Mark of the Fool 8

By: J.M. Clarke

Narrated by: Travis Baldree

A secret has been revealed, and others will follow.

After a terrible revelation, Alex Roth must unlearn everything he knows of Thameland and the cycle of the Ravener, all the while hunting for the hidden priests of Uldar’s Rise.

As the First Apostle prepares to destroy the Fool, the villain receives an unexpected ally. Meanwhile, Alex himself has received new information about his Mark…information that could utterly change his life-path.

But he cannot keep his identity hidden forever. Not anymore.

Who will have the last laugh? Alex Roth? Or the grinning face of the Fool?

Book eight of the best-selling series. Continue your fantastical journey into a coming-of-age magic academy fantasy with a weak-to-strong progression into power, deepening mystery, a setting inspired by D&D, detailed world building and magical science, action, comedy, slice-of-life, and GameLit elements.

©2025 Aethon Books (P)2025 Aethon Audio

Only bad thing is the ending

Wish the author could figure out how to end a book that doesnt feel like it was just chopped off mid-conversation.

The story is more than I could have hope for!!!!

The story is so well written, the performance is paired perfectly. Best book series I’ve had the pleasure to enjoy in a very long time.

Another fun addition, but…

I understand what the author was trying to do with the second addition of the Games of Roal. The problem is, that section of the book could have been completely removed, us as the reader know how far the characters have come. We don’t need it spelled out. Unfortunately, this time around, the Games of Roal was just a chore to sit through and uninteresting.

The rest of the book was great.

Pacing

My goodness. I fell upon The Mark Of The Fool on a whim and have never been so appreciative that I had. The way Clarke can tell a story, build a world, and bring depth into characters is unparalleled. Not to mention to have Travis Baldree breathing life into the characters. I’m just sad that I can’t listen to more! This duo is something you don’t see very often and I’m just glad I’m a part of it. Well done.

Seamless development of characters and world building.

I'm a fantasy junkie and this is still my favorite series . Hope to see this series blow up bigger than Harry Potter. I certainly consider it to be superior!

It's in a good way to be one of the greatest fanthasy epics

The world expands, the storylines getting more epic, and the characters are well written. Thanks for this great book!

Family and loyalty.

I love the sense of family values and loyalty created for the character’s throughout. Thanks

Great

Story building keeps me engaged. I loved that his powers growing. Can't wait for book 9

The story continues

But yet again, it's another cliffhanger.I can't wait for the next book to come out...

short and ultimately empty

Easily the weakest and shortest of the series, it does a lot of prep work for the next few books but little else. It ends on a hollow note as well. It doesn't kill my desire to continue the series but for those who are somehow still on the fence after 7 books, it may have. It's a 6-7/10 book from an overall 8-9/10 series so I'm feeling a little more let down than I'd feel from some other series. It feels like the author sped wrote through all the set up just to get it out of the way and to have more time on the next few, genuinely hoping that's the case. There are a few defining moments but ultimately a paragraph or two could be written on the few major events and you'd be caught up for the next book.