The Faded Land

A Progression Fantasy Epic (Keiran: The Eternal Mage Book 1)

By: D.E. Sherman

Narrated by: John Joseph Rogers, Rylee Kuberra

Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Keiran clawed his way from gutter rat to archmage in his first life.

His second was supposed to be easier...

Keiran of the Night Vale has staved off death for two thousand years. His mind and his magic remain as sharp as ever, but his body is old, worn out, and failing. What he needs is to reincarnate into a new, young body, and he bends his prodigious talents towards doing exactly that.

He awakens to find that he’s been reborn in a wasteland where mana has become a scarce resource. Even the internal mana generated by people is stolen away by those who rule them. And without mana, he’s no longer a mage.

It will take more than that to stop Keiran. With each passing week, he regains more of his old strength, but can he keep his secrets safely hidden? Standing in his way is his new home’s cult-like nightly mana tithing, a governor with deadly secrets, and a monster-ridden desert.

It's a deadly scramble to claim the mana he so desperately needs to survive, but Keiran didn’t become an archmage by accident.

He’s willing to use every dirty trick and tactic he knows to get there again.

©2024 D.E. Sherman (P)2024 Royal Guard Publishing LLC

Pretty Good

I enjoyed it well enough. Definitely not for everyone as it isn’t the most exciting or original story but I found it enjoyable.

worth a credit

I loved the story, but the mc rambles a lot, but I will buy book 2 when it releases

enjoyable

an enjoyable book, if you enjoy reincarnation, magic and trying to overcome challenges, you'll love this book. I quite enjoyed it

really good

I seriously enjoyed this book and I really can't wait to see what happens in the next book The story was really good. Voice acting was really good.

loved it

Heard about the release of this book from the author on reddit. absolutely loved it and cannot wait for the next addition to the series!

Enjoyable

This definitely has 'Legend of the Arch Magus' vibes, but in a good way. Iti s not derivative and carries the story well. The characters are cohesive and all believable given the plot.
I found this quite enjoyable and am looking forward to the next installment.

a great story

One main character. Okay for teens. Fast paced story. Want to see more in this series. Hope to read more soon.

Really interesting twist on fantasy

Performance was on point.
Book itself was very interesting. The ending was a bit of a stretch but I can see it for helping progress the story.
Overall I enjoyed it and will definitely be continuing with the series.

Great Story Buried in Fluff...

The overall plot and setting is interesting. Powerful and ruthless wizard is reincarnated to a small family in the village within a desert, which is starved in more ways than one. Seeing the reincarnated child trying to better himself and save his family in a world that isn't what is seems can easily hook you.

Unfortunately, there is an overabundance of internal monologuing and introspection which pretty much kills the entire story. The series narrates almost every decision the MC makes, why it's the best decision in that situation, why he doesn't consider other choices, and the repercussions for if he fails, as well as the results of what will happen if/when he succeeds. Every. Single. Time. A good 60% percent of the story is the MC considering his choices, 10% is him acting on them, and the last 30% is the actual progression of the story and small but interesting cast of family members and other side characters.

The great performance of the dual-narrators and the small amount of interesting plot offered barely makes this series worth continuing.

Solid start to a reincarnation fantasy series!

So I’m not sure if the author ever reads the reviews but hopefully this will help. Pretty good start to a reincarnation in a baby/youth story. A little slow but I enjoy the dialogue. Also I am happy that the Mc was not an idiot as so many other books end up. I really hope the next few books build on the magic and skills. The Mc is a little over powered but that’s to be expected as he was an arch mage and they are limiting him based on his age which is good. I am also glad he is ditching the family and town as they didn’t really have any good side characters or friends so it was mostly just adults complaining. It is a good example of how someone powerful would act and I think the Mc has been good at not making clearly dumb decisions or whatever just to make the plot seem suspenseful. Hopefully the author adds a few more support characters in the next book but continues to grow the Mc. It should be a good challenge for him to find a place to live, work, etc and interact with the city underbelly. He will have no money so obviously will need to step into the darker side of the city to get established. I’m sure the mana issues will increase and progress will slow. With op main characters you have to throw a lot of things in there way to slow them down so it’s not boring. Hopefully the author has a plan for the next few books and won’t just time jump or skip over everything.