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.