Mage Throne Prophecy

By: James Haddock

Narrated by: Daniel Wisniewski

Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's Summary

A routine physical shows Captain Ross Mitchell has a flesh-eating virus that specifically targets the brain. Prognosis says he'll be a vegetable by week's end. Having survived numerous incursions in combat around the world, Ross decides he's not going out like that. He drives a rented corvette into a cliff face at over 200 mph. The fiery impact catapults him toward the afterlife. Instead of finding the afterlife, he finds himself in a different body with an old man stabbing him in his chest. He fights free, killing the old man before passing out. He wakes to find he's now in the body of Prince Aaron, the 15-year-old second son of the king. 

In this medieval world, the Royals are mages. The old man who was trying to kill him was a mage "vampire". Instead of blood, the old mage was trying to steal Ross/Aaron's power, knowledge, and in this case, his body. When Ross/Aaron killed the old mage, his vampire power was transferred to him. He now has the memories, knowledge, and powers of the old mage. 

Ross/Aaron must navigate this new environment of court intrigue with care. His older brother, the crown prince, hates him. His older sister has no use for him. The king sees him as an asset to be used, agreeing to marry him to a neighboring kingdom for an alliance. 

Before the marriage takes place, the castle is attacked. Someone is trying to kill him but is finding it most difficult. Where mages fight with magic, Ross/Aaron fights with magic and steel. It's hard to cast a spell with a knife through your skull or your throat cut. As Ross/Aaron travels with his fiancée toward her home for the marriage to take place, they are attacked at every turn. 

Someone doesn't want this wedding to happen. Ross/Aaron has had enough of people trying to kill him. With Aaron's knowledge and Ross' training, they take the offensive. The kingdom will never be the same.

©2020 James A. Haddock III (P)2021 James A. Haddock III

The adventures of Mary Sue...

The premise started out great. Then, it became obvious that the main character could just do anything. For every challenge, he just somehow has the right spell or skill to immediately overcome the problem, and he does so easily and with aplomb. It turned into a really boring, unbelievable read with no growth, tension, or challenge.

Simple and not complex

I enjoyed this book, I noticed that several reviews berated the author's presentation of the main character, too good.

This is exactly the way I like the main character to be..,.kick butt, take no prisoners, and never get hurt.

The only item I would have changed would have been using a young girl as the main character!

I appreciate other reviewer's comments, but I don't like complex, convoluted, hard (for me) to follow, especially authors who use so many characters that I cannot keep track.

I recommend this story if you agree with my comments.

Well....

1/4 of the way into the book, I was pissed and planning to write a review titled, "Lazy Author!" before asking for my credit back.
It's not, because the MC is handed unlimited power and can do whatever the fuck he wants, always succeeding, always winning, etc. although aspects of that got annoying. It's that the author gave no real depth to the way things worked. I could not listen and say to myself, "yeah that makes sense for how magic works in that world and what the MC's powers are." This, "Grand fantasy," of great power and freedom in a new world falls hollow and fails to satisfy. It's like a body with no skeleton to hold it up. Then I realized, that power he didn't explain is basicly from that other book I read, oh and this ability is from those other books. I got even more annoyed!. BUT, then I finished the book! (didnt think that was going to happen!). And I'm not returning it!

Why did I keep listening? good question, not entirely sure myself, but the author created some real moments in this book. I laughed, I even almost cried. I'm not negating what i said before. however the way his powers matched what other books have fleshed out took on a sort of haiku quality after a while (he only gave me 17 syllables of explanation, but I could could flesh it it from past readings). I wouldn't suggest putting it on the top of your reading list, but if you are desperate for the next read it this particular genre, you and I both know you could do far, FAR worse!

Good Read. Recommend!

This was a great book. It runs a little similar to Haddock's other book on Audible: Wizard's Alley. But great book. The character is pretty over powered and the other characters lack a little substance, but I still enjoyed the read. Sometimes you just want to read how the main character gets to stomp on those who oppose him, right? Well, if you like that, this book is for you. The main character, Aaron/Ross is a great swordsman and wizard and uses his powers to better both himself, and then the infrastructure of his kindgom. I really want book 2, because of the story's ending. Not a cliff hanger, but it leads to a whole new story arc that could take place. And as always, Wisniewski's delivery was fantastic. He's got dulcet tones!

good

I really enjoyed listening to this and had a few laughs also. The main character had a sense of humor.

OP protagonist dominates world with no struggle

I made it through to then end but it was with more scoffs than I anticipated. the protagonist is broken and does whatever he wants whenever he wants. there is zero real struggle or danger in the entire novel. at some points he is conquering 10,000 enemies without breaking a sweat. the book did not do a good job defining the magical system, and the characters were 2 dimensional at best. the use of normal colloquialisms as sage advice was were I broke.

mc is a marty stu

this book gets a two-star from me, the narrator is decent but the main character is a textbook example of a Marty Stu which takes what was a strong start and turns it into a bit of a slog as you watch the main character steam roll through every challenge and hand wave every problem. all of this and absolutely minimal character development, he's supposed to be a retired special ops Soldier but no actual effort is put into growing him as a person and a character other than increasing his power level.
what makes it even worse is the lack of thought put into the World building, for example its a medieval technology World however they don't know about crossbows? the nobility is made up of Mages yet nobody has actual defenses against Mages? the king of a kingdom which has threatened on all sides and is marrying his daughter off to strike a political Alliance doesn't have an intelligence service? , that same King travels with his Queen, and his crown princess into a potentially hostile foreign country with just 100 men acting as bodyguards? and the impression I get is these men aren't even Elite they're just regular soldiers drawn from the king's Army. these are just a few examples of the lazy world and character building.
overall it's not the worst book I've listened to on Audible , and I did manage to finish but I also regret spending the credit on this book. you might have a different experience however I cannot give this my actual recommendation. two stars due to a strong start which had a lot of potential but fell flat

Surprisingly funny an entertaining.

It seems like James Haddock has a recurring theme with MC's, vastly overpowered demi gods. The jokes and banter were spot on an gave me a chuckle. The only thing that would make this book better would be if the MC ran through any sort of trouble, where a hand wave didn't solve the problem. Just give the guy a papercut so we know he's human. Other then that good book.

Review

Enjoy the story love the character enjoy the narrator looking forward to a sequel if there is one

well that was boring

as mentioned a title of my review I found this book be very boring. the main character just pretty much has everything thrown at them. the use of deus ex machina is very high.

Rushed!

I liked the premise of the story overall but it seemed rushed and details were skipped, no explanation on how he learns magic, little details on fights and other situations. I would say the story is as wide as a lake but deep as a puddle. It's like a summary of a story.