When he was eleven, Mitchell Hogan was given the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to read, and a love of fantasy novels was born. He spent the next ten years reading, rolling dice, and playing computer games, with some school and university thrown in. Along the way he accumulated numerous bookcases' worth of fantasy and sci-fi novels and doesn’t look to stop anytime soon.
His first attempt at writing fantasy was an abysmal failure and abandoned after only one page. But ideas for characters and scenes continued to come to him and he kept detailed notes of his thoughts, on the off chance that one day he might have time to write a novel. For a decade he put off his dream of writing until he couldn’t stand it anymore. He knew he would regret not having tried to write the novel percolating inside his head for the rest of his life. Mitchell quit his job and lived off dwindling savings, and the support of his fiancé, until he finished the first draft of A Crucible of Souls.
He now writes full time and is eternally grateful to the readers who took a chance on an unknown author.
A Crucible of Souls won the 2013 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel.
Mitchell lives in Sydney, Australia, with his wife, Angela, and daughters, Isabelle and Charlotte.
Anskar is summoned back to Branil's Burg, where he learns more of his parentage, although there always seems to be two conflicting sides to every story. Unfortunately for Anskar his life has yet taken another turn, with not only death of people he loves, but the death of friendships he thought would always be there. With a new Seneschal in charge, Anskar questions his faith in Menselas and finds himself on his own. The story centers on Anskar finding his own path; not that of the church or Queen Talia, but involves completing the Armor of Divinity, leading him in to a dangerous journey, with debts to be paid, a new lineage and powers to be discovered, and breaking the bonds of his past. In my opinion, the best of the series so far with Anskar perhaps meeting his destiny. My thanks to the author for the ARC of this exciting series.
This series just keeps getting exponentially better with each instalment. Although the prologue is extremely thorough, I'd strongly recommend not starting with this one, but book 1, if you've stumbled onto this one first. With Anskar promptly summoned back to Branil's Burg, to confront his old mentor, Anskar sets about trying to find his own path, rather than the one forced on him by the Order, or the one set up by his mother. I won't spoil any more, but to say this was a really well written entry that explores more of the rich world of Wiraya, as well as goes in depth into some of the characters, their relationships and their place in the world. And that ending, was just wow! If you've read this far, you will love this one!
Another solid book by Mitchell, the story definitely turns up in this book and the stakes are as high as ever. The reveals, while some were obvious, others not so much. There was but one mistake I saw and that was just the name of a character other than that this book was great! Can’t wait for the next one!!
I’d like to thank Mr Hogan for continuing to allow me to be an ARC reader. I don’t want to give anything specific away, but I thoroughly recommend reading this series. It’s is fantasy at its finest. Can’t wait wait for more stories from this world!
Start from the beginning and the story is a fascinating read. It is a good moving of age with less gore than most. I truly enjoyed the story so far and cannot wait til the next book is released.
Was getting tired of the series midway through this book. Felt like it was falling prey to the universe becoming too big to manage. But the ending was fantastic and I will continue to read this series.