The Last Echo of the Lord of Bells
Ratings10
Average rating4.6
A new kind of war has come to the continent of Ithos.
Airborne mage armies traverse enemy territory in utter secrecy. Vast city-liches conspire to influence events from afar, while city-states and archmages unleash strange new magics in a rapidly accelerating magical arms race. Nations and great powers that have remained quiescent for years have begun reaching out into the growing power vacuum. Magical superweapons and giant monsters are wielded by every side in an deadly tangle of alliances and factions, as each squabbling force spirals in towards their inevitable final conflict. At the center of that spiral lays the capital of the Havath Dominion, where a vengeful madman has proclaimed the precise date and time he will destroy the city.
The Last Echo will ring, and in its wake looms the threat of the Tongue Eater. Hugh and his friends are the only ones who can stop the ancient weapon, but the web of lies they've woven is fraying rapidly, and even their own allies have begun to question their mission. Monsters and archmages capable of leveling cities would stop at nothing to claim the Tongue Eater, leaving Hugh and the others with no one to trust.
And if they fail to stop the Tongue Eater, it could mean madness and death for the entire continent.
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7 primary booksMage Errant
Mage Errant is a 7-book series with 7 primary works first released in 2018 with contributions by John Bierce.
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Loved the return of the characters once again. I did feel like it went very slow and then very fast. The pacing in general wasn't really that great and a bit all over the place. I loved the story and am very sad that this is the end of the series. I do think it is a good one.
I don't really know how to feel about Alustin's ending. I didn't fully love it, but if it had ended the other way, I would also not have been satisfied. I'm not sure if it was for the best either way. Excellent books, can't wait to see what Bierce has for us next.
Great series ending to one of the og progression fantasy series. I think my only real complaint is that there were a lot of chapters with a non main character, completely new pov that don't serve to further the plot. Like a few chapters to just have “cool battle scenes” is fine but I felt like there was a significant number here when I just wanted to get back to the main story. I think everyone's arcs wrapped up well and all had their time to shine. Excited to see the gang again in a followup multiverse book.
May 20th, 2023:
A satisfying conclusion to the series and yet a little more.
Every genre has a formula unique to it. Can't write mystery without a mystery obviously and certainly can't write fantasy without an element that's outside the realm of normal possibility.
John Bierce's writing is one that does recognizes the formula but doesn't limit itself in the confines of the formula.
Mage Errant has a consistent theme of drastic situations and yet minimalizing on the depth of emotional angst as much as possible with some characters and balancing it out elsewhere to see what descisions would be made. To see how the story would play out.
It sounds artificial and yet works perfectly for this series and writing style and this conclusion followed the same idea to a T.
Therefore, I don't think this series would work for everyone, it certainly did wonders for me and I'm glad to have found it.
I also can't wait to see what else John Bierce has in store for us.
Final rating: 4.5/5
