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The Spellmonger #1
Spellmonger
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, befriended the local lord, the village folk loved him, he found a sharp young apprentice to help out, and best yet, he met a pretty 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 valley. 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.
When the people look to him for hope, Minalan does his best, but there are multitudes of goblins, and they want Boval Vale as a staging ground for an invasion of the whole Five Duchies, and only Minalan is standing in their way. Add 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 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 spellmonger.
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 valley. 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.
When the people look to him for hope, Minalan does his best, but there are multitudes of goblins, and they want Boval Vale as a staging ground for an invasion of the whole Five Duchies, and only Minalan is standing in their way. Add 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 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 spellmonger.
477 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2011
About the author
Terry Mancour
37 books1,012 followersTerry Mancour is a New York Times Best-Selling Author who has written more than 30 books, under his own name and pseudonyms, including Star Trek: The Next Generation #20, Spartacus, the Spellmonger Series (more than 11 books and growing), among other works.
He was born in Flint, Michigan in 1968 (according to his mother) and wisely relocated to North Carolina in 1978 where he embraced Southern culture and its dedication to compelling narratives and intriguing characterizations. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he majored in Religious Studies.
Terry, his beautiful wife and three children live just outside of Durham, N.C. atop Red Mountain. He was nominated for the 2018 Audie Award for Best Fantasy for the audiobook for Spellmonger (narrated by John Lee), the first book in his Spellmonger Series.
He has plotted the Spellmonger Series for at least thirty books, in addition to his Spellmonger Cadet (young adult) series, stand-alone novels, short stories and novellas set within the Spellmonger Universe, all of which will be published by Podium as audiobooks. He is also the author of a series of sequels to Golden Age sci-fi master H. Beam Piper's novel, Space Viking, as well as original sci-fi novels.
He was born in Flint, Michigan in 1968 (according to his mother) and wisely relocated to North Carolina in 1978 where he embraced Southern culture and its dedication to compelling narratives and intriguing characterizations. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he majored in Religious Studies.
Terry, his beautiful wife and three children live just outside of Durham, N.C. atop Red Mountain. He was nominated for the 2018 Audie Award for Best Fantasy for the audiobook for Spellmonger (narrated by John Lee), the first book in his Spellmonger Series.
He has plotted the Spellmonger Series for at least thirty books, in addition to his Spellmonger Cadet (young adult) series, stand-alone novels, short stories and novellas set within the Spellmonger Universe, all of which will be published by Podium as audiobooks. He is also the author of a series of sequels to Golden Age sci-fi master H. Beam Piper's novel, Space Viking, as well as original sci-fi novels.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 507 reviews
May 1, 2018
Absolutely LOVED this book! So nice to have an epic fantasy that isn't all fluffy sweetness and light. Fantastic characters that developed beautifully. I am hooked, time for book 2!
Read it if....
You love a rollicking good adventure
You are not a prude and can handle sex and nudity
Swearing is not a big deal
You like strong female characters, reluctant heroes and general smart-assery :)
Do not read if these things are not for you.
Read it if....
You love a rollicking good adventure
You are not a prude and can handle sex and nudity
Swearing is not a big deal
You like strong female characters, reluctant heroes and general smart-assery :)
Do not read if these things are not for you.
February 7, 2019
The main character has sex with a 15 and 17 year old who he implies were likely coerced into the sex trade by their father. Splendid. He then brushes the entire affair off as if it were normal, I don't think the author even realized what he was implying. Also the main character is probably about 30 years old.
He forces a kiss on a woman while she's trying to show him a magical artifact and not being at all sexual towards him. He acknowledges her resistance and thinks "She got into it eventually" ... Nah dog she watched you tear apart a band of goblins and figured she couldn't stop you so she just gave in over being roughed up.
The dude feels like he's owed sexual acts for good deeds. Appreciation yes, sex no.
When he learns of his rival's sordid affairs among his apprentices he acts indignant and appalled that his rival would allow sexual abuse to go on. But at the same time he's brushed off two young girls coerced into the sex trade, even banged them himself. It's amazing how blind the character/author is. I can only hope it is satire on the "I'm a nice guy" trope, but I doubt it.
Beyond that the magic system starts interesting but quickly devolves into whatever the characters/plot need at that particular moment. Which is sometimes interesting but comes out of nowhere. There aren't any rules presented to us to know what the limitations are if any. Then not even halfway into the book the main character basically goes super saiyan and any limitations are all but removed.
The rest of the plot is passable but utilizes exposition dumps regularly. I'm not sure how I would fix this in this particular story but 10 minutes of listening to the same character droll on about history feels awkward and forced.
I think it fails the bechdel test as well...
Then the only female mage talked about at length is the world leader in sex magic, because of course she is. Why wouldn't she be in this story?
Comes off as written by a horny 12 year old sometimes, and other times as a world builder with serious chops who hasn't figure out how to not exposition dump on readers. I think I'm good and won't go for the next 10 odd books...
He forces a kiss on a woman while she's trying to show him a magical artifact and not being at all sexual towards him. He acknowledges her resistance and thinks "She got into it eventually" ... Nah dog she watched you tear apart a band of goblins and figured she couldn't stop you so she just gave in over being roughed up.
The dude feels like he's owed sexual acts for good deeds. Appreciation yes, sex no.
When he learns of his rival's sordid affairs among his apprentices he acts indignant and appalled that his rival would allow sexual abuse to go on. But at the same time he's brushed off two young girls coerced into the sex trade, even banged them himself. It's amazing how blind the character/author is. I can only hope it is satire on the "I'm a nice guy" trope, but I doubt it.
Beyond that the magic system starts interesting but quickly devolves into whatever the characters/plot need at that particular moment. Which is sometimes interesting but comes out of nowhere. There aren't any rules presented to us to know what the limitations are if any. Then not even halfway into the book the main character basically goes super saiyan and any limitations are all but removed.
The rest of the plot is passable but utilizes exposition dumps regularly. I'm not sure how I would fix this in this particular story but 10 minutes of listening to the same character droll on about history feels awkward and forced.
I think it fails the bechdel test as well...
Then the only female mage talked about at length is the world leader in sex magic, because of course she is. Why wouldn't she be in this story?
Comes off as written by a horny 12 year old sometimes, and other times as a world builder with serious chops who hasn't figure out how to not exposition dump on readers. I think I'm good and won't go for the next 10 odd books...
August 11, 2016
This book was surprisingly awesome! It definitely wasn't the best written book I've ever read but it was action packed and entertaining the whole way through.
I really enjoyed reading this book for the most part. There were some things that bugged me and some things that just pissed me off. There are several info dumps throughout this book and I think we can all agree that those suck. And if that wasn't bad enough there was a lot of repetitive explanations, sometimes on the same page even. Like, am I really as stupid as this book thinks I am?
But the worst thing of all was the flagrant overuse of parenthesis (and this is really an understatement). Sometimes there would be four out five asides in parenthesis per page (an alarming number in my estimation) as if the narrator was constantly putting his flat hand beside his lips to tell me a secret with every other thought (ugh). I thought that this was to enhance the humor of the book (barf) but most of these asides were unnecessary and unfunny (maybe laughable at how stupid they were). In the beginning I almost gave up on the book because these asides were really distracting despite how good the story was (and in the end it indeed proved to be a really good story). But I powered through and was rewarded.
Despite my complaints this book was really good. The main character does all the things that I wish wizards in other books would do with their powers and it's really fun to read about.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
I really enjoyed reading this book for the most part. There were some things that bugged me and some things that just pissed me off. There are several info dumps throughout this book and I think we can all agree that those suck. And if that wasn't bad enough there was a lot of repetitive explanations, sometimes on the same page even. Like, am I really as stupid as this book thinks I am?
But the worst thing of all was the flagrant overuse of parenthesis (and this is really an understatement). Sometimes there would be four out five asides in parenthesis per page (an alarming number in my estimation) as if the narrator was constantly putting his flat hand beside his lips to tell me a secret with every other thought (ugh). I thought that this was to enhance the humor of the book (barf) but most of these asides were unnecessary and unfunny (maybe laughable at how stupid they were). In the beginning I almost gave up on the book because these asides were really distracting despite how good the story was (and in the end it indeed proved to be a really good story). But I powered through and was rewarded.
Despite my complaints this book was really good. The main character does all the things that I wish wizards in other books would do with their powers and it's really fun to read about.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
April 25, 2017
I know that when an author creates a world, they sometimes get a certain idea or ideal stuck in their head. This might manifest as the author spending too much time telling the reader about their world that isn't relevant. Or perhaps going into the intricacies of their made up calendar system when it never actually effects the story. SOMETIMES, it leads to the author talking about how much sex the main character is having with all the women he ever meets, and just how damn important SEX MAGIC is. It wasn't to my taste, I thought it got weird.
With that said, there's no slut shaming, everyone is very "lol, whatever bro it's just banging" so it's fine. I guess. If you're into that.
With that major gripe out of the way, this was a fun, generic fantasy. It crammed a bunch of tropes in, and it was exactly what I was looking for. There were a few inconsistencies, and the way the big boss was defeated was a bit meh, but the rest was decent.
With that said, there's no slut shaming, everyone is very "lol, whatever bro it's just banging" so it's fine. I guess. If you're into that.
With that major gripe out of the way, this was a fun, generic fantasy. It crammed a bunch of tropes in, and it was exactly what I was looking for. There were a few inconsistencies, and the way the big boss was defeated was a bit meh, but the rest was decent.
July 26, 2017
2 stars
I really wanted to love this book and the concept and story were good and I wish I could carry on with the series but I wont.
Reason why? Sexism. This book was so full of it. The main character had the mentality of a 13-15 year old boy. He constantly objectified the female characters in the book. There weren't even any powerful women in the book. The two most prominent female characters were his girlfriend (I feel bad for her) and his ex-girlfriend. The ex had magical powers but of course she had sex magic and cast spells by having sex. The girlfriend was meek and needed the main character to tell her what to do.
As a woman I think this book was just gross. I expect this sort of writing from fantasy and sci fi written back in the 60's, 70's and 80's. But come on its 2017 Terry Mancour, women are not objects for mens gratification. Half your audience is female. Do you want to limit your audience?
Don't get me wrong if the main character is a sexist pig, ok that's fine. I don't have to like the protagonist to enjoy a novel. But put in some three dimensional, positively portrayed women who talents lie in more than just lying on their backs.
I really wanted to love this book and the concept and story were good and I wish I could carry on with the series but I wont.
Reason why? Sexism. This book was so full of it. The main character had the mentality of a 13-15 year old boy. He constantly objectified the female characters in the book. There weren't even any powerful women in the book. The two most prominent female characters were his girlfriend (I feel bad for her) and his ex-girlfriend. The ex had magical powers but of course she had sex magic and cast spells by having sex. The girlfriend was meek and needed the main character to tell her what to do.
As a woman I think this book was just gross. I expect this sort of writing from fantasy and sci fi written back in the 60's, 70's and 80's. But come on its 2017 Terry Mancour, women are not objects for mens gratification. Half your audience is female. Do you want to limit your audience?
Don't get me wrong if the main character is a sexist pig, ok that's fine. I don't have to like the protagonist to enjoy a novel. But put in some three dimensional, positively portrayed women who talents lie in more than just lying on their backs.
December 7, 2020
instead of Black company caliber grit ,and the grey of right and wrong .i mean he got the meat
he wrote about sex fueled magic
(at one scene,which was the conclusion in a way.he was banging this chick doggy style ,with each bang emphasized as energy flowing through something ,something
with his girlfriend coming over real quick giving him a kiss and leaving )
yeah .he could have wrote something good ,but he wrote something for horny teens
alas,he was a dickhead
he wrote about sex fueled magic
(at one scene,which was the conclusion in a way.he was banging this chick doggy style ,with each bang emphasized as energy flowing through something ,something
with his girlfriend coming over real quick giving him a kiss and leaving )
yeah .he could have wrote something good ,but he wrote something for horny teens
alas,he was a dickhead
January 6, 2013
(Originally reviewed on Otherwhere Gazette)
Some people like their heroes to be the proud hero type, fearlessly dashing into danger without a second thought. While those can be enjoyable stories, sometimes a more reluctant hero can also make for a good story.
In Spellmonger by Terry Mancour, we have a pretty much textbook case of Minalan the mage, who just wants to be a simple village spellmonger, but the local goblins have other ideas. They decide to attack his village, along with several others. Of course, being an Academy trained veteran Warmage, he steps in to combat the gurvani, as they call themselves.
The story that unfolds is one that carries you along from one step to the next, right along with our hero. Since it’s told in first person, we get right inside the hero’s head, understanding his thoughts and experiences, along with his memories of his early years. The backstory is well thought out and hangs together nicely, giving both the hero and the world a sense of having history, which makes both more three-dimensional.
The system of magic, along with the non-human societies Mancour creates, are both somewhat familiar, but with a few interesting twists, which keeps things fresh and keeps them from feeling like, “Oh, yeah, I’ve seen this before.” For example, one of Minalan’s friends and allies specializes in sex magic, which is essentially the opposite of necromancy (life magic vs. death magic), and which is as powerful, or more powerful as using a sacrifice to create magical power. Needless to say, this isn’t really a book you’d want to hand someone too young to handle adult themes.
One minor quibble is a number of small errors. The book really could have used the services of a professional editor, or at the very least a team of volunteer proofreaders who know enough to catch spelling, grammatical, and formatting mistakes. However, they’re infrequent enough that they don’t really detract from the story, unless you’re an absolute stickler for perfection in editing.
All in all, it’s well worth the $3 that Amazon is currently asking for the Kindle edition, and I’m looking forward to reading the second book in the series.
Some people like their heroes to be the proud hero type, fearlessly dashing into danger without a second thought. While those can be enjoyable stories, sometimes a more reluctant hero can also make for a good story.
In Spellmonger by Terry Mancour, we have a pretty much textbook case of Minalan the mage, who just wants to be a simple village spellmonger, but the local goblins have other ideas. They decide to attack his village, along with several others. Of course, being an Academy trained veteran Warmage, he steps in to combat the gurvani, as they call themselves.
The story that unfolds is one that carries you along from one step to the next, right along with our hero. Since it’s told in first person, we get right inside the hero’s head, understanding his thoughts and experiences, along with his memories of his early years. The backstory is well thought out and hangs together nicely, giving both the hero and the world a sense of having history, which makes both more three-dimensional.
The system of magic, along with the non-human societies Mancour creates, are both somewhat familiar, but with a few interesting twists, which keeps things fresh and keeps them from feeling like, “Oh, yeah, I’ve seen this before.” For example, one of Minalan’s friends and allies specializes in sex magic, which is essentially the opposite of necromancy (life magic vs. death magic), and which is as powerful, or more powerful as using a sacrifice to create magical power. Needless to say, this isn’t really a book you’d want to hand someone too young to handle adult themes.
One minor quibble is a number of small errors. The book really could have used the services of a professional editor, or at the very least a team of volunteer proofreaders who know enough to catch spelling, grammatical, and formatting mistakes. However, they’re infrequent enough that they don’t really detract from the story, unless you’re an absolute stickler for perfection in editing.
All in all, it’s well worth the $3 that Amazon is currently asking for the Kindle edition, and I’m looking forward to reading the second book in the series.
May 22, 2020
Mini-Review:
4 Stars for Narration by John Lee (He made this book sound more serious than it is.)
3.5 Stars for Concepts
1 Star for Numerous & Forgettable Characters
1 Star for POV: Awkward Mix of 1st, Limited 3rd & 3rd
Summary: The book is about a warmage that wants to live a simple life in the middle of nowhere. His life ambition is to do very little and have the basic comforts of life. A horde of goblins start to attack the area to kill the annoying humans and take back the land. Turns out sex magic will come into play and save the day! Well, it'll save some people.
Book Blurb: If you read it, you basically read the book and didn't know it.
Minalan would be cool if he had a characteristic that stood out. He's the most generic protagonist I've read in a while. The conflicting contrasts about his personality and actions were funny at first and become annoyingly predictable as the story goes on.
- Terrible Story Narrative Mix:
a) Ridiculous POV switches from 1st person, limited 3rd & 3rd
b) Journal style of "telling" vs events unfolding.
c) Lots of summarized points: plot, events, history, setting, characters, etc
d) Over the top dialogue.
e) Flashbacks everywhere! Even in the middle of a present scene.
The book would be better:
- One Point of View
- Cut 1/3 Bloated Text
- Active passages vs passive voice.
- Concrete idea of who Minalan is & what he's doing.
- Core secondary cast developed or written into story in a memorable fashion. All characters are forgettable.
Upside: The sex scenes were not descriptive. It was fairly boring. I think it's hilarious that a book that's going to have sex magic as the headliner has boring sex. Haha
4 Stars for Narration by John Lee (He made this book sound more serious than it is.)
3.5 Stars for Concepts
1 Star for Numerous & Forgettable Characters
1 Star for POV: Awkward Mix of 1st, Limited 3rd & 3rd
Summary: The book is about a warmage that wants to live a simple life in the middle of nowhere. His life ambition is to do very little and have the basic comforts of life. A horde of goblins start to attack the area to kill the annoying humans and take back the land. Turns out sex magic will come into play and save the day! Well, it'll save some people.
Book Blurb: If you read it, you basically read the book and didn't know it.
Minalan would be cool if he had a characteristic that stood out. He's the most generic protagonist I've read in a while. The conflicting contrasts about his personality and actions were funny at first and become annoyingly predictable as the story goes on.
- Terrible Story Narrative Mix:
a) Ridiculous POV switches from 1st person, limited 3rd & 3rd
b) Journal style of "telling" vs events unfolding.
c) Lots of summarized points: plot, events, history, setting, characters, etc
d) Over the top dialogue.
e) Flashbacks everywhere! Even in the middle of a present scene.
The book would be better:
- One Point of View
- Cut 1/3 Bloated Text
- Active passages vs passive voice.
- Concrete idea of who Minalan is & what he's doing.
- Core secondary cast developed or written into story in a memorable fashion. All characters are forgettable.
Upside: The sex scenes were not descriptive. It was fairly boring. I think it's hilarious that a book that's going to have sex magic as the headliner has boring sex. Haha
June 19, 2018
Could have been a fun book if the main character was not rampant sexist asshole who thinks he’s gods gift to women and magic.
January 1, 2022
This book reads like your drunk uncle with delusions of grandeur telling stories about how he singlehandedly won the war and how all women want to be with him, except he worked at a Taco Bell near the base, and his ex wife and kids don't speak to him anymore.
There’s so many inconsistencies in the story, but the author makes up for this by giving you absolutely no useful details as the plot advances (try to read this book and track how many magic stones anyone has. You can’t. They appear and disappear as needed). There’s long boring diatribes that go nowhere and serve no purpose to the story other than to assure you that the main character is the most amazing person who ever lived, but other things are glazed over completely. You get the sense that you're reading about a major event being told from the view point of that person you hate who never shuts up about themselves.
Warning-Spoilers after this-
It's unclear if the main character thinking and acting like a 12 year old boy at all times is an intentional choice or if the author just writes that way, but I really think it's the latter. The novel ends with the main character only being able to save the entire village by having sex with his ex girlfriend in full view of 4000 villagers waltzing by to get to the magic portal to safety. I wish any part of that was made up. During this point of the story, the main character's girlfriend gets a very rare chance to speak, only to say "Give her an extra inch for me!"
Side note: WEIRDEST writing of a sex scene I’ve EVER read, and if you look at my read shelf, you’ll see how impressive that statement is. If you're morbidly curious about that, I recommend skipping to the last 10% of the book, I promise you won't have gained anything by reading the first 90%. Personally, I regret having this inside my head forever and I regret the existence of all the self aggrandizing men who I'm 200% certain went into writing, editing and publishing whatever the fuck this is. I don’t understand how anyone read this and decided the series needed 13 more books. I don't understand how it got published at all.
There’s so many inconsistencies in the story, but the author makes up for this by giving you absolutely no useful details as the plot advances (try to read this book and track how many magic stones anyone has. You can’t. They appear and disappear as needed). There’s long boring diatribes that go nowhere and serve no purpose to the story other than to assure you that the main character is the most amazing person who ever lived, but other things are glazed over completely. You get the sense that you're reading about a major event being told from the view point of that person you hate who never shuts up about themselves.
Warning-Spoilers after this-
It's unclear if the main character thinking and acting like a 12 year old boy at all times is an intentional choice or if the author just writes that way, but I really think it's the latter. The novel ends with the main character only being able to save the entire village by having sex with his ex girlfriend in full view of 4000 villagers waltzing by to get to the magic portal to safety. I wish any part of that was made up. During this point of the story, the main character's girlfriend gets a very rare chance to speak, only to say "Give her an extra inch for me!"
Side note: WEIRDEST writing of a sex scene I’ve EVER read, and if you look at my read shelf, you’ll see how impressive that statement is. If you're morbidly curious about that, I recommend skipping to the last 10% of the book, I promise you won't have gained anything by reading the first 90%. Personally, I regret having this inside my head forever and I regret the existence of all the self aggrandizing men who I'm 200% certain went into writing, editing and publishing whatever the fuck this is. I don’t understand how anyone read this and decided the series needed 13 more books. I don't understand how it got published at all.
April 23, 2014
I have to admit, at the beginning of this book, I was a bit disappointed. Why? I expected a younger protagonist, and got a battle-wearied warmage. But, as I warmed to this first person, I revised my opinion of him. The first few pages had given me the impression of someone over 35 years, with at least a dozen of those spent at war. How wrong I was... The Spellmonger, a mage in his twenties, named Minalan, had two years of war experience, and some extra mercenary work, until he decided he didn't want to kill anymore and thus retired to The Valley Of Cheese (Boval valley). I liked the background story of his growing up, enlightening me of many things about humble Min. A warning for the prude: while no erotica, there is quite a lot of sex mentioned, with it even being the 'only' way to escape (this made me laugh) and having sex with someone outside of your relationship, while discouraged, not a very rare topic. The plot is well-written, giving a nice sense of hopelessness and relief. The ending is a typical good one: success of current mission, hope for end, but still an almost hopeless situation.
To conclude, this book is a good read with great characters and fantastic plot, essential for a fantasy fan with a love for magic!
To conclude, this book is a good read with great characters and fantastic plot, essential for a fantasy fan with a love for magic!
April 8, 2012
A charming little modern take on a fairly classic fantasy tale. All the characters (assuming any other than the Hero actually count, which is somewhat debatable) are instantly recognizable, but the author manages to make things entertaining in even so with his particular blend of established tropes and stereotypes.
While clearly set up to be a series lasting as long as possible, the first book was certainly a fun read. Either my analytic skills are quite sharp or else it's often a little too easy to spot twists coming, but the hero remains fairly fresh (if somewhat dense) for the entire story, and I'm looking forward to the next. Certainly an interesting world has been sketched out, though it'll be the responsibility of the next books to flesh it all out and determine if this ever moves from my "bad-fantasy" to my "good-fantasy" shelf. The repeated use of deus ex machina suggests this is unlikely, however, regardless of how well such is rationalized.
While clearly set up to be a series lasting as long as possible, the first book was certainly a fun read. Either my analytic skills are quite sharp or else it's often a little too easy to spot twists coming, but the hero remains fairly fresh (if somewhat dense) for the entire story, and I'm looking forward to the next. Certainly an interesting world has been sketched out, though it'll be the responsibility of the next books to flesh it all out and determine if this ever moves from my "bad-fantasy" to my "good-fantasy" shelf. The repeated use of deus ex machina suggests this is unlikely, however, regardless of how well such is rationalized.
January 15, 2012
I seemed to have a hard time starting this book but just like The Name of the Wind, once you get passed the first few chapters, it grips you and drags you into itself. The worldbuilding is great and the magic is fascinating. The hero isn't Lawful Good and isn't all prissy either. He is sarcastic and fascinating to read about. I would say he is a Harry Dresden set in a midieval time period.
The book is fast paced once the invasion starts and there is even an explaination into how certain spells work (which I loved).
I wouldn't recomend it to people who don't like books that do fashbacks or books that have women not treated as best as they can be treated in fantasy (there is only one part that people would get upset with but its not a major feature in the book). But I do recommend it to people who are looking for a smart, funny, intelligent and quarky read. Its worth the money!
Kp
The book is fast paced once the invasion starts and there is even an explaination into how certain spells work (which I loved).
I wouldn't recomend it to people who don't like books that do fashbacks or books that have women not treated as best as they can be treated in fantasy (there is only one part that people would get upset with but its not a major feature in the book). But I do recommend it to people who are looking for a smart, funny, intelligent and quarky read. Its worth the money!
Kp
June 9, 2017
ugh. The was like a trudge through a misogynistic, teenage, boy's D&D fantasies.
You wouldn't think a fantasy novel with the promise of "Sex Magic" in it could become so tedious but Mancour achieves it in spades.
When he's not recounting previous sexual conquests or bragging about his prowess he's full of heavy handed exposition on politics or magic theory. Some of that is expected in world building but it was not handled very well in this book and just added to the tedium.
Also, John Lee has a fantastic voice and I'll go look for some other titles he's read but he did not match up well with the protagonist in this book. Some more youthful American accented voice might have been more appropriate to line like, "...but he was a tool so it was okay" and "Why are you nailing your ex-girlfriend?"
You wouldn't think a fantasy novel with the promise of "Sex Magic" in it could become so tedious but Mancour achieves it in spades.
When he's not recounting previous sexual conquests or bragging about his prowess he's full of heavy handed exposition on politics or magic theory. Some of that is expected in world building but it was not handled very well in this book and just added to the tedium.
Also, John Lee has a fantastic voice and I'll go look for some other titles he's read but he did not match up well with the protagonist in this book. Some more youthful American accented voice might have been more appropriate to line like, "...but he was a tool so it was okay" and "Why are you nailing your ex-girlfriend?"
February 1, 2012
This is a great series starter from a promising author. It has heft without a lot of stuffing, an engaging protagonist, and a lively story with a decent balance of various conflicts. Fairly typical fantasy, with a little of everything, but no really dominant characteristic traits (i.e. humor, romance, fight scenes, grit, etc.), except perhaps a heavy dose of satire.
It did suffer a little from some small things, most of which could probably be rectified with a little judicious editing. Some of it was just typographical, as is often the case with these indie Kindle reads, but some revision could have also been called for in other cases, particularly in the repeated use of the same phrases, sometimes in the same sentence. Other than that, and this is purely a subjective thing, but from the viewpoint of a woman, this book is obviously written by a man. Fantasy authorship is male dominated, so this isn't too unusual, but some male authors handle women more insight-fully than others, and while I really enjoyed this book, Terry just isn't one of them.
It did suffer a little from some small things, most of which could probably be rectified with a little judicious editing. Some of it was just typographical, as is often the case with these indie Kindle reads, but some revision could have also been called for in other cases, particularly in the repeated use of the same phrases, sometimes in the same sentence. Other than that, and this is purely a subjective thing, but from the viewpoint of a woman, this book is obviously written by a man. Fantasy authorship is male dominated, so this isn't too unusual, but some male authors handle women more insight-fully than others, and while I really enjoyed this book, Terry just isn't one of them.
March 13, 2012
Definitely a must read.
+ The magic system is logical and within certain boundaries.
+ Magic is used plentiful but not wasteful.
+ Loads of action.
+ The bad guys are extremely powerful, but not all is black and white.
+ The main character has nails nearly every nice chick he can find. (Sounds plausible to me... ;-) )
+ The story is very fast paced with loads of intricacies but quite easily to imagine. The author is a talented world-builder. Describing things as he goes along, without boring the reader with too many unnecessary descriptions, while still making it seem lively and quite detailed. I like that.
+ I actually had trouble lying it aside again. And immediately bought the sequel. And marked the sequel-sequel (... seq-seuqel? aaaah whatever) on my to-read list.
- The third (+ fourth?) part are not out yet.
SPOILER ALERT!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
+/- At some point the main character saves the day by having 4h-long sex with his ex-girlfriend, sanctioned by his current - pregnant - girlfriend, while thousands of people (including his current gf) parade by and see everything. Now, the first just seems unreasonable (4h??? blue, blue, blue ouch!), the second is quite impossible (no girl would EVER allow that), and the third is very weird (sorry, but I like my privacy when being intimate with a girl...).
+ The magic system is logical and within certain boundaries.
+ Magic is used plentiful but not wasteful.
+ Loads of action.
+ The bad guys are extremely powerful, but not all is black and white.
+ The main character has nails nearly every nice chick he can find. (Sounds plausible to me... ;-) )
+ The story is very fast paced with loads of intricacies but quite easily to imagine. The author is a talented world-builder. Describing things as he goes along, without boring the reader with too many unnecessary descriptions, while still making it seem lively and quite detailed. I like that.
+ I actually had trouble lying it aside again. And immediately bought the sequel. And marked the sequel-sequel (... seq-seuqel? aaaah whatever) on my to-read list.
- The third (+ fourth?) part are not out yet.
SPOILER ALERT!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
+/- At some point the main character saves the day by having 4h-long sex with his ex-girlfriend, sanctioned by his current - pregnant - girlfriend, while thousands of people (including his current gf) parade by and see everything. Now, the first just seems unreasonable (4h??? blue, blue, blue ouch!), the second is quite impossible (no girl would EVER allow that), and the third is very weird (sorry, but I like my privacy when being intimate with a girl...).
February 12, 2021
Read half. Skimmed to the end. Not my thing. I’ve never been fond of first person POV because the “I, me, mine” gets old and the main character usually starts to feel neurotic, or else just super-repetitive. Being inside the head of Spellmonger Min feels like that, but on steroids. A hamster spinning on a rather simplistic wheel. Min is just not able to hold my mind — he’s not super witty or intelligent — nor does he hold my heart — he’s a bit too cavalier and his actions, thoughts, and words don’t quite jive together. He’s also too prosaic, pedantic, and predictable about sex. Boring sex. Lol. If not sex, then booze. Rinse and repeat. On top of that, the text is littered with parentheticals, sidebars, and asides, wherein the author dumps info down upon my head. Also, we are treated to sudden flashbacks, even right in the midst of a present-day scene.
January 1, 2020
Extremely disappointed at the ending.
“Hey, let’s fornicate (to build up mage power) and save the world!!”
...
.... how does that even work.
I didn’t take the sex-magic seriously when it was introduced earlier in the chapters, but who knew it was to be the pinnacle “oh we shall be destroyed by the furious gurvani army” and the only way to stop them is to fornicate?
Anyway, very lousy concept with all the sex scenes and like another review: for horny teenagers.
+ very misogynistic and keeps objectifying women, hence, all the of the above
I do not recommend one bit and obv dropping series.
“Hey, let’s fornicate (to build up mage power) and save the world!!”
...
.... how does that even work.
I didn’t take the sex-magic seriously when it was introduced earlier in the chapters, but who knew it was to be the pinnacle “oh we shall be destroyed by the furious gurvani army” and the only way to stop them is to fornicate?
Anyway, very lousy concept with all the sex scenes and like another review: for horny teenagers.
+ very misogynistic and keeps objectifying women, hence, all the of the above
I do not recommend one bit and obv dropping series.
Read
July 9, 2018DNF
The writing is strong, but I get enough of the patriarchy in real life, I’m not interested in reading it in fantasy. I did my best to get past it because the magic system and world building were compelling, but I couldn’t read past chapter four.
The writing is strong, but I get enough of the patriarchy in real life, I’m not interested in reading it in fantasy. I did my best to get past it because the magic system and world building were compelling, but I couldn’t read past chapter four.
August 27, 2017
Spellmonger is about Minalan who gave up a promising career to live the quiet life of a village spellmonger. This remote village was in the mountain valley of Boval. Everything is completely fine in his life (he believes he has everything he could ever want) until the village he lives in is under attack. Minalan is forced to pick up his mageblade again (it has been an awfully long time) to defend his home from an army of goblins, called gurvani. Now he must figure out a way to protect the people that reside in the village and how to get rid of the goblins once and for all.
Now this sounds like a really awesome book, right?? Yes it did seem so but the more you get into the book the more you will get frustrated. At the start of the book you meet the main character, Minalan, and from there you realize that he is a pretty interesting guy and seems likeable; However, my opinion changed pretty quickly because he seemed more like a tool/douchebag and I just did not like him at all. I get it, he basically tries or has nailed every chick mentioned in the book.
Aside from him, the other characters are equally annoying and easily dislikable. The worst thing is that Minalan consistently objectifies the female characters in the book. Spellmonger pretty much had two female characters (because most weren't powerful enough or at all): 1) his girlfriend and 2) his ex-girlfriend. I wish they were re-written to become better characters. So his ex had magical powers but they were sex-magical (like she can only casts spells by doing the deed) and the girlfriend was basically a weak mundane and need Minalan to tell her what to do constantly. I hate when woman are written this way :(
I really wanted to start a new series but after this book I'm not going to even touch the second one. I'd rather read a book that empowers women. I need strong, smart, and independent female characters to read about or to even look up to--not weak-minded.
Now this sounds like a really awesome book, right?? Yes it did seem so but the more you get into the book the more you will get frustrated. At the start of the book you meet the main character, Minalan, and from there you realize that he is a pretty interesting guy and seems likeable; However, my opinion changed pretty quickly because he seemed more like a tool/douchebag and I just did not like him at all. I get it, he basically tries or has nailed every chick mentioned in the book.
Aside from him, the other characters are equally annoying and easily dislikable. The worst thing is that Minalan consistently objectifies the female characters in the book. Spellmonger pretty much had two female characters (because most weren't powerful enough or at all): 1) his girlfriend and 2) his ex-girlfriend. I wish they were re-written to become better characters. So his ex had magical powers but they were sex-magical (like she can only casts spells by doing the deed) and the girlfriend was basically a weak mundane and need Minalan to tell her what to do constantly. I hate when woman are written this way :(
I really wanted to start a new series but after this book I'm not going to even touch the second one. I'd rather read a book that empowers women. I need strong, smart, and independent female characters to read about or to even look up to--not weak-minded.
August 19, 2018
General Overview
A classic adventure, of a rising dark power, a crafty siege, magical sex, and a man dragged from a retirement of sorts to save the day.
Style
Told from the 1st perspective means this fantasy novel already stands out from its brothers and sisters. The author has clearly enjoyed acting through what is a loveable protagonist. The descriptions, the dialect, it all works perfectly for the character and the setting, drawing the reader further into a well told story.
There are some chapters where it flashes back to the protagonists upbringing. These add a further sense of the history and context of the story we find ourselves in, and add overall value to the book.
The characters our protagonist (Minalan the Spellmonger) encounter are very entertaining. Some are rather expected and predictable, but all are so well told that this can be easily ignored.
Story
The story concerns the invasion of goblins. The goblins themselves are different from your traditional fantasy monsters, and this adds to the story. Minalan, once Warmage now simple country Spellmonger is dragged from his easy life of good cheese, simple spells and the odd tumble with a farmers daugther, to save the countryside he now calls home.
There are enough twists and turns to keep the reader engaged. As I hinted above, magic sex comes up a few times, and is amusing portrayed to not make it rude or unseemly.
The end of the book builds to a dramatic conclusion. There is a slight Deus Ex Machina effect at the end, but it does allow for a great conclusion to occur in later books.
Final Thoughts
If you like fantasy, you'll love this book. I can't wait to delve into the rest of the series, and see how this epic pans out.
A classic adventure, of a rising dark power, a crafty siege, magical sex, and a man dragged from a retirement of sorts to save the day.
Style
Told from the 1st perspective means this fantasy novel already stands out from its brothers and sisters. The author has clearly enjoyed acting through what is a loveable protagonist. The descriptions, the dialect, it all works perfectly for the character and the setting, drawing the reader further into a well told story.
There are some chapters where it flashes back to the protagonists upbringing. These add a further sense of the history and context of the story we find ourselves in, and add overall value to the book.
The characters our protagonist (Minalan the Spellmonger) encounter are very entertaining. Some are rather expected and predictable, but all are so well told that this can be easily ignored.
Story
The story concerns the invasion of goblins. The goblins themselves are different from your traditional fantasy monsters, and this adds to the story. Minalan, once Warmage now simple country Spellmonger is dragged from his easy life of good cheese, simple spells and the odd tumble with a farmers daugther, to save the countryside he now calls home.
There are enough twists and turns to keep the reader engaged. As I hinted above, magic sex comes up a few times, and is amusing portrayed to not make it rude or unseemly.
The end of the book builds to a dramatic conclusion. There is a slight Deus Ex Machina effect at the end, but it does allow for a great conclusion to occur in later books.
Final Thoughts
If you like fantasy, you'll love this book. I can't wait to delve into the rest of the series, and see how this epic pans out.
October 7, 2018
I started this book thinking it would be a funny little romp about a down-on-his-luck, mildly inept hedge wizard, thrown into a situation way over his head, who bumbles through to succeed in spite of himself.
I was close, but wrong, and having finished book 1 (looking very forward to starting book 2!), I like the story more than I thought I would.
It is a funny little romp, but about a “retired” war-hero battle mage looking for a nice quiet life. And yeah, for sure, he’s in over his head. But it’s all the more shocking and exciting because to be over this guy’s head is to mean things are *really* bad! Wits, guts, guile, a short temper, and the kind of wily smarts you see in a cinematic “wizened Sergeant” are how our protagonist harries and harasses his enemy and saves a Duchy.
The magic system is sort of scientific, dealing with energy transfer and thermodynamics, which lends a fun sense of realism to how the protagonist’s world works. Furthermore, the courtly politics are astute and well-observed, and both of those aspects play a critical role in how the story moves and resolved and leaves us eagerly anticipating the next one!
I was close, but wrong, and having finished book 1 (looking very forward to starting book 2!), I like the story more than I thought I would.
It is a funny little romp, but about a “retired” war-hero battle mage looking for a nice quiet life. And yeah, for sure, he’s in over his head. But it’s all the more shocking and exciting because to be over this guy’s head is to mean things are *really* bad! Wits, guts, guile, a short temper, and the kind of wily smarts you see in a cinematic “wizened Sergeant” are how our protagonist harries and harasses his enemy and saves a Duchy.
The magic system is sort of scientific, dealing with energy transfer and thermodynamics, which lends a fun sense of realism to how the protagonist’s world works. Furthermore, the courtly politics are astute and well-observed, and both of those aspects play a critical role in how the story moves and resolved and leaves us eagerly anticipating the next one!
August 16, 2017
Enjoyable plot and characters
This is an enjoyable introduction to the series. I liked the characters and plot although I thought it was predictable at times. The sex, while tame in comparison to some other books and movies, limits the audience. It would benefit from a good edit to clean up typos (where/were, etc.) and spacing.
This is an enjoyable introduction to the series. I liked the characters and plot although I thought it was predictable at times. The sex, while tame in comparison to some other books and movies, limits the audience. It would benefit from a good edit to clean up typos (where/were, etc.) and spacing.
January 26, 2016
This book does poorly on the Bechdel test.
Read
February 26, 2017I decided not to finish this one. The story was promising, and I liked the MC at first. But I got a little tired of his pride in his romantic conquests. Just not amused.
February 4, 2021
It is because I listened to this that I finished this at all. The narrator was excellent for most parts and kept me somewhat entertained throughout the really longwinded novel. When I had tried reading the ebook version, I was feeling bored so I tried the audiobook. I read it because a friend loves this series and thought I would give it a chance. Strangely, I do kind of miss it because I got used to listening to it for so long. But not enough to go onto the next one. The spellmonger character is entertaining in an immature juvenile sort of way. This book was not meant to be taken seriously and it at least had some good plot moments and dialogue. But the longwinded explanations of literally everything bored me.
June 9, 2018
Characters: 3.5*
Universe: 4.5*
Plot: 5*
A good start to the series, but not one that is begging me to jump straight into the next book. The characters were well-written overall and the main character does seem to learn and grow throughout the story. My only real (minor) quibble is that the book concentrates a bit more on sex than I would like (one book you probably don't want to listen to with kids in the car) and the characters themselves are a bit one-dimensional. The writing itself was fairly crisp.
Universe: 4.5*
Plot: 5*
A good start to the series, but not one that is begging me to jump straight into the next book. The characters were well-written overall and the main character does seem to learn and grow throughout the story. My only real (minor) quibble is that the book concentrates a bit more on sex than I would like (one book you probably don't want to listen to with kids in the car) and the characters themselves are a bit one-dimensional. The writing itself was fairly crisp.
June 16, 2021
Had this on audiobook and dipped in and out of it for a while, around other books I was reading. At first I wasn't sure, but then it got under my skin.
I am partial to an epic fantasy and so I'm now looking forward to the rest of the series.
Good back history, the lead character Minalan is clever and has a sarcastic sense of humour, and the magic is interesting and fun. Maybe not the best epic fantasy ever but I enjoyed it, and it was read well.
I am partial to an epic fantasy and so I'm now looking forward to the rest of the series.
Good back history, the lead character Minalan is clever and has a sarcastic sense of humour, and the magic is interesting and fun. Maybe not the best epic fantasy ever but I enjoyed it, and it was read well.
July 24, 2017
The book was interesting. I enjoyed reading it. But will I read the next one? Probably not.
July 26, 2018
I'm happy with it so far
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