Spoilers ahead, you have been warned!

A corrupted power stirs from beyond the grave.
A sacred order of knights sworn to protect the world from evil.
The Necromancer Queen will rise again.

That passage had me hooked from the start.
I loved reading this, even as it tore my heart out.
I went back and forth constantly between loving and hating Sareya and her relationship with Anskar. She as a character drove me mad! I rooted for her, I hated her, I loved her and I cursed at her for being an idiot.

Anskar was not exempt from this either. His motives were so understandable, and I completely got his fear at different points. But there were several moments when I wanted to reach into the book and shake him.

The ending left me going "NO! I need to know more, now!"

As usual with Mitchell Hogan, it was a rollercoaster of a book. Thank you NetGalley and Mr. Hogan for allowing me to have an e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Crucible Press and the author, Mitchell Hogan, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of Incursion in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
What a fabulous first book in this authors new series! I couldn't put it down.
Such a well executed storyline with memorable characters. I can't wait for book two.
Well worth a read.

Incursion by Mitchell Hogan, just not for me. I struggled all thru this book to connect to it and never really did. I think other will enjoy it but it simply wasn't for me. Thank you for giving me a chance with this book.

This is my first Mitchell Hogan book. I liked this book more than i thought i would. The element of mystery kept me gripped to the story. The premise of this book is pretty classic for fantasy but it was well executed. I also enjoyed the fact that the romance was not the main point but still was well done. I'm looking forward to the next book in this series.

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a good story. Solid world building and an interesting hook into this world with the destruction of a city by the Necromancer queen Talia and a mysterious prophecy about Talia's daughter that everyone is searching. Fast forward several years and you have Anskar, Saraya, Orix and others working to become knights while Carred is continuing a faltering rebellion to take back the land for the Niyas. There is lots of action and even though I guessed the twist, I still enjoyed reading it. Be warned though that this ends on a pretty big cliffhanger!

I read up to the 35% mark (the first twelve chapters) before I sadly decided not to continue with this book. I should note from the outset that this wasn't a badly written book and I'm sure many readers will genuinely really enjoy it, but it wasn't for me.

My main issue was that I found the plot very predictable, and felt like it rehashed a lot of tropes from the genre without really adding anything new (I love stories about necromancy, so the series title was a big part of what drew me to this book, but it only played a very minor role in the third of this book that I read). I also felt like the story was a little too bloated - I didn't think the multi-page scenes of fight lessons or forging techniques really added a lot to the story, and would have preferred to see that space spent advancing other aspects of the story. With so many books out there to read (and so little time), the story needed to do more to keep my interest.

On the plus side, I thought Carred was an interesting character and enjoyed what I did read of her story - her backstory with Queen Talia was a particular point of curiousity for me, I also thought the magic system had the potential to be a unique selling point - particularly the way that characters formed connections with the magic source - though I would have liked to have seen more regarding the purpose of having said magic.

Thanks for the opportunity to read and review.

ARC provided via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

I decided to read this book because of the necromancy, it is a kind of magic that I had read just a couple of times before and I was really interested in exploring it more. My first problem with Incursion is that, from the most part of the book, there isn't any necromancy and it kind of promises that with the premise and with the title of the series so I was a little disappointed while reading it.

This is the first installement in a new fantasy series called The Necromancer’s Key that starts off with the dead of The Necromancer Queen and her kingdom is taken by the Knights of the Order of the Eternal Vigilance. The main character, Anskar, has been training to become a knight and has to face some trials in order to achieve his goal.

Overall, I just found this book boring. I think that the plot has a lot of elements for me to like it but I didn’t connect with the execution of it and with the pacing. It took me a while to get through it and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I expected to. The twists didn’t surprise me and, in general, I kept reading because I wanted to finish me.

It hurts me a lot to say all of this because I think that this story had a huge potential to become one of my favorites but it didn’t work out for me and that’s okay. That doesn’t mean that you are not going to enjoy Incursion, it is my personal opinion and my experience reading it. If you are into fantasy with dark elements, characters with depth and great personalities and some mystery vibes, I think you might enjoy this story and I recommend that you give it a chance.

I was given a free copy of Incursion by Mitchell Hogan, the author, Crucible Press, and Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Incursion is the first by Mr. Hogan that I have read. I think I would characterize this novel as epic fantasy.
This review will not contain any spoilers.

Mr. Hogan did a very credible job in the world-building and setting for this novel. Initially, I was intrigued in the main character and one of the major minor characters until they started to have a relationship, and I was no longer intrigued because it felt like teen romance. The romance took me out of the story, but this could be due to personal pet peeve and not as to way the author wrote it.

The author created an interesting magic system based on tides, dusk, dawn, and the like.

The main character is interesting and appears to be the chosen one. The way Mr. Hogan presented the main character’s arc is twisty, curvy, and has a couple of surprises. The minor and side characters are fleshed out, interesting, and engaging.

Another thing this author did well is making the antagonist sympathetic and interesting. Mr. Hogan does a commendable job in presenting the antagonist’s character arc and the cause she is championing.

Mr. Hogan is not treading new ground with this story, but the novel is very interesting. Sure, there are some dead spots and the story lags, especially some parts in the middle, but concludes very nicely, and sets things up rather nicely for the next novel.

I will rate this novel 4 stars. I will keep an eye out for the sequel to this novel.

I would like to thank Mitchell Hogan, Crucible Press, and Net Galley for the free ARC.

I liked this bool even though I didn't expect to. There is an element of mystery present around the death of necromancer queen and her daughter which keeps the reader engaged and gripped till the end. The premise of knights in training and a confused boy who when starts to experience weird insticts starts to question everything he has known and also there's an intriguing mystery around him. This book was provided to me by the publisher(s) in exchange for an honest review for free.

Ok, do not let the four out of five stars stop you from reading this book. I gave it four out of five because to me the author was a tad bit long winded in my opinion. Otherwise the story was wonderful and I can not wait till the next one is out. I want to see who Talia's child is and if it is who I think it is. The plot lines and secrecy in this book keeps you guessing and assuming throughout your read. I look forward to seeing what the next one produces.

A good start for an epic fantasy series. Good world building and character development, an entertaining and engrossing plot.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Hogan has produced a wonderful dark fantasy novel – the first in a new trilogy – set in the same world as Revenant Winds. On the surface this looks like a very typical fantasy and it certainly hits the expected genre bets, however it’s also about a religious war; good versus evil except who is good and who is evil depends entirely on whose pov you’re in! This was multi layered, fast paced and intelligent. I look forward to the rest of the series.

Looks like a good start to a series. It includes an interesting plot with multiple threads, a nice take on the fuzzy definition of good and evil, and crafted characters. Fantasy is not one of favorite genres, but this was enjoyable and well written,

Thanks very much for the review copy!!

My thanks to Mitchell Hogan and Netgalley.
I've been darned lucky lately with the fantasy books I've chosen and been allowed to read through Netgalley.
This book is one of a trilogy. Dang, I hate that!
This is really a story of white versus red. One religious order against another.
Sounds simple. Something we've all heard before.
This is also a story about magic. Good against evil. But, maybe not. Good is never clear cut. Evil is never so ill defined.
I'm really looking forward to the rest of this story. I am slightly angry that the Knight's kept quiet. I usually prefer to choose a side, but for now? It's a soft pass.
Go Reds! Maybe..