Call of Wizardry

Company of Strangers #6

by Melissa McShane

THE FINAL CHALLENGE

With their quest nearly over and the coming of age ritual complete, Sienne and her companions prepare to challenge the wizard who enslaved Alaric’s people. But a message from an unexpected source reveals terrible news about the identity of the wizard’s latest hostage…Alaric’s beloved younger sister.

In a desperate attempt to save her life and destroy the wizard, the companions travel to a secret valley in the far north, challenging the combined might of the enslaved unicorns and the most powerful wizard in the world. All their adventures have led them to this moment—but nothing has prepared them for what comes next.

The epic conclusion to the Company of Strangers series, full of terrible danger and heroic sacrifice.

Genres: Fantasy

358 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 28, 2020

About the author

Melissa grew up a nomad, following her family all over the United States, and ended up living in the shadow of the Wasatch Mountains with her husband, four kids, and three very needy cats. Her love of reading was always a constant during those uncertain years, and her love of writing grew out of that. She wrote reviews and critical essays for many years before turning to fiction, and was surprised at how much she liked it. She loves the fantasy genre and how it stretches the imagination.

Reviews

[Jacob Proffitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the conclusion to a series that builds character and story arcs over time, so you definitely want to read these in order. And hurry to this one because it is awesome!

My non-standard disclaimer applies, as with all of Melissa's books. The author and I are . . . close. Like, she's sitting next to me, doing crossword puzzles on her tablet, as I write. I do my best to be honest and hope I have some success with that endeavor, but feel free to take it all with a grain of however much salt you deem appropriate.

At this point in a series, I often say "you know what to expect because you've been along for the ride so far." Not for this one. Yes, the characters are all you'd expect, and some of the story arcs continue (and conclude) with this one. But they're going up against the wizard and he is exactly as powerful and nasty as you'd think based on what Alaric has related. One of my favorite parts is how very much he isn't an arch-villain in his own head. His evil is that of the intellectual so completely caught up in his vision that he treats others as things to be manipulated for his overriding purpose. He seems completely surprised that anybody could object, let alone with lethal intent but he's more than willing to be completely ruthless in his "cause". Such banal evil turns out to be deeply creepy, I think.

This book is also where the group bond is tested to its straining point. They've become stronger together than they ever could be apart—and they know it in a deeply visceral way. But knowing that and trusting it when all the chips are on the table and everything seems to be falling apart? Well, that's going to take some conviction and no small amount of faith and determination. I was deeply moved at the climax of this story and so glad it came together so strongly.

Anyway, I've loved Sienne from the start and seeing her and her friends see this very difficult task through and triumph in the end, despite setbacks and tragedy along the way, made me the kind of happy that involves tears (because I am just that kind of guy). And that's always a five-star event in my book.

A note about Chaste: Alaric and Sienne are very comfortable in their relationship and that explicitly includes sex. But physical intimacy isn't really relevant to the story, so none of that happens on-page. So I tag these as chaste, though those with more strict definitions will probably disagree.

A technical note: Something seems to be broken in my kindle highlights with this story and they haven't synced to GR. I'm not sure what's up with that and it makes me sad because I really wanted to share some of those highlights!
A technical unnote: And there they are! Enjoy!

[Sherwood Smith]

This is the last of the series, and quite a rollercoaster ride. Our scrapper team has come so far, but this last challenge (pair of challenges, one of them personal, well entwined) tests their abilities, and their emotions, to the max, as they go to rescue Alaric's people from the wizard who has held them in thrall for centuries.

The book is full of high tension moments, but also nifty ones. Like the handling of the five-hundred year old wizard who is appalled by the changes in the world that have pretty much left him behind, and the ways the avatars of the gods interact with people in the temporal line. And I really liked the king.

I was sad to see this book come to an end, partly because I enjoyed the company, and partly because I'd love to see the changes rung by some of their discoveries, but McShane resolved things well, plus added an afterward about the origins of the project.

This is a series best read in order, as each builds on the previous. The beginning of each book does a good job of reminding the reader who everyone is, and their main personal stakes. It's the type of fantasy I enjoy, with fun worldbuilding and memorable characters who grow and change.

I bought the first one, then volunteered for the reading team, so I got the rest as ARCs, but I would have happily bought them all.

Copy provided by author.

[Melissa McShane]

And here we reach the end of the journey. It's always a bittersweet feeling to come to the end of a series. I feel quite satisfied with how this one turned out, but writing the Company of Strangers series occupied months of my writing life, and it felt so strange to know I'd be moving on to something else.

At the end of this book is an afterword that describes how the series came to be, how it developed, and a peek into the lives of our heroes years after the ending. I don't normally tie up those kinds of loose ends, but it felt fitting this time.

One last note, this one about the very end: I went back and forth over whether Sienne would reveal her new abilities and offer to give them to other people, and ultimately decided she was the kind of person who would take that chance, especially given Perrin's input on the matter. Because this story is over, I did not give any consideration to how that knowledge would change their world. It leaves open the possibility of a later series, but as of now I feel no urgency to develop that. It remains, for me, an interesting thought experiment.

To all of you who've read the series, thanks for coming along for the ride. I had no idea you would make it so successful. I hope it's been as fun for you as it was for me.

[Jana Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pre review disclaimer: I know the author. My thoughts are mine.

Call of Wizardry is book six in the series. This is a series where you really really need to read the whole thing in order. While the author does a good job of reminding us of things that have happened before those hints aren't enough to replace reading the books. And you want to anyway. :)

In this volume we take everything that has been set up over the last 5 books and ride it to fruition. It's exciting and lovely and - at times - very painful. The wizard they've been hoping to challenge all series long is a suitable fiend and a challenge they are upto - barely. But then you add the personal challenges in the form of Alaric's family and Perrin's father and it ups the anti for this final volume.

In the end...well... spoilers, but everyone gets pretty much exactly what they deserve.

I'm sad to leave this world behind and I'd be thrilled if McShane decides to revisit it. There are lot of possibilities for other stories told here even if this set of heroes has come to the end of their journey.

[Bryan Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, I'm in a weird mental place right now so I hope this is fair. This review may be more appropriately for the series as a whole and not so much for the last book. Oh yeah, also, I know the author and her family personally and I like them and I play RPGs with them weekly and I still like them. :)

I think this series of books captures a feeling of playing a role playing game with your friends better than any other series that I have ever read. In hindsight I can see that some of the things that I may have complained about in previous reviews are because I lost sight of that critical component of the series. When I look at the characters actions through that lens their actions make perfect sense. If I try to look at it through a lens of real life it doesn't work for me. That is a reader issue coming through not the story.

In this volume the outstanding threads are finally wrapped up in a clash with the evil wizard holding Alerics people prisoner. The pending threads of the other characters is also dealt with and each person gets their version of a happily ever after. Even Sienne gets all her wishes fulfilled. It feels like this campaign is over. But all the characters are in a place where I guess there could be another campaign adventure or maybe they can be NPCs in another adventure in this world. Would I read more of these. Heck yes.

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the perks of insomniac tendencies at the moment is that I can always get up and read for a while, and the finale of this book saw me through a 4am wake up today.

I dragged my feet at the start of this book as I really was sad to see this series finish, but by the time the crew make it to the wizard's tower, I was utterly hooked. This book kept me on my toes and I could never quite work out how things would resolve - the solutions weren't always easy for our heroes and somehow this made things more satisfying.

We get an author's note at the end that provides a short overview of what becomes of the characters, and what I wouldn't have given for a decadently long, indulgent epilogue, but still, I was extremely pleased with how this book concluded such a wonderful series. I'll miss Sienne and the gang, but thankfully Melissa McShane has a big back catalogue for me to sink my teeth into, and I frankly cannot wait.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been one of my favourite fantasy series of the past couple of years - pure comfort food in the best way. It doesn't do anything new, but as I've said about the earlier books in the series, it does something really old fashioned (80s TSR-style RPG novels) very well, and adds a modern twist (notably doing significantly better with gender and racial representation than 80s TSR books). Great protagonists you want to be friends with, a happy if bittersweet ending, and all the loose ends tied up neatly. What more could you ask?

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The adventures of the wizard Sienne and her scrapper companions come to a satisfying conclusion in this sixth volume in the series.

At last, the team is ready to face the wizard who has enslaved their leader Alaric's people. They know the challenges ahead of them will be almost impossible to overcome, and when Alaric receives news that his sister's life is in even greater danger than he anticipated, the pressure and urgency increase.

Meanwhile, the discord between priest Perrin and his father has come to a head, and his wife and children need to be protected from the family patriarch's rage. And, in the midst of all of this, Sienne is trying to decide whether or not to reveal to the world the secret that has significantly enhanced her magical abilities. Would it be a good thing or a bad thing if wizards were no longer dependent on reading from their spellbooks to cast magic?

I enjoyed the finale to this series, although I did feel like the other two members of the team, Dianthe and Kalanath, don't have much to do in this book. I liked meeting more of Alaric's family and people, and the villain of this book/series is an intriguing and formidable foe.

Everything comes together in the end to form a satisfying conclusion. I recommend reading the author's afterword, which reveals the origins of how the story came to be and provides a few snippets of where the main characters end up later on in their lives.

This series is best read in order, so start with Company of Strangers and, if you enjoy that one, go from there. I highly recommend all of these books to fans of classic action-adventure fantasies. They're a fun ride.

Disclaimer: I do know the author, if only through Goodreads, and while that is the reason I was aware of and decided to read this book, it has not influenced my rating. She did not contact me to ask me to read or review this book.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

The end of a six-book series that has never dropped below "good", though it has been a bit uneven; one or two of the books are excellent, but others suffer by comparison, even though they're still above average. This is not the least good, but it's not the best either, for my money.

There are even a very small number of minor copy editing glitches, which is almost unheard of for this author; one of the reasons I'm (occasionally) willing to pay the higher-than-indie-average prices for her books is that the copy editing is usually impeccable.

I have most of the same minor complaints as for the previous books: Sienne has 30 spells in her book now, but uses maybe half a dozen, mostly the same ones she's used before; Alaric gets over things too easily; the tension is uneven, and the author doesn't always take every opportunity to ramp it up. But overall, I enjoyed this, as I did the whole series. It's a fun, fresh take on a D&D-style adventuring party, not too cliched, with appealing characters who want to do the right thing, even if not everyone appreciates it when they do. Justice is served, and the ending, while it's more on the realistic side of neat, wraps things up nicely - even if not everyone gets exactly what they want.

I feel like it falls slightly short of making my Best of the Year list, which has been graced by this author a number of times (with multiple entries last year, including some from this series). But it's certainly enjoyable, and a decent conclusion to a good series.

[Lisa Venerussi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yay! A good ending to a series always deserves applause. This book is a great ending to the Company Of Strangers series, which I began by feeling a bit uncertain about, then grew to truly enjoy. I’ve given it 4 stars rather than 5 only because the process of wrapping each story arc up nicely meant that it was necessarily not quite as exciting or suspenseful as the previous books (book 4 was my favorite). I particularly appreciated the addendum at the end that told us that there would be no more books written in this world, and what happens to each character in their ensuing lives...I’m always the reader who wishes I could find out what happens to the characters after a series ends, so this was extremely satisfying; thank you Melissa! Although I am lucky enough to be on the list of those sent ARCs of McShane’s books, reviews are not required and all opinions are my own.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent wrap up to a series I thoroughly enjoyed. I especially appreciated the fact that the series doesn’t just end when the main antagonist is conquered. I loved reading about where the characters went from there, since life does go on, and I also appreciated the small footnote for each character in the afterword. This was such a fun series to read, with great characters, and an overall arc for the series and interesting mini-plots for each book. The magic system was unique - I enjoyed how creative the author was in the different things that could be accomplished with wizardry while still keeping it cohesive. And the world building was intriguing as well. Overall an excellent series to read!

[The Mysterious Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wizard battles, enslaved were-unicorns, magic, thrills, adventure. Wow, when Melissa McShane decides to end a series she does so in a total grand finale fashion. I loved Company of Strangers and, as much as I did not want the series end, I’m very happy that it ended so perfectly in Call of Wizardry (Book 6). For newcomers, you’re really best off starting with Company of Strangers (Book 1). It’s total fun and will addictively draw you into the others until you reach this point. For series favs, rejoice as this is just what you were looking for in a series ender. Highly recommended.

[Donald Allan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful tale

The author has taken a role playing and expertly transformed it into a vibrant fantasy world. Her mix of magic and religion is brilliant. Well plotted with vibrant characters you will not be disappointed. Pick the series up.

[Charlie Tupper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume marked the end of a story arc, and while I'm glad to find out how things turned out, I'm sad to see these friends go off into the mists.

[10lees · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very nice finale to the series - a couple of surprising choices made for a satisfying conclusion. I enjoyed the series even though it became a bit rote in the three previous novels.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun series! If you could use a little escape from reality I recommend it highly. Light and refreshing read in stressful times.

[JW USA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arc complete

This was a nice final book. We did get a HEA but with enough tension along the way. I would like to keep reading of this merry bands adventures.

[Karisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

(2022 Popsugar Reading Challenge: A book about a "found family")