Death Mage by Brad Magnarella

End of the world is upon us.  Who is there to trust? The Order or the Front?  Who is the good and who is the bad? Bluff? Double Bluff?  Prof Croft has to figure it all out before Whisperer Magic takes over and makes everyone crazy.

 

Title: Death Mage
Author:  Brad Magnarella
Series:  Prof Croft, #4
Publish Date:  Print: May 7, 2017   Audio: August 3, 2017
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Narrator: James Patrick Cronin 
Source:  Purchased

Publisher’s Description: Sentenced to hunt down a cagey insurgent known as the Death Mage, I’m not feeling overly optimistic. Wizards with far more experience have tried and, well … died.

But overmatched or not, I want this assignment. The Death Mage killed my mother—he might also be my father.

I can’t lose my head, though. The mage wields an evil, mind-warping magic. A power that undermines his victims’ sanity while pledging their souls to an ancient being and devourer of worlds.

How would I even know if his magic was corrupting me?

Or is it already?

Nervous Nellie’s nervousness necessitates knowledge of the novel (or, in other words, SPOILERS).

Nervous Nellie says…

This book has violence with magic slinging, no sex, lots of dangerous situations and plenty of smoke and mirrors.  Caution to those who need to know: I am 85% sure that this is the last Prof Croft book in the series.  I have been told that there will be a new series released featuring James Wesson.  If you are curious to know who James Wesson is then pick up this book already!!

The ending is bittersweet BUT without giving too much away, Author Magnarella left what I think is a loophole to further Prof Croft’s story.  I’m pretty sure we as readers are going to have to beg and plead for further stories, but who knows what rolls around in author’s brains?

There have been quite a few reviews that compare this series to the Dresden files.  I would like to refute that claim.  There are surface similarities as Prof Croft is a wizard, works on occasion with the police buuut that’s pretty much it.  Everson Croft is his own character and Harry Dresden is his own character.  Their stories and their adventures are not the same.  With that being said, Everson is a kick ass wizard that doesn’t always figure out the next move until he’s knee deep into whatever situation he finds himself.  At first, he’s a consultant with the NYPD battling monsters but the story soon focuses on Everson’s own monsters within himself.  He lost him mom to murder, his grandfather to a freak accident, and there is a demon living inside him.  He sets out on this personal quest to find out and silence the person that killed his mother.  What he finds is an incredible journey of betrayal, heartbreak and danger…and double bluff.  What’s that? Read the book and find out!

This series had be engaged from the get go and the narrator in the audio books did a really good job creating Everson’s world.  The writer did a 5 star job in my opinion.

If you like this book then you’ll like…

• Boundary Magic series by Melissa Olson
• Immortal Vegas series by Jenn Stark
• SPI Files by Lisa Shearin