Storm Glass

By: Maria V. Snyder

Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck

Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

As a glassmaker and a magician-in-training, Opal Cowen understands trial by fire. Now it's time to test her mettle. Someone has sabotaged the Stormdancer clan's glass orbs, killing their most powerful magicians. The Stormdancers--particularly the mysterious and mercurial Kade--require Opal's unique talents to prevent it happening again.

But when the mission goes awry, Opal must tap in to a new kind of magic as stunningly potent as it is frightening. And the further she delves into the intrigue behind the glass and magic, the more distorted things appear.

With lives hanging in the balance - including her own - Opal must control powers she hadn't known she possessed...powers that might lead to disaster beyond anything she's ever known.

©2009 Maria V. Snyder (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Good yet disappointing

3 1/2 star. Usually a writer improves with each novel. Ms. Snyder appears to be doing the opposite. Her first book, the award winning Poison Study is superb and the best of all she's written. The other two Study books are entertaining and tie things together. Now Ms Snyder focuses on a character from the first series. The heroine is called a one trick magician and for now, it seems to be somewhat fitting in comparison to the multi-dimensional skills of her first heroine. There are far too many characters in this new series and is confusing for the thread seems to stop and another starts. It is to be hoped that future books weave threads together and provide a hero as in Poison Study. I had additional difficulty with the narrator. Usually quite good, she does not measure up in this book. I guess I was spoiled by Poison Study ... be sure to ready that series first.

The Narrator is completely wrong for this book

What other book might you compare Storm Glass to and why?

This book takes place in the same world as the Study series, I suggest you listen to those books first and then READ this book series because the narrator will ruin it for you.

What didn’t you like about Jennifer Van Dyck’s performance?

Jennifer Van Dyck is the absolute wrong narrator for this book, she makes the main character (who is 20) sound like a 40+ year old. The mispronunciations compared to The Study series are atrocious and distract from the story. I'm sure she is a fine narrator but she was the wrong choice for this book/series.

Was Storm Glass worth the listening time?

Absolutely not! Read this book don't listen!

Storm glass

The book is interesting as are all of Maria's novels. But it the narrator that is making this painful to listen to. The voices she does for the characters don't fit them at all, her narration is awful!! I don't think she even understands the story she's reading... And it's ruining the story.

Awesome story. Enjoyed the book.

Awesome story line base odd the Poison Study series. Love the telling of how Opal magical powers grew before she lost them .

Narrator is a trainwreck

The story is excellent Snyder delivers an interesting and different tale, that not only expands on some of the more interesting side characters but reveals a great deal about how varied and subtle magic in this world can be. Only flaw in the story telling is the only real flaw with the Snyder's writing as a whole. She's not particularly good at writing realistic political maneuvering. So the diplomatic scenes feel a bit forced and kinda phony, aside from that the this book and the entire series is top notch fantasy.

Now the narrator... If you're being paid to narrate professionally and don't know how a word is pronounced, look it up!!!! Don't just guess and run with it. She mispronounces fairly common words and mangles a bunch of the proper nouns. It's even so much worse because she's following Gabra Zackman who is one of the very best narrators. Van Dyck's lazy performance sadly, hurts the overall quality of these books. Fortunately Zackman returns to the series after Sea Glass.

it was a messed up file

there was opening credits in the middle of chapter 16. which was weird. I deleted and re-downloaded and it was still there. side note the narrator was way too old to play a 20yo

Pronunciation Problems

If you're going to have a different narrator for a series set in the same universe, at least coordinate the word pronunciations!! I had trouble, coming from the Study books, figuring out what a few things were when pronounced--I have never actually seen the words written since I listened to the Study books as well, so it was very distracting. And the way that the narrator mispronounces "sai," the Okinawan weapon, as "say". If there is going to be a mispronounciation, it shouldn't be with a "real" word. Also, there seems to be a section missing--suddenly Opal's dreams take a major part in the story, but I don't remember hearing about them until what seems like the middle of a plot thread. It is right between the 2nd and 3rd sections of Part 2--it seems to jump and be disconnected. I am not sure if this is a book editing problem or an audiobook problem. The story is interesting enough to keep me going, though :-) Good light fantasy/mystery/romance.

Changing narrators was a serious mistake

Would you try another book from Maria V. Snyder and/or Jennifer Van Dyck?

Maria V. Snyder is one of my favorite authors, but Jennifer Van Dyck was completely wrong for this series, especially after Gabra Zackman's performance in the Poison series. So disappointed that I won't complete my audio set after Storm Glass.

Would you be willing to try another one of Jennifer Van Dyck’s performances?

No.

Did Storm Glass inspire you to do anything?

Go back to reading my paperback copies.

Any additional comments?

I wish an author would stick to one narrator, especially when the 2 series are set in the same world and use the same characters. It messes with your head to hear beloved characters changed so much - not just in voice, but personality too!

Not bad

I didn't love this as much as the Study series... but that doesn't necessarily mean it was bad. I think I enjoyed being in Yelena'shead so much, that it was weird shifting to Opal.
She was very different, which was good, as she's a different character, and bad, since I'm used to the world from Yelena's perspective.
As for the narrator, I agree that her voice didn't fit Opal, but she wasn't a bad reader. I wish that the pronunciation of words and names were consistent with Gabra Zackman's (hope I'm remembering her name correctly), but it didn't have a problem with the different voices for old characters. We're in Opal's head now, she hears/interprets things differently.
Overall, it was a good story, though not as compelling as Yelena. But it has potential.

Interesting listen, but not as good as Yelena's adventures

I had looked forward to Opal's story after listening to the first three episodes of Yelena's adventures. While I enjoyed this first book, it didn't hold the captivation for me the other series does. I still plan to buy the next book, though. I think I had just gotten used to Gabra Zachman's performance & this new narrator kind of threw me with her different pronunciations of some of the words. As I said - I still plan to listen to the series, so I do like it very much.