Reviews

Spellmonger by Terry Mancour

nevinera's review against another edition

2.0

It's.. it's fine. Nothing stood out as really awful, it just didn't really seem to have much to say. I read the first one, and got halfway through the second novel before I realized how little I cared about any of the characters; the protagonist seems to be a pretty crummy person, and he shows no outstanding character traits at all. It feels a lot like the author wrote a plot outline, and a character summary, but didn't really understand that the two need to be related.

romoon's review against another edition

Weird scenes with sex with kids
Main character is a boring Mary Sue

caleb_maneth's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

smonkchan's review

The author has a habit of lore dumping for pages on end but even worse it is written to be very sexist and does not have any women in it besides ones the main character wants to have sex with. 

komali_2's review against another edition

2.0

Had to give up on this book about 3/4 of the way through.

It starts out like a simple D&D ruled magic universe, following a wizard who's internal voice is weirdly 2017. This dichotomy between the voice of the narrator and the culture of the world he's describing to us I found jarring. Furthermore, the excessive tail-chasing just felt dumb and juvenile, maybe even gross, as if the author was living out some weird fantasy and subjecting us to it.

Character background is smashed over our heads with a sledgehammer. Characters are introduced en masse for no particular reason. Some of the main ones are fun and exciting - a sex magic witch, or a goblin that speaks Common, or a conniving but unskilled wizard that seems to find his balls and help defend commoners during a disaster. But then there's all these others that I'm not sure need to exist. All around amateurish writing.

This is one of the few books I just wasn't able to finish.

carsont's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. A simple spellmonger with an adventurous past tries to live a simple life in the country when the goblins attack the village. Now nothing will ever be the same again.

vihren's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

sirpasta's review

adventurous funny lighthearted tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Fun book, but unfortunately it is poorly edited. There are several glaring grammatical and spelling errors. Sometimes it can be confusing when the author starts a phrase in parentheses but doesn't close it, and you kinda have to guess where he meant to end it. Also, the paperback edition is printed in boring Arial font and the hand drawn map is practically useless.

evan_c's review against another edition

slow-paced

Main character can only save the day if he can have sex with his ex and everybody has to watch. Also, way too much unrelated world history.

jesslynh's review against another edition

3.0

I would have rated the book at 4 stars if not for the awful (awful) monologues about who, how and how little he cared about the women he slept with. Good god it was bad! If only the writer could go back an pull all of it out. It really bordered on misogyny.

Which is a shame, because I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the story. Here's hoping Book #2 leaves out all of the sex magic bullshit.