Kelvin

An excellent start to a new series and a captivating & emotionally gripping story by Mercedes Lackey.

The narrator does an commendable job, each character seems to come alive as a separate entity. I don't think the sample is as good a choice as it could have been to show off the narrator.

The 500 Kingdoms are inhabited by a manner of good and evil magical beings, beasts and humans, from the Fae, Brownies and Unicorns to Giants, Dragons, and Evil Witches, Mages and Sorceresses and their minions

The 500 Kingdoms are imbued with magic and the powerful force of tradition which tries to bend its peoples Magical or otherwise to its will for good or bad.

Tradition intended Elena to be a Cinderella, except that her would be prince was only eleven when she turned twenty-one, so her evil stepmother abandons her and decides to try her fortune hunting in other lands.

Elena, penniless and alone decides to become a paid servant, but her Fairy Godmother decides to take her on as an apprentice.

The magical potential that has built up in her through the unfulfilled tradition gives her huge magical powers. Thus Elena's tale and trials begin, but at least now she has a home and people that care for her and last but not least a purpose . . .

Warning whilst most of this book is G rated in small sections mainly near the end of the book it ups the eroticism for a bit but its not over done in my opinion but it may upset some readers.

There is a nice tone of humor throughout and It has great multilayered characters that grow as the story progresses.

This is an Fantasy adventure story with a side of romance and Elena is a remarkably strong female lead that has a vulnerable human side.

Enjoy

I came across Amanda Quick (Jayne Ann Krentz) Arcane series years ago as well as her Harmony series (Jayne Castle) and she became one of my must have authors under her various pseudonyms.

This is an Historical, Mystery, Paranormal, Fantasy romance

The Ladies of Lantern Street are private investigators, with the Flint & Marsh agency, who accomplish their tasks discretely for their clients by posing as Paid Companions, Governess's or in other guises. Each has a paranormal talent.

Beatrice Lockwood in her new profession with Flint & Marsh is hiding from her past after her previous employer was murdered.

Joshua North doesn't believe in the paranormal but has the reputation of being able to find things, is after Beatrice believing she is blackmailing his sister.

Unfortunately if you have read/listened to Amanda Quick's previous books you will feel this book contains reflections/echos of earlier stories, both from the Arcane Arc and various stand alone novels. Nightmare gas anyone, I could list many more such instances but it would spoil an enjoyable listen and reveal too much of the plot.

This is still well worth the listen and well worth the price (Audible version)

The narration by Justine Eyre, whilst not on a par with Anne Flosnik, Joyce Bean or Josephine Bailey does not totally ruin the listen

I would recommend this this book to all that like Historical paranormal fantasy and even those who, like male lead in the book, do not.

In a world dominated by the Others (Terra Indigine), humans are the minority existing under a truce of sorts in select areas allowed by the Others. The Others are wary of Humans and vice versa.

Meg Corbyn is a Cassandra sangue (Blood Prophet) and has run away from her keepers. Half-frozen, Meg stumbles into Lakeside Courtyard an Others compound in a human city which is beyond human law.

Shape-shifter Simon Wolfgard and head of the Others' compound in Lakeside, agrees to let her take the job of Human Liaison; who accepts human deliveries for the compound and sorts mail, even knowing she's hiding from something.

The Others are not softened or even humanized in any way and make no apologies for the way they live.

Thus begins a fresh unique take of an urban fantasy book with a compelling series of suspenseful plots to keep you listening well into the night

I love this book, Anne Bishop makes you live in her characters skins, laugh with them, cry with them and die with them.

Written in Red's characters are interesting and relatable and Anne has created an amazingly detailed world that's intelligently written, incredibly creative, and will have you forcing yourself to put it down.

if you like alternate worlds, urbane fantasy, or fantasy you will love this book

If you like the Mercedes Thompson series by Patricia Briggs, or a story that has a new, totally fascinating take on Shapeshifters, Vampires and Elementals, get this book

If you grown tired of most Paranormal books, because they mostly use the same overused elements over and over again get this book.

You won’t be disappointed.

The narration is excellent

It start of great but then dies a slow death and aside from Jade the characters were not very well developed, the plot was kind of weak and predictable.

If your looking for romance It was nonexistant, sex yes, romance no. Jade and Lucian hardly have any spark between them, but used every opportunity to hit the sheets.

There are way too many minor characters floating around, along with lose ends.

I really wanted to like this book. I tried hard but I couldn't get involved because It just does not grab you as a good story or well developed characters should.

The narrator tries against all odds to breath life in this book but the material lets her down.

This book was originally released under Shannon Drake, a pseudonym used by Heather Graham Pozzessere

One expects much better of Heather Graham

For vampire/romance genre fans, I would recommend giving this one a pass.

This is also a disappointment after the first book in the series

Book 1, 5 and 6 are the best of this series to date.

The villain is pretty easy to pick out from the get go but aside from that the story still holds the readers interest with good character and world building.

If you were expecting to read a copy of Red Riding Hood you have the wrong book. The story does however doe include a female lead, Isabella who wears a red cloak, a "Granny", a wise old woman, who she visits who lives in the woods out side town, a game keeper and well a were wolf and even a step mother and step sisters thrown into the mix along with sorcerers, invisible servants, curses, spells and well i guess you need to read it to find out how all this comes together and of course the romance and life threatening encounters . . .

It's a good read and well worth adding to your library

Mercedes Lackey dropped the ball a bit after the first book but picked it up again with books 5 and 6

although each story is separate in its own right characters do appear from previous books but in the main aside from the godmother Elena and her household non of the previous books main chracters are a common thread though out this series.

Unlike the Tradition . . .

I would recommend this book and series bearing in mind the above comments on some of the books in the series which don't match up to the quality of books 1, 5 and 6 but are still readable.

Comments made above are obviously a reflection of my current taste and opinions.

The story is at best equal to a low end Feehan novel which even at their worst are much more polished than this. I found my self hard put to garner interest in finishing this one and made several attempts to do so.

The excessive, frequent, unnecessary use of the F word and similar words and the frequency of the sex scenes places this book firmly in erotica rather than fantasy. Don't get me wrong I can see where such words could be used to effect in a story but this one goes way overboard.

Remove the sex scenes and you loose at least half of this book and loose very little or nothing from the plot.

I can almost relate to the female lead but not to the Neanderthal male lead and of course they both do stupid things at inappropriate times to cause issues and problems in spite of being aware they should not be doing such things.

The story it's self holds nothing new in relation to were lore or in the story it is pretty much a rehash of the same regurgitated plot with heaps of sex and 4 letter wording thrown in for good measure.

I have as I said I have nothing against crude language used in context or to decently written sex scenes so I can only assume by the high reviews others have given this book i must be missing something.

Obviously this book was not for me but it is just as obviously other listeners cup of tea

This to my mind is more B grade erotica meets were wolf

Nice cover art. I would have give this a straight 2 but the narrator did a reasonable job given the book she ask to narrate

I bought and first read this book in its first printing back in the eighties and now it's available on audio. It's wonderful to find old treasures like this brought to another generation to enjoy, Unfortunately Jack L Chalker passed away in 2005 but his visions still live on in his many books.

Lords of the Middle Dark still stands the test of time if you are able to forgive minor issues like the fact that computers no longer require large spaces

The plot and character development is rich, and one could imagine a future like this could actually exist.

A group of scientists fearful of mankind destroying its self created a computer called the Master System to keep mankind safe. Master System took over control and basically de-populated Earth by moving moving most of the humans to other planets. Adapting people and planets but still keeping them mentally if not physically "human" to do so

Earth, and the small population's living there are ignorant of Technology. China has reverted to Warlords and peasants, America is basically a Native American Indian Reservation. etc
Earth is protected museum of what culture and life was like before Technology in each major culture.

An few people that show promise are chosen to learn and have access to the Technology controlled by Master System. Every so often these people must give up their technological lifestyle and return to their native people and lifestyle for a while. Master System basically uses these people and native leaders to run the various planets whilst keeping and eye over their shoulders ensuring that the planets under its control remains in the stasis of a pre-technoligal it has imposed.

Master System isn't malevolent, it's just following it's directive to protect humankind from itself as programed by its creators.

Master Systems creators fashioned 5 rings that could be used to control Master System and directed it to ensure they were always in the hands of humans but with most of humanity altered physicality to be able to live on the planets they now live on, any search for the rings is a daunting almost impossible task.

This book introduces us to this world and to an American Indian called Hawks who stumbles across information about the five rings, when on his "leave" however such knowledge is basically a death sentence. Hawks needs to evade Master System and gain allies . . . whilst keeping his "tribe" safe . . .

China (a Chinese Warlords daughter) story is interwoven in the book. Both gain allies whilst they battle the system to survive in any way possible . . .

I don't believe reviews should include major spoilers so for those who read this to find some . . . sorry

I hope i have whetted your appetite enough that you will listen to this excellent book the first in the series of The Rings of the Master.

Middle Dark refers to a sort of middle hell from Hawks tribal lore.

I defy anyone to read one of Debora Geary's books and not become emotional involved.

For those who only read books that rely on sex scene after sex scene, Neanderthal misunderstood males, someone doing something stupid in the last 1/3 -1/4 of the book to allow said Neanderthal a chance to save the day allowing for love to suddenly bloom and books with stereotype characters.

Debora Geary's books are probably not for you . . . .

If however you love wonderful stories with rich diverse characters and where your heart, soul and tissues get a regular workout . . . you will find your self not wanting to put her books down . . . .

I cannot recommend this author highly enough to anyone even if the paranormal is not your normal fare . . .

The narrator does an excellent job and one hopes she is retained for for the whole series.

I would also like to see Debora's books other series given audible format treatment e.g. WitchLight, Novel Nibbles and Witch Central

Narration: Doctor Watson's narrator fits the role but Holme's narrator I felt did not. Overall the narration was good

It is the Arthur Conan Doyle 1912 story "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" with some of the names/genders changed and the Bruce-Partington submarine, changed to the Nautilus. In places especially in the first half it's almost word for word from the original 1912 story.

The first half reads like a Holmes story the second half reads like some B grade action movie with the bionic man thrown in for good measure. Holmes conclusions are lifted straight from the original story by Arthur Conan Doyle.

I my opinion this Book will not appeal to people looking for an Arthur Conan Doyle Holmes alternative story, nor is this book really steam punk.

If this book was edited by a professional audio editor then one can only assume that the final version got swapped somehow with an unedited previous one and was published instead of the fully edited one.

The bad editing occurs fairly early in the book and continues through out the book in fits and starts.

When the narrator makes an error she repeats the previous few words or sentence with the corrected version

The problem is both versions are still there in the published book . . . both the error and correction.

The books ending also needs some work and to be less rushed