Sally’s Comments (group member since Aug 27, 2014)

Sally’s comments from the Write, Wrote, Written group.

The Lost Mage
Book Seven in the Advent Mage Cycle
By Honor Raconteur

A spin-off tale of the beloved Advent Mage Cycle by Honor Raconteur, The Lost Mage is a spellbinding continuation of the original series that beautifully combines the events and characters of the previous novels with new characters and compelling themes of love and destiny.

While the earlier installments of the Advent Mage Cycle focus primarily on Garth and his experiences as the Advent Mage and Balancer, this complementary segment details the captivating journey of the Jaunten super soldier, Shad. Freed by Garth after a two-hundred-year stint of being trapped inside of a crystal, he has spent the past two years rescuing young magicians from Chahir. But now that the mission is complete and everything has gone back to normal, Shad is beginning to feel restless in his leisure. Soon, however, he is approached by a Gardener and given a new task: to find and protect the newly awakened Weather Mage from southern Chahir. This new mage, an eight-year-old girl named Becca, is the first Weather Mage to awaken in over two hundred years and is the very last of her kind. As she is the land’s last hope for restoration, it is crucial that she is rescued from this dangerously prejudiced part of Chahir and taken to Strae Academy, where she can be protected and trained. For this vital mission, Shad joins forces with Aletha, his good friend and sister-in-arms from Ascalon’s Red Hand, and the two set out on their journey before the one and only Weather Mage can be lost forever. Together, along with a temperamental Jaunten cat and a newly-converted Jaunten horse, they search for the girl in a land that even they don’t feel safe in. Tracking her down with only an image of her location in mind turns out to be a difficult task for the rescue team, but keeping the Star Order Priests away from her once they do proves to be an even trickier one. It also doesn’t help that the state of the weather lies at the whim of the distraught young mage. Along this exhilarating journey, Shad explores the meaning behind his past, the fulfillment of his destiny, and a love story that even he hadn’t seen coming, and by the time the group reaches the Isle of Strae, they have become something of a family.

The Lost Mage is an excellent supplementary novel to Honor Raconteur’s Advent Mage Cycle, as it delightfully provides a new outlook on this enticing world as well as a continuance of the series as a whole, augmenting the details of previous events and of the beloved characters from the other novels. This story combines lightheartedness and humor with serious issues such as friendship, love, family, perseverance, and purpose, crafting this tale into a journey not only of physical distance, but of sentiment and significance as well.