Solid traditional epic fantasy with some familiar tropes. Hopefully book 2 opens up the story and the world even more. Recommended.

A fantasy story with good bones, first arc of getting ready to fight god. But. I just couldn't deal with the main character not listening to any one around them and constantly keeping secrets from the only people who are helping them. Just drove me up a wall and I am glad we are past that era of story. Which is a shame because the concept is right up my alley.

I enjoyed this audiobook. Rise of the Mages by Scott Drakeford is a captivating epic fantasy centered on brothers Emrael and Ban Ire, who journey to the Citadel to earn their Marks. Set against a backdrop of magic, battles, and camaraderie, the novel offers a rich exploration of its magic system and character dynamics. While the narrative occasionally dips in excitement, it rebounds with thrilling sequences, notably a bridge battle and a riveting conclusion. Readers seeking an immersive fantasy filled with intrigue and magic will eagerly anticipate the sequel.

I heard part of this book and then it was taken off of the Netgalley app so I was unable to finish. It sounded good and the plot seemed to be filling out well. Narrator was spot on. Review is based on what I heard.

I wasn’t even able to finish this book. The beginning was great and helped set the stage, but the main character was unlikable, parts of the story seemed to jump unnecessary, and some of the names and descriptions seemed ripped from other fantasy stories.

Most of the character development left you wanting more and the main character being whiny left me walking away.

I may go back and try to finish at a later date, but I doubt it.

I truly unfortunately missed the archive date on this due to some personal illness and life issues,. It's my first and hopefully last time that will ever happen, since I live for audiobooks these days due to worsening eye problems

I have read the majority of Rise of the Mages though on Kindle now so I can't comment on the audiobook, but I personally am loving the

-world build. It's clear that a lot of time and thought went into the world, names, and overall picture presented.
-political intrigue: give me more. There's no such thing as too much and I am LOVING this aspect of the book
-immersion: Drakeford doesn't break immersion with "real life" things like many fantasy authors do these days. I can get lost and stay lost, which is why I read fantasy

Obviously the four stars reflects the physical text :(

Overall I truly can't wait for book two. I apologize again for missing the audiobook archive date but I'm hoping a Kindle purchase makes up for it!

I was really hyped for this book but sadly it didn’t quite turn out the way I wanted it to. The idea was great and I love how much thought went into the different societies. The magic system was also very different and I really enjoyed learning about that.

But I was really struggling to like the MC and disagrees with his temper, decisions, and actions so much to the point that I just didn’t enjoy reading about him very much. My least favorite part about him though was probably how suddenly his interest in a girl developed after learning that she liked him. Nothing for years and then all of a sudden we’re in love. I am always very skeptical about love stories though so take that with a grain of salt. I also thought the politics were introduced too quickly at the start when I didn’t really have a grip on the basics of the story yet, which made it hard to understand what’s going on right then.

The story did find itself eventually though and had some interesting developments and based on the second half of the book, i expect the next one to be a little bit smoother of an experience.

I listened to the audiobook for this one and it was very well done. 5/5
The worldbuilding in this was great. 5/5
Unfortunately the main character bumbled his way through the story making horrible choices that left me rolling my eyes almost every time he said something or made a decision.
Finally at the 90% mark I gave up.
A lot of potential though.

In this fantasy novel our hero is Emrael Ire, a warrior in training. Together they were studying at the Citadel School when it was attacked by followers of the Fallen God of Glory. So our adventures starts.

This novel is well written and well narrated (I listened to the audiobook). Fast paced and full of great characters. Lots of adventure, peril, fighting, injuries, healing, magic and determination to win no matter what the odds. Enjoy.

I received a audio ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t know how to feel about Rise of the Mages, there were aspects in which I loved, the world building, magic system and the epic battles. But then I also found myself not caring for the characters and that it felt like the story was dragging on in some parts. I can say though that I like it enough to give it another go when I get a physical copy as opposed to listening to it.

La cubierta de Rise of the Mages me llamó mucho la atención en su día, pero entre tantos y tantos libros acabé por olvidarme de él. Pero, al ver que se había anunciado la publicación en formato audiolibro, volvió a ponerse en mi punto de mira y decidí darle una oportunidad.


La narración de John Skelley mejora y pule el texto, porque es capaz de insuflar la inocencia del protagonista al principio del libro y su proceso de maduración en la novela, una suerte de bildungsroman sonoro.

El mundo secundario en que se desarrolla Rise of the Mages es bastante arquetípico, con ese mal secular que amenaza con volver, una organización territorial que bascula en un ejercicio de equilibrio de poderes y un sistema mágico tradicional. Drakeford deja entrever que hay una amenaza más sombría que pende sobre el protagonista pero se lo guarda para las siguientes entregas de la saga, porque claro, este no es un libro único.

Algunos puntos positivos que destacar acerca del libro son el ritmo con el que está escrito, ya que es una de las cosas más difíciles de mantener escribiendo y el autor sale bastante bien librado en este sentido. Las dinámicas entre los maestros y los aprendices también reflejan la realidad más habitual en la tutoría y el aprendizaje, aunque sea con magia y espadas en vez de con escuadra y cartabón.

He mencionado antes el sistema mágico, basado en la energía natural de las cosas llamada infusori. Lo que más me llama la atención es el estilo algo steampunk que mezcla esta magia con tecnología para la vida diaria, como por ejemplo lámparas iluminadas con infusori. Pero luego, resulta un poco anticlimático que el protagonista sea capaz de utilizarlo apenas sin formación. Se acaba una cansando de the chosen one (TM) lo tenga todo de cara siempre.

La opera prima de Scott Drakeford es el inicio de una saga de fantasía correcto, pero tampoco tiene elementos que la hagan destacar sobre la miríada de novedades de género que inundan los estantes de las librerías. Y es que es bastante difícil destacar entre tanto libro y aunque Drakeford escribe bastante bien, pues no deja de ser lo que es.

Personally, I would’ve enjoyed more character development & relationship building between all the seemingly nonstop action. It was difficult for me to get invested in what was happening because there wasn’t enough world & character building. Unsure if I will continue this series.
3.75 of 5 ⭐️

I had to set this book aside after about 40% I couldn't get into it. Everything was quite... meh. I didn't care for the writing. The plot took too long to get around to. It's almost like this book didn't know what it wanted to be, so it tried being everything and nothing. I also kept getting lost in the timeline with the character constantly remembering things from their past. Not the book for me.

The world-building was positively exceptional, the depth clear and crisp and brilliant. One of those raw stories where you can tell how clearly and thoroughly the author cares, and understand how deeply our main character cares as well.

I imagine people who enjoyed works perhaps more like Red Rising might enjoy this novel--notably, I didn't enjoy Red Rising (for a plethora of reasons, most of which don't apply here, but that same "masculine" fantasy vibe does, as does,,,, just the feeling of the work, however to explain that).

I read this book, and I can recognize that it was very well-written. I love the author. But I found it slightly too predictable, the romance uninteresting (as someone who enjoys a romance sub-plot lol), the characters at times frustrating. I also found Star Wars boring, and this also gives Star Wars vibes, so there's that. All to say it just... wasn't for me.

The narrator did a great job. I was amused by how many times Emrael thought that for sure he was gonna die, "realized" he was about to die, and kinda just didn't. One of those things that's hard to sell as an author unless MCD is a legitimate possibility. The exploration into his and Ban's past was interesting, as was the relationship to his mother and father (though I was not exactly a fan of how the latter goes, in part due to predictability, but more cuz,,,, well. Spoilers.). However, I finished this book because I felt obligated to, and because I really wanted to eventually hit some spark and suddenly love it. I don't know why this book isn't more popular. It should be--among dude-bros, if nothing else, but also the larger breadth of epic fantasy readership--but marketing is a bitch, I suppose.

You may very well love this book. There are so many things to admire, particularly if you absolutely adore plot-focused narratives. A great story, and a fantastic work--just not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing the audio arc of this book.

Again NetGalley sent me the 🎧 audio for RISE OF THE MAGES 🎧
I am re-Listening 🎧to this debut !!!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars

Scott Drakeford's RISE OF THE MAGES ……….you really root for the underdog in this one… good vs Evil…..
exceptional & innovative story, with a unique magic system, In a entrancing world!

Political intrigue, a family overthrown, a fallen God….. action packed!

infusori
what a name,
if you wanna know what it means you gotta read the book I give this book
5 stars
⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
excellent
excellent
excellent!!!

Much thanks to Netgalley and the publisher RB Media/Recorded Books for providing me an ALC in exchange for my honest review! The audiobook will be publicly released on October 10, 2023.

Rise of the Mages starts off with a very promising and mysterious prologue. We get thrown into a world in which a god is rising! The narrative then turns to our protagonist, Emrael, who excitedly anticipates his entrance into the Citadel for military and magic training. Widespread upheaval and an attack on the academy lead to Emrael and his friends running around and trying to save Em’s brother Ban.

Unfortunately, this book just did not work for me in just about every aspect. Rise of the Mages is a plot driven book and sacrifices characterization and world building. None of the main characters felt real; they did not possess particularly interesting or distinct personalities or back stories. Also, I got no sense of atmosphere, place, or rich imagery while reading—which is what I needed for the traveling to not become stale. There was violence, but overall the plot meandered. Finally, Emrael as the protagonist made it very hard for me to engage with the story. He’s singleminded in his pursuit of saving his brother. Emrael the young man reads like a young boy and makes very naive, shortsighted, and impulsive decisions. Even if I could put logic aside, I needed to have some investment in Emrael and Ban's relationship, but that brotherly bond was not established before the events took off.

I really enjoyed the first 10 percent and last 10 percent of the book. If only the rest of the plot had layered in some complexity of character, world, politics… or at least the god-aspect that made the prologue so fascinating. It seems the author may have saved up plot to stretch into the next book or two, but I would have appreciated more layering and/or teasing of it in this book. Overall, the book made for a quick-paced and action-filled story that I can see some readers having fun reading.

Also, the narration was a plus! John Skelley delivered a sharp, solid performance.

I really wanted to love this book, but I just didn't. I enjoyed the audio narration for the most part. The narrator absolutely nailed the action scenes, but the slower moments with a lot of dialogue weren't as enjoyable.

I think this book will appeal to fans of fights and battles and main characters with over the top magical abilities.

I felt like some of the action scenes were added just to insert yet another action scene and did little, if anything, to further either the plot or character development. I wanted to like the main character, Em, but his character development left a little to be desired. Also, even though I thought the world building was impressive and very detailed, I think some of the long, info dumping dialogue could have been left on the figurative cutting room floor: the book's plot would have been tighter and faster paced if those scenes had been cut back.

this is a good first book in an epic fantasy trilogy.

it has many of those likable features of traditional epic fantasy: prince coming of age, secretive and powerful enemies from far away lands, travelogues, swords and horses, battlemages, healers, secretive mentors, and love interests that were there in the protags peripheral vision all along. in my opinion, it is a good option for readers looking for a good swords and magic option like they've read before, as well as anyone looking for something that mostly checks those boxes with some new ideas that don't break the genre. anyone who is easily angered by perceived overdone fantasy tropes might look to a friend or more specific review to check which are or are not present. i'll repeat good commentary that i've heard before: anything done well ceases to be cliche.

in addition to more common epic fantasy components we've seen already, rise of the mages has a good ""magic as crafting"" feature. it also has hints of roman legion style warfare and command structures. i didn't find either of those to break the immersion in the fantasy world, and i anticipate they will play larger roles in subsequent books.

the protagonist is initially a young man, and we see several young male issues with him: he is impetuous, intelligent but not open to outside assistance if it isn't what he wants, too talented for his own good, forced into a situation he isn't ready to handle, and chronically annoyed with his mother to the point of ignoring her positive qualities. he does love his brother, though, and is willing to wreck anything in his path to save his brother.

as it turns out, the dark returned god has family issues also, and the repercussions of that dynamic look to become more clear in subsequent books.