7.8 /10 1 Votes7.8
4/5 Barnes & Noble Language English Publisher Roc Trade Genre Fantasy Country United States of America | 3.7/5 Goodreads Cover artist Cliff Nielson Series Rogue Mage Publication date 2006 November 7 Originally published 7 November 2006 Page count 336 Followed by Seraphs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Similar Faith Hunter books, Other books |
The Rogue Mage series of fantasy novels were written by American author Faith Hunter about races of beings inhabiting a post-apocalyptic Earth of the not-too distant future. Some of them possess magical powers. The series is set in the remains of the United States about a century after an apocalypse similar to the one predicted in the Book of Revelation, but with no God appearing.
Contents
Bloodring
Bloodring (ISBN 0-451-46108-8) is the first fantasy novel by Hunter and the first installment of the series. It was published by Roc Trade on 2006 November 7. It was given a three-star review by Romantic Times.
Plot summary
The story take place about a century after an apocalypse. It includes "neomages", a new race of beings that arose during the time of the apocalypse. They live in an area known as the Enclave, which is both a prison and sanctuary, and are able to work with "leftover creation energy".
Thorn St. Croix is a neomage in exile from the Enclave. Thorn (unlike most mages) is telepathic, and she constantly hears the thoughts of the other mages in the Enclave. This threatened to drive her insane when it began during her adolescence and forced her to live amongst humans whose thoughts she does not hear.
Because mages without a special license are not allowed amongst the human population, Thorn must hide her true nature lest she be killed, either by the humans - who would torture her first - or by the seraphs who have ruled the earth since the apocalypse began.
Thorn is a "stone mage", and channels her talents with stone into lapidary work and jewelry-making, running the store, Thorn's Gems, with her partners, Rupert and Jaycee, in the small town of Mineral Springs, Carolina, where they all live.
Thorn's life is suddenly disrupted when police officer Thaddeus Bartholomew comes to her door and announces that her ex-husband Lucas, (who is also Rupert's brother) has been kidnapped. She is a suspect. Thadd, it turns out, is a kylen, progeny of a seraph and a mix of human and mage. Thorn realizes this when he "kindles" her mage-heat. Amazingly, Thadd appears not to know he is anything but pure human, and were he to discover her secret, he would immediately arrest her for being an unlicensed mage outside of Enclave. She must risk death in order to save the father of her former stepdaughter, Ciana - the child of her heart.
Seraphs
Seraphs is the second novel of the series. It was given a four-star review by Romantic Times.
Host
Host is the third novel of the series. It was given a four-and-one-half-star review by Romantic Times.
Role-playing game
Hunter collaborated with Christina Stiles and Raven Blackwell to create a role-playing game based on the Rogue Mage series. It is published by Bella Rosa Books and Misfit Studios as two volumes, the Rogue Mage Roleplaying Game Player's Handbook and the Rogue Mage Roleplaying Game Game Master's Guide.