Spellmonger

Spellmonger, Book 1

De: Terry Mancour

Narrado por: John Lee

Nominee, Audie Awards - Fantasy, 2018

Minalan gave up a promising career as a professional warmage to live the quiet life of a village spellmonger in the remote mountain valley of Boval. It was a peaceful, beautiful little fief, far from the dangerous feudal petty squabbles of the Five Duchies, on the world of Callidore. There were cows. Lots of cows. And cheese.

For six months things went well: He found a quaint little shop, he befriended the local lord, the village folk loved him, he found a sharp young apprentice to help out, and, best yet, he met a comely young widow with the prettiest eyes.

Then one night Minalan is forced to pick up his mageblade again to defend his adopted home from the vanguard of an army of goblins - gurvani, they call themselves - bent on a genocidal crusade against all mankind. And that was the good news. The bad news was that their shamans were armed with more magical power than has been seen since the days of the ancient Imperial Magocracy - and their leader, a mysterious, vengeful force of hate and dark magic, is headed directly to Boval Vale, along with a massive invading army of gurvani. The good people of Boval and their spellmonger have only one choice: To hole up in the over-sized Boval Castle and hope they can endure a siege against hundreds of thousands of goblins.

When the people look to him for hope, Minalan does his best, but the odds are depressing: There are multitudes of goblins, and they want Boval Vale as a staging ground for a vengeful invasion of the whole Five Duchies. Add to his troubles a jealous rival mage, a motley band of mercenaries, a delusional liege lord who insists victory is at hand despite the hordes at his door, a dour castellan, a moody, pregnant girlfriend, and a catty ex-girlfriend who specializes in sex magic - all trapped in a stinking, besieged castle with no hope of rescue, and you'll understand why Minalan is willing to take his chances with the goblins.

All that stands between the gurvani horde and the people of the Five Duchies is one tired, overwhelmed baker's son who wanted nothing more than to be a simple village spellmonger.

©2017 Terry Mancour (P)2017 Podium Audio

Terrific Book! A great adult fantasy series.

Would you consider the audio edition of Spellmonger to be better than the print version?

Do you love a good coming of age fantasy where the young promising lad leaves his tiny village, comes of age and power, returns to marry his childhood love and live happily ever after? This is not that. If you would rate a great book with one star because the "F" word is used, save yourself and the author the bad review and move along. Now, for the rest of the adults, don't hesitate for a second on purchasing this book! I loved it! My wife whom is only mildly interested in any sort of fantasy, loved it. I will go ahead and add a note about the next two books here. Book two is not quite as good as this one in my opinion but still very good. Book three is as good or better than book one. The narrator is excellent.

Mostly Good

Excellent worldbuilding only slightly dampened by a seeming preoccupation with sex. Will be buying Book 2. Recommend to high fantasy fans, but be warned that it gets a little pulpy toward the end.

Excellent

Really good, fun read, fun snarky protagonist who doesn't feel too overpowered or invincible. Solid A

John Lee

John Lee is just wonderful once again. Right up there with George Guidall as my two favorite narrators.

If you love Fantasy, you should enjoy this

Any additional comments?

(This is a shared account for my wife and I) I'm an average listener. I'm drawn to Fantasy/Sci-Fi works like LOTR, The Hobbit, Harry Potter, Dune, Ender's Game series, etc. and have listened to most of those twice over. I have the second book in this series, Warmage, downloaded and ready to go. I will be starting it immediately after this review. I rarely do reviews but want to mash together some thoughts and things to note here....I have read some of the negative reviews. I do not agree with most of the complaints to the degree of the ones who posted them and want to say a couple things IMO.1) I can't see how a good listener and fan of the genre could not get through this book. That is almost laughable. 2) The narrator is not the absolute best I've heard, sure, but he is completely sufficient for this series and I enjoyed every word. To note, his voice may be a little mature for the main character but this bothered me none. 3) Personally, I liked the mix of a little bit of adult content (the sex). It wasn't pure erotica by any means but it was prominent enough to give this a 18+ rating. 4) I liked the bit of twist the author wove into the Goblin race(no spoilers). 5) Thinking back on this read, I can see how one may claim the author/main character is sexist yet I would describe it more as a man being a man. Also, there is really only one female character/mage that plays a major role in this book and it just so happens that she specializes in sex magic which may bother the anti-sexists. For me, I never found myself thinking of her any less than any other of the characters. 6) The book does some time jumping. It goes between the story of what is happening present day to childhood and the development of the mage (the main character). These jumps happen without warning but the author stays on each of the two timelines for a good amount of time after each jump. It is not just a sentence or two. I never found it problematic. The book starts in present day and as the main character starts to develop, the author eases you into his history here and there. I very much enjoyed the way it was done. 7) Overall this book was excellent. I loved the story, action/battles, world, narrator, main character, races, magic, and the perfectly timed entry of humor and sarcastic remarks. I would absolutely recommend this to people who love Fantasy and magic. I am very eager to start on the next book in the series.