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, … 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 comely 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 Vale, along with a massive invading army of gurvani. 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 of goblins.
When the people look to him for hope, Minalan does his best, but the odds are depressing: there are multitudes of goblins, and they want Boval Vale as a staging ground for a vengeful invasion of the whole Five Duchies.
Add to his troubles 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 dour castellan, 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 village spellmonger.
more
Spellmonger is a great fantasy novel set in a very complex world of magic at a medieval level technology. Armies have learned to incorporate mages into their military units. Our hero, Minalan, is a veteran of these magical wars who, at the ancient age of twenty-five-ish has decided to retire from the army and set up shop as a village spellmonger, selling his skills to the locals. He thought he was setting himself up for a simple life without a lot of stress. Then a major goblin invasion begins and his life is turned upside down as the world he knows may well be coming to an end.
There is a tremendous amount to like about this book. The world has been carefully developed with a lot of depth and breadth. The main character was very likeable as are many of the supporting cast. The bad guys are happily irritating. The battles were good. The magical system is interesting. The overall threat keeps developing into a more and more apocalyptic peril and I didn’t see any way for them to ultimately escape – and since Minalan is narrating the novel, it was clear that he had to survive.
On the downside, each chapter includes a flashback to show how Minalan got to where he is and this structure got old fast. It also pretty much precluded any real character growth occurring in the novel. I think it would have been far wiser for Mancour to tell the story in much more chronological fashion and let us watch Minalan become the man he is at the beginning of the story. I also think that this would have added significant drama to the tale.
Over all, I really enjoyed the book. It’s a great set up for further adventures as the goblin threat continues to imperil all of civilization. I’ll be curious to see where Mancour goes with this.
I wasn’t sure about this one because of some of the “less than stellar” Amazon reviews … until I gave it a chance. Now I’m four books into this highly-addicting series (in just two months!).
Minalan the spellmonger and his misadventures
The narrator did a really good job telling this story. He captivated me from the start. The book was very entertaining. The author created believable characters that grow throughout the story. I couldn’t wait to see what Minalan would come up with next. Apparently, neither could anyone else. He is a likable rascal. He treats people well. He is rather arrogant but kind. He seems to attract interesting people. I definitely recommend this book and look forward to Book 2.
The start of something great. A 7 course meal of a book and series.
Excellent book. I’ve read it many times . It is one of my go to books. The first of many. As I write this the series is 1/3 of the way through according to the author. Can’t wait to see what happens next to Minalan, Alya, and the rest. I sure hope Tavard get put in his place…the whinny little punk he deserves everything he gets.