Mark of the Fool 3

Mark of the Fool #3

by J.M. Clarke

While war rages in Thameland, other battles begin.

With his first year complete, Alex Roth has made a discovery that could change his kingdom forever.

As the university prepares for an expedition to Thameland, Alex makes himself ready by growing stronger, taking summer courses on magic and spending time with his new friends and family.

But conspiracy brews in Generasi. Demonic attacks target the expedition and as the city prepares for its annual Games of Roal, Alex must make sure that his own secrets don’t come back to bite him.

At least he has family and a new relationship to calm his nerves.

Until an unexpected visit throws his whole summer into disarray.

There is no rest for the wicked. Or foolish.

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy, Magic, Fiction, Adventure, Romance

726 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 12, 2023

Reviews

[Roberto Flores · Rating 3 out of 5]

Drawn out with no real progress.

Book one did a good job of set up. Book two was excellent with character and situational development. With book three I expected story progression, I did not get it. Nine hundred pages and most of it is filler. The few things of interest were wrapped up very quickly while the rest dragged on and on. This was put out to buy time, I would rather wait and get a proper story.

[Devil Dog · Rating 2 out of 5]

You can skip this one

I have enjoyed the series so far. Sadly though I can't recommend this one. It honestly just fills like filler. The story never truly progressed at all. Everything of importance can easily be summed up in a few chapters.

[Jason W · Rating 3 out of 5]

wrong turn

I hate it when a good series goes bad. Unfortunately, this book is pretty bad or more precisely, aimless. I have no idea where the author is going and why he included so much filler but the result is a jumbled mess. So much of the book just seems irrelevant.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice High Magic Fantasy read. Fast paced and lots of humor scattered throughout. Very recommended

[Andrews WizardlyReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic! The ending was a bit over long and drawn out.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall I really enjoyed this one. There is a certain amount of this book that is just lacking character interaction and development. Overall though the book was pretty good. I enjoyed it a lot and will definitely continue to read this series.

[Patrick Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do love a good tournament book! However, the beginning had a bit too much of a focus on relationships for my taste.

[Shonari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say, this was a laugh out funny and pretty engaging fantasy novel. The characters are well-rounded and relatable, and the story is a good balance of slice of life, hero antics and emotional weight.

[Quentin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't a bad story but it isn't good either and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

There is this phenomenon where people listen to movies on Netflix casually instead of actively engaging with them which created a whole new class of entertainment specialized in engaging people enough to be worthwhile listening to and occasionally look at it but not so much that they have to stop everything and really focus on it.

This book and writing similar to it is very much like that.

I can hardly remember what happened for 80% of the story as most seem irrelevant. A lot of side plots. A lot of quickly forgotten setups with little to no payoff. No character development. No real plot development.

I will be moving on from this series to something else.

[Dave Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm still on the fence
I had to finish book 4 to see what I thought about book 3.
I don't know why I thought book 4 was the last in a quadrilogy but I was wrong and YES it does have an impact on my review. Book three seemed like filler material of little to no importance. If this were a 4 book series that would be nearly criminal. As that was not the case, having a book of 80% pointless battles & fight scenes is merely an indulgence of J.M. Clarke.
-Book #3 (this one) Takes place in the summer break and is mostly action and fights and the obligatory Grand tournament BS. How all these events can be crammed into a summer took some creative license but that inconsistency just gives us more book.
Two other things bothered me in book 3. I didn't care for the tonal shift in this book. The Protagonists seem more like jerks ( and sometimes villains) and J.M. Clarke finally broke down and used the old "MC suddenly makes bad choices in exactly the right way to advance the plot in the most dramatic way" shtick. I'd been so happy the author hadn't used that gimmick in the first two books.
Lastly, because I'd thought this way a four book series that would wrap up in the next book, having the author just jerking off and squandering all this time was giving me tightness in my chest. That misunderstanding colored my perception of everything that happened and because of that, I didn't enjoy this book. Now I see this series is going to go on and on until we stop buying it, I might have enjoyed it more. Oh well, the next book get better anyway.

[Arnis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pārdabiskais mošķis Raveners un tā dēmonu un citu monstru armijas atkal griež savas neglītās galvas Rainianas impērijas un tās galvaspilsētas Thameland virzienā. Mošķis, kurš reizi simts gados prasa no pieciem nejauši izvēlētiem Varoņiem ar lielo burtu visu iespējamo un varbūt pat to dzīvības, lai glābtu savu dzimteni. Diemžēl no pieciem Varoņiem vienam tiek, nodēvēts par Muļķi, tiek vairāk kā pārējo atbalstoša loma, un kaut arī vēstures annālēs ir piezīmes, ka bez Muļķa markas īpašnieka neiztikt, tad ar tikpat vieglu roku tā pienesums tiek, ja ne gluži noniecināts, tad noteikti ne tik augstu godā celts un slavināts, kā pārējo varoņu pienesums.

https://poseidons99.com/2025/09/06/j-...

[Bob Wester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Character growth, but missing elements

Alex is growing stronger and more confident as time goes on, but in the rush to move the main plot forward, other details start to slip. The hero is going to return to his homeland but as part of the school's expedition. And the yearly celebration of the defender of the city, with contests and prizes to be won, is under attack by a hidden demon summoner. All good ideas but so much effort goes into each contest that the part-time job the hero worked so hard to attain is given almost no attention. The summer courses lack depth. The hero's friends have little growth. And his girlfriend only gets one date in the story which includes a hunt for a monster as part of the activities. None of this is bad. It just deserves more room to breathe

[Harry Whinnery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great premise, story telling sometimes over explains simple interactions

[Kassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ugh I love this series. This felt like a filler book but I ate it up anyways

[Fernando · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot happened on this one! Kept a fast pace throughout the book. It’s fun seeing references from other books/media used through the story. Looking forward to the next one and hoping the audiobooks catch up to the written books soon. The narrator is awesome!

[Dantegideon · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Well,” said the chancellor. “Time to get on with the main story!”
“Hooray!” said Alex.
“Wait a minute,” said Theresa. “Haven’t you remembered the Volume-Spanning Games of Expansiveness, which will more than live up to their name?”
“Maybe next time,” said the chancellor, sadly.

It was good fun anyway.

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 When In Doubt, Threaten Your Foe With Baelin Stars

Mark of the Fool 3 is the third book in A Progression Fantasy Epic series by J. M. Clarke.

Everything involving the demon summoner spread this current beneath the enjoyment of the Roal Games. Although, they were still fascinating and allowed even more characters' unique abilities to come to life. That of Tyris and Vesuvius, being a particular favorite of mine. I have an appreciation for larger tortoises, especially within the fantasy genre.

The visiting of Mr. and Mrs. Lu added such an air of homeliness that suffused all the dark and seriousness surrounding these university students. Bringing a counterbalance. With how this next book focused as it is on their expedition to Thameland and all of the that danger brings, some lightening of moods was welcome. Although, with Alex and Selina's sibling bond to add levity with most of their interactions..

It's been interesting to see Alex's focus shift to other types of magic. And the resulting discoveries therein. Especially regarding his connection to the Traveler, with his pronounced abilities within the realms of teleportation and summoning magic.

I have also enjoyed discovering more about the supporting cast. Khalik, with his love life being so unique, or Isolde and her satisfying victory over Derek. Kybas and Harmless' struggles and successes along the way. How Grimloch and his older sister Nua'Oge interact. The additional comic relief of Thundar's particular personality.

[Callum · Rating 5 out of 5]

From strength to strength

This book was a ton of fun. All the stuff I loved in the first two was there and the tournament was great. Don’t really have much else to say, if you read the first two this is very much the same. Progress is made and exciting things await with the way it ended.

I will say as one mild negative: there is a romantic subplot that has been ever more present from the beginning of the series and I don’t love it. It’s not a huge part of the book and it’s not horribly obnoxious but in my personal opinion it is boring. There is a date fairly early in the book that was just so vanilla I struggled to get through it. Alex and Theresa are cute and everything but I truly could not care less about their utterly bog standard and uninteresting relationship. It’s nice there’s not loads of drama but in its place is just monotony. Still that’s only a small part of the book and the only bit I felt like I was trudging through - not nearly enough to deduct a star.

Overall if you liked the first you’ll like this it’s the same quality (which is high praise) and very much what your used to though that’s not a bad thing.

[Samantha Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great addition to the series.

I thoroughly enjoyed this addition the the mark of the fool series. The character growth and progression is well thought out and is a very enjoyable read. I can't wait for book 4! This is a series everyone should read! I found it a fresh take with well thought out characters who each have enjoyable personalities. I love the addition of moral dilemmas and philosophical ponderings that are seemlessly peppered into the story. Thank you for writing, I can't wait to read more!

[Paul Cristina · Rating 1 out of 5]

After reaching 74% of the book I can say that I am disappointed, I liked a lot the first book, the second was not so good but still ok, unfortunately the third breaks the immersion for me for the reasons that I will add below.

- nothing related to the main story, again like in the second book the premise which the series started is lost. Why come with such good beginning if you don't want to continue? Having two books(from 3) filled with side quests let's say, is too much for me
- the Roal competition should take the reader mind from the lack of progress regarding the main story but is just absurd, you have this competition with some insanely high prizes that brings the best and most experienced wizard/warriors in the world, and students that just finished the first year at the academy are winning easy, how could they have become overnight the best in terms of combat? They do not have the most mana, they don't have the best spells and definitely very little battle experience but they obliterate every other person/team that they compete with, come on how this can be credible?
- lack of research regarding medieval weapons and tactics, for this I bring the archery contest that Theresa had won it (if we would had looked at some sources a warbow is very difficult to master and you need an insane strength to pull a 90kg draw weight bow -that is necessary to win an archery by strength competition - and to use it correctly, a couple of months should not be enough and no, a hunting bow is not the same), the same for the melee competition(again Theresa can evade charging warhorses, kicks guys in full plate armor like they are nothing, why would people purchase extremely expensive suites of armor they could not stand the unarmored blows of a 18 yo girl?)
- lack of consistency regarding the world own rules, the author makes it clearly that progression within the university classes is linear - first tier spells are learned first then second tier and so forth and everybody learns the same spells - then how come if this is linear, wizards that are using third and fourth tier summoning spells for example can't dispel or protect themselves from first tier one? They should already know those spells but no, they need to be defeated by the first spell in the book like elemental beetle, brings the cheap fighting movies in mind

[AHCuteArt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why did you read this book?
I’m enjoying this series, and I plan to read all of the books that have been published.

What format did you read this book in?
Read it as an eBook on Kindle.

Is this an educational book or a book for entertainment?
I read this book for pure entertainment purposes.

What genres do you think this book belongs to?
Fantasy, Humor and Comedy, Romance, Suspense, Young Adult

What was your favorite part of the book?
I love it when Grimlock shows up. But if I had to pick my favorite scene, it would be when Alex summons a demon monkey during his class and gets into an immature fight with it. I like how Alex and the monkey flip each other off.

Who would you suggest this book to?
I would suggest this book to anyone who liked the first two books in the series.

What is your general opinion/ rating of this book?
Woah, what a story arc! This book was mainly about the wizard tournament and a demon summoner that was terrorizing the area. The fight scenes were amazing, and the author did a great job building up tension. I love all the little details and world-building in this series. There isn’t too much I can say without ruining some of the most epic moments in this book. Overall, I really enjoyed this story, and I am looking forward to the next one.

EXTRA
Any trigger warnings?
Racial and Religious: Prejudice
Mental Health: Scars, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Trauma
Violence and Death: Death, Death of a Loved One, Graphic Deaths, Mass Death, Murder, Execution, Decapitation, Suffocation, Burning People, Extreme Violence, Gore, Mutilation, Mutilation of Corpses, Cutting of Limbs, Forced Blood Draining, Escalating Violence, Described Blood, Graphic Violence
Other: Bullying, Profanity, Classism

[Matt B · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is book series with a lot of potential but a lot of room for improvement. Throughout the series, I feel as if the author struggles to both build up and effectively relieve tension. The premise is interesting, but only a couple of the characters really seem to shine. Perhaps it is because the characters at times, feel not flawed enough. Different characters definitely have different strengths or weaknesses, but across three novels, the characters feel often stagnant from a narrative perspective, which makes characters come across as often shallow or one dimensional.

So far, outside of the general premise, there seem to be a lot of different tropes that don’t really to add a new wrinkle to them. A few of tropes just from the beginning of the first book are: parents that tragically passed away, annoying little sibling, having a crush on their childhood best friend, and a magic university. I am not opposed to the use of tropes in any way, but I feel like they need to be done extremely well for a book to feel special. I don’t feel like with the use of these tropes have really brought much to the table.

To conclude with specific thoughts on this most recent book, I feel as if much of this book was filler. Perhaps I am remembering incorrectly, but the end of book two felt like it was setting up a specific event, just for at the beginning of book 3 to push off that event an entire book. Then in book 3, it felt like very little was actually accomplished. It’s tough because I am interested in where the story goes and some of the world building is interesting, but book 3 didn’t make me excited to keep reading. I may end up reading it, as I said, there seems to be a lot of potential and things actually seem to start happening, but it’s just as likely that I stop reading here.

Anecdotally, it is not often that I very much dislike a book in a series and have any inclination to continue with the series, so that does something (I don’t know what) about the series.

[Michael Kahan]

This was really enjoyable. The cast of characters is large enough to feel varied, but not so large that anyone is overshadowed, which is a tough balance to strike. A bit in the middle felt like it dragged a tad, but I think it probably worked really well in the original serial form, instead of being read all at once. I also like the way the broader narrative works to subvert both traditional litRPG elements (getting a 'class' is a rare and special thing, but one that's well known about) and the standard fantasy trope of the chosen one. I confess I had a little trouble suspending my disbelief with the Games of Roal, but the author does a good job mitigating it, making it clear there's a power cap on what is essentially the magical olympics and in showing how our protagonist and his friends have been a team working together for a while. And they don't even win, but come in a respectable third. If I can accept that the only four people in Hogwarts interested in and capable of beating the defenses set up by a teacher were an immortal powerful madman and a trio of eleven year olds, i can accept this.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark3: No going off campus for a monster hunt, the monsters come on campus. We start out with the heroes in Thameland, and there is a spectacular segue into Alex on campus. It happened early in the book, but it was so fun it still counts as one of the high points even as the book ends. Another high point was Alex setting up his first date and the response he received. The fighting was what you come to expect in this series. Alex has added one more spell to his repertoire which he employed to good use in his several battles. Other than that it was business as usual.

The low point of the book was the introduction to the botanical gardens. The description of all the plants added nothing to the story and seemed more an exercise in creative writing than adding anything significant to the storyline. One of the later battles took place in the garden, but the specialization of the plants played no relevance to the plot line.

[MrG LikesBooks&Booze · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely enjoyed this book, and had to go straight from it to the next two in the series, while on a road trip.
The characters continue to develop and deepen, and we begin to learn more about each of the characters and about the world(s) that exist.
Alex's continued efforts to leverage the mark and find loop holes in its restrictions are interesting and enjoyable.

Additionally the banter between the characters, especially Alex and his sister is amazing. All of the team's camaraderie and banter are enjoyable, but those two take the cake.

If you haven't read the first book I highly recommend starting and enjoying the series as I have. If you've read the first two and are looking at book three and trying to decide, it is more of the same, with the magic and personal improvements escalating.

[Rex Schrader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series.

There are three things that make it really work for me:
1) The MC has an advantage that is kinda a disadvantage at the same time. It is very clearly though his use and abuse, working around the edges, that give him his power. His power almost always feels EARNED.

2) The supporting characters also earn their power. While they, individually and collectively, are special people, they also have worked to become so. Also, they work well TOGETHER to be better.

3) They story can be, at times, laugh out loud funny. The MC is not some dour grimdark protagonist, he's really just a kid. He is unsure of himself and a bit or a dork. I find it endearing.

As always, can't wait for the next book.

[Steve Naylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 4.0 stars

This one is a little slower than the previous ones. For a guy that can learn any skill very fast using the mark, I would have thought Alex would use the mark all the time to pick up new skills. I thought it would be a feature of the story. It is included but not as much as I would have expected. There are parts that definitely drag on that doesn't really move the story forward. A good chunk of this story focused on a competition. While it was interesting I wanted the plot to advance a little more. Overall I still like the world building, characters and magic. The first book dealt with the first semester of classes. The second book dealt with the second semester of classes and this one deals with summer classes.

[Akshay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mark of the Fool 3 is the third and final book in the Mark of the Fool series by J.M. Clarke. It is a fantasy novel that follows the story of Ged, a young man who is trying to find his place in the world.

Mark of the Fool 3 is a well-written and engaging novel. Clarke does a good job of building suspense and creating a sense of danger. The characters are well-developed and believable, and the plot is interesting. The novel also features some interesting magic concepts, which makes it even more thought-provoking.

However, the novel is not without its flaws. One issue is that the pacing can be slow at times. The novel spends a lot of time describing Ged's journey and his encounters with various characters, which can be tedious for some readers. Additionally, the plot can be predictable at times, and there are few surprises.

Another issue is that the novel contains a number of clichés and tropes that are common in fantasy novels. This can make the novel feel unoriginal and derivative.

Mark of the Fool 3 is a good fantasy novel with a number of strengths and weaknesses. The pacing can be slow at times, and the plot can be predictable, but the novel is well-written and engaging. The characters are well-developed and believable, and the magic concepts are interesting.

[Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The series is amazing :D really well-paced and thought-out with likeable and distinct characters.
I love how Claygon is on the verge of becoming its own entity and how Alex wanders over what that will look like with a bit of worry.
I also liked the interrogation scene when Alex does his absolute best to look compliant, truthful and trustworthy with the help of his mark xD kinda wish I had a mark that would help me with that at times hehe.
The action scenes were fun and not too tense for me xD. I really loved the idea of the sensitivity potions!! I can see how that would wreck someone's mind.
I plan to read the next book/s as well and see how the story develops in Thameland ^__^

[Gus Smedstad · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was OK with this series roughly up until Alex made a giant golem near the end of book 2. That struck me as something a first-year student definitely should not be able to do. If it were as easy as the book depicts, *every* 2nd or 3rd year student would have a similar giant golem, not just Alex.

I got about halfway through this one before deciding it was just too boring to continue. Nothing was happening, and there were endless pages of description of sparring matches or similar things. I simply did not care about those sparring matches, and I did not care how Alex fared in the school wide competition.

The various foolish combat "exercises" in previous books at least had the virtue of being about opponents who were genuinely dangerous.