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Magebane

(Age of Dread #3)

Stephen Aryan (Goodreads Author)

4.20 · Rating details · 205 ratings · 21 reviews

MAGIC IS THE ONLY WEAPON AGAINST THE GODS

A plague rages in the streets of Perizzi. City guards rally to deal with riots while the young magicians of the Tower pool their healing powers to find a cure.

Elsewhere, new alliances are formed to stem the rising darkness strengthening a deity who feeds on pestilence and decay. Gods, Sorcerers and Battlemages must set aside the

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ebook, 512 pages

Published by Orbit (first published August 6th 2019)

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End of Series in 2019

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Oct 18, 2020 L'ours inculte rated it really liked it

Ça fait toujours plaisir de terminer une série rondement menée. Après sa première trilogie L’âge des ténèbres, Stephen Aryan en termine une seconde avec ce Magebane et on peut dire que le monsieur a bien affiné son art.

Après la grosse dérouillée qu’elle s’est prise, Akosh se planque et tente de rassembler ses forces, mais celui qui a manigancé les évènements des tomes précédents dans l’ombre commence à la trouver bien encombrante. C’est un monstre encore plus puissant qui pourrait sortir de l’om Ça fait toujours plaisir de terminer une série rondement menée. Après sa première trilogie L’âge des ténèbres, Stephen Aryan en termine une seconde avec ce Magebane et on peut dire que le monsieur a bien affiné son art.

Après la grosse dérouillée qu’elle s’est prise, Akosh se planque et tente de rassembler ses forces, mais celui qui a manigancé les évènements des tomes précédents dans l’ombre commence à la trouver bien encombrante. C’est un monstre encore plus puissant qui pourrait sortir de l’ombre. Mais pendant ce temps, Perizzi est touchée par une épidémie foudroyante, Tammy assume son rôle de Khevassar et va devoir faire des choix drastique pour empêcher l’infection de se propager. Tandis que Tianne rentre retrouver Wren et ses compagnons, le régent Choilan essaye de renforcer son cadre de mage personnel en engageant un professeur un peu particulier.

Contrairement à la première trilogie de l’auteur, les trois tomes de Age of dread ne sont pas indépendants et font même des ponts avec la série précédente. On y trouve toujours de nombreux points de vue, ce qui peut sembler casse-gueule mais est très bien géré par l’auteur. Que ce soit du côté de Munroe et sa vengeance contrariée, Tianne et Wren qui construisent leur communauté, Tammy qui a beaucoup de responsabilités à Perizzi, Balfruss qui mène une nouvelle mission à bien ou encore Vargus qui accompagne son nouveau protégé, ici toutes les trames finissent par converger vers une menace qui se promène entre les lignes depuis plusieurs bouquins. Même si la fin fait un peu « combat de boss », elle est quand même très satisfaisante pour les arcs de chacun, et l’auteur se permet de laisser un ou deux trucs en suspend.

Lire en 2020 un roman avec une pandémie pourra ne pas convenir à tous les lecteurs, parce que niveau évasion et « se changer les idées », on peut mieux faire. Mais j’ai trouvé plusieurs parallèles rigolos avec notre situation réelle de la vraie vie, même si le roman est sorti y’a plus d’un an. J’avoue que les riches qui veulent quitter une ville en quarantaine pour aller tranquillement dans leur maison de campagne au risque de propager la maladie, se retrouvant humiliés dans une prison dégueulasse, ça fait bien sourire aujourd’hui.

Au-delà de ça, Stephen Aryan pousse une mythologie faite de dieux anciens qui marchent parmi les humains et puisent leur puissance dans le nombre de fidèles qui les vénèrent. Pourtant l’auteur s’amuse à garder encore beaucoup de choses dans l’ombre, avec des mystères non élucidés et des forces qui sont à peine esquissées dans les coins. Ça donne un côté indicible pas désagréable, lorgnant du côté d’Erikson mais en plus digeste. On a quand même assez de miettes pour apprendre du neuf, notamment grâce à Vargus et Danoph, mais il serait dommage de trop en dévoiler ici.

La force de cette nouvelle trilogie reste cette galerie de personnages très solide, chaque protagoniste est intéressant, chaque trajectoire se justifie, chaque caractère est fouillé. On a un rythme relativement lent au fil des pages, l’auteur prend son temps, fouille les psychologies et fait assez de rappels pour qu’on ne se perde pas dans tous ces points de vue. On est loin de la fantasy badaboum d’action non-stop que pouvait être Mage de guerre, ça peut parfois trainer un peu mais c’est jamais désagréable, on savoure plus lentement et on s’imprègne de l’univers.

Les thématiques liées à la magie qui fait peur aux « moldus » (qui finissent par persécuter et bannir les mages), la peur de l’inconnu qui dérape en violence incontrôlable, continuent d’être au cœur de l’histoire. La trilogie a exploré plusieurs voies dans cette problématique, touchant au terrorisme, aux phénomènes de foule décérébrée qui se referme et utilise sa haine de l’étranger comme bouclier en cas de crise majeure. Finalement, Age of dread parle souvent de notre monde réel de manière très directe, très sombre mais avec suffisamment de petits sursauts de bienveillance pour ne pas tomber dans « on n’a qu’à tous crever, monde de merde ». Car si certains mages prennent la voie de la violence, d’autres choisissent une voie d’échange et de pédagogie qui ne sera pas simple mais apporte de l’espoir.

Stephen Aryan signe donc une seconde trilogie satisfaisante, plus entière que la précédente mais qui arrive à en utiliser certaines pièces pour construire un édifice cohérent sur l’ensemble de ses six bouquins. Thématiquement fort, avec des personnages solides et convaincants, dommage que Bragelonne n’ait pas encore prévu de traduire cette seconde série chez nous. Le manque de suivi des auteurs sur le long terme reste un vrai souci chez l’éditeur.

https://ours-inculte.fr/magebane/ ...more

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Aug 03, 2020 Koeur rated it really liked it

Rating: 4.4/5

Review: This was a really good end to a series that started in lackluster fashion and ended with a bang.

The characters continued to evolve along with the story line, in good ways and bad. When you have immortal beings, it can be hard to develop the character, yet the author was able to move their perspectives by exerting external pressures. Very well done. Munroe and Wren fail to reach potential as one is mired in revenge and the other just gets more speshul, if that is possible.

The ...more

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Jan 14, 2020 Nick Brett rated it it was amazing

Well, the final book that completes an outstanding trilogy. This is, of course, the second trilogy to feature these characters and all six books have been brilliant, start with book one and don’t leave too much of a gap between books as there is a lot going on and you need to keep on top of it.

In summary this is where the Gods, the mages and the humans have to work together, sort of. Magic is still blamed for the state of the world and can the mages prove they can be a force for good or are they ...more

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Jun 08, 2020 Katie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Stephen Aryan is honestly one of my favorite fantasy authors - and he didn't disappoint with Magebane. He's written an amazing conclusion to another very well-written trilogy. There's a huge cast of characters, but they're all so diverse and different that they're easy to keep track of. I loved the pace of the final book in the trilogy - where I've complained a bit of the pace in the two previous books, the pace was right on point in this book. It took time to build up the tension and the plot, ...more

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Aug 19, 2020 Will rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020, epic, fantasy, sword-and-sorcery, reviewed

4.3 / 5 ✪

Contains spoilers for both Mageborn and Magefall. Also may contain possible spoilers for the Age of Darkness trilogy.

For a guy who hated one of my favorite books, Stephen Aryan can tell a pretty good story. His second trilogy set in this particular world, the Age of Dread continues what the Age of Darkness started, with magic, law, and the gods themselves coming to the forefront for this conclusion.

The Age of Darkness ended in an epic battle for the good of the world, but the Age of Dr 4.3 / 5 ✪

Contains spoilers for both Mageborn and Magefall. Also may contain possible spoilers for the Age of Darkness trilogy.

For a guy who hated one of my favorite books, Stephen Aryan can tell a pretty good story. His second trilogy set in this particular world, the Age of Dread continues what the Age of Darkness started, with magic, law, and the gods themselves coming to the forefront for this conclusion.

The Age of Darkness ended in an epic battle for the good of the world, but the Age of Dread features an epic struggle as well—this one for both gods and men. Having carved out a niche for themselves in the corner of Shael, Wren and the others now search for acceptance from a world that continues to hate and fear their kind. When a mysterious illness appears on the streets of Perizzi, it’s up to Tammy to make sure the virus spreads no further. But she fails as the city is soon quarantined, and are left with a choice—will they survive together, or die alone? As Munroe hunts the being that stole her family from her, nothing will stand in her way. Less justice, more vengeance; nothing will save Akosh when the mage catches up to her. For justice is all well and good, but some debts can only be paid in blood. Akosh has fallen far from the goddess she truly is. Hunted on all fronts, she is forced into an alliance with a being even more powerful and ancient than herself. And when even her once ally threatens to turn on her, Akosh must make the ultimate sacrifice to survive. Revealed as something more than mortal, Danoph know travels with Vargus, the one-time Weaver showing him the ropes. But what is Danoph’s task, exactly? And will he be able to fulfill it when the truth is revealed?

I know this was a fairly brief prompt compared to my usual ramble, but at the end of a six book series (that’s two trilogies), I’m not sure who’s where and how much I should be revealing. Hopefully I did a decent enough job of keeping it informative, yet also vague enough that anyone can jump right in.

I’ve really enjoyed these two trilogies—both the Age of Darkness and the Age of Dread—though I know they weren’t exactly giant successes. It seems most of the people I’ve talked to about them read one or two of the first trilogy, but thought they were decent at best, and then dropped off. Well, everyone’s allowed their own opinion, but it doesn’t really matter as I thought they were brilliant!

With five books preceding Magebane, there are so many paths diverging and converging that the story could almost end up anywhere. It was a brief disappointment when instead we arrived at two shared threads, but the conclusion was entertaining enough that I soon got over it. Though not as epic (in my opinion) as the finale of Chaosmage, the ending here was still impressive. An ultimate evil on one side, while a much different evil awaits on the other. It wasn’t exactly what I’d expected given the series’ history, but in some ways impressed me more given that it broke out of the mold it’d kept to up to this point.

The characters and world-building have been strong throughout the series, reaching an impressive zenith as all their threads collide. While we didn’t get as much exposure to either Sorcerer as I would’ve liked in this final book, enough of the other characters starred that I got over the slight—especially when I figured out what the author was up to. While the trilogies both feature so much of the affairs of gods and sorcerers; the world is not built upon them. It’s built on the backs of mortals. Or, I guess, ‘it is in men that we must place our hope.’ Many stories ended here, some are only getting started. I can’t wait to see where Aryan takes the story from here!

TL;DR

The Age of Darkness ended with a bang. The Age of Dread ends in much the same manner. Another epic conclusion concludes another epic series. Part of me was truly disappointed to see it end, but every story must come to an end. As they’ve struggled to adapt and overcome over the course of six books, the characters that emerge from Magebane have seen some things. They’ve been fleshed out, humanized, developed, grown, regressed, both most of all survived. Everything has led to this point—the end of an age. If you’ve not yet begun either series—I’d definitely recommend it. If you’re somewhere in the middle but on the fence about continuing—I’d still recommend it. If not, I understand; there’s always more to read :) ...more

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Aug 27, 2019 THE BIBLIOPHILE (Rituranjan) rated it really liked it

A good ending to the trilogy. The action is excellent, the tension is kept throughout the story, and the characterization is pretty well done. I have become a fan of Stephen Aryan, and will eagerly wait for his next publication. All of his books follow the traditional fantasy formula in the manner of John Gwynne, but is immensely readable because Aryan mixes the elements of sword and sorcery with the epic in a very enthusiastic manner. Aryan's world is populated by gods, mortals, sorcerers, draw A good ending to the trilogy. The action is excellent, the tension is kept throughout the story, and the characterization is pretty well done. I have become a fan of Stephen Aryan, and will eagerly wait for his next publication. All of his books follow the traditional fantasy formula in the manner of John Gwynne, but is immensely readable because Aryan mixes the elements of sword and sorcery with the epic in a very enthusiastic manner. Aryan's world is populated by gods, mortals, sorcerers, drawing inspiration from different mythologies that lends depth and complexity to the themes of power, faith, survival, change, that is being tackled in the novel.

I loved reading this book. The writing is smooth, and the pacing is brilliantly suited to the grim and hopeful mood in the story. It starts right after Magefall, and it successfully keeps the suspense lingering. I liked the aspect of the plague which is reminiscent of the Black Death in London in 1348. Stephen Aryan captures the horror and death of the plague in a very vivid manner. The most notable aspect in this novel however, is the prime antagonist Kai, a malevolent god, and the rise of the Weaver. I however believe that the character of Munroe could've been better, but anyways, her character suited the circumstances of the story. Her interaction with the teenage orphan girl Dox is touching, who keeps Munroe's volatile anger focused and grounded. Wren, Tianne, and their group, they all felt like familiar friends to me, and I could relate to their conflicted emotions regarding their place in the society trying to live a normal life, while at the ame time trying to bear the responsibility of magic which is considered to be a curse by the masses. It was well executed.

The ending was a little anticlimactic for me. Aryan used a deus ex machina kinda thing, rather than allow the characters to fully battle for their fates. And, the ending also raised a few questions. I'll let that pass for now, but, I still hope that Aryan would publish more novels in this varied fantasy world. There are still a lot more aspects to be explored, along with some of the characters who are growing into their respective potential. Nonetheless, Aryan managed to tell a entertaining story with its own quirks, and twists that packs an explosive punch. Despite all this, I'm going to complain the lack of a map, which I very much wanted as I'm not good at navigating without directions. ...more

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Aug 17, 2019 James rated it did not like it

the first half of the book was really good. The ending / last quarter was unbearable drivel and i just wanted it to end. (spoilers ahead) ..................

The last boss fight with Kai was pointless. I swear all he did was sit there and let them kill him? there was no danger to the fight and it was so disappointing. What was the point of building this character up for it to just fizzle out and die. Also the repetition in the book just made it plainly obvious that the writer was running out of i ...more

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Oct 26, 2019 Paul Allard rated it it was amazing

Excellent last part to this fantasy trilogy

Following the events of Magefall, this novel brings the trilogy to its conclusion with many unexpected events along the way. All the major characters are involved including a few ones. The characters continue to develop, especially the younger ones. It's about magic, betrayal, deities, pestilence and death (with shades of Lovecraft!) as well as a relatively positive outcome at the end. Obviously it's worth reading the first two parts as it does not stan ...more

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Sep 12, 2019 Sarah rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy, fantasy-world, magic

2.5 stars.

I'm not sure what happened here for me. I loved the first two to bits and pieces. But this one came off as a little random to me. I got to the halfway point and found that new problems were being introduced and they felt thrown in to me. Maybe if they were introduced earlier I would have found it more intense and a bigger build up to the final book rather than dropping problems all in the last book. Because there was so many things to solve in the final book...the ending fell flat to ...more

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Sep 25, 2020 Gregg Buford rated it liked it · review of another edition

This was an enjoyable read for the most part. The fear of magic is sort of tiring reading about over and over. People though have to overcome their fears and some manage to do that but vast majority of this world still remain afraid of magic. The action was good like the other books and the characters I thought would live have lived to the end. This was a little more predictable in some areas than previous books too. I wish he could have taken us to some other countries than the ones we have see ...more

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Sep 01, 2019 Kerry rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 18, 2020 Gordie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Magebane does not disappoint

The conclusion to a great series of books that I have really enjoyed reading. There is a bit of everything in this book a plague, magic and some ass kicking. I hope we get to see some of these characters again in another adventure sometime soon.

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Sep 16, 2019 Vexation rated it it was amazing

Excellent way to finish the trilogy and tie up all the plot threads that had sprouted in the previous books. Delicious page turner with well thought out action scenes that keep a decent level of suspense despite the disparity in power levels of the various protagonists/antagonists.

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Aug 19, 2019 Ashley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Absolutely brilliant! I loved every chapter and every page! I just can't believe this is the end of this amazing world that Stephen has built. I can only hope that he will continue with this world at some point in the future. ...more

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Aug 30, 2019 John rated it really liked it

Stephen has done it again with a great finish to another fantastic trilogy.

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Sep 10, 2019 Felix rated it liked it · review of another edition

I love mages. Magical brain candy.

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Aug 12, 2019 vaderbird rated it liked it

2.8 stars.

5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish

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Nov 29, 2019 Kman rated it really liked it

this series was as good as the authors previous series. lots of action and a good plot line. the author also did a much better job using the words sit and stand (sat/stood) properly.

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Sep 20, 2019 Dave Warren rated it it was amazing

Great way to tie up the three book mage arc as well as his first three books.
Very entertaining interplay between the "gods" and men. His writing just keeps getting better and better. Enough twists and turns to keep you wanting more. ...more

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Dec 15, 2019 Mark rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019-read

I've been a fan of Stephen Aryan's work since his debut, Battlemage, and find that with each novel his skill as a storyteller has grown. Now that we've reached the finale of the Age of Dread trilogy (Mageborn, Magefall, Magebane) I can safely say that he continues to impress, delivering not only a fantastic conclusion, but a hugely entertaining and compulsively readable trilogy. Matt Aldiss is the perfect narrator for these books, bringing the characters to life, and a joy to listen to. Highly r ...more

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Aug 10, 2019 Annarella rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I enjoyed this book, it was a fun read read and kept me hooked till the end.
It's lighter than other fantasy but it's perfect for this summer time.
I loved the characters development, the world building and how the plot was developed.
I look forward to reading other books in this series.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine. ...more

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About Stephen Aryan

Stephen Aryan

375 followers

I’m a lifelong fan of fantasy and science fiction. It started with The Hobbit, The Belgariad, the Earthsea books, the Shannara books, DragonLance and then David Gemmell, who was a huge influence on my writing.

My novels include:-

Age of Darkness (first trilogy)
- Battlemage
- Bloodmage
- Chaosmage

Age of Dread (second trilogy)

-Mageborn
-Magefall
-Magebane

A prequel novella to everything, Of Gods and Men, w ...more