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Mages of Martir #1
The Mage's Grave
Book One in the Mages of Martir series
Thirty-five-year-old Darek Takren always did his best to keep up with the demands of the prestigious North Academy, a magical school where only those with the drive to succeed are allowed to learn. Having lived in the school for his whole life, Darek Takren sees North Academy as his home, a sanctuary safe from the troubles that plague the outside world.
But when his best friend is injured in an unexpected attack on the school, Darek Takren's struggle to uncover the attacker's identity leads him into a much deeper scheme that, if successful, will spell the end not only for the school, but for the whole world and the gods themselves.
And he may not have what it takes to stop it.
Thirty-five-year-old Darek Takren always did his best to keep up with the demands of the prestigious North Academy, a magical school where only those with the drive to succeed are allowed to learn. Having lived in the school for his whole life, Darek Takren sees North Academy as his home, a sanctuary safe from the troubles that plague the outside world.
But when his best friend is injured in an unexpected attack on the school, Darek Takren's struggle to uncover the attacker's identity leads him into a much deeper scheme that, if successful, will spell the end not only for the school, but for the whole world and the gods themselves.
And he may not have what it takes to stop it.
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First published March 9, 2015
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About the author
Timothy L. Cerepaka
40 books30 followersTimothy L. Cerepaka was born in Austin, Texas, although he was raised in the small town of Cherokee Texas, where he was homeschooled by his parents and where he still lives today.
In 2014, Timothy decided to get serious about his dream and began pursuing his writing career. After founding the independent press known as Annulus Publishing to publish his work, Timothy published his first book, the epic fantasy novel titled The Mad Voyage of Prince Malock, in June of 2014, following it up over the next few months with the next three installments in his Prince Malock World series of fantasy novels.
Although Timothy reads all types of books in many different genres, his primary interests are in fantasy and science-fiction, though he enjoys a good mystery novel every now and then. This is reflected in his major writer influences: Greg Farshtey, J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, and Rachel Aaron. He also enjoys the Sherlock Holmes books and stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, having read all of them several times each.
You can contact Timothy L. Cerepaka through his website at http://www.timothylcerepaka.com/ or via Twitter at @TimothyCerepaka.
In 2014, Timothy decided to get serious about his dream and began pursuing his writing career. After founding the independent press known as Annulus Publishing to publish his work, Timothy published his first book, the epic fantasy novel titled The Mad Voyage of Prince Malock, in June of 2014, following it up over the next few months with the next three installments in his Prince Malock World series of fantasy novels.
Although Timothy reads all types of books in many different genres, his primary interests are in fantasy and science-fiction, though he enjoys a good mystery novel every now and then. This is reflected in his major writer influences: Greg Farshtey, J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, and Rachel Aaron. He also enjoys the Sherlock Holmes books and stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, having read all of them several times each.
You can contact Timothy L. Cerepaka through his website at http://www.timothylcerepaka.com/ or via Twitter at @TimothyCerepaka.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 2, 2016
The Mage's Grave
The author gave me a free ebook copy of the book. In exchange for his generosity, I'll write an honest review about it. Thank you, Mr. Cerepaka !
This book is simply epic and peculiar! A story about trust, faith and betrayal.
Our protagonist Darek Takren is a student from North Academy, also a pagomancer in training. It’s his specialty, in case you don’t know, pagomancer is a magi who specializes the ice element, also known as Pagomancy. Here’s the definition of Pagomancy taken from the mastertopforum.net;
Pagomancy is ice magic. Magi who specialize in Pagomancy are called Pagomancers. Pagomancers are usually rather cool-headed and calm. They tend to be loners or ruthless in nature (AKA cold-blooded). They are known for being hard to anger, but that makes them no less dangerous. Their element of ice sometimes requires they have water, but generally are able to do without. Pagomancers can summon Ice Elementals, which can boost their magic, or provide extra firepower.
That is what our protagonist is, a pagomancer. And, he’s training.
North Academy is a school for mages located at the middle of Great Berg, a north pole-like place far-far away from the other civilization, but the school ground is made of a heat stone that makes the place lukewarm. There's an ice wall to keep other creatures out of their territory protects the school, which is awesome.
Darek, is no doubt, a gary stu. He's perfect and fearless. However, I did not have any problem about it. Thousands of novels that has released, in any genre, the protagonist is either a mary sue or a gary stu. They're either annoying, stupid or infuriating. However, Darek is an exception because he's brave and, well, scared and confused. He doesn't know what to do, everything/everyone around him is in danger and he wants to know whose behind in all of what's happened. He’s not entirely unique or different, but he’s a protagonist I’d watch out for.
I have to say, after a couple of pages in the beginning the action began. The plot fast paced and the writing is simple which made it easier to read. Although, there isn't much explanation and the lack of world building kind of, confused me of some sort because it's chopped and I have a lot of questions.
The dialogues between the characters were okay, scattered but don’t feel messy. It was witty and it felt entirely different because the way the gods speak is like talking to a normal person, you don’t feel their power, their dominance or authority but you know they’re dangerous. This novel was really, really peculiar I tell you.
The story has two perspectives: Darek and Durima.
Durima is a kataban, magical creature centuries old, is a bear-like creature. She's a servant from a ghostly god, I won't say much because I don't want to spoil anything. She works along with her sidekick Gujak, a tree.
They're like Rocket and Groot, especially Durima, she's very much like Rocket. I love both of them! They're interesting to read and they add excitement to the story because of their adventures and missions. I was never bored throughout the story, except that the text is small and my phone's screen is too small, which made it somewhat difficult to read. It’s a world I would love to live in, but I’m too afraid because there are weird creatures that makes me uneasy. Especially those Aquarians, they remind me so much of a Courage the Cowardly Dog episode.
The mythology and mystery surrounding the novel kept me invested, as always. I'm a sucker for paranormal mysteries because I always make my own assumptions like, who's behind all of this, who's the villain, who's going to die and who's who. However, I already knew who was behind the incidents in the North Academy and I was very happy because I was right.
Nevertheless, it didn't spoiled the story for me because I was still swept off my feet because of the twist at the last 15% of the book. I thought I had it all figured out.
As I said, the lack of world building rather bothered me because I have a lot of questions. Like, why are there other creatures? Why do they have different languages? Why is North Academy in the middle of North Pole? I think we'll have answers on the book 2. Anyway, I recommend this to all of you who likes fantasy and a different kind of book.
***Update January 3, 2016***
I just realized that I haven't rated this book yet like, how did I forget to rate this book?
The author gave me a free ebook copy of the book. In exchange for his generosity, I'll write an honest review about it. Thank you, Mr. Cerepaka !
This book is simply epic and peculiar! A story about trust, faith and betrayal.
Our protagonist Darek Takren is a student from North Academy, also a pagomancer in training. It’s his specialty, in case you don’t know, pagomancer is a magi who specializes the ice element, also known as Pagomancy. Here’s the definition of Pagomancy taken from the mastertopforum.net;
Pagomancy is ice magic. Magi who specialize in Pagomancy are called Pagomancers. Pagomancers are usually rather cool-headed and calm. They tend to be loners or ruthless in nature (AKA cold-blooded). They are known for being hard to anger, but that makes them no less dangerous. Their element of ice sometimes requires they have water, but generally are able to do without. Pagomancers can summon Ice Elementals, which can boost their magic, or provide extra firepower.
That is what our protagonist is, a pagomancer. And, he’s training.
North Academy is a school for mages located at the middle of Great Berg, a north pole-like place far-far away from the other civilization, but the school ground is made of a heat stone that makes the place lukewarm. There's an ice wall to keep other creatures out of their territory protects the school, which is awesome.
Darek, is no doubt, a gary stu. He's perfect and fearless. However, I did not have any problem about it. Thousands of novels that has released, in any genre, the protagonist is either a mary sue or a gary stu. They're either annoying, stupid or infuriating. However, Darek is an exception because he's brave and, well, scared and confused. He doesn't know what to do, everything/everyone around him is in danger and he wants to know whose behind in all of what's happened. He’s not entirely unique or different, but he’s a protagonist I’d watch out for.
I have to say, after a couple of pages in the beginning the action began. The plot fast paced and the writing is simple which made it easier to read. Although, there isn't much explanation and the lack of world building kind of, confused me of some sort because it's chopped and I have a lot of questions.
The dialogues between the characters were okay, scattered but don’t feel messy. It was witty and it felt entirely different because the way the gods speak is like talking to a normal person, you don’t feel their power, their dominance or authority but you know they’re dangerous. This novel was really, really peculiar I tell you.
The story has two perspectives: Darek and Durima.
Durima is a kataban, magical creature centuries old, is a bear-like creature. She's a servant from a ghostly god, I won't say much because I don't want to spoil anything. She works along with her sidekick Gujak, a tree.
They're like Rocket and Groot, especially Durima, she's very much like Rocket. I love both of them! They're interesting to read and they add excitement to the story because of their adventures and missions. I was never bored throughout the story, except that the text is small and my phone's screen is too small, which made it somewhat difficult to read. It’s a world I would love to live in, but I’m too afraid because there are weird creatures that makes me uneasy. Especially those Aquarians, they remind me so much of a Courage the Cowardly Dog episode.
The mythology and mystery surrounding the novel kept me invested, as always. I'm a sucker for paranormal mysteries because I always make my own assumptions like, who's behind all of this, who's the villain, who's going to die and who's who. However, I already knew who was behind the incidents in the North Academy and I was very happy because I was right.
Nevertheless, it didn't spoiled the story for me because I was still swept off my feet because of the twist at the last 15% of the book. I thought I had it all figured out.
As I said, the lack of world building rather bothered me because I have a lot of questions. Like, why are there other creatures? Why do they have different languages? Why is North Academy in the middle of North Pole? I think we'll have answers on the book 2. Anyway, I recommend this to all of you who likes fantasy and a different kind of book.
***Update January 3, 2016***
I just realized that I haven't rated this book yet like, how did I forget to rate this book?
January 19, 2016
I grabbed a free copy from Amazon but unfortunately discovered after the first two chapters that this book is not for me. Everything was kind of OK but simply not for me.
December 31, 2018
There may have been a half-decent story buried in here somewhere. Unfortunately, the quality of the writing meant that I, certainly, couldn't find it.
The author seems to think that we the readers cannot draw any conclusions for ourselves, and thus absolutely everything is very explicitly stated on at least one occasion, and on top of this there were multiple times when we were told rather than shown. Superfluous words and phrases, a character who manages to speak in brackets, the first book I think I've ever read which include '/'s, and little things like "deceased corpse" distracted further. There were cliches aplenty ('I'm the villain! What? You want to know my plan? Well...I probably shouldn't, but okay!'), and so much foreshadowing that nothing was ever a surprise.
I have literally no desire to read another book in this series, or - in all honesty - anything else by this author.
The author seems to think that we the readers cannot draw any conclusions for ourselves, and thus absolutely everything is very explicitly stated on at least one occasion, and on top of this there were multiple times when we were told rather than shown. Superfluous words and phrases, a character who manages to speak in brackets, the first book I think I've ever read which include '/'s, and little things like "deceased corpse" distracted further. There were cliches aplenty ('I'm the villain! What? You want to know my plan? Well...I probably shouldn't, but okay!'), and so much foreshadowing that nothing was ever a surprise.
I have literally no desire to read another book in this series, or - in all honesty - anything else by this author.
May 14, 2017
Very ordinary fantasy novel – not recommended
This fantasy novel deals with a world in which there are hundreds of gods and schools of magic. Our hero, Darek, finds himself involved in a fight between two very powerful beings. This is the first volume of a series and I will not be looking out for any further volumes.
The writing is stilted and hackneyed: it's simple language and dialogue, sounding artificial. As youy will gather, I was less than impressed with the style and the plot is nothing special.
This fantasy novel deals with a world in which there are hundreds of gods and schools of magic. Our hero, Darek, finds himself involved in a fight between two very powerful beings. This is the first volume of a series and I will not be looking out for any further volumes.
The writing is stilted and hackneyed: it's simple language and dialogue, sounding artificial. As youy will gather, I was less than impressed with the style and the plot is nothing special.
January 14, 2026
If you really love world and character building and introductions and want to get DEEP into something you might enjoy this, but for me within the first few chapters I'd met like 25 characters and was struggling to keep the names straight and I hadn't been given a hook, a reason to care and so unfortunately this was one of VERY few books in my life that I just couldn't keep reading, I'll power through most things but I just can't stay focused on so much immediate fluff and whiplash and just. bulk.
June 19, 2017
Good read
It's a good book but not one that I would buy the next n the series. Someone younger would probably like it better and get the series.
It's a good book but not one that I would buy the next n the series. Someone younger would probably like it better and get the series.
August 5, 2019
A good argument for traditional publishers.
February 5, 2021
Hard to push myself through it, and lost interest st some point.
August 29, 2021
Great book
Great story and characters and great plot development definately looking forward to reading more of his books in the future
Great story and characters and great plot development definately looking forward to reading more of his books in the future
May 4, 2015
Torn this time between giving three stars or four. I settled on four, but in truth, I think it should be three and a half.
The Mage's Grave was a great story. It was well-presented, and the pacing was great.
I just had a bit of an issue with the language used. In the first place, for an epic medieval fantasy, it uses a few idioms and sayings that appeared out of place, like "out for the count" or "right off the bat", and there are some other boxing analogies as well - I don't think boxing or baseball/cricket were invented in those days, although I could be wrong.
Staying with the language, there's lots of repetition, particularly when a scene contains two or more characters, and the author repeats one character's name sometimes three times in a single sentence. I understand the reasoning behind this, of course - you want to avoid using "he" too many times or the reader will begin to get confused about which "he" you meant. But there's a better way, and that is to come up with different ways to refer to the same person... or just change the sentence structure so this is not a problem to begin with.
Still, if you enjoy a good old fashion fantasy story, and don't mind language which might be more suited to a slightly younger audience, you should check it out.
I'm definitely going to be picking up the second book in the series.
The Mage's Grave was a great story. It was well-presented, and the pacing was great.
I just had a bit of an issue with the language used. In the first place, for an epic medieval fantasy, it uses a few idioms and sayings that appeared out of place, like "out for the count" or "right off the bat", and there are some other boxing analogies as well - I don't think boxing or baseball/cricket were invented in those days, although I could be wrong.
Staying with the language, there's lots of repetition, particularly when a scene contains two or more characters, and the author repeats one character's name sometimes three times in a single sentence. I understand the reasoning behind this, of course - you want to avoid using "he" too many times or the reader will begin to get confused about which "he" you meant. But there's a better way, and that is to come up with different ways to refer to the same person... or just change the sentence structure so this is not a problem to begin with.
Still, if you enjoy a good old fashion fantasy story, and don't mind language which might be more suited to a slightly younger audience, you should check it out.
I'm definitely going to be picking up the second book in the series.
November 13, 2015
The Mage's Grave
This book has great potential, but for three things: an abrupt ending obviously designed to sell the next installment; too many faulty word and tense choices; and much redundancy within sentences. The word choices and redundancy caused reading backups to attempt to clarify the intent of the author. With all the backups and rereading I feel as though I read the thing twice. Nice world building. Decent character development. An interesting plot. With a good editor, this book shows great potential.
This book has great potential, but for three things: an abrupt ending obviously designed to sell the next installment; too many faulty word and tense choices; and much redundancy within sentences. The word choices and redundancy caused reading backups to attempt to clarify the intent of the author. With all the backups and rereading I feel as though I read the thing twice. Nice world building. Decent character development. An interesting plot. With a good editor, this book shows great potential.
November 9, 2016
Three and a half actually. The story was good, the world imaginative. The Characters were mostly well played or written. The dialogue made it seem like a YA or even Mid Grade book, there was nothing that I saw that said it was either. I could have missed something.
The action was good even though a tiny bit slow in places. Over all a nice fun read.
I will be getting the second book.
The action was good even though a tiny bit slow in places. Over all a nice fun read.
I will be getting the second book.
November 17, 2015
Is a great book to read
January 4, 2016
Amazing book
One of the best books I have read for along time couldn't put it down looking forward to reading the rest of the series
One of the best books I have read for along time couldn't put it down looking forward to reading the rest of the series
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews