About

The Siege of Skyhold is the 5th book in the Mage Errant series written by John Bierce.

If you want to know what this series is about, check out Bender's review on fanfiaddict. Here's a quote:

Mage Errant series is a light and fun coming of age adventure read that’ll definitely leave you with a smile. It certainly sticks to the many of the tropes commonly found in this genre, but what sets it apart is the unique worldbuilding and over the top colorful characters.

The Siege of Skyhold book cover

The Cover Reveal and Process (Art by Aaron McConnell and Lee Moyer) post on /r/Fantasy/ was amazing, had tons of interesting information.

Blurb

The Havath Dominion is marching to war.

Humiliated in the ruins of Imperial Ithos, the Exile Splinter stolen from their grasp by the ancient sphinx Kanderon Crux, Havath's Duarchs have assembled an army that dwarfs the entire population of Skyhold. Led by their Great Powers, monsters and mages individually capable of leveling a city, they pose a threat that even Kanderon, one of the mightiest of Great Powers, and her equally monstrous allies might be unable to stop.

As the Havathi forces push closer and closer to Skyhold, Hugh and his friends train relentlessly, hoping to make a difference in the oncoming siege. While they venture into dangerous realms of untested experimental magic, though, they're already caught up in currents far beyond their control.

Once you're a pawn in the games of the Great Powers, there's no escape.

Review

As a lucky beta reader, I get to read the book early. I note down my reactions per chapter and highlight any typos I catch. I'm not a fast reader, so these additional steps do not affect my reading enjoyment much. But my beta reading role certainly takes a hit during fast paced portions of the book.

Coming to the review, the series just keeps getting better. The Siege of Skyhold picks up immediately after the events at the end of book 4 (which I re-read as a preparation for this book). As the title gives away, the setting moves back to Skyhold and we get to see events related to the impending siege. The author does a great job of showing various preparations and how it affects the daily functioning of the university, the mindset of students, etc. The uncertainty was palpable.

To nobody's surprise, Hugh and his friends want to get involved, beyond their student responsibilities. Their team dynamic continued to be one of my favorite parts of this series, along with worldbuilding and other characters (old and new). Once the siege started, I didn't want to stop reading. I stayed up late finishing the book, causing minor eye strain 👀👓 (despite knowing this would happen, which is why I usually go to sleep well before 10PM).

Subtle foreshadowing was another of my favorite things about Into the Labyrinth. We got a pleasant surprise at the end of The Lost City of Ithos. By the end of book 5, you'll get to see various clues planted right from book 1 come to fruition and a few hints of things to come.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

What others are saying

From Travis M. Riddle's review on /r/Fantasy:

With The Siege of Skyhold, John Bierce has once more topped his own action and worldbuilding while setting up what will surely prove to be an epic final act of the Mage Errant series.

From Bender's review on fanfiaddict:

The last 30% makes up for the pacing of the early segments as the battle begins. Then the roller coaster ride begins and we get pages and pages of glorious actions and epic battle scenes…oh, loved it! This is probably the epic-est of the battle scenes in the series and we get tons of Great Powers going at each other. Brilliant chaos. Most of the previously names Great Powers and some new ones go all out. The scale of fight is truly massive and has everything a battle loving adrenalin junkie reader like me could hope for.

Bingo

/r/Fantasy/ 2021 bingo categories:

  • Found Family (HM)
  • Published in 2021
  • Self-Published
  • Has Chapter Titles
  • Title: _____ of _____
  • Click to view spoilerRevenge-Seeking Character (HM)
  • Click to view spoilerNothing. Just trying to obfuscate spoiler square