To Speak With Elders
Grahme is more powerful - and more volatile - than the Druid Council ever guessed. His nephew, Figol is a Sorim, the druid’s sworn enemy. When Figol attempts to join the order, both are sent on fool’s mission to find new allies.
But who? The Emerald Druids hold them in disdain. The Centaurs shoot humans on sight. The Demon Summoners and their infernal demons are too foul to consider.
Unexpected kindness and cruelty await, but not from whom they expect.-Goodreads
Title: To Speak with Elders
Series: Protectors of Pretanni #3
Author: Mike Mollman
Page Count: 392
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Date Read: February 15th, 2025
Opening
I've been steadily working to get caught on several series over the last few months and one of them is the Protectors of Pretanni by Mike Mollman. I've previously experienced book one Becoming a Druid and book two Sins and Sorrows. This brings me to book three To Speak with Elders. This was my favorite yet from the series.
I enjoyed the first book but the second took a bit of a dip in that enjoyment for me personally. I think this was due to the format changing a bit where we basically had two novellas combined to tell that story. To Speak with Elders returned to a more traditional storytelling format like the first book.
Pacing
I just touched on the pacing a bit as again, the format of books one and three are more to my style. I continued to opt for the audio version of this tale which is narrated by James Meunier who does an excellent job in bringing this story to life. There is a lot going in this book with plenty of different characters to keep track of and I never seemed to have gotten lost thanks to the narrator's performance.
I didn't have any issues with names of characters or locations to get lost with either. I can't express enough how much better the flow of this one compared to book two worked for me.
World Building
The world building continues to be uniquely amazing in this series. There is plenty of magic to be found along with various fantastical creatures and races to find along the way. With each book in this series the world itself seems to grow deeper and richer.
There is also plenty of political intrigue to be found throughout this series but it really seemed to shine for me in To Speak with Elders. This extends both internally with the council but also with the various villages and towns as well. Lots of layers to this world and it's story.
Character Development
The character development was also really good in book three here. Grahme has some really good moments in his arc but there are some great supporting characters including other druids, village leaders and family members to join this adventure. I personally really enjoyed the relationship between Grahme and his nephew. He both wants to see the young man succeed but also make sure he follows a solid path getting to that success. I'm sure most of us know that is very rarely a straight path and it's no different for his nephew Figol.
Closing
To Speak with Elders got me excited to see what is yet to come in this series. I do believe book four is already out in physical and digital print versions but I am not sure there is an audio available just yet. I will have to see how timing goes. I'm hoping that audio is available when book for hits my monthly TBR. However, if not, I'm sure I can work in a visual read with the digital print copy if I can't wait any longer.
I'd definitely recommend readers of fantasy check out this series. Book one was a solid start to the series. If you have any reservations towards the series after book two like I did, definitely look into the third book. I'm confident it will restore your faith in the series and author.
Scoring
Pacing 4.5 / 5.0
Worldbuilding 4.75 / 5.0
Character Development 4.5 / 5.0
