The Prodigal Mage

By Karen Miller

International bestseller Karen Miller returns to the world of 'Kingmaker, Kingbreaker' in this brand-new trilogy.Will they risk all to find out the truth ... or turn away forever?
Years ago, at the cost of many lives, 
Asher defeated the dark sorcerer, Morg, 
and brought peace to Lur ...But now, happily raising a family, Asher realises that peace and safety are an illusion. Something has woken in Lur's earth, creating weather that threatens to tear their world apart. Asher thinks he can save Lur by wielding the dangerous magic that he loathes ... and which may take his life.Rafel, Asher's son, is a mage of great power, but he has to break free of his father to truly discover his talents. All previous expeditions over the forbidden mountains have met with disaster and death, but Rafel is determined to try. As father and son struggle to understand each other, elsewhere a great evil is brewing ...Praise for Karen Miller:'a sorceress whose spells become books' ticonderoga online'a blockbuster story crafted with a strong sense of wonder' Nexus

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Australia
• Release date: Jan 31, 2010
• ISBN: 9780730400301

Karen Miller

Karen Miller, who has over 25 years experience in the early childhood field, is well known as a keynote speaker and consultant. She has worked as a teacher for Head Start, as national education director for Children's World Inc. and as a national training director for Min-Skools Ltd.

Reviews for The Prodigal Mage

[lorune · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Asher's kids have to safe the world, about as cheesy as it gets in the sense of followup serie's but it was well written, i do however feel that rafel's character was a bit well rushed. Not nearly as well worked out as the previous serie

[gimble_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

One may look at the rating given and decide not to read this book, but that is not why I rated this book the way I did. The author spends entirely to long setting up the last half of the book. This would have even more annoying had I read the prior books. I am sure the author was just trying to set the mood for us, but a paragraph or a chapter could have suficed. Needless to say since I am so vested in the story I will be purchasing the next book to see if my pridictions hold true.

[reckshow · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Mage series by Karen Miller is one of my favorite fantasy series, and I was thrilled to see this sequel in the store last week. The setting is ten years after Asher UnMade Morg and saved Lur.

The book is slow-moving; I confess I even skipped a whole section because the character-building was torturous, particularly because there's not much complexity to the characters. The second half of the book picks up in action and contains a few twists that kept me turning the pages and looking forward to the next book to see how she resolves the plot.

[nickf7 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Many years have passed since the last aAge WAr. It has been a time of great change. But not all changes are for the best, and Asher's world is in peril once more. The weather magic that keeps Lur safe is falling. Among the sorceres, only Asher has the skill to med the antique weather map that governs the seasons. Yet, when Asher risks his life to meedle with these dangerous magics, the crisis is merely delayed, not averted. Asher's son Rafel inherited his father's talents, but he has been forbidden to use them. With Lur facing devastation, however, he may be its only hope.This book is great. Miller took quite alot of this book to set the mood though. I like how Rafel goes over the mountains and all, but when he finds his friend it's just very sad. Rafel is a great character in this book because his actions are his own and he isn't in some kind of destiny. I rather do like this book but Miller still took to long to set the mood. I love Rafel's friend Goose because he breaks alot of the rules with Rafel. Goose is a good friend which made me love the book. So overall this book derseves a 3.

[reading_fox · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Superb. Long and slightly drawn out, but excellant continuation of a series that had come to a decent conclusion. Such extensions rarely work, but this is certainly an exception that proves the general rule. I would recommend that the previous books be read beforehand, preferably somewhat recently as many important details are only passingly referred to.Set 10 years on, Asher and Dathe have had two children, a strong headstrong boy Rafel and a younger quiet daughter Deenie. The years of peace and quiet since the ending of Morg have been enjoyable, but now trouble is stirring as Asher starts to feel 'illness in the earth'. As the climate fails the tension between the two races in Lur increases, but in times of crisis, Asher is again called upon to save them. However he is older and more worn now, with cares of his family tugging at his heart. Even Dathne now wants him to put them in front of Lur. With the WeatherWorking gone, he is in any case, no longer sure that saving Lur is possible for him. We follow various characters as this occurs. This is seldom my preffered style of reading, but the discontinuous character jumps are clear, and it always remains obvious who has the voice in each chapter. The tension is excellently crafted, as ar ethe starins each person feels with varios tugs upon their loyalty and abilities. The worldbuilding remains very strong, with the contrasting magic styles working well. However as in previous books it is the characters that Karen Miller writes so well. I was not expecting much from this continuation of the series but the lives fo the children make an excellant addition - and given the problems they face, it is hardly a childrens story, as the previous volumes weren't. Very enjoyable and well worth reading.

[xleptodactylous · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book didn't make me feel sympathetic or any other kind of connection with the characters to make me want to read the sequel to it. All the characters seemed to be really extreme: either extremely cocky, extremely arrogant, extremely stupid, extremely fragile, extremely helpless, extremely annoying or extremely ignorant. There seemed to be no middle ground, no mixture, people either listened or they didn't, or they were too arrogant to even think about anything else. I don't think it was realistic in terms of character.

Disappointing since I had read Karen Miller's Riven Kingdom trilogy and thoroughly enjoyed them; perhaps these books are far too "Young-Adult" for my liking. Possibly Kingmaker: Kingbreaker should have been read first, though if Asher is anything like he is in these books in those too then I doubt that. There was a lot of refrencing to those books, and fair enough, this does come after those, though it isn't necessary. Perhaps Young-Adult isn't the way forward, though I am still very disappointed and highly recommend the Riven Kingdom series of books, particularly if you didn't seem to enjoy these books much, either.

[kittynoel · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Prodigal Mageby Karen Miller Hero's save the world. Its what they do. Then they get to live happly ever after right? Yet saveing the world changes it, and humans whether they are Olken or Doranen have trouble excepting that change. In the Kingmaker, Kingbreaker pair of books Asher saved the world from the evil of Morg and freed the Olken from the control of the Doranen gaining them the right to use the magic that they always had but were forbidden from using. The Prodigal Mage continues this story in the world that has been changed by his actions. Asher's magic is different than a normal Olken's simpler earth based power, and because of the things he was forced to do with it he dislikes it greatly. His son is also in position of the same or maybe even greater amounts of power. Yet must grow up with a hero for a father, and hiding this power since it would frighten the world. But when the world starts to die and his father can't save it this time he steps up to the task. Story's don't often cover the after part of things. How a hero may do his job but the great changes he tried to create... just make some things more difficult. Like what happens when a hero has children... And what happens if things go bad again and the hero's too old and worn out from saving the world 10 years earlier before anyone knew about it... This story though it takes the point of view of multiple different characters at different times is mostly about Rafel, Ashers son. The way he grew up and his taking on of the responsibility to help the world when his Father can't. This book really does require you to have read the Kingmaker, Kingbreaker book's (in order The Innocent Mage is first, The Awakened Mage is second making this book three) first. I read them some time ago (1998 I think...) and it took me a few chapters to really remember the world and the way it worked. Especially because there are a lot of changes the world has faced since those books. This book also doesn't give you much of a reminder at all as to what happened (though in general I don't mind this it really didn't cover the past books at all). It jumps from character to character a little too much, and it took a bit to start realizing what family I was following. But the two families you read about are important in there own way. Rafel steps up to his place in the world. Becoming more comfortable with his magic, learning why it was so important to his father no to show his power to the world and that some things are worth taking a risk for. The story is continued in The Reluctant Mage.

[nergal-7 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

bit slow going.

much harder to read than her other books.