Final Version Of High Mage Now Up
Here: http://www.amazon.com/High-Mage-Spellmonger-Series-Book-ebook/dp/B00O5EXHFW/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t
All corrections have been made. The map is included. If you've been waiting for the final before you buy, this is it. Any additional corrections you have, feel free to email me.
Thanks for the great response! Any time your weekend starts with 8-9 five star reviews, you kind of start thinking maybe it didn't suck.
All corrections have been made. The map is included. If you've been waiting for the final before you buy, this is it. Any additional corrections you have, feel free to email me.
Thanks for the great response! Any time your weekend starts with 8-9 five star reviews, you kind of start thinking maybe it didn't suck.
Is there anywhere to post some theories Terry. I have a couple regarding Min. Btw High Mage was fantastic. Loved the elusive greater powers that were mentioned. How these were mentioned really made me think that Sheual is a weakling. haha.
ReplyDeleteGo ahead and post them here.
DeleteOkay Terry i will post my WAGs here. Note these are really out there. I would be happy if i got 1 our all these right.
DeleteMins Theories
1. Mins sphere is far more special then we have been lead to believe. Correct me If i am wrong but the aronin meddled with the sphere in book one. I think there is an imprint of the aronin within the sphere. I believe this because in magelord when Min was exhausted in the battle and losing consciousness a voice in bold told him to get up and then the sphere started to give him energy. i don't think a god would have meddled this early.
2. If there is an imprint of the aronin on the sphere then I think at some point something crazy is going to happen involving snowstone, the sphere and Min which will cause the sphere to merge with Min. This is really crazy but i think at some point min will have to have direct confrontations with being as powerful as gods.
3. Mins battle staff will develop Consciousness
Other theories
-The rogue dragon mentioned in epilogue will eventually live at Sevendor and its gonna be EPIC.
Sevendor
- With the keep forged out of a snowstone mountain Sevendor will project a territory like what sherual is projecting.
-Wonder if you can use the blood root somehow to bind that keep to the rulers bloodline.
-Sevendor will become greater then greatest cities of ancient times.
I probably made a few errors. Please ignore them.
DeleteI will post a review as soon as I can but I want to point out one correction if you can get to it. Rondal's war name in Knights Magi was mentioned as "Striker" but in High Mage Min call him by "Ace" - what is the correct war name?
ReplyDeleteI made that correction this last time around. You are correct, his warname was Striker. It's fixed, now.
DeleteOh, ok. I will redownload the book and read it again before writing up a review.
DeleteLoved your book once again as always my only disappointment is knowing that i'll have to wait for more books. With the theories things I remember in the earlier books a prophecy was mentioned about Min finding the archmage staff. I was kinda curious when he built his own staff and you mentioned how powerful it was how that was gonna play out in the future. Any chance of some slight spoiler or ideas.
ReplyDeleteP.S of the 965 books on my kindle your series is ranked number 1 with John Conroe's Demon accords a clear second.
Thanks! I can say that the staff of the Archmagi will become important, later on down the road, but right now its an impotent dusty relic in an old temple in Merwyn. Min made Blizzard specifically as a battlestaff.
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ReplyDeletehow come the building of castle sevendore slowed down not speed up when min brings the pocketstone staff's back? terl really made excavating giant blocks of snowstone childs play the whole outside of the castle could be done in a month.
ReplyDeletealso theres no mention of how many irionite shards min's water elementals salvaged while they waited for lord aretas?
ReplyDeleteThere's more to building a castle than standing blocks on top of each other. See below for details. And the irionite shards from the river will feature in a future story. As will the number of High Magi.
DeleteGood questions.
First off I wanted to say I loved the book and can't wait for more stories of the world and MORE MIN ASAP!
ReplyDeleteGood questions from both above folks. SPOILERS below!
-His domain should go up in a jiffy now. He can build huge amounts of stuff in all his areas. better yet he should raise a earth mage(?) to be his construction foreman for all mundane building where his Dwarf friends handle the big stuff with his new power.
-I know things were nuts in that last battle, but we never really got a feeling of how many high mages die did we? How many more shards did he pick up or save? does it matter anymore? I'd need to read it again, which I am, but I only got the sense that only 1 large dog was alive at the end?
-Did I miss them kill the dragon that got knocked out by Dara's rock drop? As far as I recall it was just knocked out...and they moved on quickly. no second drop or slice to make sure?
-Did I also miss the resolution of the whole "Dunselen" issue? That should have been huge right? The first revoked stone...How the hell could Min sit on that issue for so long, even after he heard what the hell was going on in Dunselen's domain? I figured he would have popped on over and made a huge deal of putting him down like the rabid dog he was.
- I also figured Min would have gone enchanting crazy as soon as he figured out what that one gem could do for enchantments. No more thaumaturge(sp?) glass required for any of it.
-I figured Min would have figured out by now that he needs to do some serious campaigning for magic with everyone in the world. From highborn to low, they need to see the good side, the benefit, the wonder of magic used for the people. He needs to do great works, or hire mages to do some with the orders money. He is seen in good favor by most, and he needs to build that up fast. He should remake all the road systems, sewage systems, hire tons of green mages to help with friends, build roadside resting places, regular schools for common folk, etc... The mirror messaging service was a nice thought, but so small compared to what he is capable now :)
I could go on with more, but I'm re-reading it for the third time and want to get back to it lol.
Good questions. Here's a few answers:
Delete1) Yes, Min has great capabilities, now. However, there's more to building a castle than moving stone, especially snowstone. Things will go quickly, but as will be demonstrated in Stonesinger, it's more complicated than whipping up a tower.
2) More magi die in the battle than are discussed, but Min will be quietly filling in the ranks to compensate. And some of the "loose" stones in the river will cause problems, later. Promise.
3) No dragons were killed in the making of this book . . . although one got the shit knocked out of him, and two got tossed around a bit. Do you know how hard it is to kill a dragon?
4) the Dunselen Affair will be resolved in the future. Things are more complicated than they seem, because now Mother is involved. That doesn't mean Min won't act, just that he has to be more careful how he moves. Just having Min "handle it" in the middle of a war was not politically feasible. And he was a little busy with more pressing issues.
5) More enchantments are coming, but every new innovation also spawns unforeseen problems. You don't want to rush into anything, like, maybe, making a particular deity permanent without filling out the proper paperwork. All sorts of nastiness can result.
6) Min will be a strong advocate for magic, but that comes with problems in an iron age society. Min's altruistic side will be plain to all in a future book, to the point it makes him a political liability. Min has enemies, and they aren't likely to let him preach the uses of magic in peace.
Capabilities are great, but they don't automatically equal progress. This will become very apparent in the next cycle of stories.
Great questions!
Hey Terry, In regards to your dragons. Do you have some start in regards to size age intelligence + additional abilities or do we discover in later books.
DeleteAre dragons effective at killing each other?
"3) No dragons were killed in the making of this book . . . although one got the shit knocked out of him, and two got tossed around a bit. Do you know how hard it is to kill a dragon? "
ReplyDeleteI figured it would be cake to kill the dragon now that they can just easily drop a boulder on them. They could have just picked up the same rock and drop it again. Leaving an angry dragon at your back...is not a good thing. I understand killing it normally would have take time, but they didn't even try to hit it with Cei's Thunder hammer . A well placed blow on anything can kill. I know they were in a rush to save the city, but either of those two options should have only take a minute. I'm guessing you have "plans" for those three dragons now that they are a little more wary of the soft humans. I look forward to reading more!
I do have plans for them . . . but you make valid points. Expect to see them made by some character in the future.
DeleteI wondered the same thing :). Good to know and interesting information here ...
DeleteI can't wait for the army of stone and earth golems. That would scare the crap out of the lil furry buggers...not to mention all the human conflicts that he could plow through. Endless possibilities you have here.
ReplyDeleteI loved it!!!!! I couldn't put it down till i was finished. I also had a few idea for a name for the new castle being built in Sevendor (unless you have already named it and are saving the big reveal for later) Snow Keep, The Citadel that Never Melts, Fortress of Snow are some of the better ones we came up with. I really hope Min gets something more from the gods in return than just a thank you, like maybe his Family Line is forever Blessed or something.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Everfire!!!! Brigga would not be pleased if Min didn't include her Everfire in th castles name .Both Snowstone and Everfire are her gifts...Pilgrims will all come to Sevendor to see the snow that never mets and the everfire ...
DeleteSomething tells me that Koucey and the Dead God are going to have to do something about Min. Treachery first, and after that, marching on Sevendor it's self.
Im more curious about Aronin's daughter hiding out with a dragon. Aren't dragons very smart as they grow older and also sentient to speak with humans? Pesky creatures, Dragons...
Congratulations on another great book! I have read and re-read all of the previous ones, with Magelord being my favourite. While I love intrigue and a good magical battle, my favourite is certainly the innovations made by Min and where he builds/improves his domains. A couple of things others have mentioned and that I would love to see in future books.
ReplyDelete1. The success of Min’s Barony in the next couple of years and the magical growth of both it and its people.
2. Magical Guardians (eg a better version of Rondal’s Bag Man) roaming the lands along with the local knights magi.
3. New innovations benefitting the broader kingdom and its people.
4. Min needs another political helper in order to better leverage his growing power.
5. Perhaps he should have his truth teller in the same room as some of the more troublesome nobles.
6. He needs to drag the kingdom kicking and screaming to become better for all its people.
You have created a great universe with a lot of potential and I am looking forward to see what you do with it. Congratulations!
I wonder what future role magically and politically will Sir Festeran play? I feel like he would be an interesting character to develop further. He and Dara are currently the only native born Sevendori who developed talent. Dara has blossomed as the hawkmaiden and continues to grow and train her magical talent. What will become of Sir Festesran? Will he be gifted a witchstone or be trained further in magics? I guess only time will tell.
ReplyDeleteHe is, although he's not technically Sevendori (Hosly is part of Greater Sevendor, now, but he was raised a Riverlord under Sire Gimbal). Close enough, though.
DeleteYou'll see Sir Festeran developed more in The Ugliest Maid In Castal (still forthcoming - it's either finish up Hawkmaiden first or the short story, I'm going with the novel) and later tales. He becomes increasingly important. That's not necessarily a good thing for him, but it will prove interesting.
I bought the book when it first came out and I still haven't gotten the updated version
ReplyDeleteAre you not releasing the updated versions through Amazon's Kindle Unlimited program? I have been reading your series and while many of the titles claim to be 3rd editions they read more like 3rd drafts with a host of major and minor issues in them. Missing lines, wrong names (frequently), etc.
ReplyDeleteIf the updated versions are only available for purchase I can understand that but would like to know. While I thoroughly enjoy the series the number of errors ensures that I would never purchase one of the books if at any point you elected to not offer a book in the KU format.
I dont mind the typos since the series is riveting. I took a week and read the whole series in one go - staying up complete nights to finish the series in a fortnight. But I find the character development of Min fraying. On the one hand you show Min to be becoming enormously rich but there is avenue of charity. In Vorone there is no attempt to engage in philanthropy despite the heartrending description. There is just a token concern at the mess. Secondly there is no attempt to be responsible for one's actions in what seems an attempt to tolerate nepotism. The statement to Dunsalen "Despoil your people if you must...." is callous since there is recognition of the impact of the gift but no concern for the people suffering as a consequence of it. That said i hope to see these facets of the character development polished in the next in the series. maybe you could end with him becoming the Arch mage replacing the King/Duke in the final book of the series which I hope will be some books further down in the series.
ReplyDeleteThe issue of Vorone will be dealt with somewhat in Journeymage, and more aggressively in Court Wizard. But there's only so much money you can throw at a problem once the economic infrastructure has been crushed. When Min was in Vorone he was not prepared to be charitable, as much as he was learning the facts.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, he does tolerate nepotism, even when he dislikes it. It's an essential factor in the iron age culture. While Min is concerned about Dunselen's people, he has bigger issues at play at the moment.
But you'll see all of this develop more as Min comes to terms with his power. It's going to be an interesting couple of years.