Magesign

The Balance #2

by Alan Baxter

Three years have passed since Isiah's run in with Samuel Harrigan and the Devil. He has some time on his hands - a perfect opportunity to track down the evil Sorcerer, Harrigan's mentor.

It should have been a simple enough task, but the Sorcerer has more followers than Isiah ever imagined, and a plan bigger than anyone could have dreamed.

With the help of some powerful new friends, Isiah desperately tries to track down the Sorcerer and his cult of blood before they manage to change the world forever.

In this long-awaited sequel to the highly acclaimed RealmShift, Baxter once again keeps a breathless pace and blistering intensity with gods, demons and humans entangled in magic and conflict. This is dark fantasy at its best.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Thriller, Occult, Urban Fantasy, Magic

252 pages, Paperback

First published March 7, 2009

About the author

My book rating system:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Brilliant, I bloody loved it!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Really good, highly recommended.
⭐⭐⭐ - Enjoyable, well worth a read.

I don't talk about ⭐⭐ and ⭐ reads because I only talking up the good stuff. That's why my Goodreads rarely has anything under a ⭐⭐⭐.

Bio: Alan Baxter is a British-Australian multi-award-winning author of horror, supernatural thrillers, dark fantasy, and crime. He’s also a martial arts expert, a whisky-soaked swear monkey, and dog lover. He creates dark, weird stories among the valleys of southern Tasmania.

Fond him online at www.alanbaxter.com.au

Reviews

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

MageSign
By: Alan Baxter
Narrated by: Matt Bentley Allegre
This is a dark fantasy and book two. I didn't read book one first but had no problems understanding what was going on, the author gave enough clues to fill the reader in. The book deals with demons, gods, and humans in cults, and special humans dealt with a job to serve. Powerful magic, a specially born baby, and lots of violence is involved in here. More than necessary in my opinion.
The book was slow going to begin with but picked up. I did feel that it would have been better if some of it was edited out, a shorter, more clear cut version with more developed characters.
The narrator was fine.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alan Baxter’s new book, “MageSign” continues the story of Isiah, the superhuman defender of balance, from “RealmShift.” As the book begins, Isiah is trying to track down the Sorcerer, the man who taught Samuel the blood magic, but the Sorcerer is one step ahead of Isiah. Isiah still has his role doing the work of the Balance, but it’s made clear to him from the beginning, that he’s on his own for this hunt.

While tracking one of the Sorcerer’s lieutenants, “Filthy Frank,” Isiah discovers another ’superhuman’ also watching the same target. This new contact eventually turns into a potential love interest and new set of allies for Isiah in his lonely, eternal quest to maintain balance among the gods.

Faith, a teenage girl growing up in a conservative family in the Blue Mountains of Australia longs for the city and for the real world. So far though, she’s just whinny and annoying…a pretty typical teenager. However, Faith has ‘potential’ and is quickly involved with the Sorcerer’s gang of bloody henchmen. Isiah will use Faith in his quest, but will she be saved, or will she end up another innocent suffering to maintain the balance?

Because of the blood magic and the presence of the Sorcerer character, this book is a bit more gory and horrific than the first. In fact, “MageSign” and “RealmShift” are difficult to pin to any particular genre. They both have fantastic qualities, they are horrific at times, they involve mythology and mythical characters, and possible alternate histories; they are hard to put a label to, much like Niel Gaiman’s “Anansi Boys.”

The Isiah character is still very interesting. He is powerful and important, yet troubled and at times petulant. Isiah is such a strong character, at times I almost wish the book was written from his personal point of view, but the author does a good job of balancing the evolving story lines and supporting characters, and the shifting of focus adds tension to the narrative. “MageSign” is a great addition by Alan Baxter, and I highly recommend it.

[Brenton · Rating 4 out of 5]

MageSign by Alan Baxter, is a fast-paced ride through a visceral reality which holds a mirror up to today’s apathetic society.

This is the sequel to RealmShift, which I enjoyed reading, but had enough issues with to mark it a 3/5 on the Amazon scale of reviews. MageSign scores an easy 4/5 on that same scale. Although Baxter drops enough background story to make this more-or-less stand on its own, I recommend you read RealmShift first – it will add to the overall experience.

Again the story revolves around Isiah, the central character for both books, but this time he’s not working for the mysterious entity known as The Balance, he’s doing a little project of his own. In the first book, we were introduced to Samuel Harrigan, a particularly nasty piece of work, and we learn of his ability with blood magic. In MageSign, Isiah has decided the world could do without more Harrigans and sets out to destroy The Sorcerer, Harrigan’s teacher of the black arts. In the second book, Baxter gives us enough information to know who Harrigan was, but to gain a true understanding of how bad this guy really was – read the first book.

But three years has passed between the books. The reader is led to believe Isiah has been kept busy maintaining the balance of all things, while the Sorcerer has been far from idle. Now his organisation is truly global and fast-tracked toward reaching an horrific goal, a goal hidden to everyone and everything – including the Balance.

Stepping in and out of countries ranging from Australia, England, the USA, and even Tibet, Baxter creates an intricate plot, laced with wonderful scenic descriptions. His knowledge of the martial arts also shines through with excellently choreographed fight routines, and more subtle references to Asian fighting style disciplines and everyday way of life.

Isiah is still a superman of a character with amazing abilities and inner strength, but the story allows a greater showing of his human side – including a growing affection with a new leading lady. But it also better depicts his understanding of the need to keep balance between all things. His reasoning behind choices and actions within the book, truly paint a man made to keep the balance without having to be amoral – a difficult thing to accomplish.

The sentence structure is again short and sharp in places, unusual and something which takes a little getting used to, but I was ready for it this time after having read RealmShift earlier. This is obviously a style choice by Baxter and works for him more often than not.

But Baxter’s true claim to fame is his final climaxes. In the first book, the build up was very well done although the aftermath and character reactions were disappointing – not the case here. The mounting tension is exquisitely handled, built up to a crescendo of amazing proportions. Nothing is missed on this ending, including all the character reactions. It is a fitting ending to a thoroughly good read.

Accepting the sentence structure as a style choice, I’m happy to let that pass, but the Balance still feels the need to shout in capitals. Thankfully, the entity has a much smaller part to play in this book and so yelled conversations are short and sparse.

The only other issue I had with this book was one scene between Isiah and his mate, Gabe. It came across as inserted slapstick in the middle of a dark fantasy novel. It was not required, and tended to make a mockery of the two characters Baxter had painstakingly built up, both in this book and in RealmShift, and almost made me put down the book there and then – I’m glad I didn’t, but it was a close thing.

Ignoring that one scene, Baxter has delivered a book which is better than the first one, which was pretty good to start with. If this trend continues, I’ll be looking forward to the next instalment.

[Dannielle Line · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dark god is gaining power, its source, the blood practices, rituals, and sacrifices its disciples are performing on earth. It’s only a matter of time before the malevolence breaks through its realm into ours. Once again, Isiah in in the thick of it, desperate to restore the balance of power as it swings faster toward the abyss. This time he has a lead - the evil Sorcerer who taught Samuel, and now others like him, is claiming more bodies, and Isiah is determined the Dominus will pay for his crimes. Only now he has more to worry about than his own immortal soul. There are others amongst the realms who need his help, still more who seek to destroy them, and in the middle of it all, one soul who could change everything.

With the balance of good and evil at stake, each character has his or her own agenda. Each believe they have something worth fighting for, only some minds are so warped and twisted they can no longer see the truth, no longer care, and still the blood calls to them, begs, cajoles, commands and exalts them for power corrupts all. This story travels at such a pace you won’t know what hit you. Best grab hold of Isiah’s coat tails and hang on tight. You’re in for the ride of your life!

The battle between good and evil hangs in the balance, but this story moves at such a cracking pace you’d be forgiven for thinking you’re in a spinning top rather than rocking back and forth on the scales. Loved it.

[Peter Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this story might be OK, but the Kindle version has no breaks between scenes. I'm reading one part of the story and, seamlessly, it switches to a different perspective (from Jake to Faith for example). Some serious formatting issues are killing me. I read half way down the page wondering what the hell is going on before I realize that we are reading about someone else. If this could be fixed, it is probably worth a read. Otherwise I give up.

[S.B. Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

A double edged sword

One of the nice things about social networking is being able to interact with authors, talk about their work, or indeed just chat about life in general. I enjoy reading Alan's twitter feed, and blog. The downside to building a connection(however superficial) with a writer, is that when you come to review their work, it can make your job as a reviewer much harder.

I was not really a fan of Alan Baxter’s first novel RealmShift reviewed here and I had concerns that I might have similar issues with MageSign.

I am happy to report that I found MageSign to be a far better reading experience and in my humble opinion a far better constructed tale.

The Tale Continues…

MageSign picks up three years after the events in RealmShift. Isiah our all powerful immortal protagonist is tracking down the sorcerer who trained the despicable Samuel Harrigan in RealmShift.

Usually backed up by the mysterious entity called ‘The Balance’, Isiah is left to go it alone in MageSign. Neither helped nor hindered, Isiah sets out to track down the sorcerer and discovers a deadly cult set on world domination through the use of blood magic. He finds love, danger and death along the way.

A slow start

Initially I had misgivings, while I felt the writing was a little more engaging, the prose was still too florid for my tastes. The language was evocative and I could see that Baxter was trying to establish a certain mood but it felt to me that he was laying on the atmosphere too heavily – to the detriment of pacing.

MageSign is a sequel and like a lot of authors there’s some exposition used to bring those readers who haven’t read RealmShift up to date. Always hard to achieve without annoying readers who have read the previous work, these sections grated with me and felt a little clunky.

Like flipping a switch

My feeling and my enjoyment changed immediately when Baxter introduced the character of Faith. It was almost as if a switch had been flipped. The writing was less florid and more honest and it seemed from this point on that Baxter had found a groove, a balance to his story telling. There was only one further instance here I felt jolted from the story– when Faith has an internal monologue ranting against modern society(the cynicism was a little too refined for her 15 year old character) and that like RealmShift the author’s voice was intruding on the character’s. It’s all well and good to make social comment but I think the comment needed to be subtler. Despite these two minor instances though I was in the grip of the novel.

Danger, Death and Love

One of the major issues I had with Realmshift was that I didn’t connect with Isiah, he was all powerful, I never felt that he or anything important to him was at risk. Baxter certainly changed that with MageSign . First, Isiah is in the dark for much of the story, ‘The Balance’ is of no help to him and he goes it alone and subsequently the reader is swept up in the mystery, that Isiah attempts to unravel. Isiah also gets a love interest with its requisite sexual tension, innuendo and witty banter. The Archangel Gabriel features more strongly in MageSign and the reader gets a much better sense of the relationship that Isiah and he share. Finally, and without wanting to spoil it for the rest of you, there’s an unexpected twist that will have you racing through chapters to find out what had happened to one of the main characters.

Best is yet to come

MageSign is a much better book than RealmShift . I felt that Alan Baxter really began to hit his straps in this book. It’s not perfect by any means, but there were glimpses of some really good, economical and engaging writing. I’ll be watching Alan’s writing with continued interest as I think his best work is ahead of him.

This eBook was provided by the author at no cost to myself.

Note: I'd like to have given this 3.5 stars

[Chris Bauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alan Baxter is one of the hosts of a favored podcast "ThrillerCast" and I've read several of his short fiction pieces in the past. I've always enjoyed listening to his perspective on different writerly topics. About five minutes after finishing his first book in the series "Realmshift" I started the sequel entitled "Magesign"

Great followup work to the first book with many elements which made it a different read from the first.

The work itself is a very unique match up of urban fantasy combined with major mythological elements. The protagonist is an agent of Balance, dedicated to keeping the scales even between good and evil, whatever the cost. Many of the themes created in the first book are touched upon once more, with new enemies and allies introduced. I very much enjoyed his realization when the character realizes that he is not the only one with extraordinary capabilities. Even gives way to a love interest which I found very entertaining to read.

Baxter creates a very unusual character in the work. Centuries old and possessed of hidden knowledge, strength and skills the protagonist has an amazing array of "edges" - enough so he can go toe to toe with gods and Satan himself. But always at a cost and always for a reason.

The pace was good and different from the first book. At times the book read like an old school espionage novel with powerful and well-funded groups moving against eachother and the agent of Balance caught in the middle. Bad guys were sufficiently bad, but not without their reasons. Even the good guys has logical flaws which were entertaining to read about.

One of my favorite aspects of the book is the protag's frustration and anger at the force of Balance which has kept him alive for so many years. His is an uncertain master and when he demands answers, it made for strangely compelling reading.

In addition I really enjoyed the time Baxter spent detailing his protag. Despite (in spite) all of his wonderful abilities, the hero of the tale is a man conflicted. Forced to do reprehensible acts in the name of Balance, it is his role to ensure that destinies are met, no matter the cost. Baxter never lets the reader forget that fact.

I was impressed by the second work as I imagine it would have been all too easy to either cut and paste large sections of the first one and/or grab things which were edited out of the first book and simply slid into the second. But, no. This is perfectly suitable as a stand alone novel.

Baxter takes a sub genre which is getting a little long in the tooth and bends it to his own unique vision. Enjoyed ever word.

[Tracy Riva · Rating 5 out of 5]

MageSign by Alan Baxter

MageSign by Alan Baxter is the second volume in a duology that began with Baxter’s RealmShift. The character of Isiah must pursue a personal vendetta with no assistance, or direction, from the force he usually serves, known as the Balance. MageSign is a fast paced ride through the depths of darkness a human soul can hold. It builds in intensity with a mystery involving a dark and twisted cult that leaves you longing for more, while building a deeper sense of dread that leaves you nearly afraid to turn the pages.

A sample of the darkness, from the early pages of the book that made my skin crawl follows:


“…’What am I doing?’ the Sorcerer asked quietly. ‘I’m feeding the baby, of course.’
With one swift motion the blade swept around and straight across Colley’s thin, pale throat. Immediately blood poured from the broad gash in an arterial flood, showering over the child. The Sorcerer muttered the words of his magic, holding tightly as Colley bucked once, twice, before collapsing limp. As Braden screamed the baby stretched its arms up into the waterfall of blood, clutching and grasping at the hot, red fluid. The blood poured over the child and into his mouth and the child gulped and gurgled, swallowing as much of the blood as he could. Little arms and legs squirmed and writhed, his small body arching up into the flow, desperately drinking deeply, the movement of the newborn unnatural. ‘He entered this world in a bath of his virgin mother’s lifeblood,’ the Sorcerer whispered, ‘and his first meal is swallowed from the bloodbath of another. We begin here the creation of untold power.”


While MageSign can be read alone I highly suggest reading the first volume of the series RealmShift, which provides an in-depth back-story for MageSign. After reading MageSign I found myself yearning for more of Isiah’s adventures, which may perhaps include a few other characters from the book. Stand alone volumes that have nothing to do with the duology or a trilogy would be fine, just give me more Isiah!

MageSign by Alan Baxter, First Edition 2008 by Blade Red Press, ISBN 978-0-9805782-1-8, Second Edition April 2010 by Gryphonwood Press ISBN 978-0-9825087-5-6 Available thrhough Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com, other online bookstores as well as local book retailers. For more information consult the author's website at http://www.alanbaxteronline.com

[Karen Field · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being the second book in a set, I expect more from the story and the author...and I got both.

We return to Isiah three years later. Nothing much is happening in his life, so he decides to check out something that had been bothering him since the death of his old enemy, Samuel Harrigan. What starts out as a simple errand type job, becomes a nightmare filled with gods, sorcerers, demons, witches and a ninja type figure that proves quite a distraction.

I was pleased to revisit the setting and find familiar faces, I was even more pleased to discover that the author's writing style has improved tenfold. MageSign isn't a "shoot 'em up" storyline like the first book (which, I should add, was fast paced and kept the pages turning), but a more realistic storyline with more suspense and tension (even a touch of sexual tension, which was unexpected). And...where Realmshift had a complicated religious thread which slowed the story down, MageSign doesn’t have that problem. I found the flow to be almost seamless, which means I could get into the story and stand right beside the characters and stay there. I find this experience improves everything about reading - my enjoyment triples and my reading time becomes more involved and less fidgety too.

MageSign is slower paced, but that doesn’t mean the story is lacking, because it isn’t. The suspense builds to such a degree that you can almost feel the pressure accumulating within Isiah when he finally faces the antagonists of the story. This tension is what forces the reader to keep turning the pages. It’s not only essential to find out what’s going to happen next, it is of the utmost importance to witness the final battle between good and evil -- because, as I saw on a TV show recently, “Evil triumphs, when good men do nothing”. When I saw that phrase, it made me think of MageSign.

Truly a good story, written with a strong voice. Highly recommended.

[Phillip Berrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent sequel to the author's previous book in this world, 'Realmshift'.

In MageSign, the main character is Isiah, the hero from the first book. He is moonlighting from his normal 'job' as an agent for the BALANCE and is trying to tidy up some loose ends left over from the previous adventure. In so doing he discovers not only a hidden cult but also a secret order of magi. For a guy like Isiah, who has been kicking around for several centuries and regularly deals with supernatural beings like angels and demons, these sorts of surprises are unusual. And, when the BALANCE is unable or unwilling to give him any more information, this just spurs him on to find out the truth behind these mysteries. Which is just in time, because Isiah soon finds himself in a race to prevent a catastrophe of almost biblical proportions.

In the first book of this duology the action was mainly centred around the main character, Isiah. In this book Isiah is still in there kicking ass in his own inimitable style, but the focus was more on the secondary characters of the story. Indeed, I got the overall impression that there was more 'air time' given to the bad guys in this book than the good guys, which to my mind was a refreshing change.

Recommended to people who like dark urban fantasy/horror with the pacing of a thriller.

[Dave Kearney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alan Baxter picks up the story of powerful magician Isiah in Magesign (The Balance #2). It’s the second book in his ‘Balance’ duology and an absolute visceral smorgasbord for lovers of dark fantasy and horror.

Three years after his run in with the loathsome blood mage Samuel Harrigan, Isiah attempts to track down Harrigan’s mentor. But he soon discovers that the evil Sorcerer has more disciples and a plan far more disturbing than Isiah imagined. With the help of some new friends, Isiah attempts to destroy the Sorcerer and his blood cult before they unleash the ultimate evil on the world.

Magesign took a few pages to get going but once it did, I couldn't put it down. Baxter again fills his world with intriguing characters and challenges his readers to think about what they believe. The story is told from multiple points of view and Baxter skilfully takes these threads and weaves them into a masterfully-paced narrative that builds to a mind-blowing conclusion.

Fans of dark fantasy and horror not already acquainted with Alan Baxter’s work would do well to have a look at this tightly written duology. While Magesign stands alone, it is definitely best enjoyed when read after Realmshift (The Balance #1). Highly recommended.

[J.F. Penn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorier than Realmshift which made me turn away in some chapters. Definitely dark fantasy in this one! Loved the cinematic ending. Visual and visceral writing.

[Leticia Mooney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read, nice unexpected twist at the end, which then made me feel stupid for not seeing it earlier. Full review to follow.

[Mindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started better than the first one but went bad with a late 'rape to demonstrate how awful this character is'.