Preview
  • Defiler's Curse

  • The Magician's Brother, Book 8
  • By: HDA Roberts
  • Narrated by: Kevin Kemp
  • Length: 20 hrs and 38 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (49 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Defiler's Curse

By: HDA Roberts
Narrated by: Kevin Kemp
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $59.99

Buy for $59.99

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

In the quest to save my life, I delved into unnatural powers and changed myself utterly.

I mastered new forms of Magic and discovered others. I expanded my knowledge, learned, and grew; both as a Magician and a man.

It wasn't enough. All I managed to do was to buy myself some time, and now that time is running out.

My brother has fought me every step of the way. He even murdered my one hope of a cure, and in his demented desire to finish the job, went digging into mysteries he had no business with.

Now, he's been taken. Body and soul possessed by the first conqueror, the monster who destroyed mankind's first stab at complex civilization.

Desmond was dangerous when he was simply the First Shadow. An idiot with power is still lethal. Now, he has the power of an Archon coupled with the ability and intellect of the very first Black Magician.

I couldn't stop him before. What the hell am I going to do now?

©2023 HDA Roberts (P)2024 Podium Audio
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Defiler's Curse

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    43
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    45
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    40
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome

So much better I got tired of seeing the main character get shit on and this book provided some much needed catharsis

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful story! Can’t wait for book 9!

Absolutely wonderful story and extreme points of character development, I literally cannot wait for the next book/audiobook!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Another amazing installment!!

I love the wit and story of this series! I can't wait for the next one!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

good progression

This is a pretty good series that improves as it goes on. I have to admit, early in the series I had a terrible feeling it may turn into a harem novel. I'm relieved to say that it did not go that (way which is usually a cheap save for a bad series when the author runs out of ideas). Instead, it shows good character development and many layers of world building.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Jam packed

This book is packed full of everything we love in this series and so much more!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Brilliant series ruined by grimdark.

This series has always tried to walk a line between situations with world ending levels of danger/challenge, and light hearted, coming of age slice of life story telling. In part this was supported by an MC with a boundlessly positive world view (and a bit too much deference to the women in his life).

It seems that the author has lost sight of this balance. The book starts with the MC's powers destroyed, and the knowledge that they are dying and will be dead in a few months. It only goes downhill from there. His support is lost. His reputation is destroyed. His body is damaged in ways that are visible and incurable (even with magic). The situation is so dire, that no rational person could assume there would be a positive outcome.

At the half-way mark, it appears that the possibilities for the end of the story are either the MC will lose, ending the series with the moral that no matter how powerful, heroes die. Or the ending will be so pyrrhic that it will make Frodo leaving for the gray havens, seem humorous.

I get the feeling that the author intended this to be the grand finale for the series but in an effort to go out with a bang, they have ruined the thing that made the series great: The MC could keep their positive world view because they *experienced* some of that positivity at least some of the time. In this book, it's soul crushing sadness all the way down. The MC's positivity is absolutely jarring in the face of the situations they are placed in, to the point that it just comes across as self-deception.

I am seriously considering just stopping now.

Update: I fought through to the end, and although things do turn around for the MC, the level of Deus ex machina it took to get them there, was beyond ludicrous.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful