Advocate picks up immediately after Necrobane ends. Aelis has been recalled from her Lone Pine posting to act as investigator for crimes leveled against her mentor and fellow warden Bardun Jacques.

I’ve enjoyed The Warden quite a bit, Necrobane even more, and Advocate even more than that. Switching settings entirely for a third book is a bold move, especially accompanied by big shifts in cast, but it works beautifully here. I loved seeing Aelis in her native environment, which is just as dangerous as Lone Pine. This gave me fresh insight into her rough adjustment to the rural setting of the previous books.

The cast is once again the highlight. Mihil, Aelis’s gnome assistant, is a great addition. Even relatively short cameos like Aelis’s sister, flesh the world and story out. I must say that I was sad that Tun played such a small role in this volume. I maintain that the relationship between Aelis and Tun is one of the best examples of platonic friendship I’ve seen in fantasy.

A marvelously enjoyable, readable series. I read in another review that this was contracted as a trilogy, but I hope there will be more.

Aelis de Lenti was an Earl’s daughter who had done very well in the magical school and became a Warden (paper). Unfortunately she was assigned to a small village for her first two years, but proved herself. Now she is called to be an Advocate (hard from Tor) which brings her to Lascenise where legendary Warden Bardun Jacques, her mentor, has been accused of murdering another wizard. Unfortunately there is a deep plot within wizardly circles. Aelis is attacked on the way to Lascenise and things get more dangerous when she arrives. Her mentor is in a dungeon, where the horrible conditions might kill him before his trial. This is the best tale in Daniel M. Ford's series so far. I really love the series.

This third in the series is a winner. So far our main character has shown that she can think on her feet, has a sense of duty and hides more skills than others realize. Aelis must defend her beloved professor, find a way to break a curse and manage to stay alive while assassins are everywhere. The characters in this series will stay vivid in your mind long after you put this book down. The storyline gets more interesting with each book and you won't want it to end. Friends found along the way show up again. Has some romance but not overdone. There is so much more to be done that the series must continue.
I received this book from Netgalley and I thank the author and publisher for making it available. The opinions are my own.

Ahoy there mateys! This is the third book in the Warden series.  Aelis de Lenti has been sent back to civilization and her old alma mater to help defend her mentor against a murder charge.  Aelis is thrilled to be back in the city but intimidated by the enormity of the tasks set before her.

While I did overall enjoy this book, there were some issues I had with it that felt similar to those from book two.  What I enjoyed about the first book was how character driven it was.  Book two then opened up the world a bit more and it happens again here.  I found I didn't' really care for descriptions of the city's automatons, buildings, wines, or clothes.  Politics gets more attention here and, frankly, its just boring.  Power for the sake of power.  Not a lot makes sense upon reflection.

Also, Aelis NEVER really has a plan.  It is supposed to be her modus operandi but I wish she would have growth in this area.  She took forever to figure things out.  Also I feel like so many of her solutions were to fling money at the problems.  Aelis doesn't want to be known for her family but uses those family connections at the drop of a hat.  She treats her friends with discourtesy.  She seems to have become rather hateful and lost those gains she made in Long Pine.  Also her greatest hardship seemed to be losing some sleep.

Aelis did so much at the last minute and with little thought.  The pacing was extremely slow in the middle.  I wanted Aelis to make plans with her friends and work together instead of running around all over the place.  I did like two gnomes in this.  One was at the fashion store and the other became Aelis' sidekick.

I am not sure if another book is planned as most crew are discussing this being the end of the trilogy.  A big long-range plan was set-up at the end though so who knows.  I will read another book in this series if one is written.  Arrrr!

3.5 rounded down

This finale shattered me.

The Advocate is everything I hoped for and feared. Aelis is changed, scarred, stronger, and burdened by the cost of everything she’s done. This book doesn’t hold back. It’s dark, intense, and brimming with heartbreaking choices.

The final book brings the emotional stakes front and center. There’s magic, yes, and plenty of it, but it’s the weight of leadership, the pain of survival, and the cost of defiance that takes center stage. Ford wraps up this trilogy with a mix of triumph and tragedy that feels utterly earned.

No spoilers, but… the final chapters left me both wrecked and in awe.

✨ Standout Themes: Consequence, sacrifice, loyalty
🛑 Content Warnings: War, death, emotional trauma, moral conflict
⭐️ Rating: 4.75/5
Would I recommend? Wholeheartedly. This is a finale that delivers everything a character-driven epic should.

Aelis is back again! Daniel M. Ford returns to the world we first explored in The Warden and Necrobane, and damn if Advocate isn’t another stellar entry in the series. At the end of Necrobane, Warden Aelis de Lenti had been notified that Bardun Jacques, her mentor from her warden training days, was arrested for murder. Word came to the frontier town of Lone Pine that the Archmagister has requested Aelis return to the city of Lascenise to serve as his Advocate, a role supplemental to his lawyer, and a position that can only be filled by another Warden. She must help to search for information that can prove his innocence, or he will most likely be put to death.

Aelis is loathe to leave her post behind, even if she only intends for it to be temporary. There are many things in Lone Pine that require her near-constant attention, and the people there have finally come to fully trust in her presence and skill. She’s almost starting to think of her sheep-shit-scented tower as home. Decent progress for a rich socialite trained as a Necromancer, really. But Bardun Jacques is the man who is most responsible for Aelis’s success as a student at the Lyceum, so she begins to pack her things for the long journey. She reassures the people that she has come to love that she’ll be back as soon as she can, hopefully with more answers for one particular person, and a particularly difficult problem that’s been plaguing her since Necrobane.

Aelis’s trip with back south to Lascenise with fellow Warden Amadin is interrupted when their carriage is attacked. This attempt on her life helps Aelis to realize that there are far bigger things at stake than just the career of one old wizard. She’s going to have to choose her allies carefully if she’s going to succeed and survive. Being back on familiar ground can only serve as so much of an advantage when there’s a full-blown conspiracy of theft and assassination coming to light. Still, she’s grown a lot during her time at her station in Lone Pine, and a Warden with three schools of magic at her disposal is nothing to mess with, unless you have a great deal of power and influence to wield yourself.

Daniel M. Ford continues to be a powerhouse of a fantasy writer. As he delves into more of Aelis’s history (academic and otherwise), he showcases more of a spectacular magic school and its surrounds. The Lyceum is every bit as wondrous as you would want a magical college to be, complete with a library that rivals those found in The Name of the Wind and Shadow of the Torturer. His combat scenes are tight, well-choreographed, and intense, and his worldbuilding remains top-notch. I loved every page of Advocate, and I hope that you do as well.

Advocate hits store and library shelves on April 22nd. Get ready. And hope, like I do, that there’s more to come.

My utmost thanks as always to Netgalley and Tor for an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

This review originally appeared here: https://swordsoftheancients.com/2025/04/14/advocate-a-review/

It was interesting to see Aelis in her "natural" environment. To see the type of life that she lived, and it made so much sense now why she had such a hard time adjusting to Lone Pine. The story has definitely left room for the series to grow, and I hope we met some of the characters again. I really enjoyed reading about Bardun Jaques and would love to see more of his backstory at some point.

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC of this book available to me for my review.

This series just keeps getting better. The character keeps growing, the problems get bigger, and the magic and action keep us enthralled. We get some recurring support characters, but we also get to see the main character in her home territory and dealing with the politics and administration of both the Wardens and her old school. And then she also get to reconnect with old friends and family, and even makes some new friends. Looking forward to seeing where this series takes us next.

I’ve been with this series since the first book and I can honestly say that I’ve enjoyed all three of them. Daniel Ford definitely has a winner with this trilogy.
In this book, Aelis needs to leave her quaint little town to go back to the big city. Back to the university to help a former teacher accused of murder.
After seeing Aelis in her little town, it was an interesting change to see her in civilization. Back to where she began.
One thing Ford does well is creating a setting that feels real and lived in. His world building is top notch.
Another good thing that can be said is his characters. They are all a bunch of well rounded and eclectic characters that you live to see come onto the page.
There are only two downsides to this book.
The first is, about halfway through the book, it slowed a bit. He finished strong, though.
The second is, that at the moment, this is the last book in this series.
I would really love for there to be more.

This series is so completely underrated in the fantasy community and I just feel like it needs a big shout out for being amazing, especially since this third installment is actually my favorite yet. I thought The Warden was a fantastic series opener that introduced a spectacularly cool world and magic system and Necrobane was a solid read that was brought down somewhat by a sequence that reminded me of the Tom Bombadil section of The Lord of the Rings (a personal hatred of mine). Advocate takes us in a whole new direction with a whole new setting and characters, which made this feel extremely fresh and exciting!

Aelis has been called back to Cabal Keep in the city of Lascenise where she is to act as the advocate for Archmagister Bardun Jacques, her former mentor and one of the greatest Wardens of all time as he stands trial for murder. In this world murder by magical means of another magic user is a crime punishable by death, even if one does happen to basically be a living legend. Jacques specifically requested Aelis because he knew she would be a tenacious pain in the ass and solve the puzzle surrounding this situation. You see, Bardun Jacques did commit the crime he was accused of, but he was in the midst of investigating a secretive underground group of wizards who have been smuggling magical artifacts. It seems that the culprits are likely very well connected and this conspiracy may go all the way to the top of the magical food chain. It’s clear from the outset that the odds are stacked against Aelis de Lenti and she is repeatedly warned away from meddling, lest her career be irreparably harmed despite her weighty family name. 

My long time readers know at this point that I simply cannot resist a good mystery or investigative element to any of my books and Advocate most definitely fulfills this most loved blending of genres. Aelis ends up in some seedy areas with shady characters, she commits some crimes of her own, and even foils several assassination attempts during the course of her investigation. She isn’t above getting her hands dirty and I like that it shows her greasing palms with some cold hard coinage and making use of her many skills and her many friends. In what I thought was a realistic and reasonable reaction, her closest friend Miralla points out that Aelis just keeps asking for more from the people around her without considering how her needs impact them. It's good for a character to have consequences for their constant use and abuse of friends.

This is definitely my favorite of the three installments and I’m really hoping for more because the ending of this opened up a whole new level of subterfuge and complexity for the next book. There were some lovely resolutions to plot points from previous books and though I missed certain characters like Tun and Pip, I loved all the new ones that were introduced. It was cool to see Aelis in her element, attending dinner parties, snooping through libraries, and generally making a nuisance of herself. She remains a strong character, unapologetic for both her title and wealth, and I admire her determination to make her Warden position something she truly earned and not something anyone could say was merely given to her. I have my fingers crossed for several more books set in this world!

Reading these books was so great! I really enjoyed the first one, and I was really excited to see where Aelis' story would continue. I loved seeing where Necrobane was going, and then Advocate was really interesting, taking place in her hometown, and I enjoyed getting to know it.

Lone Pine is pretty isolated. After the events of the first book, with the necromantic threat, just the implications of it, that's a looming threat. I didn't know how she was going to deal with it, or if it's the series-long conflict, or if it was going to be resolved in Necrobane, and I had to keep reading to find out!

I love Aelis and Maurenia's relationship. They were cute in the first book with their initial interest, but now they're having extended time as a couple, and I had such a great time watching them work to develop the parameters and rules of their relationship.

Aelis had built a life in Lone Pine, so having to come back to Lascenise to deal with a murder charge against her mentor, of course she's going to do it, but it's big upheaval. Not to mention the stress of trying to prove that he was innocent of the charges, and everything else that she had to deal with, including Maurenia's situation. I had a blast watching her investigate!

Loved reading these books, and I can't wait to read more by Daniel M. Ford!

We get that unique brand of homecoming that happens when you go back to your college/home town where you're big shit, but you've grown significantly since the last time you were there and you're growing past the people there. Oh, and a major shadowy magical conspiracy that you've gotten caught up in because your mentor has called you in to be his Phoenix Wright. It's a great turn to watch Aelis realize that the place she wants to be is in Lone Pines, and what looks like hopefully set up for the future at the end. Would love to see more of this, but if this is where we leave her for now, it's a great place to take a deep breath.

I’m really loving this series. It’s a fast paced set of books and light reading. No great underlying message, just the mess Aelis finds herself in. It was fun when she was a fish out of water in the countryside in the first book. It’s just as much fun watching her as the noblewoman who has a stipend from family to pull heavily on throw her clout around once she’s home to the city life that’s natural to her. I have great hopes this series will continue a good long while. It’s just fun!

Ford truly excels at creating characters who are not only enjoyable but also imperfect and relatable. Aelis continues to be a mix of maddening and deeply understandable. Her obsessive focus on her mission often had me wanting to shake some sense into her, but her fierce loyalty to her mentor and her unwavering principles are what keep me invested in her story. Mihil was a fantastic addition. I’m eagerly awaiting to see where Aelis’ journey goes next.

Called back to the city of her university days to assist a dear professor and mentor on trial for murder, Aelis finds herself in the middle of a grand conspiracy that has been dogging her since her assignment to Lone Pine that may involve familiar faces. All the while, Maurenia is still stuck in the forest glen, trapped by whatever magic had bound its previous occupant. Between investigating her mentor's case, uncovering a shadowy group of powerful wizards, and attending to her duties as a Count's daughter. Aelis searches for answers to Maurenia's entrapment.

I was so so excited to receive an ARC of this book, as I have rabidly followed Aelis' story since I first got my hands on the Warden. I was really excited to explore more of the world Daniel M. Ford has built and see the Lyceum and the surrounding city that Aelis has so much reflected upon in the last couple of books, even if I was sad to be leaving behind Lone Pine and its cast of loveable characters.

Unfortunately, as was my experience with Necrobane, this book captured me in the very beginning and then slowed waaayyy down until about the last 25% of the book, where I was then fighting for my life to turn pages fast enough to see what was happening. It was a slog to get through in the middle, as we followed Aelis around her various missions in her investigation. At times it felt repetitious as Aelis repeatedly went to the clothier, or asked her friends for help. It wasn't the worst possible form of repetition and slowness, but it did mean it took me FOREVER to get through a book I could've flown through.

However, Ford's strength does really seem to be in creating very enjoyable characters while also not making them the shiniest, most perfect people. Aelis continues her pattern of being so incredibly aggravating while also being deeply understandable. Her laser focus on her task at the expense of everything around her had me screaming and wanting to reach into the pages to shake her, but her unwavering devotion not only to her mentor, but to her principals is what makes me continue to love her. Mihil was a great addition, filling in a Tun/Dobrusz Brothers shaped hole and it was so fun to meet Aelis' college friend Miralla.

The ending had me gasping and screaming, as Ford through some curveballs into the mix and now I'm interested to see where Aelis' story goes next.

I enjoyed getting into this series and this book, it was fun and interesting, having similar vibes from Ford's other books. I liked that this was a fun continuation, but ultimately felt like a filler book to me, which is okay!

If you enjoyed the other books, you'll still really like this one!

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC!

My thanks to both NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for an advance copy of this new novel of fantasy dealing with a woman facing trials and tribulations in life, love and loyalty, and finding out the things she thought were true might not be, and even money and power aren't safe from evil and darkness.

When I was young I exclusively read genre books. Fantasy, science fiction and mystery books were my jam, with men's adventure books and maybe a little bit of history, if the cover of the book had a cool explosion on it. As I go older I put away my childish things, though I stayed with comics, and my reading began to expand. At the time fantasy books were in a rut, working on the principle that many books in a series made great writing. I watched from a distance for a long time working as a bookseller, and as I paid attention I saw that fantasy and science fiction were both going through some changes, changes for the better. The stories began to expand, the world building was increased, and the characters began to become more diverse, and interesting. Along with the plots. Stories became more about people dealing with real emotions, not fake heroism while fighting a dragon. Slowly I found myself reading more and more. And one of the writers I found I enjoyed was Daniel M. Ford and his character of Aelis de Lenti. Advocate is the thrid book in the Wardens series, which tells of Warden Aelis living her country life and returning to the big city, a place she has missed, but one that is loaded with dangers and betrayals, deep in the heart of the organization she belongs to.

Aelis de Lenti has had a very busy time as Warden of the small town of Lone Pine. Aelis has fought the undead, invaders, killed a powerful sorcerer not once, but twice, nearly died, made friends, and had the love of her life trapped in an inescapable prison. Into this mix, Aelis has been asked to be an advocate for an old instructor and friend, one who treated her not like a rich girl slumming in the Wardens, but as a capable person, with real skills and abilities. Traveling to the great city of Lascenise, Aelis is nearly killed in an assassination attempt, an attempt that alerts her to a secret group that has gone unnoticed for some time. Aelis finds that her mentor has been accused of murder most foul, and it looks like the fix is in. Aelis takes her duties as advocate seriously, digging up evidence, finding people, and facts, that prove this case might be the tip of the iceberg, an iceberg that might sink the ideas that Aelis always found so noble about being a Warden and a user of magic.

There is a lot to enjoy in this series. The magic for one is quite well developed, and I love the hierarchy and bureaucracy that Ford has made in developing it. The world is interesting, a mix of technology using magic, or practical sense, fun menus, and a lot of interesting characters and lots of character building. One gets the sense that Aelis has changed from the first book, going from know-it-all rich girl, to experienced, and angry Warden. The story moves well, it might be a tad long, but that means more time with characters I enjoy so that's a good thing. There is a lot of action, a lot of magic, and a lot of interplay between the characters that makes one care, and want to know more, and more importantly read more.

As this is the third book, start with the first, just to get a sense of the storyline, and follow the growth of the characters. One won't be disappointed. Fantasy fans will enjoy this and role players can learn quite a bit about magic, the use of food and clothing in their adventures, and how to set up magical libraries. A very fun series, one that await further adventures in.

Aelis de Lenti is called from her place in the countryside to act as an advocate for an old professor and mentor, accused of murder. What at first seems straightforward becomes a dangerous tangle of assassins, smuggling, magical artifacts, and conspiracies that she must untangle if she has any hope of saving her Professor from the gallows.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book. Strong world and interesting characters although I found cd the pacing to lag a bit particularly in the middle third. I enjoy the authors writing style and easy prose.

Ultimately, I was underwhelmed by this book. While exploring a new setting and finally meeting previously talked about characters was amusing, I did find portions of the middle section to be boring. The investigation plot really dragged on. It doesn't help that Alis never truly has to struggle for anything. She always comes out on top in a fight no matter the odds. Makes for low tension scenes. I must accept she is simply a character I'll never love.

Otherwise, Ford's writing and character work is consistent in this installment. If you enjoyed the previous books, I see you getting a kick out of this one.