The Mage's Limits: Mages of Martir Book #2

Mages of Martir #2

by Timothy L. Cerepaka, Elaina Lee (Illustrator)

Book Two in the Mages of Martir series


A year after the disappearance of the dangerous god-killer called Uron, Darek Takren is torn between his desire to follow the teachings of his headmaster and his desire to achieve the limitless yet forbidden power he needs to help the gods protect the world.


To make matters worse, a powerful and charismatic mage claiming to be the son of a god has escaped from prison, seeking revenge for wrongs committed against him long ago. His targets: North Academy, the school that Darek calls home, and World's End, the island of the gods.


To save his home and his friends, Darek must infiltrate the deranged demigod's army of former criminals and kill him before it is too late. Yet when this mage offers Darek the unlimited power he desires, killing the mage no longer seems quite as simple the task as it once appeared.

Genres: Fantasy

309 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 20, 2015

About the author

Timothy 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.

Reviews

[Jonathan Fausto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mage's Limit is a solid continuation of Mage's Grave. It unlocks a few new settings that come up a bit abruptly, but they’re very compelling.
The strongest element, for me, is the twists. Most of the time, the twists are somewhat obvious, but the outcomes are still surprising. For example, when Jakuuth decides to kill Darek because he can’t achieve limitlessness on his first try—but doesn’t—and how Durima and Gujak manage to escape the Void (The Void is such a cool concept, it would be crazy in film)
A couple of frustrating points: there’s even more repetition and over-explanation of unnecessary details than in the previous book. Darek still comes across more like a teenager than a 35-year-old; if his personality is meant to stay this way, it might make more sense to actually revise his age. Another off-putting moment is right at the beginning, when Aroja wakes up checking that she wasn’t assaulted while asleep. Aside from a couple brief mentions of the prisoners of Rock Isle attempting similar acts, thie mention of it at all feels unneeded.
As I said in my review of Mage's Grave, this book is an easier read toward veteran fantasy readers who don’t mind extra exposition—or new readers with an optimistic imagination.
Also revising the book as a whole, I think the range of readers would increase
I will definitely continue the series, and I hope to have a review ready for book three, The Mage’s Sea, in the next couple of months.

[L.E. Doggett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, a good plot, characters stayed in character and acted well. This was written a few years ago but still a good read even though the writing could use help even with how I started this.