Tongue Eater

Mage Errant, Book 6

By: John Bierce

Narrated by: Ralph Lister

Kanderon Crux has fallen.

The traitors who brought the powerful sphinx down have fled with plagues and other magical weapons stolen from Skyhold's Vault, intending to use them against the Havath Dominion, no matter the cost to the rest of the Ithonian continent. Havath teeters on the edge of collapse after their failed invasion of Skyhold, and the nations and monsters of Ithos circle like vultures. The Dominion has no interest in going down without a fight, however, and there are few depths they're unwilling to sink to for survival.

Kanderon's surviving allies are working desperately to stop both the traitors and the Dominion, but the situation is worse than they know. The traitors didn't steal plagues at all. They stole the Tongue Eater, a weapon capable of devouring entire languages, and unless they're stopped, it threatens the fate of the entire continent. Hugh Stormward and his friends are the only ones who know the truth, and there's no one they can trust with the knowledge. Even with the fate of the continent on his shoulders, however, Hugh doesn't care about any of that.

He's convinced that Kanderon is still alive, even if no one else believes him, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to help her.

Includes bonus story, Gram of Clan Castis and a special note from the author.

©2022 John Bierce (P)2022 Podium Audio

2 hours less than u think

Some cool things happen in this installment, my only complaint is that maybe not enough happened to move the story forward. Evidently, it is getting towards the end of the story though and the author had to slow things down in this book in order to properly finish things in the next and final book in the series.

As a true fan, u always want more story ...no matter what. So idk if I'm just being spoiled, but when the book ended at the 18 hr mark I was shocked. Instead of continuing with the main story, we get a 2 hr preview of a compendium of short stories starring ancillary characters at important moments earlier in the main storyline. It is a nice way of adding depth to the world and giving different perspectives of events. I should be grateful ...but I'm not goin lie I felt a little short-changed.

2 hours is a lot ...that represents 10% of the whole recording!!!

Honestly I can understand the desire to market the book of short stories, but I feel maybe less is more here. A shorter preview, maybe 30 mins, wudda been better received. As it stands, I didn't even bother listening to the bonus stuff cuz I was so pissed that the last 2 hours I was looking forward to was jus gonna be some side-story stuff that I wasn't bargaining for.

Anyways, you should definitely still get the book ...but just be forewarned, its 2 hours shorter than u think

Another great addition

Another great addition to this story line. The performance of the narration was outstanding yet again. I can’t wait to see how this all ends.

Loved It!

I'm going to skip the brief intro of the book since doing so would reveal too many spoilers to those who haven't yet read the first five books of this series. For those of you who have, know that this book starts off immediately following the actions of book 5. While the tension levels are relatively high throughout the book, there isn't nearly as much action as there has been in previous books. The vast majority of it is the various parties readying themselves for the upcoming battles, which will take place in the next book.

That said, we do see some battles between Alustin and Havath forces, as well as a few monster battles for our favorite student protagonists. The best part about this book, though, for me, was when Hugh, Talia, Godrick, and Sabae travel through the multiverse to other planets and even try to learn some foreign magic. Not only do they experience growth in their own magic, but they each experience some very interesting growth (no, I'm not going to say what it is) that I can't wait to see more of in the next book.

As with the other books, Bierce paid close attention to the personal growth of the four protagonists. That continues in this book, with each of them dealing with the way things happened at the end of the last book. I can't really say much about the growth each of them has without giving away spoilers, which is kind of frustrating, but know that if you have enjoyed their character growth in previous books, you'll get more here. If you didn't like it, well, I don't really know what to say. Sorry?

Anyway, because of the traveling through the multiverse, there are a lot of new characters met - some of whom we get brief POVs from - and continued world-building with each of those new worlds. I'm going on record and saying that while there are some worlds I wouldn't mind visiting, I do NOT want to ever visit Apostis. You'll see why when you read the story.

I don't really know what else to include in this review because, as far as I'm concerned, by this point in the series, you already know whether or not you like it and want to continue reading it. If you liked the first 5 books, you'll enjoy this one. If you didn't, then why would you torture yourself any further? As for the different ways in which to read this book, I went back and forth between reading the ebook and listening to the audiobook, which was narrated by Ralph Lister. This is the first audiobook of this series that I have listened to, and I enjoyed it. For one, I learned that there were some things I have been mispronouncing in my head, and for another, Lister has a compelling voice which I enjoyed listening to when I was unable to read the ebook myself.

I love this series

Great story, great characters and the world building is top notch, I loved the narrator fantastic

A lot of mispronounciations

Every time I hear the reader say metastable I want to throw the phone against the wall, you'd think editors would catch these repeated mispronounciations.

Why does everyone think this is filler?

I saw so many reviews calling this "filler" or "side quest", where you not paying attention? Things happened in this book that I can not mention in this review to disprove that it is not filler because it will be important in the next book. The author spent time world building for their travel which has been consistent across all of the books and the MCs all devolved in a meaningful way. some parts dragged on sure but if this book was skipped and you went to the next one, you will be very confused by the changes.

I get some people probably wanted a conclusion or something to what ended the last book or enjoyed the constant action in the last half of that same book but this one had a necessary purpose and a goal that the MCs had to try to reach and many obstacles to over come.

Loved it!

I absolutely love this series. John Bierce is a phenomenal writer with a love of diction apparent in every story he weaves together. Out of all the books in the series his latest one is by far the most imaginative. Anyone who can’t appreciate a good odyssey story doesn’t really understand the literary importance of them. While they go on another grand adventure to save Anastis, philosophy, political manipulation and awe inspiring settings capture the reader’s imagination. There are less battles but after the Siege at Skyhold Artur’s death and Aluston’s betrayal a larger battle isn’t necessary. I can’t wait to read the final book.

A good continuation

It does well to continue the series and is a great story. I liked how Hugh and the crew went world hopping to expand their horizons and grew in power as well as on a mission to try and help Kanderon. It was more interesting and believable than if they had just chased after Alustin immediately.

Admittedly, I felt like skipping most of Alustins chapters because he transitioned from a smart character to a kind of dumb one in his revenge seeking. Considering if his plans work, he likely will directly or indirectly kill much of the population of the world and further weaken their defense against the "Outworlders" he claims to want to protect against.

The Novella at the end was good, but I was kind of disappointed as I thought there were 2 hours left in the story.

Bram

Like the short story at the end of the book most. Bram is a great character!

another cliffhanger

It resolved nothing. I like the writer but we should be warned if we have to wait till the next book is finished. I don't mind a continuing story. I like characters that have many adventures but don't cliffhang.