funny, yet serious, epic yet goofy.

this is an interesting series. funny but serious, goofy yet epic. wizards vs goblins... what side will the dragon be on? who knows? listen to the book to find out.

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Worth the credit in every way

Narrator is great. Story is funny and does a wonderful job building to the climax.

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Irreverent and serious, as it should be

The Spellmonger strikes again! simultaneously serious, clever, sexy, and funny. It's a great time being in Min's head as he forces humanity to do what's right and necessary. I've gotta get myself a witch stone.

Love this series narrator is amazing

I grew up reading books like this but because my disability it's hard to read keep focus . The story is never boring and you want to keep listening . I love the narrator he makes you feel your there beside him . Thanks to him o want to buy more he has done . If you like Mages and dragons etc this series is it . Def def love this series

Curiosity Satisfied: Thumbs Down

A friend recommended this Fantasy series to me, so - like many other reviewers - I really wanted to like it. After reading Book 1 and being honestly unimpressed, I still decided to keep at it out of curiosity. Can Terry Mancour turn a fairly weak first book into something interesting?

After all:
• The description of magic use during set-piece battles is the best I have ever read;
•The Dead God Shereul and his hordes of fanatical goblins is a credible threat (with an original "revenge" motive..these are not merely stereotypically bloodthirsty evil foes);
•The dynamic between the nobility in the Five Duchies and the peasantry is intriguing;
•The political strife between the Warmagi and Censorate (a holdover from an ancient rebellion against the 'Magocracy') implies fascinating potential storylines;
•Mancour's Callidore has multiple species and a rich history that could yield really good Epic Fantasy entertainment.

Unfortunately, the answer to my "Can he do it?" question: Nope.

Why?
1. I'm not averse to a little erotica mixed into fiction, but Mancour's preoccupation with sex goes far beyond that. Sex Magic (involving publicly mating for "hours") plays a major plot advance role for some reason.. Minalin (the protagonist) ruts about at every opportunity - while simultaneously declaring his deep love for the peasant wench Alya who he impregnated after a marathon weekend.. there are (Ugh) multiple references to Minalin's big package. Mancour's sex obsession is one step above the "harem" garbage so execrably common in modern LitRPG offerings;
2. The author continually has characters utter peurile colloquialisms (e.g. "He's a Tool"; "He took a Dump") and nonsensical expletives (e.g. "Ishi's Tits!!") that take readers out of the illusion of a fantasy environment;
3. The pacing in this book is genuinely *terrible*. There are looooong stretches of text (hours - I'm not kidding) where nothing happens beyond setting up court intrigue.
4. 'Magelord' uses a quasi-experimental story structure. Alternating chapters tell the story in two timelines in this book - but not with a "flashback" storytelling intent. Creating two almost indistinguishable plots (heavily overburdened with political maneuvering) almost simultaneously - instead of just telling the story linearly - fails miserably..
5. Dude, the singular form of "Magi" is "Magus"

Mancour fancies himself a James Clavell. The fact is he is nowhere near as good a writer as he thinks he is. His vision is clever and entertaining, but there are no Hugo awards in this guy's future.

I have no problems with the narration, however. The above-average reading performance from John Lee is nearly redeeming. His tone, timbre, and voice-acting are impressive. Lee's lilting cadence remains awkward (and setting the playback speed to 1.15X is necessary to render it tolerable), but the production standards from Podium Audio are commendable (this audiobook is easy to listen to for hours).

I bought books 3+4 of the 'Spellmonger' series on the strength of my friend's recommendation, creditable narration, and the tantalizing aspects of Terry Mancour's vision.. but after sitting through this 3/10 effort, I returned them.
I suspect if you really enjoyed Book One ('Spellmonger'), you'll find 'Warmage' worth a Credit - but if you were thinking "meh" (as I was) don't bother.

[Out of respect for my friend's assessment skills, I will give the series one more chance: one of the Novellas - a different format - might improve the experience.. but I'm no longer curious if it will be up to my personal standards. Rather, I'm just hopeful that Mancour will surprise me..]

Book is read sideways.

Someone needs to teach Terry Mancour how to organize a book. It keeps switching back and forth between two seasons. This is actually two books spliced together with alternating chapters. Chapter one should be chapter 9 or 11. Chapter two is actually chapter one, chapter four is chapter two and so forth.

I understand writing flashback chapters here and there when it's important, but half this book is "flashback chapters" and they are all plot relevant in order, not pertaining to what happened the chapter before.

What's worse is that chapter 2 takes place right where book one ends, so all of chapter one you are confused and think that you missed a bunch of stuff.

Also, John Lee the Narrator sounds like a text to speech robot whenever he does any male character, so that also lessons the experience.

Takes me away to a fantasy world!

Very entertaining! Love the humor, fantasy and characters. Would rate it a 5-star but find that some chapters tend to draw out unnecessary details. Nevertheless, I plan to continue the journey with the book series with excitement!

Author doesn't really know how relationships work.

The Author has some neat idea about magic, but as far women and relationships go, he's a bit delusional. It's random enough that I can roll my eyes and just skip ahead a bit.

Excellent book, I really enjoyed it.

Good story, great performance, all around enjoyable. I look forward to continuing the series and seeing where it goes.

Nice world to explore

The first book of this series was a suggestion based on previous purchases. Ordered it, and was pleasantly surprised. Some other reviews mention readers not enjoying the long descriptions and discussions, but I find that they help us understanding the economics and political aspects of Mancour's world, and help with character development.

I find myself laughing out loud in the barn (I listen to Audiobooks while cleaning my horses' stalls), and scared the crap out of the barn cats a few times. the Spellmonger is not the kind of hero that most expect, as he's brutally honest with his weaknesses, and that makes me enjoying him if the way he sees things is not exactly pure and good. Some story lines are predictable I find, but the manner the author takes us to them is entertaining.

I ended up ordering the 4 first volumes, and will likely listen to most of the series as I receive my monthly credits. Some of the volumes seem a little short compared to this one, which makes me a little upset to be spending the same amount of "credit" than on a 30 hour one.