Bloodring

Rogue Mage, Book 1

By: Faith Hunter

Narrated by: Natalie Gold

Length: 12 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

In a near-future world, seraphs and demons fight a never-ending battle. But a new species of mage has arisen. Thorn St. Croix is no ordinary neo-mage. Nearly driven insane by her powers, she has escaped the confines of the Enclaves and now lives among humans. When her ex-husband is kidnapped, Thorn must risk revealing her true identity to save him.

©2008 Faith Hunter (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

A bit slow

It is a good story, but it takes a long time for the story to pick up. I'm a fan of Faith Hunter's Jane Yellowrock series and I was a bit disappointed with this one. It gets better at the end, but I could have just stopped reading half way through.

Hard to tell

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Not even close. The narration as noted in some other reviews is dull, monotonous, all voices sound the same, and the inability to pronounce multiple middle school vocabulary words is annoying. I have all three books, and right now, they will not all get listened through.

Would you be willing to try another book from Faith Hunter? Why or why not?

At this point, it would be a very careful checks. If Natalie Gold is narrating, definitely not. Someone else, then I would give it a shot most likely.

How could the performance have been better?

That there was a performance instead of a dull reading. As others have stated, I cannot even remember what happened 2-3 chapters later. Rewinding does not help. More like a lecture from college, the best bet is to go read the book.

Any additional comments?

If you want to have your mind wander anywhere EXCEPT into the story, then this is the book for you. I really wanted another good series after the Jane Yellowrock books, and this might be one, but getting over the pedantic performance is just not possible for me.

A bit too romancey

I listened to the entire series, but I just found it a bit too...romancey. Grant it, not a lot of sex, just lots of compulsatory lust. The story elements, on the other hand, were good, and it was entertaining.

could have been better

This book has a very unique plot and I will try the next book in the series, even though I found the reader to be a bit monotinous and jerky in her reading style. Even though this book was the first in a new series, I felt a bit like I was reading a book in the middle of a series and had missed out on some of the back story.

Mesmerizing

Would you listen to Bloodring again? Why?

Yes, there is so much detail and thought behind each of the sentences, I am sure each time I listen I will understand and hear more.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Bloodring?

It all is. Great story.

Have you listened to any of Natalie Gold’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, I have not but plan to listen to Natalie Gold's other perfomances soon.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Perfect fantasy to get lost in.

Wonderful Book Poorly Narrated.

I'm a big fan of Faith Hunter and her other works including this one. I have all her books in the two series that most know her by and though I've only listened to this first book in this series it's shaping up to be just as great as her others. I'm guessing that this book must be one of her early works because I thoroughly enjoy the narration of the others. Unfortunately this one was distracting due to the constant mispronunciation of words that a typical kid should be able to pronounce properly by the time they start high school. Otherwise she has a good voice and does an average to a slightly above average job of narrating this original and attention grabbing tale from an author who continues to put out great books. I still intend to get and listen to the remaining books in the series and I fully recommend this one to anyone who is interested. I just think it's a shame that a great story is somewhat tarnished by sub par narration.

Partial story., not concluded

This is a "fun" story in war l would consider a novella. Not a fan...

a little confusing

The was great, at times it was a little confusing, especially during the fighting scenes.

Bloodring Redux

Earlier this year I wrote a review of Bloodring (Rogue Mage, Book 1) and I was highly critical of the narrator, particularly the pronunciation errors. I pointed out a single annoying example that was repeated throughout the book. Imagine my surprise when I got an email from Audible telling me that they took note of my review and corrected the mispronunciations. As requested, I downloaded the corrected book and listened. True to promise, Audible had corrected the annoying mispronunciation of solder. I found I could overlook the remaining mild errors like Seltic (Celtic) knot.

I thought the narrator was appropriate for the characters, especially the main character, a fairly tough young woman who had overcome hardships. Gold's voice is gritty and jaded just enough to tell this kind of story. Her characters, both male and female, are distinguishable and her style of reading contributes to the overall setting. In all fairness, the story was original and I liked the characters well enough to find out how the story ended. I did go on to finish the Rogue Mage series, rating all the books as 4 of 5. I do recommend this series to anyone who enjoys this genre.

A Refreshing Direction

This series by Faith Hunter was thoroughly delightful to me. Not to give too much away but most authors writing about Angels have such a sugar-coated view. Faith has managed to build interesting characters and personalities in these stories whether those personalities are human, or non-human, even within each group. This is a series of books to be read where you don't have to put the book down until you nod off from sleep deprivation and ardent reading...get this book and the two that follow!