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

Great addition.... but?

I loved hearing the back story and see things from a different prospective, it was a great addition to the world of the spellmonger.

However one annoying aspect was the narrator, for the most part she was great except there where quite a few inconsistencies with the pronunciation of words.

After listening to all of the spellmonger series to have this book not be able to pronounce elemental parts of the well established vocabulary was off putting

Wrong Narrator

The story was good. The Narrator was pretty bad. John Lee does the best job for The Spellmonger series. There were words mispronounced and names said incorrectly. Tough to get over that.

narrator mispronounced a lot of words

i wish the narrator listen to the original narrator for the series. she mispronounce names and keep saying "villian" instead of "villein". do your homework lady!

Good Story, but Sexist

I'm used to the traditional tropes of fantasy literature taking place in a medieval, patriarchal society, but the hero of this story is a 12-year-old girl, so I expected a bit more female empowerment. She has one courageous moment where she climbs a mountain to take a young falcon from its next. Even this action, however, she does with tacit permission from her father and uncle. After this, she devotes herself to training the bird and, apparently, forgets this earlier backbone. She devotes herself to being a good, obedient daughter and worries over the safety of the menfolk (brothers, cousins, uncle, and father). She trusts that the men in her life will rule over her with wise benevolence, and they do. They take into account that she doesn't like embroidery (her one small rebellion), and make sure that she dresses appropriately, learns to curtsey, exhibits no unseemly ambition, and demonstrates cheerful obedience to their will (for the good of the whole community). At one point, the lady of the manor is allowed to organize the defense of their lands. At this point, I'm thinking we'll see some female leadership and I breathe a sigh of relief, but it is not to be. The men grumble, the steward steps in to bolster the lady's authority, and then they muddle through as best they can hoping that their lord will come home soon to save them. The teen boys in this novel become men when they are giving a sword, and the teen girls become women when they menstruate. Boys are destined to be wise leaders. Girls are apparently content to marry and run the kitchen. Our heroine is definitely a one-off as she wants to raise a falcon, but she's largely happy with her lot in life and shows no indication that she wants a sword like her brother. She's a lot like Menolly in Dragonsinger, but at least Menolly knew that the sexist attitudes in her home were unfair.

Good book but no humor like the others

I love the spell monger series and was excited to get more familiar with the Hawkmaiden but I found that it lacked the light hearted humor I love from the books that center around the main character Minolan.

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.

Meh

This story is only interesting because you get to hear the same story you've already heard from a different perspective. Someone new to the Spellmonger series would probably find it boring.

As for the narration, few narrators can compete with John Lee's majestic voice and Flinty Williams isn't one of them. Her performance was pretty flat and her MC voice came across as rather timid, compared to the spunky character the author described. And all of her voices sounded pretty much the same.

Spellmonger Sidestories that seem Necessary

Hawkmaiden completely satisfies the thirst of old readers familiar with the Spellmonger series while introducing a younger audience to Lenadara and her trusty companion, Frightful. Terry Mancour is unmatched with his ability to turn a side story not involving the main character, something many would be annoyed or angry with (admittedly, myself included) into a fresh point of view of the people surrounding Minalan and his Journey against the evils of Calador.
Hawkmaiden begins just before Minalan arrives in Sevendor and you are introduced to the condition of the native people from the eyes of a young woman who's whole world is dependent on her family's day to day struggle with the current occupants of Sevendor Castle. This side story was fun and interesting, as they all eventually become when they are released.
I was hesitant when it recieved a YA rating, but fear not, fellow Spellmongers, this book is well done. Finity Williams does a wonderful job, becoming a fresh new voice in the series to accompany John Lee. There were a few pronunciations that dont follow the main series, but all in all it was just what the doctor ordered. I will have no hesitation pulling the trigger on the books in this series regardless of the rating. Thanks Terry! You are such a fantastic storyteller!

A VERY pleasant surprise.

I am absolutely enamoured of this series. I was a little disappointed when this recording started up and it was not John Lee's voice I heard. I associate his voice with Min so completely. But very quickly I got accustomed to Finty William's delightful voice and skillful narration. She has done an excellent job giving voice to Dara. I am nearly finished with Hawkmaiden and I am distraught that Hawklady doesn't come out for a couple weeks yet!

Another Spellmonger Hit

I was worried going into Hawkmaiden that the series would be watered down by including another perspective. Hawkmaiden is wonderful, with all of the same adventure that the Spellmonger series contains. The character of Dara is richly created and her actions in the previous Spellmonger books are easily connected in between the books. The narrator does a great job in reading for a young person without sounding childish. I’m excited to read the continuation of the story in Hawklady.

Narrator could have listened to the other 10 books

Narrator could have done a tiny bit of research and listened to (or even read) at least one of the previous 10 books! Felt like she was reading it all for the first time, and that's before all of the different pronunciations from the awesome spellmonger series.

Took a while to get into. And I much prefer the main series. But enjoyed seeing things from Dara's pov.

poor narration

New narrator obviously hasn't taken the time to at least listen to a book or two herself so says words wrong constantly throughout the book. Aside from that though it's a very good story

Finty was a bad choice

Loved the story. however, Finty William's performance was poor especially with pronunciations and I didn't agree with the accents. Not sure if it's due to listening to the Spellmonger series for so long and I've become accustomed the performance from that series.

Rich Addition

What a thoroughly enjoyable addition to the series. It totally changed my perspective on some much loved characters and expanded on many world building details about Sevendor! Highly recommended!

Dreadful narration

I have loved the other Spellmonger books by Terry Mancor, but could not listen to this one. Perhaps I have been spoilt by John Lee's excellent narration, or the story of climbing a mountain was so narrow that I could not get past the narration by Flinty Williams. Either way, I couldn't get further than an hour into it before I had to stop. Please forgive me if the book takes that long to get started!

A book to read

Don,t miss this book it is totally captivating and kept me listening from start to finish.
The narrator allowed you to actually be there.
go buy it and enjoy an extension of the spellmongers world

a welcome addition to the series!

really enjoyed seeing the changes to Sevendor through different eyes. I like Dara and her family. Very good performance.

A great addition to the Spellmonger canon

I thoroughly enjoyed this new perspective. Dara is a great character and her origin story is thrilling.

Flinty did a fantastic job narrating! I really enjoyed the emotion she brings to the performance. Now, after listening to so many books from the main series, I did find certain characters' voices jarring. Fortunately this didn't impact my enjoyment.

I can't wait for the next one!

A bit short but really good

a bit short but otherwise excellent. im looking forward to the next in the series. it ties in really well with the bigger plot.

An excellent new perspective.

This change in pace and enjoyable back story is a welcomed enrichment of the spell monger series. Finty Williams conveys the hawk maiden expertly as she tells the tale magnificently weaved by terry mancour i for one am exited to purchase the next instalment.