The Spoken Mage: Complete Series

The Spoken Mage begins with Voice of Power and is about a girl named Elena who lives in a world where only the nobility are able to read and write because this ability creates the power to cast magic spells. That means that commonborn people like Elena are banned from learning about the written word due to the dire consequences of uncontrolled bursts of magic from those who are not bred to use it properly. All of that changes when Elena accidentally casts a controlled spell using only the sound of her voice and is forced to study magic at the Royal Academy so she can learn how to control her powers. She is also sent there so the higher mages can keep an eye on her and have a better understanding of her unique ability. The series follows a traditional "chosen one" arc with Elena living an simple and ordinary life until she is sought out by many important people due to being the only person who can cast spells by speaking instead of writing. She struggles to come to terms with the fact that she isn't the normal peasant she thought she was and has trouble fitting in at the academy due to her lack of noble blood.Similar to the Harry Potter books, Elena is treated as an outsider to the world of magic at first but quickly outshines all of her classmates by epic proportions. I found that The Spoke Mage series drew inspiration from many sources, which makes it difficult to identify a specific audience. The second book, Voice of Command, ends with Elena signing up for the military to save her little sister just like in the Hunger Games series and, to a lesser extent, the story of Mulan. At the same time, the books contain some fairy tale elements such as a romance with a handsome prince and the setting of a magical kingdom. Voice of Command is mostly about Elena helping the healer mages with a fast-spreading epidemic, which hits a little too close to home right now. The rest of the series focuses heavily on Elena using her powers to help fight in the war efforts, which encompass the majority of the third book, Voice of Dominion. Elena is so overpowered that she has little need for romance, causing her relationship with Prince Lucas to feel uneven and flat. It was difficult to root for them as a couple because I never understood what they saw in each other or had to offer. It feels like they only want to be together because she is the heroine of the story and he is the prince.The relationship between Elena and her family, on the other hand, is much stronger than her romantic dalliance with Lucas. I loved her devotion to her sickly younger sister, Clemmy, and her older brother, Jasper, who studied at the University near the Royal Academy due to his superior intellect. It warmed my heart to see how much their parents cared about all three of them, and how protective they were over each other. Some of the biggest highlights in the books were Elena's visits to the University to check up on Jasper and the sacrifices that she made for Clemmy's safety. They feel like a real family that anyone would love to be part of. That's why the decision that Elena makes at the end of Voice of Dominion is so problematic and undermines a major theme presented throughout the series about respecting lower classes. The decision s completely out of character for her and emphasizes how the changes she went through after studying magic and living with nobility were not entirely for the better. Yet, this decision has no negative ramifications in the end and winds up being a deus ex machina for her poorly developed relationship with Lucas. For that reason, I found the final book, Voice of Life, somewhat less enjoyable than the other three.Overall, I enjoyed The Spoken Mage series as much as I could, but it didn't have the same level of charm or romance as Melanie Cellier's fairy tale books. So much of it was about people trying to hunt down Elena for her unique skill, and in the end, it felt as though she lost track of what she was fighting for. She had the perfect family and could have used that to prove that being commonborn does not make one a lesser person instead of assimilating into the world of the royals and nobles. I think the story would have been better if Prince Lucas had not been in it at all. Their romance felt out of place and even inappropriate at times. There were a lot of characters to keep track of even without the royal family, which occasionally made the story difficult to follow. I appreciate that Melanie Cellier tried to go in a different direction with this series, but there were still some fairy tale elements forced into the plot that didn't belong despite that. If it had been written for a different type of audience entirely, it would have the potential to be a terrific fantasy war epic.

These books are phenomenal and I'm a tough critic. I have a hard time finding adult fiction that is clean and doesn't bore me to tears. I have a short attention span and I'm a busy mom. I don't enjoy bodice rippers or sparkly vampires or 50 shades of nasty. It's nice to find a story that moves along and is fun to read. FINALLY. I can't wait for more books in this world. Will be buying them all!!!

I rarely leave a review on a book I have purchased as I have a lot of authors I do arcs for. BUT, this one deserves a 10 star review. I could not put down and kept thinking about it after I finished. That is a sign of a remarkable story teller. Sweet, clean, a definite must have. A great value. It is better than Harry Potter. This should be the next movie series.

I LOVED this series! Though it’s YA, I’m 40 and could not put it down. I was hooked from the beginning and tore through it in about 5 days, staying up much later at night reading than I should have! It’s a delightful mix of a unique new fantasy world on one hand, and on the other hand, elements that felt comfortable and familiar and reminded me of series such as Harry Potter, Twilight, Star Wars, and The Wheel of Time. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and the world. Yes, some things were a bit simplistic, but that’s a function of YA books and their length and complexity generally. The romance was a delicious slow burn that had my emotions fully wrapped up in it right along with Elena. (There is a companion novel called Power of Pen and Voice which focuses on some minor characters from the series, but there is a scene at the end of it which focuses on the main couple from Spoken Mage and was my favorite part of the book.)All in all a wonderful series, and have no fear in sharing it with a daughter, niece, or other young lady in your life, because it is clean and appropriate, and she’ll probably love it too. There is violence, since the backdrop of the whole series is a war, but it isn’t gratuitous, and while there is some sadness and loss that keeps the story from being unrealistically saccharine, there’s not so much that it makes the victories hollow and leaves a bad taste in your mouth (like Hunger Games did for me).

I absolutely adored each book and I was so excited to see this bundled option. The characters are likable and fascinating. The adventures are exciting and the world building is done very well. This is also a clean read, so safe for any age to read without finding objectionable content. In a world where reading creates magic, only certain bloodlines in the mage families can handle the power so common born get by without reading or writing. Then comes our heroine who discovers she can access the power by speaking words. Such fun, you have to try this series!

I LOVED this series. It’s the best set of sword and sorceress (or in this case sword and mange) books I’ve read in years. While the books could stand alone or be read out of order, they’re that well written, I suggest reading them in order for greatest enjoyment. Warning, the characters and the storyline are addictive. I read them straight through all four books and was glad I had all four. Each book individually ends at a logical stopping point, not one of those annoying cliffhangers, but I just couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. Cannot recommend highly enough.

Seriously, all you have to do is read the first few chapters and I can pretty much guarantee you will want to read the whole series. I loved the uniqueness of the magic system, the friendshios, the mystery, and the romance. Anyone who enjoyed Shannon Hale's Princess Academy books will easily fall in love with the Spoken Mage books.

Mixed feelings...i do like the world, and the plot, except for two things: the rigidity of the magic/political system, and the teen-age angst and suffering, along with the romances...i want more on the conflicts within the society, the rebellions and the attempts to change the pseudo-feudal domination of the mage class...and less speaking glances and misunderstandings, arguments and temper tantrums among the adolescents...but, on the whole, an entertaining read, for a decent price...not bad...

As I have not been a T&YA for a very long time, I was going to write a "clever" review. Fortunately common sense stopped me from doing so and I offer the following instead.This quadrilogy is one of the best things that I have read in a while and I suggest that you buy it and enjoy it too. Full of real people with a story to match, quite a lot of teenage angst (no bad thing). All four books fizz and buzz and create a great atmosphere with a clever finale. I was that engrossed with the plot that I finished the set in 5 days.

Wow what a series. It follows the story of Elena who grew up surrounded by oppression of the higher class (the mages) only to accidentally discover she was so much more than they could ever comprehend. We watch her face societal prejudices and gradually overcome them making new friends and gradually being accepted for who she is. We are taken through her four years in the academy surviving a variety of attempts to harm or abduct her whilst watching her fall in love with the one man who is forbidden to her. This story sucks you in from the start and keeps you gripped till the end in a wonderful masterpiece of story telling. I will be getting the next books which follow on

I just loved this series, it had everything I enjoy reading about. Suspense, romance , supernatural. It's not often I pay for a full series but after reading the first book I was so glad I had purchased the series. I couldn't wait to read each new book . Loved it.

This book is a bit predictable, but I still really enjoyed it, imaginative, unique and one of those reads where you have to keep reading!They are easy to read, not too much going on that you get lost or confused, but has enough to keep the reader intrigued and wanting to know how it ends.