this book! The ones before had parts that would get mind numbingly into detail, but I felt this was from the beginning and hours into it. I couldn’t listen to it anymore and returned this book. So boring!!

hopefully more happens next book

i like the series but nothing really happened.
24 hours or book and the first 16 is just taking about all the cool stuff they can enchant.

Felt like I was back in school

Love this series up until this point. There just isn't much going on with this book. I do enjoy some explanation into the workings of magic to give you a sense of how things work in the author's construct, but this was way too deep. I found myself drifting off and ending up not having paid attention for long periods and realizing I didn't really want to rewind and catch myself up. I suppose in any series this long there needs to be some background story filler but this was a whole books worth. I hope the next one gets back on track.

still the best series I've ever come across

as always, brilliant narration, honestly can't fault John Lee's performance in any of these books. he keeps giving brilliant emotional portrayals of every character in every book with a nearly unique accent and mode of speech for everyone.

the story as always is rich and full of great description without going into pages of waffle.
loved it.

Best book in the series so far

Loved it. A great balance of politics, wittiness and pomp as always from the spell monger

Another classic from both masters

It's not often I come across a series of books from an author that I have permanently on my phone to listen too. However, the Spellmonger series is one of them. For me the combination of John Lee who is a master narrator - I could listen to the man recite the phone book, and the witty and in depth world that Mr Mancour has developed over the last 7 books is without doubt the best series I have ever listened too and I can't recommend it highly enough. If you listen too nothing else on Audible listen to this series its just outstanding.

It just gets better

Book seven and you think there might be a dip in the brilliance. Absolutely not. I laughed, cried, gasped, cheered, and sobbed. The narration remains consistent with a voice that is so easy to listen too. I really cannot wait for the next instalment. More, more, more and soon please.

The spellmonger series is epic

Another addition to the epic series. Love the characters and the story. A great listen

Done it again

Another very good instalment, taking the story along new lines. We'll read and enjoyable to listen to from start to finish

Loved it... But

This book is amazing, the narrator is fantastic, and now i need more!!! Please record the next few!

Excellent

Books are getting better and better more gods more mystery more of everything.Can’t wait for rest of the books

this was spellbinding

I've really enjoyed this book, the writer did a brilliant job and the narrator brought into life,
simply spellbinding.

awesome

this is the best high fantasy book o have ever read or listened to to