The Lost City of Ithos by John Bierce

Half a millennium ago, the sphinx Kanderon Crux and her allies banished the city of Imperial Ithos from the world of Anastis, in a desperate attempt to defeat the Ithonian Empire. Her dread weapon, the Exile Splinter, even erased the memory of its location from the universe. Now it's returning, bringing the Exile Splinter back with it. The great powers of the continent are desperately hunting for the site of the lost city, knowledge lost even to Kanderon herself. None know what ancient Ithonian weapons and enchantments might still be found in the ruins, but even the Exile Splinter alone would be a prize justifying war. Hugh and his friends find themselves dragged along on the search, where they'll face enemy warlocks, sea monsters, liches, unnatural storms, and even a man-eating tiger. There's something they're not being told about the lost city, however. Something that has even Kanderon and the other great powers terrified.

The story was yet again great. I loved seeing some more of Sabae and general character explorations. Especially for Alustin and Kanderon, seeing more of their motivations and seeing them face the consequences of there choices. I'm curious to see what happens to the group next.

Great world building

This one started a bit slower than the others but the end game was worth it. Im still amazed at the magic system Bierce has constructed. Definitely worth a read.

10th March 2022:

This was straight out the best book of the series for me. Maybe I would change my mind after reading book 5. Or the other future books. But for now this was the best in the series.

It got really really dark when Ithos was being described. Usually when places like Ithos are talked about in stories is makes me itch so much to read about this history. But that was less with Ithos, not because of bad writing but infact quite the opposite. Everything was described so well. Mage Errant wasn't a series that ever struck out to me as dark but in this particular part of the book, everything was so eerie and horrible. The Ash piles, the darkness and cold, the graffiti that described feelings of the people as they had been trapped by the exile splinter. It was uncharacteristic but not odd. And so well executed that my curiosity was well quenched.Even the matter about the cold minds and the heir!

The characters as always out did themselves. As the story got dark it effect the relationships but personally it was handled very, very well.
Though I would admit the 4 four apprentices may at times appear unnaturally mature, but it is certainly not a huge problem for me cause I'm not fan of immature characters.

Another fact I loved about these books is that the matureness of the characters infact made me rethink the normal mindset to have in fantasies. Cause if you're always up facing one battle on another, why not have the people save time over pointless and needless miscommunication and just have healthy relationships?

The ending made me have so many emotions and really was mind blowing.

I can't really talk about any cons because I really did love this book a lot.

My final rating is 5/5