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Art of the Adept #5
The Wizard's Crown
Will’s journey from naïve apprentice to a mature wizard is almost complete and his ever-growing mastery has reached unseen heights. But his power does not exist in a vacuum. His rising star threatens to eclipse the existing powers and a new balance must be found, one that either accepts his primacy or extinguishes his light.
After Will’s resounding successes in the war with Darrow the king plots to eliminate his young rival. Driven to desperation, Will is forced to negotiate for scraps between four brokers of power.
An ancient lich driven by vengeance.
The fae queen to whom all are just pawns in a deadly game.
A nervous lord of Hell, because Will may have killed his predecessor, twice.
A primal beast, feared above all.
With mortal enemies as his allies, Will must survive to face the king—and the deadly secret he plans to unleash. Ancient foes have risen and the final battle has begun. With the world hanging in the balance, king and wizard clash, but only one can wear the Wizard’s Crown.
After Will’s resounding successes in the war with Darrow the king plots to eliminate his young rival. Driven to desperation, Will is forced to negotiate for scraps between four brokers of power.
An ancient lich driven by vengeance.
The fae queen to whom all are just pawns in a deadly game.
A nervous lord of Hell, because Will may have killed his predecessor, twice.
A primal beast, feared above all.
With mortal enemies as his allies, Will must survive to face the king—and the deadly secret he plans to unleash. Ancient foes have risen and the final battle has begun. With the world hanging in the balance, king and wizard clash, but only one can wear the Wizard’s Crown.
713 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 29, 2022
580 people are currently reading
680 people want to read
About the author
Michael G. Manning
30 books2,087 followersMichael Manning was born in Cleveland, Texas and spent his formative years there, reading fantasy and science fiction, concocting home grown experiments in his backyard, and generally avoiding schoolwork.
Eventually he went to college, starting at Sam Houston State University, where his love of beer blossomed and his obsession with playing role-playing games led him to what he calls 'his best year ever' and what most of his family calls 'the lost year'.
Several years and a few crappy jobs later, he decided to pursue college again and was somehow accepted into the University of Houston Honors program (we won't get into the particulars of that miracle). This led to a degree in pharmacy and it followed from there that he wound up with a license to practice said profession.
Unfortunately, Michael was not a very good pharmacist. Being relatively lawless and free spirited were not particularly good traits to possess in a career focused on perfection, patient safety, and the letter-of-the-law. Nevertheless, he persisted and after a stint as a hospital pharmacy manager wound up as a pharmacist working in correctional managed care for the State of Texas.
He gave drugs to prisoners.
After a year or two at UTMB he became bored and taught himself entirely too much about networking, programming, and database design and administration. At first his supervisors warned him (repeatedly) to do his assigned tasks and stop designing programs to help his coworkers do theirs, but eventually they gave up and just let him do whatever he liked since it seemed to be generally working out well for them.
Ten or eleven years later and he got bored with that too. So he wrote a book. We won't talk about where he was when he wrote 'The Blacksmith's Son', but let's just assume he was probably supposed to be doing something else at the time.
Some people liked the book and told other people. Now they won't leave him alone.
After another year or two, he decided to just give up and stop pretending to be a pharmacist/programmer, much to the chagrin of his mother (who had only ever wanted him to grow up to be a doctor and had finally become content with the fact that he had settled on pharmacy instead).
Michael's wife supported his decision, even as she stubbornly refused to believe he would make any money at it. It turned out later that she was just telling him this because she knew that nothing made Michael more contrary than his never ending desire to prove her wrong. Once he was able to prove said fact she promptly admitted her tricky ruse and he has since given up on trying to win.
Today he lives at home with his stubborn wife, teenage twins, a giant moose-poodle, two yorkies, a green-cheeked conure, a massive prehistoric tortoise, and a head full of imaginary people. There are also some fish, but he refuses to talk about them.
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Eventually he went to college, starting at Sam Houston State University, where his love of beer blossomed and his obsession with playing role-playing games led him to what he calls 'his best year ever' and what most of his family calls 'the lost year'.
Several years and a few crappy jobs later, he decided to pursue college again and was somehow accepted into the University of Houston Honors program (we won't get into the particulars of that miracle). This led to a degree in pharmacy and it followed from there that he wound up with a license to practice said profession.
Unfortunately, Michael was not a very good pharmacist. Being relatively lawless and free spirited were not particularly good traits to possess in a career focused on perfection, patient safety, and the letter-of-the-law. Nevertheless, he persisted and after a stint as a hospital pharmacy manager wound up as a pharmacist working in correctional managed care for the State of Texas.
He gave drugs to prisoners.
After a year or two at UTMB he became bored and taught himself entirely too much about networking, programming, and database design and administration. At first his supervisors warned him (repeatedly) to do his assigned tasks and stop designing programs to help his coworkers do theirs, but eventually they gave up and just let him do whatever he liked since it seemed to be generally working out well for them.
Ten or eleven years later and he got bored with that too. So he wrote a book. We won't talk about where he was when he wrote 'The Blacksmith's Son', but let's just assume he was probably supposed to be doing something else at the time.
Some people liked the book and told other people. Now they won't leave him alone.
After another year or two, he decided to just give up and stop pretending to be a pharmacist/programmer, much to the chagrin of his mother (who had only ever wanted him to grow up to be a doctor and had finally become content with the fact that he had settled on pharmacy instead).
Michael's wife supported his decision, even as she stubbornly refused to believe he would make any money at it. It turned out later that she was just telling him this because she knew that nothing made Michael more contrary than his never ending desire to prove her wrong. Once he was able to prove said fact she promptly admitted her tricky ruse and he has since given up on trying to win.
Today he lives at home with his stubborn wife, teenage twins, a giant moose-poodle, two yorkies, a green-cheeked conure, a massive prehistoric tortoise, and a head full of imaginary people. There are also some fish, but he refuses to talk about them.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 158 reviews
May 30, 2022
If you had any investment in the characters in this series then pretend book 5 was never written.
This was one of my all time favorite series I read and reread each of the first 4 books over and over waiting for book 5 to come out.
Now I wish book 5 was never released.
This was one of my all time favorite series I read and reread each of the first 4 books over and over waiting for book 5 to come out.
Now I wish book 5 was never released.
June 4, 2022
This book left me severely depressed for several hours. I loved the first four books in this series, read them all several times over, this book has made it so I never want to touch any of them ever again.
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June 2, 2022Good lord, author! What happened? Did the journey into a mature wizard have to end up with our "big heart hero" becoming hollow, callous, and evil? Does Selene need to be even worse?
I'm in 1/3 and too dispirited to continue. I'll finish it up and there better be a payoff.
.
.
.
Okay. Now: I understand that nothing good happens when an abused kid marries another abused kid, who then proceeds to mold him into what she knows - her dad - even while she hates said dad. It would be a good topic for a psychological drama, not so much for an epic fantasy. But that's not the greatest problem I have with this installment.
The whole drama is unnecessary. Yes, I get that Will has PTSD and it hit him hard, he blames his desensitization on his own moral failure, then goes on doing worse things because "I am the monster, that's why, I don't care anymore". But due to the power creep he does not use the wild versatility of non combative spells that he has in store. Spying, sneaking, sense enhancement, sound control, even without freshly learned teleportation, all of it would be crucial in some stealth mission against Longion, and there are so many ways to stop a royal wedding without even coming to the party or hurting anyone. If he even came, why - for example - not use a high pitch sound to disable the crossbow guys and get away? Moreover, while growing in power, Will doesn't get wiser, he gets dumber. Because why think, if you can just hit people with a lightning. He then proceeds to fix what he has broken by using more force, because why not, and getting into the alliance with the deus ex machina lich. It's in contrary to his personality from the other books, but I suppose that the plot would be over too soon if he stopped to think and combine the spells and talents that he already had, and well, the money he has now. As Batman said, rich is a superpower.
Tiny's rightly mad at him, only instead of shouting he should point out what to do best, as he did before.
Selene, then.
I think he was right about her at the beginning, before he had fallen in love. She's power hungry, and she used him as a powerful enough tool to get out of father's control. Sure, she had feelings for him, but I'm not certain that she understands love like healthy people do. This marriage was over as soon as she hid the crucial thing from him. It's a trust issue. No matter her horrible choices later on. I'm not totally against this plot point, if only someone pointed out earlier that Will doesn't just "have big balls" by being with her and that his marriage is mutually abusive.
Overall, it is a logical development, but not satisfactory. Fantasy stories are not just about overcoming your physical weakness, or lack in raw power, but also about overcoming your shortcomings as a person. I waited for Will to mature as a human, not just a wizard, but he's still impulsive, driven by anger and even less able to stop and think, instead there is angst. Also, something that was already visible in vol 4 - something happens, then he's appalled at himself for two minutes, then someone cheers him up, and then he proceeds to get his **** together to do more stupid stuff, because the plot must go on.
It wouldn't be so jarring if the devolution into an anti-hero was stated earlier, it has just started in vol 4. and was not consistent. Generally, murdering a traitor or a sexual abuser in cold blood, okay. He did have that murderous vengeance streak. Going around in a self-destructive fit of an ass-pulled new talent, abusing friends and not thinking, not okay.
On a side note, the dumbing down with the power creep is something that often happens in fantasy, the hero having enough power to punch through stuff to forget the effort he had made earlier when the odds were worse. This is something I keep in mind with my own stories. If the hero was averse to violence at the beginning, even if he got desensitized, he should not lose his core personality and well, be strong not just by making everything explode.
The last thing that I don't like is Longion's identity, because if he's not an immortal, cunning human with an atrocious way of succession - we knew that already - then his motivations have no grounding in the first place. Why even care about the prosperity of his kingdom? Why not overpower and devour the world like the demons wanted to?
I'm not invested in the series where horrible things happen to horrible people, so perhaps I'll leave it here.
I'm in 1/3 and too dispirited to continue. I'll finish it up and there better be a payoff.
.
.
.
Okay. Now: I understand that nothing good happens when an abused kid marries another abused kid, who then proceeds to mold him into what she knows - her dad - even while she hates said dad. It would be a good topic for a psychological drama, not so much for an epic fantasy. But that's not the greatest problem I have with this installment.
The whole drama is unnecessary. Yes, I get that Will has PTSD and it hit him hard, he blames his desensitization on his own moral failure, then goes on doing worse things because "I am the monster, that's why, I don't care anymore". But due to the power creep he does not use the wild versatility of non combative spells that he has in store. Spying, sneaking, sense enhancement, sound control, even without freshly learned teleportation, all of it would be crucial in some stealth mission against Longion, and there are so many ways to stop a royal wedding without even coming to the party or hurting anyone. If he even came, why - for example - not use a high pitch sound to disable the crossbow guys and get away? Moreover, while growing in power, Will doesn't get wiser, he gets dumber. Because why think, if you can just hit people with a lightning. He then proceeds to fix what he has broken by using more force, because why not, and getting into the alliance with the deus ex machina lich. It's in contrary to his personality from the other books, but I suppose that the plot would be over too soon if he stopped to think and combine the spells and talents that he already had, and well, the money he has now. As Batman said, rich is a superpower.
Tiny's rightly mad at him, only instead of shouting he should point out what to do best, as he did before.
Selene, then.
I think he was right about her at the beginning, before he had fallen in love. She's power hungry, and she used him as a powerful enough tool to get out of father's control. Sure, she had feelings for him, but I'm not certain that she understands love like healthy people do. This marriage was over as soon as she hid the crucial thing from him. It's a trust issue. No matter her horrible choices later on. I'm not totally against this plot point, if only someone pointed out earlier that Will doesn't just "have big balls" by being with her and that his marriage is mutually abusive.
Overall, it is a logical development, but not satisfactory. Fantasy stories are not just about overcoming your physical weakness, or lack in raw power, but also about overcoming your shortcomings as a person. I waited for Will to mature as a human, not just a wizard, but he's still impulsive, driven by anger and even less able to stop and think, instead there is angst. Also, something that was already visible in vol 4 - something happens, then he's appalled at himself for two minutes, then someone cheers him up, and then he proceeds to get his **** together to do more stupid stuff, because the plot must go on.
It wouldn't be so jarring if the devolution into an anti-hero was stated earlier, it has just started in vol 4. and was not consistent. Generally, murdering a traitor or a sexual abuser in cold blood, okay. He did have that murderous vengeance streak. Going around in a self-destructive fit of an ass-pulled new talent, abusing friends and not thinking, not okay.
On a side note, the dumbing down with the power creep is something that often happens in fantasy, the hero having enough power to punch through stuff to forget the effort he had made earlier when the odds were worse. This is something I keep in mind with my own stories. If the hero was averse to violence at the beginning, even if he got desensitized, he should not lose his core personality and well, be strong not just by making everything explode.
The last thing that I don't like is Longion's identity, because if he's not an immortal, cunning human with an atrocious way of succession - we knew that already - then his motivations have no grounding in the first place. Why even care about the prosperity of his kingdom? Why not overpower and devour the world like the demons wanted to?
I'm not invested in the series where horrible things happen to horrible people, so perhaps I'll leave it here.
June 2, 2022
A Finale that will be Forgotten
As an avid fan of the previous 4 books of this series, I am left with one persistent feeling at the supposed conclusion of this series: Confusion.
This book starts strong, continuing to build on concepts and characters, introducing problems that genuinely had me interested in how Will would overcome them and building itself to make me think that the protagonist would finally get to face his greatest enemy in an epic conclusion.
What followed after that strong opening were a truly confounding number of reveals, some of which just felt like a total cop out to increase the lethality of the final antagonist.
The thing that truly irked me, was the sudden shift in Wills character and the way he is both treated and treats the world around him. Its one thing if he’s suffering from PTSD following the conclusion of the previous book, its an entirely different thing to consistently abuse him, demean him to both the reader and himself, and then otherwise just transform the character into a miserable existence.
I can’t really talk about too much more without spoiling the book but some other complaints:
-Every major plot point that Will does in this book aside from one feels as though it was designed to waste his time and just chew the fat until the final part of the book.
-Entire relationships built over the course of multiple books are seemingly DESTROYED in an instant.
And finally…the ending.
This books ends with you legitimately feeling something more then pity for Will. It was one thing in Mageborn with Mordecai and the bleak ending of that series, but it feels like we.were given such a slap in the face here as if to try and one up that for no actual good reason.
I really hope that “A Wizard in Exile,” continues Wills and gives us something to hope for him again. It was ok to have Mordecai be the tragic hero and for us to pity that, but with Will there was hope that he would succeed despite him inevitably having to face suffering, that there was something he would achieve that Mordecai didn’t. But after this book Im left sad and frustrated with how this series ended.
Ive loved Manning book until now, I really hope I can say that again with the next series.
As an avid fan of the previous 4 books of this series, I am left with one persistent feeling at the supposed conclusion of this series: Confusion.
This book starts strong, continuing to build on concepts and characters, introducing problems that genuinely had me interested in how Will would overcome them and building itself to make me think that the protagonist would finally get to face his greatest enemy in an epic conclusion.
What followed after that strong opening were a truly confounding number of reveals, some of which just felt like a total cop out to increase the lethality of the final antagonist.
The thing that truly irked me, was the sudden shift in Wills character and the way he is both treated and treats the world around him. Its one thing if he’s suffering from PTSD following the conclusion of the previous book, its an entirely different thing to consistently abuse him, demean him to both the reader and himself, and then otherwise just transform the character into a miserable existence.
I can’t really talk about too much more without spoiling the book but some other complaints:
-Every major plot point that Will does in this book aside from one feels as though it was designed to waste his time and just chew the fat until the final part of the book.
-Entire relationships built over the course of multiple books are seemingly DESTROYED in an instant.
And finally…the ending.
This books ends with you legitimately feeling something more then pity for Will. It was one thing in Mageborn with Mordecai and the bleak ending of that series, but it feels like we.were given such a slap in the face here as if to try and one up that for no actual good reason.
I really hope that “A Wizard in Exile,” continues Wills and gives us something to hope for him again. It was ok to have Mordecai be the tragic hero and for us to pity that, but with Will there was hope that he would succeed despite him inevitably having to face suffering, that there was something he would achieve that Mordecai didn’t. But after this book Im left sad and frustrated with how this series ended.
Ive loved Manning book until now, I really hope I can say that again with the next series.
June 3, 2022
ok, I loved the first 4 in this series, but WTF Manning? I get that you are setting up the next series but why... I was rooting for Will, this growth was great and made sense. I get that after the war he would have issues but shit. this emotional ride left me frustrated and annoyed at the ending. Even Will deserved a better outcome. Don't even get me started on Selene, just wow. I'm just gonna pretend that this book doesn't exist.
May 31, 2022
I'm still processing but my gut response is that this was not the ending I'd hoped for and certainly not the ending Will deserved. I adore the series but this final book, right now 5 minutes after finishing it, feels like a huge letdown. I certainly didn't expect to feel this way and I'm having a hard time believing this is how the series ends. The characters acted in ways that were completely out of character for them. A very unsatisfactory ending that certainly doesn't inspire me to ever reread the series and makes me not want to read the follow-up series, surely that cannot be the author's intention
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 5, 2022
If you seriously loves this series, don’t read this book.
It’s great, except for the somewhat unnecessary death of one character, until chapter 45.
I really loved the Mageborn series. As well as the Line of Illeniel - all of those books. They’re real, visceral, and gut wrenching.
But the ending of this book is just… awful. Seriously. If it needs to be tragic, then let it be tragic. Not just… pitiful.
On a deeper level, it really breaks Selene’s character. Like how many times has Will come back from the dead? Yes make it hard but the strength of their love has been tried and proven multiple times - why would it fail now?
Idk. I really love Manning’s books and writing style but I don’t think I’ll read another one of his books, especially if this type of ending is going to be a thing.
It’s great, except for the somewhat unnecessary death of one character, until chapter 45.
I really loved the Mageborn series. As well as the Line of Illeniel - all of those books. They’re real, visceral, and gut wrenching.
But the ending of this book is just… awful. Seriously. If it needs to be tragic, then let it be tragic. Not just… pitiful.
On a deeper level, it really breaks Selene’s character. Like how many times has Will come back from the dead? Yes make it hard but the strength of their love has been tried and proven multiple times - why would it fail now?
Idk. I really love Manning’s books and writing style but I don’t think I’ll read another one of his books, especially if this type of ending is going to be a thing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 12, 2022
The first 4 books of this series were phenomenal and I burned through the pages. The character development, personal growth and relationship building was wonderful. I haven't left a review before and I haven't given anything less than 3 stars but this book leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It felt that the characters were forced to play parts that they didn't develop into for the sake of a more "impactful" ending. I would rather pretend this book wasn't written and come up with my own ending.
June 13, 2022
Out of all the series i have read I really wish it wasn't this one that had such a disappointing ending. It read like someone who didn't understand the characters decided to write "what if" ending to the series with the purpose of making it specifically a "bad ending". So much potential wasted.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 9, 2022
The worst one in the series. spoilers
The author decided to kill a bunch of good characters, make Will depressed the entire book and mess up a relationship that had been building since the first book.
Spoilers
The first half of the book, Will was a murder Hobo and it was hard to like him. The end of the book he’s a hypocrite and breaks it off with his wife, even though he’s he killed innocents before.
The only parts of the book that are good is from 60% to 90% and even then its nothing compared to the first four books.
Really wish I hadn’t read this.
Looking forward to the next book.
The author decided to kill a bunch of good characters, make Will depressed the entire book and mess up a relationship that had been building since the first book.
Spoilers
The first half of the book, Will was a murder Hobo and it was hard to like him. The end of the book he’s a hypocrite and breaks it off with his wife, even though he’s he killed innocents before.
The only parts of the book that are good is from 60% to 90% and even then its nothing compared to the first four books.
Really wish I hadn’t read this.
Looking forward to the next book.
August 3, 2022
absolute destruction of a amazingly built series
Manning manages to ruin characters and relationships he spent 4 books building up. People act completely out of who they are and ends up with just an incredibly frustrating and unsatisfying ending.
It seems like he wants a fresh start without most of the characters to start a new series but this was not the way to do it
Manning manages to ruin characters and relationships he spent 4 books building up. People act completely out of who they are and ends up with just an incredibly frustrating and unsatisfying ending.
It seems like he wants a fresh start without most of the characters to start a new series but this was not the way to do it
September 3, 2022
Genuinely writing my first-ever review on Goodreads, just to express my utter disappointment in what I'd previously considered a solid series.
I like a good tragedy as much as the next person, but this book left me feeling very uncomfortable. This book does not match the tone of the previous installments, everyone is acting wildly out of character, and the tragedies compound so relentlessly it feels like a betrayal of the reader's emotional investment.
At one point, the protagonist finds an Evil Book, which, upon reading, allows the reader to voluntarily forget it's contents (lest they be plagued by nightmares, etc.) Not sure if this was some kind of bizarre foreshadowing, but i wish I could forget what I've read.
If you've read the previous books, pretend this was never released.
I like a good tragedy as much as the next person, but this book left me feeling very uncomfortable. This book does not match the tone of the previous installments, everyone is acting wildly out of character, and the tragedies compound so relentlessly it feels like a betrayal of the reader's emotional investment.
At one point, the protagonist finds an Evil Book, which, upon reading, allows the reader to voluntarily forget it's contents (lest they be plagued by nightmares, etc.) Not sure if this was some kind of bizarre foreshadowing, but i wish I could forget what I've read.
If you've read the previous books, pretend this was never released.
July 17, 2022
First 4 books were something special. It would have been better off if I never read this ...
Every character felt different this time, and the choices between Will and Selene were not what Manning built their personalities up to be.
Lastly, Will deserved something better than what happened to Mordecai. Instead, it's worse and just makes absolutely no sense.
Everything about this book was an abrupt switch from the other four. I don't know if Manning took too long of a break writing and lost touch with his characters or what happened ...
Every character felt different this time, and the choices between Will and Selene were not what Manning built their personalities up to be.
Lastly, Will deserved something better than what happened to Mordecai. Instead, it's worse and just makes absolutely no sense.
Everything about this book was an abrupt switch from the other four. I don't know if Manning took too long of a break writing and lost touch with his characters or what happened ...
February 13, 2022
I have traveled into the future and read this book to bring you this amazing (and completely unbelievable and ridiculous) review today.
I must say, this book is long awaited and one in which I yearn to read with every fiber of my being. Mr. Manning, you are by far one of my favorite authors and I have read all your books. I hope this book is something you'll have time to work on in the near future as I will be elated to read another in this wonderful series.
I must say, this book is long awaited and one in which I yearn to read with every fiber of my being. Mr. Manning, you are by far one of my favorite authors and I have read all your books. I hope this book is something you'll have time to work on in the near future as I will be elated to read another in this wonderful series.
August 11, 2022
This book was so bad I created an account after 10 years of searching for books on goodreads without one, just so I can leave this review.
Do yourself a favor and don't read it. Pretend the series ends with book 4.
Do yourself a favor and don't read it. Pretend the series ends with book 4.
July 24, 2022
A real let-down
I really hated how this series ended and wish I'd never read the earlier installments. I read for pleasure and this book gave me none. Exception being the scenes with Evie, who isn't even dealt with in the end. I can't remember the last time I was so disappointed in a series.
I really hated how this series ended and wish I'd never read the earlier installments. I read for pleasure and this book gave me none. Exception being the scenes with Evie, who isn't even dealt with in the end. I can't remember the last time I was so disappointed in a series.
August 20, 2022
*tiny spoiler towards the end of review*
I don't typically write reviews because I'm introverted and like to enjoy my own opinions and feelings, especially when it comes to the books I read. Forums, social media comments and discussions are things I try to avoid at all costs.
But because I am a long time Manning fan and appreciate the way he bends and molds his stories, I wanted to give him the credit he deserves with the final book of the Art of the Adept series.
If you're a fan of Michael Manning, you know that reading-in-the-moment and then patience is key to his story telling.
As said at the end of The Wizard's Crown, "Keep an eye out for the next series, The Curse of Power. It follows this series and begins with" A Wizard in Exile."
That's all I needed to know and was hoping for as this book came to its end.
I love the way Michael tells his stories. It's always controversial and not what you would expect, but still ends up being amazing and fulfilling.
This book was Will's story and I think it was cleverly done. He needs time away from Cerria. He has literally been through Hell and back. Give the story some credit and understanding.
...and while you're at it, read his Mageborn series while you wait for the next series... and the books that follow that story. You'll see how this author has a much bigger view of his characters and how it all comes together in the end. :)
I don't typically write reviews because I'm introverted and like to enjoy my own opinions and feelings, especially when it comes to the books I read. Forums, social media comments and discussions are things I try to avoid at all costs.
But because I am a long time Manning fan and appreciate the way he bends and molds his stories, I wanted to give him the credit he deserves with the final book of the Art of the Adept series.
If you're a fan of Michael Manning, you know that reading-in-the-moment and then patience is key to his story telling.
As said at the end of The Wizard's Crown, "Keep an eye out for the next series, The Curse of Power. It follows this series and begins with" A Wizard in Exile."
That's all I needed to know and was hoping for as this book came to its end.
I love the way Michael tells his stories. It's always controversial and not what you would expect, but still ends up being amazing and fulfilling.
This book was Will's story and I think it was cleverly done. He needs time away from Cerria. He has literally been through Hell and back. Give the story some credit and understanding.
...and while you're at it, read his Mageborn series while you wait for the next series... and the books that follow that story. You'll see how this author has a much bigger view of his characters and how it all comes together in the end. :)
June 1, 2022
While the book takes more time than previous ones setting up its arc, the slower paces serves the story superbly, paving the way to the great pay-off that is its ending. Although it brings big changes to well established (and beloved) characters, those changes feel in line with the personalities and actions we have seen throughout the whole series, while also putting in perspective the history and burden of the wizard kind; giving us, the readers, a deeper look and a more nuanced view of the lines between good and evil in this world, and how easily they can shift. A great ending to a great series.
For those who already read the book:
For those who already read the book:
June 26, 2022
Did not like it nearly as much as the others
Read
September 10, 2022All the spoilers. Every. Single. One.
Review of the Art of the Adept series and not just this book.
The Art of the Adept wasn’t the series I expected it to be. It wasn’t that my expectations were too high, in fact I found this series while sifting thought through the electronic equivalent a bargain bin; I was seeking an escape, not great literature. What I really wanted was intellectual equivalent of a frito pie - gimme some greasy, salty, declasse text. I wanted to be transported from the dark, depressing world we live into a world of dragons, wizards and faeries. A place where heroes always win and villains always lose. Gimme a book with a chosen one, an evil empire and some brave heroes! (and pass me another slice of frito pie) But I didn’t find that, instead I read some reflections our dark, depressing world in the form of a fantasy novel.
Yes this is a series about dragons, wizards and faeries but it’s really about meaningless wars, failing marriages, depression, suicide and PTSD.
As I write this review in August of 2022, a handful of academics have counted the bodies of the dead and estimate that 176,000 people have died have since the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, a number that doesn’t take into account those physically or psychically wounded by the war. While some soldiers have returned intact, others return with missing limbs and are haunted by memories of things they saw and things they did; we are country suffering from a grievous moral injury. The war began with a promise to liberate the people from a misogynistic, totalitarian government and to bring the Afghan people education and economic vitality. After 20 years the country is now ruled by a neigh identical misogynistic, totalitarian government and the Afghan people may soon face a famine. Neither did the U.S. achieve its strategic aims. Afghanistan seems, once again, to be serving as a safe haven for terrorists. The U.S. has little to show for the piles of bodies it produced and, for those not haunted by memories of the war, these truths go unacknowledged. The American people have had their fill of depressing news and the meaninglessness of the death and destruction in Afghanistan is a truth that cannot be spoken.
But things denied have a way finding their way to the surface and these buried truths seem to have surfaced inside this fantasy series. When the fae queen speaks of her attempts to rid the world of soul-enslaving magic she could be talking about the global war on terror
“Wars are still fought, and evil persists no matter what we do . . . [our efforts] made no difference in the grand scheme of things”
She commits suicide soon after saying these words.
While our hero does win every battle, slays every dragon and even manages to outwit the lords of hell his efforts don’t result in a better world. Yes, he prevents the end of the world from taking place but he delivers the world into the hands of a lich queen and her undead counselor. Our erstwhile hero suffers painful memories of the atrocities he committed to achieve this end and his companions fare little better or worse. The aforementioned lich queen is our hero’s former wife, his sister suffers from a traumatic brain injury and his best friend is transformed from a gentle giant into a war-mad bundle of anger and violence.
So who is our hero?
Will Cartwright, begins the series as do all fantasy heroes: as a commoner who secretly caries noble blood in veins. Will is raised as the son of a midwife but, unbeknownst to him, he is the bastard son of a minor aristocrat. But his status as the son of a noble house pales in comparison to that of his true parentage: Will is actually the grandson of one of the greatest of all wizards and the goddess of magic herself. The Hero’s journey will transform Will Cartwright from aspiring herbalist into the first true wizard this world has seen in centuries. Not that he’s the only one, Will soon discovers that his teacher is no one other than his centuries old great grandfather.
So begins Will magic training. Will’s mentor embodies the perpetually annoyed wizard archetype, the humble hermit’s shack he lives in hides great secrets and even the housecat turns out to have powers that rival those of the gods.
At first it seems like Will’s magical training will reveal that herbs are medicine are magic and that magic is really pharmacy but this approach is quickly abandoned in favor of an extended metaphor about how to deal with depression. It seems that the secret to both great magic and a very long life is to learn how to keep moving when you have so little energy you can barely move.
Will learns to fake it until he makes it and, for reasons that never really satisfy the reader, decides to join the army. In the army he meets his saintly future wife, a selfless healer who is secretly princess of the realm. Somehow she ends up falling for our hero which is strange because our hero is a douche who annoys most people he speaks with. Pro tip: if transcripts of your conversations invariably include phrases like “the annoyance was clear on her face” and “he left feeling annoyed” you should work on your communication skills.
Princess Selene is everything our hero is not: compassionate, studious, disciplined, diplomatic and intelligent. Did I mention that Will isn’t very smart? He’s not. Did I mention that the hero of this story is a douche that verbally abuses and/or annoys most people he speaks with? I did? Good. Because he’s a douche and I really wanted to make that point.
Will’s fame as warrior leads to his promotion and eventually his admittance to a school of magic. There he learns the same lesson that all aspiring magicians do: the interesting books are stored in the forbidden section. You might think that the books on necromancy would be responsible for the corruption of our brave hero but they aren’t, instead he’s corrupted by his own machismo and by war.
Will takes his first step onto the path of corruption when he goads a rapist into a duel. While duels are technically legal and his victim an unsympathetic one, everyone understands that Will murdered someone. This small step onto the path of evil will pale in comparison to another decision: to sacrifice a woman on an unholy altar as part of a ceremony to summon a demon lord. While the sacrifice was needed to save the city from destruction, Will emerges as a wounded warrior who has to live with the knowledge that he’s capable of acts of great evil. Not that that knowledge stops him from committing evil acts in the future, Will decides to double down on his penchant for murder by murdering his romantic rival which amuses the evil king enough to allow the commoner to marry the princess and grant Will the title of Duke.
As Duke, Will is expected to make war on a neighboring nation. Here the author does something impressive - Michael G Manning turns one his weaknesses as a writer into a strength. Manning doesn’t display much insight about human motivations - the reasons he gives for his character’s actions rarely satisfy the reader - but in the later books of the series he compensates for this by having his characters acknowledge that they themselves don’t know why they are doing what they are doing. “I’m not sure” becomes one of the author’s favorite phrases. Why does Will Cartwright fight on behalf of an evil king he’s sworn to kill? He’s not sure. Why are others helping him? They’re not sure. In doing so Manning paints a portrait of our time. Why did we continue to fight a war we were certain to lose? We’re not sure.
All of this leads Will and Selene to transform from heroes and saviors into the evil forces that the heroes of some yet-to-be-written spinoff series will need to contend with. The king, it turns out, is not garden variety evil but instead a literal dragon with a literal evil plan to literally let dragons eat everyone on the planet. (Literally!) To slay the dragons Will allies himself with an evil lich and his vampire underlings. The lich, of course, has his own evil plan. An evil plan that involves destroying the love between our heroes and transforming the saint into a lich. Here Manning shows another strength, he draws a compelling picture of failing relationship. Will, as I may have mentioned, is douche. He’s doesn’t do a very good job of keeping in contact with his friends or with taking their feelings into account. He goes long periods without communication despite the fact that he’s one of the very few people on the planet with the magical equivalent of a cell phone. And he can teleport! The foreshadowing of the Will-Selene breakup is well done. The conversations between the lovers become more formal and less intimate, sex is no longer a way to express joy but instead a way to repair some of the damage done by Will’s douchitude. Anyone who has been part of a failing marriage will read the scene were Will expresses a preference for sleep over sex and know that the end is neigh.
The saintly Selene is sacrificed on the same unholy altar that started Will’s transformation. She rises as a lich, Will discovers that she destroyed the souls of children to achieve this state and, in a compelling depiction of psychological projection, Will decides that Selene is evil one whilst ignoring the fact that he agreed to doom thousands of souls to an eternity in hell just for a chance to kill the dragon. Once the dragon is slain, the Fae Queen gives her speech and commits suicide, Will decides that the Fae Queen is right: Grand plans to improve the world are futile. Better to be a hero to one or two people than be hero to a nation or the world. Will adopts the child of woman that he seems to hold in contempt and father and son walk into the sunset while the credits roll.
The message is anything but uplifting but it’s fascinating portrait of the times we live in. War is a destructive force, grand plans to improve the world are futile and even the noblest soul is capable of evil.
I guess this what we believe, isn’t it?
Edit: On other reviews. I read the entire series in one sitting so I see things a bit differently than do most critical reviewers. No, the characters did not change their personalities in the last few chapters, instead they completed their character arc. Will was committing evil acts throughout the series and he was always going to end up a wounded warrior.
Selene? I never thought of Selene as fully fleshed out character with a mental life of her own. She was a literary device, her purpose was to contribute to Will's story.
Review of the Art of the Adept series and not just this book.
The Art of the Adept wasn’t the series I expected it to be. It wasn’t that my expectations were too high, in fact I found this series while sifting thought through the electronic equivalent a bargain bin; I was seeking an escape, not great literature. What I really wanted was intellectual equivalent of a frito pie - gimme some greasy, salty, declasse text. I wanted to be transported from the dark, depressing world we live into a world of dragons, wizards and faeries. A place where heroes always win and villains always lose. Gimme a book with a chosen one, an evil empire and some brave heroes! (and pass me another slice of frito pie) But I didn’t find that, instead I read some reflections our dark, depressing world in the form of a fantasy novel.
Yes this is a series about dragons, wizards and faeries but it’s really about meaningless wars, failing marriages, depression, suicide and PTSD.
As I write this review in August of 2022, a handful of academics have counted the bodies of the dead and estimate that 176,000 people have died have since the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, a number that doesn’t take into account those physically or psychically wounded by the war. While some soldiers have returned intact, others return with missing limbs and are haunted by memories of things they saw and things they did; we are country suffering from a grievous moral injury. The war began with a promise to liberate the people from a misogynistic, totalitarian government and to bring the Afghan people education and economic vitality. After 20 years the country is now ruled by a neigh identical misogynistic, totalitarian government and the Afghan people may soon face a famine. Neither did the U.S. achieve its strategic aims. Afghanistan seems, once again, to be serving as a safe haven for terrorists. The U.S. has little to show for the piles of bodies it produced and, for those not haunted by memories of the war, these truths go unacknowledged. The American people have had their fill of depressing news and the meaninglessness of the death and destruction in Afghanistan is a truth that cannot be spoken.
But things denied have a way finding their way to the surface and these buried truths seem to have surfaced inside this fantasy series. When the fae queen speaks of her attempts to rid the world of soul-enslaving magic she could be talking about the global war on terror
“Wars are still fought, and evil persists no matter what we do . . . [our efforts] made no difference in the grand scheme of things”
She commits suicide soon after saying these words.
While our hero does win every battle, slays every dragon and even manages to outwit the lords of hell his efforts don’t result in a better world. Yes, he prevents the end of the world from taking place but he delivers the world into the hands of a lich queen and her undead counselor. Our erstwhile hero suffers painful memories of the atrocities he committed to achieve this end and his companions fare little better or worse. The aforementioned lich queen is our hero’s former wife, his sister suffers from a traumatic brain injury and his best friend is transformed from a gentle giant into a war-mad bundle of anger and violence.
So who is our hero?
Will Cartwright, begins the series as do all fantasy heroes: as a commoner who secretly caries noble blood in veins. Will is raised as the son of a midwife but, unbeknownst to him, he is the bastard son of a minor aristocrat. But his status as the son of a noble house pales in comparison to that of his true parentage: Will is actually the grandson of one of the greatest of all wizards and the goddess of magic herself. The Hero’s journey will transform Will Cartwright from aspiring herbalist into the first true wizard this world has seen in centuries. Not that he’s the only one, Will soon discovers that his teacher is no one other than his centuries old great grandfather.
So begins Will magic training. Will’s mentor embodies the perpetually annoyed wizard archetype, the humble hermit’s shack he lives in hides great secrets and even the housecat turns out to have powers that rival those of the gods.
At first it seems like Will’s magical training will reveal that herbs are medicine are magic and that magic is really pharmacy but this approach is quickly abandoned in favor of an extended metaphor about how to deal with depression. It seems that the secret to both great magic and a very long life is to learn how to keep moving when you have so little energy you can barely move.
Will learns to fake it until he makes it and, for reasons that never really satisfy the reader, decides to join the army. In the army he meets his saintly future wife, a selfless healer who is secretly princess of the realm. Somehow she ends up falling for our hero which is strange because our hero is a douche who annoys most people he speaks with. Pro tip: if transcripts of your conversations invariably include phrases like “the annoyance was clear on her face” and “he left feeling annoyed” you should work on your communication skills.
Princess Selene is everything our hero is not: compassionate, studious, disciplined, diplomatic and intelligent. Did I mention that Will isn’t very smart? He’s not. Did I mention that the hero of this story is a douche that verbally abuses and/or annoys most people he speaks with? I did? Good. Because he’s a douche and I really wanted to make that point.
Will’s fame as warrior leads to his promotion and eventually his admittance to a school of magic. There he learns the same lesson that all aspiring magicians do: the interesting books are stored in the forbidden section. You might think that the books on necromancy would be responsible for the corruption of our brave hero but they aren’t, instead he’s corrupted by his own machismo and by war.
Will takes his first step onto the path of corruption when he goads a rapist into a duel. While duels are technically legal and his victim an unsympathetic one, everyone understands that Will murdered someone. This small step onto the path of evil will pale in comparison to another decision: to sacrifice a woman on an unholy altar as part of a ceremony to summon a demon lord. While the sacrifice was needed to save the city from destruction, Will emerges as a wounded warrior who has to live with the knowledge that he’s capable of acts of great evil. Not that that knowledge stops him from committing evil acts in the future, Will decides to double down on his penchant for murder by murdering his romantic rival which amuses the evil king enough to allow the commoner to marry the princess and grant Will the title of Duke.
As Duke, Will is expected to make war on a neighboring nation. Here the author does something impressive - Michael G Manning turns one his weaknesses as a writer into a strength. Manning doesn’t display much insight about human motivations - the reasons he gives for his character’s actions rarely satisfy the reader - but in the later books of the series he compensates for this by having his characters acknowledge that they themselves don’t know why they are doing what they are doing. “I’m not sure” becomes one of the author’s favorite phrases. Why does Will Cartwright fight on behalf of an evil king he’s sworn to kill? He’s not sure. Why are others helping him? They’re not sure. In doing so Manning paints a portrait of our time. Why did we continue to fight a war we were certain to lose? We’re not sure.
All of this leads Will and Selene to transform from heroes and saviors into the evil forces that the heroes of some yet-to-be-written spinoff series will need to contend with. The king, it turns out, is not garden variety evil but instead a literal dragon with a literal evil plan to literally let dragons eat everyone on the planet. (Literally!) To slay the dragons Will allies himself with an evil lich and his vampire underlings. The lich, of course, has his own evil plan. An evil plan that involves destroying the love between our heroes and transforming the saint into a lich. Here Manning shows another strength, he draws a compelling picture of failing relationship. Will, as I may have mentioned, is douche. He’s doesn’t do a very good job of keeping in contact with his friends or with taking their feelings into account. He goes long periods without communication despite the fact that he’s one of the very few people on the planet with the magical equivalent of a cell phone. And he can teleport! The foreshadowing of the Will-Selene breakup is well done. The conversations between the lovers become more formal and less intimate, sex is no longer a way to express joy but instead a way to repair some of the damage done by Will’s douchitude. Anyone who has been part of a failing marriage will read the scene were Will expresses a preference for sleep over sex and know that the end is neigh.
The saintly Selene is sacrificed on the same unholy altar that started Will’s transformation. She rises as a lich, Will discovers that she destroyed the souls of children to achieve this state and, in a compelling depiction of psychological projection, Will decides that Selene is evil one whilst ignoring the fact that he agreed to doom thousands of souls to an eternity in hell just for a chance to kill the dragon. Once the dragon is slain, the Fae Queen gives her speech and commits suicide, Will decides that the Fae Queen is right: Grand plans to improve the world are futile. Better to be a hero to one or two people than be hero to a nation or the world. Will adopts the child of woman that he seems to hold in contempt and father and son walk into the sunset while the credits roll.
The message is anything but uplifting but it’s fascinating portrait of the times we live in. War is a destructive force, grand plans to improve the world are futile and even the noblest soul is capable of evil.
I guess this what we believe, isn’t it?
Edit: On other reviews. I read the entire series in one sitting so I see things a bit differently than do most critical reviewers. No, the characters did not change their personalities in the last few chapters, instead they completed their character arc. Will was committing evil acts throughout the series and he was always going to end up a wounded warrior.
Selene? I never thought of Selene as fully fleshed out character with a mental life of her own. She was a literary device, her purpose was to contribute to Will's story.
January 4, 2023
This book felt very rushed, like the whole point was to set up the next series.
Nobody is very likeable. Selene and Tiny were like completely different characters. No chemistry or funny banter.
Characters hardly communicated with each other. The big plan had to be a secret from the reader, but the ending was not worth it.
The absence of Grandad was the worst part. No comedy. Very bleak and depressing.
I think the author tried to compensate with Will and Sammy’s convos, but they just made me feel uncomfortable. Who talks like that to their cousin? Weird.
The start of the book was the best bit. Should have ended there.
I’d still recommend the series, as books 1-4 are brilliant.
Nobody is very likeable. Selene and Tiny were like completely different characters. No chemistry or funny banter.
Characters hardly communicated with each other. The big plan had to be a secret from the reader, but the ending was not worth it.
The absence of Grandad was the worst part. No comedy. Very bleak and depressing.
I think the author tried to compensate with Will and Sammy’s convos, but they just made me feel uncomfortable. Who talks like that to their cousin? Weird.
The start of the book was the best bit. Should have ended there.
I’d still recommend the series, as books 1-4 are brilliant.
April 9, 2023
DNF 82%
This didn't feel much like the prior books. It had a slow start and then the protagonist started acting stupidly before becoming a full-on murder hobo. Very little happened for a long stretch while Will continued to be stupid and make morally questionable decisions. However, it eventually dawned on me that I was forcing myself to continue out of a feeling of loyalty to the series... that's a bad sign.
I stopped reading entirely after the "big bad" decided to drop in and have a heart-to-heart with Will, rather than just killing him outright. If this were a comedy, I'd understand... but it's not. What it is, is disappointing.
This didn't feel much like the prior books. It had a slow start and then the protagonist started acting stupidly before becoming a full-on murder hobo. Very little happened for a long stretch while Will continued to be stupid and make morally questionable decisions. However, it eventually dawned on me that I was forcing myself to continue out of a feeling of loyalty to the series... that's a bad sign.
I stopped reading entirely after the "big bad" decided to drop in and have a heart-to-heart with Will, rather than just killing him outright. If this were a comedy, I'd understand... but it's not. What it is, is disappointing.
June 2, 2022
Wow, I think I left my spleen on that ride
Such an emotional roller coaster, definitely a masterful work in storytelling. As for the negative reviews, life is not full of happy endings and sometimes you have to accept that. If you've made it this far in the series you know that not everyone lives and some characters make mistakes and sometimes bad judgement calls, that's part of the magic, and what helps make it feel like it could happen if you were in that world.
Such an emotional roller coaster, definitely a masterful work in storytelling. As for the negative reviews, life is not full of happy endings and sometimes you have to accept that. If you've made it this far in the series you know that not everyone lives and some characters make mistakes and sometimes bad judgement calls, that's part of the magic, and what helps make it feel like it could happen if you were in that world.
October 2, 2023
Disappointing end to a wonderful series.
Wtf. I didn't expect the series to end like this. The last 4 books were a great but the ending to this book is very depressing. Selene is a lich? Why is she experimenting on children? Will basically abandons all of his bonds with his friends. I just don't think this ending was satisfactory for me.
Good Series, ending ruined it. Looking forward to your next series
Wtf. I didn't expect the series to end like this. The last 4 books were a great but the ending to this book is very depressing. Selene is a lich? Why is she experimenting on children? Will basically abandons all of his bonds with his friends. I just don't think this ending was satisfactory for me.
Good Series, ending ruined it. Looking forward to your next series
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 19, 2022
The equivalent to this book is if when Frodo got to Mount Doom he knocked on the front door and handed the ring over to Sauron and then threw a temper-tantrum when he did not get a thank you from his friends while he's still busy burning down the Shire.
What was a fantastic four-book series I had already recommended to one friend has been turned into an awful five-book series (and I had to go back to the person to tell them to avoid reading) because the author burned it all down in the end.
What was a fantastic four-book series I had already recommended to one friend has been turned into an awful five-book series (and I had to go back to the person to tell them to avoid reading) because the author burned it all down in the end.
June 20, 2022
Continued great story telling …
Interesting character development. Certainly doesn’t end in a particularly predictable way! Fascinating twisting storyline. I thought that it was worth reading. Cameo from Mordecai Illeniel was a nice touch :) … I really liked the ending. Look forward to the next one.
Interesting character development. Certainly doesn’t end in a particularly predictable way! Fascinating twisting storyline. I thought that it was worth reading. Cameo from Mordecai Illeniel was a nice touch :) … I really liked the ending. Look forward to the next one.
July 20, 2022
The ending just ruined the entire series. All the character development done in the previous 4 books is gone. It just feels like the writer wanted this ending and he forced it upon the characters. The previous 4 books were really great but this ruined it all. I wish I stopped at the book 4, and never read this.
January 14, 2023
One of the worst endings to an awesome series that I have ever read. I almost stopped reading it multiple times. The author forced the ending that he had wanted from the beginning. Would have been better if I had never read this book.
Read
November 24, 2025DNF - too painful.
April 27, 2024
This last book had me considering suicide, that would at least make more sense.
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