Hedgewitch

Well, Mancour managed to squeeze this book out only a few months after his last. May the gods bless that man’s infuriating capacity to churn out book after book from my favourite series. Our last outing to the Spellmonger universe left a series of tantalising bombshells lay in our laps, and this book sets to explaining just how those shells were primed, aimed, and fired, all from Pentandra, Rondal, and Old Antimei’s perspectives. Just because we know most of what’s coming, doesn’t mean you’re going to enjoy the ride any less.

Time for my usual spiel about this series. You can’t just pick one up and expect to know what’s going on. We’re 14 books in now, my friends. If you’re reading this one then I’ll assume you’ve read the others, because if you haven’t then you’re not going to have half a clue about what’s going on. So, this book takes place in the time just before Min and co leave for Anghysbel up until a while after their return, explaining how things seem to have fallen apart so spectacularly in the absence of our beloved Spellmonger. There’s a lot of politicking, a lot of subterfuge, and not a vast amount of action. Don’t get me wrong, I still loved the book and smashed through all twenty hours of it in under a week, but this certainly wasn’t the strongest book in the series so far.

One of the main focusses of this book is to fill in a little more information on the undead menace that is busy terrorising swaths of southern Alshar and how the mages and mundane are endeavouring to drive them back. I see this book as less of a proper novel and more of a great deal of context nestled within an entertaining narrative. That’s not to say that there aren’t elements that will get your heart thumping. The ending in particular genuinely hammered my emotions in ways I didn’t anticipate. As ever, Mancour has written a great story, but it’s just lacking the bite of most of his other books in this series, priming us for what I expect to be some truly spectacular opening chapters in the next instalment.

It was nice to step away from Min’s first-person perspective and slide into the shoes of the Alshari Court Wizard and her stalwart deputy, those being Penny and Ron. Ron in particular gets some much-needed character development regarding himself and Gatina. In the previous books she always seemed a little too young, naive in some ways despite her amazing abilities at shadow magic and thievery, but here she really gets fleshed out to the degree that she deserves in this book. We also get a few chapters from Old Antimei, learning a lot more about the whole prophecy thing and how Penny has been trying to juggle her preparations for what she thinks she knows is going to happen. Again, it’s all thoroughly entertaining, but I feel like the book could have been another 5-10 hours longer and really gotten stuck into some good, old-fashioned action there at the end instead of just setting us up for things to come. But I shouldn’t complain. The fact that Mancour released this book only 3 months after the last book (at least the audiobook release) means that I really can’t hold its comparatively short length relative to his usual novels against him.

In short, this isn’t the best of the books in the series. In fact, it’s nowhere near the best. However, that’s not to say in any way, shape, or form that it’s not good. I loved it, just as I love every instalment in this series. It’s well written, well planned, and well executed. I can’t get enough of this series, so even a mediocre addition to the Spellmonger saga is, to me at least, a good step above most of the fantasy I listen to.

As for narration, as ever John Lee brings his A-game to ensure that the characters of this universe, both good and bad, feel deep and truly alive (or undead, as the case may be). Another great job.

Personal Score: 4.0 stars

Professional Score: 3.5 stars