The Lost City of Ithos

Mage Errant, Book 4

De: John Bierce

Narrado por: Ralph Lister

Half a millennium ago, in a desperate attempt to defeat the Ithonian Empire, Kanderon Crux and her allies banished the city of Imperial Ithos from the world of Anastis.

Her dread weapon, the Exile Splinter, even erased the memory of its location from the universe. Now it's returning and bringing the Exile Splinter back with it.

The great powers of the continent are desperately hunting for the site of the lost city, knowledge lost even to Kanderon herself. None know what ancient Ithonian weapons and enchantments might still be found in the ruins, but the Exile Splinter alone would be a prize to justify war.

Hugh and his friends find themselves dragged along on the search, where they'll face enemy warlocks, sea monsters, liches, unnatural storms, and even a man-eating tiger. However, there's something they're not being told about the lost city...something that has even Kanderon and the other great powers terrified.

Includes Murder at Ras Andis, a bonus novella from the Mage Errant series, and a special note from the author.

©2020 John Bierce (P)2020 Podium Audio

Fantastic

Ugh, this book is so fun and good, I love this series and I'm excited everytime a new book is released

imaginative

I enjoy these stories very much. Many of the incidents snd battles show unusual pieces i havent noticed in other books or stories. looking forward to next book.

Just Keeps Getting Better

I have thoroughly enjoyed all three previous books in this series and enjoyed this one even more. It has everything I most enjoy in this series with plenty of action, character and world building, and magical theory. The action occurs primarily in the first fourth and last third of the book with lots of character backstory, relationship building, magical lectures, and exploration of both the geographic and natural world around the continent of Ithos in the middle. The story moves forward quite rapidly from its setup in A Traitor in Skyhold, and what will happen next promises to be even more of a wild ride.

Small quibble... I love Ralph Lister's narration, but his voice for Alustin this time was rather subdued instead of the eccentric amiability we have come to expect. This may be due to one line in the text, or maybe the narrator took his cue on Alustin's voice from the last conversation he had in the previous book... an atypically subdued Alustin there. Anyway, I love all these character voices and Ralph Lister's overall performance so it really is a small quibble. And maybe Alustin's energy level will pick back up by book 5, The Siege of Skyhold.

There is bonus material of a fun short story that expands our knowledge of the continent even further and shows us more of the irascible Alinia. There's also a word from the actual author talking about tigers, so don't stop too soon!

Spoiler Warning: Hugh's spellbook is its usual funny self and acquires a suggested nickname at one point... imo, the stupidest nickname possible! If that name sticks and is shortened, Hugh will have the continent's first Makbook... no, just no!

The Next Level

Te Lost City of Ithos is the best book in the series so far, and imo has the most compelling antagonist yet. The worldbuilding here is the best it has been and it's definitely fun seeing how far the main group of characters have come. Though the story so far has made it clear that some of the "good" guys are not necessarily white knights, book 4 really shows how certain characters gained the reputation they did, and the type of things that can be accomplished when you weild the kind of power the so great powers of the world wield. Hopefully you'll enjoy the book as much as I did.

Enjoyable with a few flaws

This Mage Errant book in my opinion is the first that really has the characters depart from being ignorant teens to slightly more self aware characters. Don’t get me wrong, they are still mindnumbingly annoying at times and several of their arcs within the story are pointless but i will say they annoyed me less in this book than some of the previous. Hugh is still the worst character by far and unfortunately I think he dragged Tallia down with him in this book.
The overall implications of the story really take place in the last few chapters and that’s what has me excited for book 5. As with previous books, the world building and fantasy characters are really great. Similar to HP, you can see how the stories are going from innocent YA books to more mature themes as the books progress. I’m not referring to the pointless “relationships” that keep getting shoehorned in but the struggles of characters dealing with becoming weapons and killing people and changing the Geo-political landscape in their world.
I look forward to book 5 to see how it progresses.

Another good addition

I enjoyed this book. The progression has slowed down some, but it is still interesting. A lot of fighting in this book, with many new powers to see, so that was interesting. I look forward to the next book.

A rather wonderful inclusion in the tale

Keeping things brief, I found this to be a rare thing in book series of this nature, and that is a (likely temporary) stopping point. A great many tales continue to force build up over buildup, without accompanying lore or character growth. This book does not do that, it is not a forced lengthening of the story. I will take a break from this series having had many of the open-ends tied up, and will pretty much only be returning because the continued story isn't thrust upon the reader/listerner. Many other series i've given up due to the endless same old and minimal resolution, this book did that in a rather satisfying way, in a sense.

Finally, I want to simply say that the story at the end, AND particularly the theme of the message from the author at the very end were refreshing and, for me, a positive end to the listen. For those not into it, can just totally skip, you still get a heck of content for your credit/buck but yeah, generally positive vibes all around.

brilliant, enjoyable fun

loved it. listened to it as quickly as I could

The voice actor is brilliant, the story was fun and enjoyable

another great one!

if you liked the previous books you'll love this one!
it's amazing how creative the author is and you can see that this book has been created from new inspiration.
keep it coming!

great series!

such a great series! absolutely love it. great story with loveable characters. funny and intense.