Birthright

The Technomage Archive, Book 1

By: B.J. Keeton

Narrated by: CB Droege

Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Damien Vennar used to be a god.

As a technomage, Damien had the power to create entire universes. Then, 500 years ago, he gave it all up. He suspended the nanites that made up his bloodstream and began to age - and eventually die - like anyone else. For centuries, Damien has lived among those who once worshiped him, his real identity fading into myth and legend.

Hundreds of years later, when Ceril Bain finds Damien's old sword buried in his grandfather's garden, he's put on the fast-track to follow in Vennar's footsteps. Over the next six years, Ceril trains as a technomage aboard the Inkwell Sigil, a ship with the ability to travel between dimensions. Just as Ceril is preparing to undergo his rites and finish his training, the Inkwell Sigil loses power. Stranded in space with no way back home, Ceril and four of his classmates are given their final assignment: go into uncharted territory, find a way back home, and bring back the one person who can fix the ship - Damien Vennar himself.

While away, Ceril and his team find themselves in a predicament when they confuse an attempt at first contact with an attack and kill two of the world's winged inhabitants. They are shortly captured and imprisoned, and the only thing keeping them alive is their angel-like captors' belief they may be the subjects of an ancient prophecy about a group of magic-wielding messiahs. But that's impossible, isn't it?

©2013 B.J. Keeton (P)2015 B.J. Keeton

BIRTHRIGHT: TECHNOMAGE

The story was well written, easy to follow and was well developed. How t was formatted was like I was changing the CDs myself, pregnant pauses and elevator music included. Not impressed with three second pauses between every chapter.

Great Story

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, a good story and plot line. Easy to get hooked into the telling.

What about CB Droege’s performance did you like?

The narrators performance was good, but the choreography leaves something to be desired, to many long pauses and pointless music interludes between chapters.

Any additional comments?

Can't wait for the sequel.

Weird pauses

This book has a lot of weird pauses and almost uncomfortable silences. Not for any dramatic effect or anything. Just randomly at the end of a chapter or even in between paragraphs. It's not a terrible performance, and it's a great book, just be aware of the fact that the actually story is like an hour or so shorter than the audio book length implies.

Leave the Cheesy at the door! Puulleeezz

This story was great so I'll start with that. After the 1st chapter finished, I waited for 5 Very l-o-o-o-n-n-g seconds to hear some embarrassing D-rated movie soundtrack. I can live with either the stupid music or the long wait between chapters but Dear God, NOT BOTH! It's just so, "cring worthy that I feel embarrassed for the author. I wonder if the author was even allowed to listen to this nice little story before sending it out to the whole wide world.
I'll keep the book & buy the next one ONLY because I still have Hope that on the 2nd installment, the producers might relent & leave out the 🎶 ridiculous 🎶 Music 🎶.

*Update* 2nd & 3rd Books Audio Narrative Never got any better. So many mistakes & still the awful music & the 5-second emptiness before the music. Also, when the Narrator makes a fumble you'd think the studio would go back excise the mumble & redo it. Right? Well, No. They simply leave the mistakes in the audio file but then the narrator does fix it, so you've got both the wrong & correct being read, like no one will notice? I take issue with the producers thinking no one would notice this. Really?

Good narration /awkward story

The narration was great, but the writing was off in a couple ways.

First, the dialogs were forced and kept going on about "don't you get it?" many times the author felt the need to tell readers the same thing over and over.

Secondly, the sudden flip [spoilers] of gramps' character was strange, and off putting. The needless killing was very over the top, especially when killed in such needlessly gruesome ways.

As a note, not everyone vomits when faced with death.

The narration was enjoyable. I had no issues following which character was which and found the voice very soothing.