The Choice of Magic: Art of the Adept, Book 1

This book is well written and a reasonable length. However the main character eventually becomes unbelievable. Without giving the plot away, becomes the sole heir to a library of knowledge but decides to ignore that in favour of running around like a chicken. Refuses to learn, constantly beaten and abused by those in power so he keeps risking his life to help them and goes back for another beating...even the stupid learn eventually but not our manic character. He’s the kind of slave who stays up at night fixing the overseers whip when the overseer keeps breaking it whipping him during the day because it’s the “right thing to do”.....

At the start of the book the main character has a teacher who tells the MC that he is stupid every chance he gets. I hate to say this but the teacher is correct. The main character of this book is a moron. He does stupid thing after stipid thing, and the only reason he makes it through is that stupidity seems t be its wn reward in his world.I’ll be honest. Made it 2/3 before giving up and moving on.

I really wanted to like this book, the writing was well done and it had some great characters. The problem is with the main character. He makes stupid and rash decisions over and over. I kept hoping that he'd mature but no. I wanted to like it but the main character is stupid and you can't fix stupid.

Loved this book wanted deaprately to rate it five stars but the main characters inability to reason hurts the story. He is not overpowered he is barely able to survive; him making rational decisions would have still gotten the story to the same place. The promise of growth in book 2 will still leave him licking a boot. Wonderful start to a series desperately hope the main character has not suffered permanent brain damage and can recover in the series. Heartily recommend, Manning is a great author and I feel he will grow the character into something more reasonable moving forward.***spoiler***First half of book: Please teach me a spellSecond half: (inherits magical library) decide between spending four hours reading this and learning a spell or, figure out if that noblemans boot can cave in my skull??? Skull challenge it is!If the character is the sole reason for the continuation of the world ie. holding the fae back he cannot risk dying or at the very least has to leverage it. Instead he risks even his mother and is freely willing to die in the end, and has no thoughts on this but sorcerers are bad even though he is literally condemning humanity to slavery and death with his demise... right now main character is less ethical than the king.

This one... It's kind of the same ole story but different because of the writer. The way it's written will have you laughing so hard one minute, on the edge of your seat the next and trying to hold back the tears the next. I said I would never read another, boy has hidden magic, trouble happens, is trained by old wizard...blah blah blah... But I've read most of what Michael has written and I love the way he writes ,so I gave it a shot. I'm so glad I did and loved every minute of it. Only thing I regret is having to wait for the next one because I'll be buying that one as soon as it's out! If you like sword and sorcery fantasy, you'll love this book!One more thing...I would not consider this a children's book by any means. 14 and up only and I'm sure there are those that would say16 and up. I'm pretty sure this being in the children's catagory is a mistake by Amazon.

I thought I had another good read to start with this new series. However, I wish I had not read this book. This book left me wishing it was a thousand pages longer or that he had finished the entire series before publishing the first book. I enjoyed this more than the start of the mage born series. This book will get anyone hooked on this author and unfortunately he has not written enough books yet. After you’ve read his books go and read Patrick Rothfuss as you what for the second book in this great start of a new series.

So started to re-read the Mordecai series when I realised there were more books in that series......Being so involved with that series I learnt that there was a new book ( world) soon to be published and thought well that will be interesting. pre-ordered and finished the Transcendence and Rebellion book 2 days after new one came out.Started the Choice of magic and could not put it down. lucky for me I am changing jobs so between handing over projects and saying my goodbyes I had tome to read as much as I could...... 2 days...... and I already want more.So if you like the Mordecai series..... you will like this as well. very well written and morish. can't wait for the next book.

So many books in this genre are unedited, illiterate, misspelled, poorly plotted, poorly written, and in all ways are generally amateurish, but somehow manage to garner glowing reviews. It's not just annoying, it's sad. But then there comes a story like "The Choice of Magic," and all is right with the world again.This book has been proofread. Edited. Made tight. There are no info-dumps. The author shows us things, instead of telling us things. The protagonist is no 'Harvey Stu.' Bad things happen for reasons which are plotted, not just gratuitous. The "Hero's Journey" is arduous, but not randomly so. The burdens are there for a reason, and are accounted for. Nor is the protagonist a whinging, self-pitying self-indulgent milksop. There are no unmotivated actions, no convenient changes of character or behavior.It's all accounted for, and it all hangs together.Needless to say, I heartily approve!Read this for the quality of the writing, if nothing else. I predict, however, that you're going to live the story, and the characters, too.

Dang it, only expected to pass a few hours on Sunday with this, alas did not put the book down at all and finished it off on the same day as buying it, alas 4 in the morning and grumpy the next day!!! But grumpy day was worth it!!!This was an absolutely awesome book from start to finish, the first half of the book had me laughing out so hard, a shame it ended of sorts! Absolutely love the detail and slow building descriptions here used. Everything is well detailed, but not overly padded which I feel is a hard balance to properly achieve. The characters are amazing and and well written. There is a little bit of romance towards the end and "true love", I will confess not a big fan of a character sort of getting locked down that way in the very first book in what is to be a series, but shall see how it goes.

I rarely give a book 5 stars. Some years ago I read several of Michael Manning’s Illeniel books and while I thought them good I wasn’t expecting something this good. He appears to have become more skilful in his writing. So although he is reusing the theme of a teenager discovering his magic (like Mordecai in Mageborn book 1) he does it this time with more depth and precision. Characters are highly believable and the story fully kept my attention throughout. Unusually for me I sometimes put the book down not because I was bored but because I didn’t want to get to the end too quickly. I’m now impatient for book 2. Thank you Mr Manning!

I have read all of Mr manning's previous work, and have left a few reviews. I have never went under five stars, as his work strikes me as some of the best in the fantasy genre. However, this book seemed to be written in a different vein. I have never seen the need for constant bad language in a character, and always admired the writer for not resorting to it's use. The first few chapters of this new book seemed so out of character for him that I went back to the preview to ensure I had the correct writer. His previous books to Me, are bordering on classics. Perhaps he thought this characterisation would appeal more to young people? If so, it is a bit I insulting, as most young people are more discerning. Having said all that, by the end the book began to get more interesting as he leaves us with a bit of a cliff hanger for our young hero. I hope the new series is as interesting as the old. Thank you

Definitely MgM’s best book, and I am a big fan of his previous stories. Excellent world building, super characters, and excellent mix of magic and mayhem, humour and horror. MgM has obviously put a lot of research into war planning, army structure, and hand to hand combat. His battle scenes are very realistic. You can almost smell the fear and blood. These scenes were reminiscent of some of the historic accounts of the Battles of Agincourt and Bosworth. There’s no heroes in the midst of the battlefield - only survivors, and the reluctant protagonist, Will.Again, MgM uses a lot of weird and wonderful, and novel, ways to adapt magic, and all things considered magical myth. I especially love that ‘Gosh-darned Cat’, and the rather raunchy fae aunt.The only thing I dislike about this brilliant story is...it ended on another high, and there’s no clue as to when the story continues

I enjoyed every minute of this, a fantastic beginning to a new series from Michael. Interesting magical systems, good world building, and some really appealing characters. The obligatory grumpy old wizard is hilarious, and there's a few interesting women with fully realised characters.I think it'll appeal to fans of Tad Williams, Robin Hobb, Duncan Hamilton and many others.