Rise of the Archmage by Martyn Stanley is the fourth installment of the Deathsworn Arc series. The companions are headed to Votrex's home when they stop to aid a woman thought to be a witch.

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While Martyn's writing is getting better, and the editing is also getting better, I feel that the characters are not growing enough. They seem to be the same as they were in book one. Grant you, the time in the books has only been two or three weeks, I still haven't seen any character growth. Especially Korhan. It seems Korhan has the ability to slay a Noble Dragon in book one, but gets his butt handed to him in every fight he gets into since, which seems to me that Vashni's training has had no effect on Korhan at all. It seems she just wants to humiliate him for her own amusement, which is getting a bit boring to me.

Brael is another character I was hoping to see some character growth, but the only thing I see with him is that he is so obsessed with the 'truth' that he almost caused one of the companion's death.

Saul, the wizard, has actually learned a bit of spell casting, so his character is growing somewhat.

It seems that Votrex is the only character that still hasn't had his day. The companions still haven't made it to Votrex's home. The companions are easily distracted from their destination, and seem to be well caring people, for they will stop and help any damsel in distress.

I hope the author puts more growth into his characters in the next book, for I've come to care for these characters and would like to see them learn and grow.

I was given a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. ( )