Tournament Mage

Michael Taggart
Completed 4/6/2026, Reviewed 4/6/026
4 stars

Here’s another long series I’ve returned to, the Fledgling God series.  It began with Misfit Mage and ended with a little cliffhanger in Buried Mage.  It continues the story of Jason, the former professional gambler who now lives in a house of Mages in Louisville as he learns the ins and outs of being a Mage.  Once again, the world building is simply magnificent.  Taggart goes into tons of detail with the magic system and Jason’s ongoing training in it.  The main characters are often too good to be true, but it stresses found family and the love and support they provide each other.  The book contains a little spice, so this book is not for everyone.  But it’s not just an excuse for a full-on M/M romantasy; the emphasis of the book is on the magic, the character development, and the family that has evolved in the Louisville House.  

This book begins right at the end of the last book.  Just when Jason and the rest of the family return home from their latest adventure, they are greeted by a bank auditor who claims they owe three million pearls for all the cleaning of magical evidence needed after the battles the family had to deal with.  The bank is one of the oldest magical organizations in the world and not one to be trifled with.  However, Annabeth uses her magic to soften the auditor and help convince him they are not just a new house with two green first-year mages (Jason and Annabeth), but a tight family with some very gifted mages.  The auditor realizes that rather than put the mages into indentured servitude to pay off the debt, he can enter them in the big upcoming tournament which has a huge first prize.  The rest can be made from sponsorship income once the world of mages realizes how powerful Jason and Annabeth are.  He also tasks them with trying to find out more about the sudden popularity of something called Paths which groups of mages are incorporating into their practices.  

The whole family goes to the tourney but only Jason and Annabeth can compete.  They quickly discover that mage houses are looked down upon compared to the elite schools.  So the family must battle prejudice and hostility from the other contestants.  Once the first round begins, they realize their tasks are like an RPG (no doubt inspired by the rise in LitRPG books like Dungeon Crawler Carl).  J and A make it through the first level but are docked over 7000 points because they helped dozens of other teams evade the giant orcs and make it safely out of the first level.  They find out that their penalty comes mainly from a mage with a giant grudge against “house rats” and has powerful influence over the judges.  Starting with a massive point deficit, J and A begin the immensely more difficult second level.

That was a long plot summary for a long book.  And at over seven hundred pages, this doorstopper is only the first half of the Tournament.  Taggart spends a lot of time explaining how Jason absorbs, adapts, and incorporates new magic into his existing structure.  Jason is very puzzle oriented.  He is constantly working and reworking how he stores and access magic.  He also enhances his weapons which are primarily, his fists.  He shares this with Annabeth as well, helping refine her powers and weapons.  I have to say that for the first time, this became a little tedious in the middle when the two were fighting the giant, crazed, red-eyed ants.  The detail is amazing but went on a little too long as they encountered more and more powerful ants.  I plowed through most of the book, except for this section.  It took me about three days to get through battles with different levels of ants, reading only about twenty pages at time.  Happily, the book picks up again and the ending is terrific.  

The main characters are so sweet, it’s tough not to love them despite the Mary Sue characterization of Jason.  When the family decides to enter the tournament to save the house, it reminded me a little of a Brady Bunch episode.  There is a lot of hugging and cheeriness throughout the book which seemed excessive at first, but I guess I got caught up in the positive vibe they exuded.  I found myself looking forward to the hugs and words of support.  

Annabeth is wonderful.  She’s a seventy-year-old grandma who is a first-year mage developing into an incredible fighter.  Her magic is based on sound.  She uses music and her voice to enhance her fighting.  This comes in handy when she is blinded by Jason’s overzealous healing constructs.  Speaking of constructs, I love how they all had personalities of their own.  They range from the ones Jason makes to the attendants and servers at the tournament.  Even the Bank Crystal, which is Jason’s connection to the mage bank, has a personality with which Jason develops a relationship to enhance its assistance.  

And of course, there’s the cat.  Bermuda is a magical companion.  He has special powers but only comes to Jason’s aid when he feels like it.  After all, Bermuda is a cat.  He doesn’t speak like Princess Donut in Dungeon Crawler Carl, but he’s definitely an active participant in the story.  

I give this book four stars out of five.  I was completely engrossed in it, except during the last few ant chapters.  If they were a little shorter, maybe edited a little tighter, I think I could have given this book five stars.  It’s not great literature, but it is so much fun and the magic system so amazingly detailed, it’s easy to overlook its shortcomings.  This book was released in 2024, so I was hoping book six would be released this year.  Unfortunately, the author has life happening and is struggling to find time to finish it.  This is a self-published series and Taggart has a full-time job and other life duties.  I hope things lighten up for him because I can’t wait to read what else he can come up with.  

Redneck Revenant

David R. Slayton
Completed 3/31/2026, Reviewed 4/3/2026
4 stars

I was worried that it had been almost three years since I read Deadbeat Druid, the third book in the Adam Binder Novels.  I was also worried that this book was an afterthought since Druid had such a climactic ending.  Instead, I melted into it like it had just been yesterday.  Yes, I forgot a couple of the details and secondary characters, but within fifty pages I was right back in this universe, excited to be reacquainted with Adam and his boyfriend Vic.  This has become one of my favorite series, mostly because of how sweet Adam and Vic’s relationship is.  I also liked the side series in this universe that began with Rogue Community College and can’t wait for the next book to come out.  The original three volume Adam Binder series, which began with White Trash Warlock, was nominated for a 2024 Mythopoeic Award.

Adam lives in his brother Bobby’s basement where Vic often spends the night.  On Halloween night, after all the kids have stopped trick-or-treating, Bobby’s wife Annie, who died in book one, appears on their doorstep.  Alarmed, they don’t know if this is really Annie brought back to life or if she is walking-dead or some other dark magic.  They invite her in and ask questions but get no resolution.  Bobby comes home and is equally flabbergasted, not know how to feel after grieving for so long.  Adam sets out to solve this mystery, going to the Faerie King, Death’s daughter, and others to figure out who or what’s behind this.  Adam also learns that some young witches from his niece’s coven have gone suddenly missing.  Then Annie’s rich, controlling, and emotionally distant parents show up, confirm that Annie’s been alive all this time, and try to take her home with them.  For the love of his brother and the safety of all the magical people in his life, Adam tries to get to the bottom of the mystery of Annie’s return.

I really enjoyed this book despite it being so long since the last one.   It’s not a cozy mystery/fantasy, but it felt that way.  Just being back in the Adam Binder universe felt wonderful.  I appreciated Slayton’s memory jogs of the past plots and other characters’ relationships with Adam minus large info dumps.  He even brought in characters from Rogue Community College with reminders of who they were.  It made for a very rich story and a good jumping off place for restarting after the crazy ending of Druid.  

I just love Adam.  He’s still broken, but he’s gaining more confidence.  His boyfriend Vic calls him out on his low self-esteem.  “Adam, do you know what a self-sacrificing narcissist is?” “I’m guessing me?  Is that my diagnosis?”  “No.  Though you’re a level five smart ass…it’s someone who puts the needs of others ahead of theirs to avoid dealing with their own issues.”  Adam realizes this and slowly starts to examine his own avoidance of marrying Vic and finding their own place by trying to save the world.  It’s a profound moment in the book and a gut punch into my own belief that Adam is angelically selfless.  In reality, he’s trying avoid the tough issues in his life, thus hurting the people he loves.  This metanoia made me love him and Vic even more.

I liked how this book went back to being told just from Adam’s perspective.  I missed being in his head.  I expect Slayton will change it up in future volumes.  That’s fine, because I love Vic’s journey as well.  From closeted cop to out bisexual chef to Grim Reaper, Vic has grown a lot in the three years that transpired since the first book.  And his mom is a hoot, a Latina history professor who supports her son despite not allowing them to sleep together under her roof until they are married.  I love how she constantly needles Adam about getting a degree.  “Vic feigned interest, because he’d had a lifetime of it, but for Adam it was a wonder to spend time with a parent who wanted to talk about that sort of thing, who had something to say about a world greater than her corner of Oklahoma.” 

I give this book four stars out of five.  It reminded me of why I love Slayton’s storytelling and imagination.  The world building, between Denver and the Faerie realm, is still wonderful.  I lament that it may be a while before getting another Adam book since Slayton has the Rogue CC series going as well as a separate series, which I haven’t started yet.  But I’m glad for all of them.