Mage's Blood (Moontide Quartet)

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Then, it gets complicated. Most effects use a combination of Spheres, which is not always obvious to work out. As do an array of other stories. Indeed, seasoned fantasy readers will be hard-pressed to identify a single section that does not evoke some separate series. I fear Mage’s Blood is a far cry from original, but that isn’t the slight it might be given how neatly these threads interweave… how naturally these disparate narratives sit side by side. The very man, Anton Meiros—an infamous mage—has lived a long, long life. Circa 927, which year this novel chronicles, he recalls the part he played in the rise of magic several centuries ago, when three hundred mere mortals ascended via a sacred ceremony that has since become the stuff of legend. More recently, Meiros sat on the sidelines of an ongoing holy war between the continents he himself connected when creating the Leviathan Bridge: a tidal gateway that opens for a brief period every twelve years.

Magic Utility Flask Effects cannot be removed Rivers of power course through your veins. could sometimes fail to apply flask effects to you, for example, when swapping out an equipped flask for another.

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Possibly the strongest aspect of Mage’s Blood is its cultural diversity. While the continent of Yuros is fairly standard and European, Antiopia is brimming with diversity. Throughout the story the people of Yuros and Antopia are seen wearing cultural garb, be they turbans, burkas, or many other forms of clothing and jewelry. Not only is the clothing diverse, there are terms and phrases of various origins, Italian, Spanish, Indian, Arabic and more – most of which I had to look up. This isn’t a bad thing – I like to learn while I read. It seemed to me upon reading the definitions that they were used correctly, but then again I’m no expert in any of said cultures. From the cities to the people inhabiting them, the world of Urte felt very real.

Here is what happened: In the Prologue, I thought that a lovely old lady is going to save a baby who is surely going to be a special mage upon whose frail shoulders the weight of the plot will be placed. In neighbouring Northern Lakh, Ramita Ankesharan instead of having a comfortable life of love next (shabby) door, finds herself a commodity in family bargain and is traded away to a distant land in what is a rather humiliating marriage of convenience. Even though I enjoyed Alaron’s line the most, Ramita is without any doubt my favourite heroine in the whole story. An ordinary girl in extraordinary circumstances showing her integrity and steadfastness does not sound like a very compelling MC but trust Ramita to win you over. Lucia looked around the table. "I will clearly define the situation so that we are all of one understanding. Then we will agree the way ahead." She got to her feet and began to circle the table. Her voice became clear and emotionless: less saint and more angel of retribution.It's been a little while since I read a book which is THIS GOOD and has so many ideas and strings which all pull together in a magnificent way. This is the first book in a Quartet which makes me so happy and excited because it means I still have three great, long books ahead of me. It's a story which involves various different influences of culture (both Eastern & Western), has fabulous male and female characters, has intricate, complicated, but interesting magic, and has a massive focus on Politics (without getting bogged down in the politics and losing sight of the actual story and character development). It's a classic example of a book which has been compared to Game of Thrones (as so many are these days) but I would actually go so far as to say that this is worthy of a comparison to Game of Thrones in terms of the politics and the characters and the world building. It's excellently written and there's so many intricacies and plot twists I didn't seem coming, but loved discovering all the same. An instant new favourite author! The story focuses on a world where there's two continents. The Western continent is Yuros, the Eastern is Antiopia and they are separated by a sea and linked by a Bridge. The Bridge is special because it can only be traversed every Moontide (which is roughly 2 years in every 12) and so a lot of the time the two continents are not linked. There are only three main plot lines, and although these are told from various points of view and move the action from place to place, all are easy to follow:

I found her story to be one of the most emotional in terms of ups and downs and making me worry for her safety and the safety of those around her. She's a caring and loving character and so she's easy to root for, but she's also not afraid to defend what she loves, This review is for the entire series and will be posted to each book. I flipped between the Kindle and audiobooks for each book, depending on my circumstances, but the audiobook narration was so good that sometimes I’d listen even if I was in a position to read. I really loved this series and wish it had and was getting more press. Hey you word of mouth folks! Talk about this series! As an avid fantasy reader, I’m a bit embarrassed that this series has been around since 2012 and I hadn’t read it yet. Also, unlike some, it doesn’t feel aged. Alaron has two great friends, Cym and Ramon, who are also magically inclined. Ramon is his friend within the academy, Cym is a gypsy who Alaron teaches, and together they're the best of friends.The first perspective is Alaron Mercer. He is a typical mage in training at a mage academy on Yuros, preparing for the exams. Of course he's bullied by pure-blood mage student, so his life isn't all rosy. His story is a more typical coming of age story. For years the Leviathan Bridge was a boon for prosperity and culture. But when the Rondian Emperor turned his avaricious eyes toward it, peace became war. In successive crusades the Imperial legions and their mighty battle-mages plundered the East unopposed. The plot and characters capturedmy imagination, carrying me on the waves of action to the hiatus between books. Apart from my reservations listed in the spoilers section, I LOVED Mage’s Blood and highly recommend it. Life 3/Matter 3/Forces 3 could LITERALLY turn undead flesh into flames. This is just barely out of reach for a brand new starting character out of the book. Not only could it do that though, it could also turn his own flesh into marble (Life 3 Matter 3), or Flame (Life 3 Forces 3). A celebration of fantasy that melds modern ideology with classic tropes. More of these dragons, please.

Werewolves: Drinking the blood of a half-flesh, half-spirit hunter of men is a great way to find yourself unconsciously obeying strange folkloric taboos — much like those followed by the strix. None are really standout creations. All fit roles in the story that might be overfamiliar. But they are still decent enough and three dimensional characters anyhow, so I was wanting to know how their stories would go. Mages: same yield of Vitae, but might cause extremely vivid hallucinations of Supernal symbols (represented with Conditions like Shaken or Spooked). Clever mages might fool vampires into not feeding from them by saying that Abyssals might mistake a vampire with mage blood inside her for an actual mage (Abyssals won't be fooled, since they can "smell" souls). Double-Influenced Item "Oh no, I couldn't possibly afford this fine artefact. I'm... just looking." As a whole, the series is based on a pretty unique and complex kitchen-sink type magic system set in a not too creative landscape that roughly mirrors a stereotype of Earth cultures... basically, Europeans vs near east split by a 300 mile body of water. The stereotypes are not particularly subtle.

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Another familiar tropes is the girl who is married away against her will to a powerful and mysterious old man. Ramita Ankesharan is an Omali (think indian culture) from Antiopia. She is taken to the holy city of Hebusalim, also on the continent Antiopia. The chapters switch between viewpoint characters. All begin with quotes with works of fiction from the world of this story. The folks at Jo Fletcher don’t seem to be capable of disappointing. I’ve yet to read a book I wasn’t pleased with from them. We also get to visually imagine the places our characters travel between because the descriptions of markets, castles, towers, spices and scents are all so well described and make you feel fully immersed.