Practical Adept: Spellmonger, Book 17

(No spoilers)I finish about 2 1/2 novels a week, and to my great shame, I don't review many of them. I make exceptions for exceptional books and authors, and Practical Adept is one of them.Where to even begin? This book is massive. Like, it's almost the size of the first two Lord of the Rings books combined, minus the five-page-descriptions of a tree that never shows up again in the series. Anyways. It's a massive book, and unlike a lot of books this size, the pacing is fantastic. I read and listened to it for hours, and at no point was I bored or tempted to take a break for another book.If you've read any of the other books in the series, it's got a lot of familiar characters, but we're introduced to a few new ones. This new adventure takes place in the tropical Farise, and Minalin has been tasked with conquering it and removing the pesky pirate problem that make shipping difficult. So he decides to do it, but in his own way: under cover, cleverly, and with a dramatic flair. This book is filled with a lot of intrigue, plots and subplots, assassinations, kidnappings, ancient temples, and enough twists and turns to make a ballerina dizzy. There is a lot going on, and I can't get much more into it without giving away the plot(s). I'll emphasize again, though, it is filled with intrigue, misdirection and more of the wizardly cleverness that Minalin is known for, but I was still pleasantly surprised by a few of the plot twists, and am looking forward to see where the story continues.Lastly, quite a bit of character development happens, and for a lot of the cast too, not just "The Spellmonger", which is always fun to read when done well (like here). A small pet peeve of mine is when an author introduces a whole host of characters, only to focus solely on the dynamics of one or two of them. He does a good job of fleshing out the players, and making it seem like real time has passed during the stories, instead of blatant time skips when convenient for the plot.Overall, it was a fantastic read. A couple of small typographical/formatting errors made it through on the Kindle book at the time of this review, but those should be sorted out soon and were very minor to begin with (I counted less than four). Don't let that dissuade you from enjoying this absolute treat of a novel. I think, like me, you'll enjoy this one, too.If you're on the fence, give it a read, especially if you like well-paced fantasy that is self-aware without breaking the fourth wall. You won't regret it.

Definitely worth the wait!Another great Spellmonger adventure but with more than one interesting twists.New characters and sets up some new plot arcs.Highly recommended, eager for book 18!

The latest installment, the Spellmonger is another success. The new characters are fascinating and engaging. There are twists and turns and unexpected plot adventures that for sure will bear even greater fruit in books to come. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.

What a great job on this book. It was thought provoking and insightful the characters were well developed. I really enjoyed reading it.

Great read. Amazing characters. Enough diverse themes to keep you interested.Only complaint is the editing is not good. Misspellings, grammar issues. Annoying but certainly still a great read!

Please keep them coming! This series is so well written and the main characters so likable once I start reading I just can’t put it down. So much more to come, I can’t wait to see how it continues to unfold. Highly recommend!!

Very well written book about a wizard using his smarts, and less his brawn, to control a complicated situation. You'd think that by the 17th book in the series, the action would wind down; not even close! The story line is branching in a most interesting way. I hope the next books in the series are coming soon!

Terry Mancour has put together that rare story that never loses the excitement, depth and dynamic approach to character growth and development throughout the entire series. Can’t wait for 18 already.

I really love it! I was spellbound with the story! It was exciting and crazier than I expected! Awesome in the way the plot was made. It didn't surprise me of it's ending but I curious about it's consequences! I love it! Keep up with the great work! I can't wait for the next book!

I have enjoyed Mr Mancour's Spellmonger series from the beginning. A previous reviewer has noted that this particular book has some "hard sci-fi" elements, which has been the trend over the last few books.Despite this, I would still classify this very much as high-fantasy.Practical Adept has to be one of my favourites in the series. At times funny, at times thought-provoking, the book works well and is highly recommended.From an editing point of view, there are a few typos that are evident in the kindle edition, and towards the end there is an instance where the names of the apprentices get muddled (Ruderal is meant to be referencing Rondal, but names himself).I don't know whether Mr Mancour looks at these reviews, but if he does he may want to do a minor edit.Anyway, I have greatly enjoyed Practical Adept and am really looking forward to the next instalments.

I'm on book 17, so I obviously really enjoy the series. The world and characters keep growing, and I love it. Except for the end, which felt a bit barbaric indeed.Looking forward to seeing where this continues, and waiting for the next book is hard!But for the love of Luin's staff, please invest into spelling and typo correction 🙂 It really is distracting at times.

Great storytelling, characters and world-building continue to be the strengths of this series. Extremely entertaining, I read it in 12 hours straight, despite being 1000+ pages.

Wow! Thank you for writing this. Terry always goes above and beyond and uploads truely spectacular novels. I started reading this series when the second book was released. Every book since has been an exercise in anticipation. I follow Terry from Australia and have always wished that I could visit his pop up stalls for signed copies. If you've enjoyed this series so far then you will be overwhelmed with how good this novel is. Please read and review. Hands down this best series I've ever read.