The Wizard's Crown cover art

The Wizard's Crown

Art of the Adept, Book 5

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Wizard's Crown

By: Michael G. Manning
Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
Try Premium Plus free

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $33.99

Buy Now for $33.99

About this listen

Will’s journey from naïve apprentice to a mature wizard is almost complete, and his ever-growing mastery has reached unseen heights.

But his power does not exist in a vacuum. His rising star threatens to eclipse the existing powers and a new balance must be found, one that either accepts his primacy or extinguishes his light.

After Will’s resounding successes in the war with Darrow, the king plots to eliminate his young rival. Driven to desperation, Will is forced to negotiate for scraps between four brokers of power:

An ancient lich driven by vengeance, the fae queen—to whom all are just pawns in a deadly game, a nervous lord of Hell—because Will may have killed his predecessor, twice, and a primal beast—feared above all.

With mortal enemies as his allies, Will must survive to face the king...and the deadly secret he plans to unleash. Ancient foes have risen and the final battle has begun. With the world hanging in the balance, king and wizard clash, but only one can wear the Wizard’s Crown.

©2022 Michael G. Manning (P)2022 Podium Audio Action & Adventure Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Royalty Magic Paranormal Magic Users Wizardry
All stars
Most relevant  
As other reviews have pointed out, there are a few mistakes and odd sounds in the recording that clearly weren't meant to be there. But nothing so terrible that it significantly detracts from the experience overall.

What I didn't really like was the drastic shift in tone from the earlier books. This one feels like a tragedy. Without getting specific to avoid spoilers; bad stuff happens right near the start of the book and keeps happening. Characters die. Will doesn't feel like he's fighting to win, instead there's a pervasive feeling of helplessness from him and he's just fighting to prevent things getting worse. That doesn't really let up until 2/3 of the way through the book, and even then it doesn't last long because the ending is pretty miserable.

After all the effort and suffering of the past 4 books and this one, Will manages to prevent the bad ending but he doesn't get a happy one either.

I'm not saying it's bad, but it's not my cup of tea. IMO it feels like the author set the world and character relationships on fire so that he can start a new series from the ashes.

Significant departure from the earlier books

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I'm only three chapters in and have heard several phone charging noises. The narrator also also pronounced celene as "Aislen" "Celaine" and "Celene" within two chapters. the phone sounds were a thing in the last book but I'd thought it was a simple slip up.

very disappointed with the editor/narrator for not catching this and hope they revise this audiobook, along with Disciple of war.

Narration quality dropped significantly

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
another great book more of the great work done in previous books in the series

if you liked what came before

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In my opinion, it did not feel like the previous 4 books and was a brutally sad ending for one of my favourite series.

A great romance turns to nothing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
how you kill an epic series... Exactly like this gaaaah. This was one of my favorate series of all and this last book made me wish someone else wrote it. Sooo disappointing after 4 epic books

Dumb as bro

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The book series has been great so far, I'm loving this entry so far however. As good as this narrator is, there are some glaring mistakes in this and the last book of the series. For example, pronunciation of certain names has been changing from chapter to chapter and a few times so far (also present in the last book) phones charging/notifications sounds can be heard in the background. For me these issues are annoying but don't detract from the experience too much. But I'd like to bring attention to them as they are mistakes that would have been fairly easy to prevent.
Overall great book and narrator but semi-plagued by editing/pronunciation errors

Amazing book and great narrator but many issues

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I found this one hard to get through whereas I got through the earlier ones so quickly. I really disliked the storyline for Celine and Will. A little disappointed with the end.

Anything you think you know about characters -forget it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Please tell me there's more! It can't honestly be the end. I'm in utter shock. If that's the ending I don't like it.

*EDIT*
OMG THERE'S MORE! It's still coming, realise to Audible August 2023!
It's a new series, "Wrath of the Stormking" book 1 is "Wizard in Exile".

I still think book 5 of this series ended poorly though, it was more like reading the end of a chapter than the conclusion of a series. But I'm glad to hear there's more to come! I'll have to saver the next book so Manning stays ahead of me. (Haha, not likely)

No, that can't be the ending

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Not sure if this can be called a spoiler but...

Loved it but the ending parts annoy me. Will always uses his limthal and he does as well at the end but he doesn't store anything crucial. It just feels like a lazy way to allow the story to continue. I mean it wasn't that big of an object and storing things is almost an instinct for him. Am I missing something?

Loved it but ending annoys me

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Thankyou Michael G Manning for another great series.
Ouch my heart, brutal as always with your characters 😜

Brutal

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.