Preceptor

As ever with reviews for this series, I have to start with a disclaimer. This isn’t a book you can just pick up and listen to. It’s called Book 16 in the series, but really it’s Book 25 when you count all the novellas and short stories (and that’s not counting any of the Hawk Maiden or Legacy and Secrets spin-offs). You simply need to have read or listened to at least some of the previous books to have any clue of what is going on. Luckily, Spellmonger is my all-time, number 1, absolute favourite books series… ever. Hands down, not even a contest. I’m not saying it’s the best series ever for everyone, but for me it is. I love this series, and so I am going to review this book for an audience who has likewise merrily danced through the hundreds of hours of fantastic storytelling that got us to Preceptor.

Preceptor is very much a book of two halves. The first half is fighty-fighty wizards burning, blasting, or otherwise blowing up their enemies in ingenious and incredibly satisfying ways. We get exactly what we’ve come to expect from Minalan and company as they plan and deftly execute their final assault on Darkfaller castle. It bloody, brutal, and brilliant, and without giving anything away, we get some serious outcomes from this battle. This last point I feel is an important one considering that over the last few books we have had some amazing battles, but their outcomes have felt kind of empty, not really shifting the narrative needle all that much. On one hand, this has helped grow the presence of this continual war that Humanity and its allies finds itself in, but on the other hand it has made a lot of the conflicts feel sort of hollow. Great, that’s one dark general down, but look, here’s another, and another, and another. Well, that is certainly not the case here. We get a brilliant battle that has real stakes and outcomes, and that was very much needed to pull us out of the ever so slightly monotonous pattern that we’ve fallen into over the past few books. In short, the war-side of this book was entertaining, satisfying, and as ever, wonderfully written. I will never get bored of the novel methods that the magi invent to best use their swiftly growing powers to wonderfully devastating effect. Brilliant.

That brings us neatly on to the second half of this book which revolves around two key themes. Firstly, Minalan is trying to get his realm in order and concentrate on being a ruler and saving the world, which to fans who have stuck this far with the series, is exactly what we like to see. We’ve spent 25 books getting to know these characters and the new world they are building out of the old, so what to some audiences might seem a little boring and outwardly appear to just be a mage lord doing admin is to us super-fans exactly what we like to see. I like the court politics. I like the developing and codifying of new legal systems to account for the sudden rise of magic. I like how the Magelore is slowly developing into a multi-racial powerhouse that uses efficacy and merit to define is rulers and see them surpass the crumbling feudal system that has defined the Five Duchies for so long. It’s super nerdy. I am a super nerd. Ergo, I love it.

The second key theme of the books less-fighty side is that Min has been charged by the king and queen to try and tutor Prince Tavard into less of a short-sighted, egotistical, pompous little princeling and make him ready for the rigors of kingship and open his eyes to the way in which the world has irrevocably changed with the rise of the magi. Given how much of a petulant little shit Tavard has been throughout the series so far, this outwardly seems like a task too much for even the world-saving, dragon-slaying, undead-smashing Minalan the Spellmonger. However, when Min turns around and says that he will only agree to said tuition if three of Tavards cousin dukes/dukes-in-waiting also receive said training, what we end up with is a brilliant little side-story of comradery and personal growth. By the end of this book, I didn’t actually hate Tavard as much, and, Trig protect us, I maybe even liked him a little. And if that isn’t a sign of great character writing on the part of Mancour, then I truly do not know what would be.

In short, another spectacular addition to what is (solely in my own personal opinion) the single greatest fantasy series ever penned. I know I am bias, and I know Mancour would have to screw up royally for me not to like one of his books, but Preceptor has been one of the better novels from the last 10 or so. The part of me that wants Mancour to hurry-up and finish the series is now well and truly gagged and hog-tied in the back while I bask in yet another fantastic book from a series that I never want to end.

As for narration, as ever, John Lee does an amazing performance in a role that he has made all his own. As we get more and more non-human characters in this series, I am always amazed by Lee’s continued range and skill. Another brilliant performance.

Personal Score: 4.5 stars

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