Shadowblade

Spellmonger: Legacy and Secrets, Book 3

By: Terry Mancour, Emily Burch Harris

Narrated by: Fiona Hardingham

Length: 20 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

A heroic young thief and her family fight against the darkness that threatens the entire land in the riveting final volume of this fantasy adventure saga.

An increasingly talented and skilled shadowthief, Gatina of House Furtius—known in more rebellious circles as the Kitten of Night—continues her covert work in the ongoing struggle against the vile usurper Count Vichetral. Vichetral's dominion over the duchy of Alshar has grown ever darker, with slavery now legal and vicious gangs brutally enforcing his will.

Their enemies infiltrating even the Shadow Council in the hunt for Gatina and her family, Gatina's father decides to meet with the mighty Sea Lords and discover if any are willing to join the effort to take down Vichetral. The voyage also offers Gatina a chance to learn about her distant relatives, who wield their power amidst the waves, and to enhance her facility with her very own, newly forged shadowblade.

But danger can follow across water as well as land. And Gatina soon finds herself in a desperate battle from which the winner will sail away as the vanquished sinks into the briny deep . . . forever.

The Spellmonger: Legacy and Secrets trilogy introduces a younger Gatina, the Kitten of Night, as she comes into her own as a shadowmage.

©2024 Terry Mancour, Emily Burch Harris (P)2024 Podium Audio

Gatina's Back!

It is too early to give away much of this story, but for those of us who love Spellmonger books, this one is well worth listening to, or reading, or both. It is YA, but fills in Gatina's back story up until a month or so before she meets Rondal at the Shrine of the Eight Bells. In addition, there are several passages that add to her mystique, and those are worth knowing as well. She is a complex character, and readers will come away with an understanding of how she came by her complexity. I am a very pleased reader and listener.

Excellent

Hopefully a book 4. Enjoy these characters and the story that is part of the bigger story. The sailing stuff was great.

A SOLID ending to this backstory of Gatina!

I’ve waited to write reviews for the other books in this mini series until I finished this one. Like many other reviewers, I’ve been in love with the story but not so much with the pronunciation of key words from the narrator. Book 1 had the worst pronunciations, she corrected a little bit in Book 2, finally by Book 3 she was saying mageocracy correct!! (I cringed every time in the earlier books). So, if you have sludged through the first 2 with hope, it’s much better in the 3rd. Not perfect for everything, but we can’t all achieve perfection. She also got much better with clear character voices in books 2 & 3. Not all narrators or producers will pay attention to reviews or care to improve. You can tell that is not the case here as the Spellmonger Legacy is so great and so huge.

******
Now for the story - Terry and Emily did another great job moving the story along with nice timing and flow. I absolutely love getting these tidbits of Gatina’s past and how her training made her the badass Kitten of the Night. They don’t have her do something and automatically be perfect, she has to actually work at it to improve and that’s admirable. I’ve loved all 3 installments to the side series/back story of the Cats of Enultramar. I would love to hear a little more about her parents story as that sounds just as interesting. However, the sideline of this and how it matches with what the Spellmonger is doing is fascinating. My only wish was that we could’ve had Gatina’s perspective at the end when she does finally meet Rondall at the Temple.

Five Plus Stars all the way again for a Spellmonger story!!!

great conclusion to the trilogy

great book, now I want to go back and reread the books where we first meet the characters to see how the books meet up. performance was better this book. much of the pronunciation was corrected about 50% of the way through. Not sure why the mis book change but really relieved.

Great read

This was a great escape. Perfect quick read and brings the whole story together. Looking forward to the next book.

They’ve done it again

This writing team blends action and magic so seamlessly. The narrator brings her own flavor to the mix and I loved every minute of listening.

great character development

this was a great missing chapter describing the cats and how they grow up over time

please, for gods sake, change the narrator.

The narrator does one thing that gets incredibly infuriating very quickly. she starts every sentense with high intonation, and lowers it as she runs out of breath. This gets disracting and infuriating very quickly. I had to buy the book and read it myself. my head was exploding from the constant tone change that came with every sentence. it is like reading sentences like this. MOM!! Gatina said as she came closer, WHAT!! are you doing here so late. I THOUGHT!!! you were out having a nice stroll for once. HAS ANYTHING!!! happened? NO SWEAT CHILD!!! everything is just peachy. I JUST!!! met someone after a long time.

Great

Fills in story gaps that is not covered in the main novels. Not required information but great to know.

A fun and in depth world.

All of Terry Mancour’s books series have a rich world built throughout the multiple series. This series is a prequel based around a family of shadow mage thieves as they battle against forces trying to subvert control over the government. It leads up to the point the family enters the spellmonger series. Definitely worth a read.