Destiny in one hand. Doom in the other. Which will destroy him first?Artificers are the gilded princes of the Iron Empire. Mages are violent criminal outcasts. Devin competes to become the best artificer in the empire . . . but he’s secretly a mage. Devin, a young skilled apprentice, dreams of becoming the master of his craft if he can only resist the sinuous allure of magic. His secret grows … allure of magic. His secret grows heavier as he claws his way to the top of his competitive, cutthroat guild. Friends and rivals start taking notice when Devin glorifies in the persona of the dragon and builds mechanical armor to match. He’s also started hearing voices in his head: the stout words of the being he calls ‘the artificer’ and the sly, oily voice of ‘the mage.’ How long can Devin be satisfied with fake dragon armor when the promise of true arcane power whispers in his ear?
Embark on Devin’s dark, epic journey in Book One of The Artifice Mage Saga. Join the fantasy steampunk brawl of metal vs. magic where sorcery is bloody, science is greasy, and nobody’s hands are clean.
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AIN’T NO DAVID COPPERFIELD HERE!!!
Talk about no walk in the park. This is one exciting, action packed, fast paced, nailbiting, pulse racing, page turning tale that captivates from the start. All the twists and turns, ins and outs, ups and downs, along with a few glitches and bumps make for one enjoyable experience. You get pulled in so deep that everything else ceases to exist. The characters and their personalities are unique with traits that flow along smoothly. You feel what the characters feel, be it disappointment, anxiety, pressure or just try to get through. The scenes are so graphic and detailed it’s easy to picture each scenario as it plays off one another perfectly. Jeffrey did a remarkable job bringing this read to life flawlessly. Fantastic job Jeffrey, thanks for sharing this bad boy with us.
This novel is a great start to a new series. The world building is a clash of magic vs machine in the Steampunk genre and Jeffery does it well. The characters are fleshed out and down to earth, everybody has a little bad in them. I am looking forward to the next installment to see how what happens next.
This was a wonderful story to read and a wonderful start to a new series that I loved reading. It has magic and action in the story and I am so glad I read this story and I recommend this story to everyone who loves magic and action together oh yeah.
This is my honest and unbias opinion of the story.
I liked reading this book. It was intriguing. The plot was good.
And the characters were really good.
Jeffrey Bardwell has a wonderful way of embellishing and expanding on his storyline. In Rotten Magic 3.0 he takes us back in time to the younger years of his protagonist of the series. We get a lovely in depth take on things that were glossed over in the other books. It gives us a new understanding of a character we have become invested in over the previous two books. If this is your first book in the series experience, what better place to start than at the beginning of Devin’s tale, with no preconceived notions. Either way, start now with Rotten Magic 3.0!
Devin began life in a village with his mother, a Master tailor, and his little sister. His dream was to join the artificer’s Guild, but that was in the city, and the fees were far more than his mother could pay. For now Devin settled for being a simple craftsboy for the village, but his ingenuity and inventiveness went far beyond that. Everything Devin earned was combined with his mother’s savings to someday make his dream a reality.
However it was Devin’s own inventiveness that landed him a scholarship place in the Guild when, rather than repair a neglected old thresher as asked, Devin totally reinvented the machine as a multifunctioning self-driven one never before seen. When the very happy owner invited important friends from the city to see his new marvel, one later returned with a full contingent from the Artificers Guild. A test was administered on the spot, and a full scholarship offered.
Making friends and fitting in at the Guild wasn’t quite as easy for Devin as getting accepted. His disrespectful attitude for the hierarchy of the Guild didn’t help the bullying situation amongst his peers. In Devin’s opinion everything should be based on ability, hands on, not how long you had been there, what you’d learned from lessons, where you ranked, just what you could accomplish. Devin might be brilliant but he was also arrogant and naive. It made him no friends.
If these were all of young Devin’s troubles, it certainly would have been enough, but he had a secret harbored for a long time. His only confidant was his young sister. Devin had another ability, magic. In the country it was a small thing, entertaining to his sister, not really useful or much of a bother. Things have changed since moving to the city, being surrounded by posters about the evils of mages. There are voices in Devin’s head, two distinct voices, antagonists, one a mage the other an artificer, Devin’s two sides. With these two forces working against each other in the same person something bad is sure to happen!
Follow Devin’s progress in the Artificers Guild. What will become of this prodigy? Will he overcome peer pressures and succeed? Will his own weaknesses betray him? And what of the mage that lurks within? Will that mage come to claim the light in Devin’s life? Who will win in the end, the mage or the artificer?
A very interesting story that kept me reading from start to finish. Author Jeffrey Bardwell certainly gave the reader a few characters to root for and some to root against. And, of course, there was the small issue of magic and mage being illegal during the period of this story, which in turn leads to some unpleasant events which I’m going to presume are further explained in the first book in the series. The book certainly takes the reader on an emotional roller coaster ride of highs and lows, frustrations and exaltations. and hope and despair. (02/15/2018 – This is a voluntary review of an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.)
I read Metal vs Magic Anthology – Last Hope & Warped Goals (which is great by the way) And in those 2 stories, I had my first introduction to Devin & Drusilla. I thought the story and characters were great and it was a cool read. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series and everything else from this Author.
I was gifted an ARC in return of an honest review.