Hard Magic

Book I of the Grimnoir Chronicles

By: Larry Correia

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Length: 16 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award, Paranormal, 2012

Jake Sullivan is a licensed private eye with a seriously hardboiled attitude. He also possesses raw magical talent and the ability to make objects in his vicinity light as a feather or as heavy as depleted uranium, all with a magical thought. It's no wonder the G-men turn to Jake when they need someone to go after a suspected killer who has been knocking off banks in a magic-enhanced crime spree.

Problems arise when Jake discovers the bad girl behind the robberies is an old friend, and he happens to know her magic is just as powerful as his. And the Feds have plunged Jake into a secret battle between powerful cartels of magic-users - a cartel whose ruthless leaders have decided that Jake is far too dangerous to live.

©2011 Larry Correia (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

great story! and great world building

The narrator did an overall great job portraying the various characters. and I liked the world building that theauthor did.

Who needsfull cast when you have Bronson Pinchot?!

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

Absolutely! Average audio books narrate the story. Great audio books have multiple cast members. Epic audio books have narrators like Bronson Pinchot, people who make you feel the story and see it through their words

What other book might you compare Hard Magic to and why?

I just bought Anubis Gates, one of my favorite books, on audible just because Bronson narrates it.

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

First one but I want more

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Humphrey Bogart meets Dekker meets Gandalf.

Any additional comments?

Buy it now!

Loved All but the Gory Details

This book was a fun, well-written read. The alternate historical reality was brilliant, the characters were interesting, and the villains were evil personified. The magic was intriguing. My only problem with it, was the violence, which was off the charts and the gory details got old by the end of the story. I found myself zoning out during the final battles. One of the evil villains used the f-bomb more than I wanted to hear it, but he was justifiably evil incarnate so I guess it was his nature.

Fun and Different!

This is a great start - hope the rest of the series continues on the same path! Tons of action, fun and just different enough to keep my attention. It moves along and the character development is detailed and interesting. Correia has done it again and Pinchot adds to the story and the characters. Good read!

One of the Best

Simply put, there's a reason this book has such high ratings. I almost don't know where to begin. First, I am picky about narrators, having just a few that I am drawn to. Mr. Pinchot is astounding. There are a ton of characters in this book, and he delivers each in such believable, subtle ways. His pacing is excellent, and you just feel immersed in the book. I now have many of his other books on my to-listen list. He may eventually replace Scott Brick as my favorite.

The story itself is wonderful in so many ways. By the description and cover art, I was expecting a detective noir or something, like a pulp novel. Maybe some gangster motif thrown in, and apparently about magic somehow. I won't bear on what others have stated many times, but the description does not do this book justice at all. It's hard to describe really, but I think it offers something for every book lover. There is science fiction and detective noir, but there is also alternative history and some romance. But wait, there's an element of fantasy too, and steampunk on top of that. I now see why the description is not great, because it's literally impossible to sum it up in a paragraph. Epic would possibly be the word here, in its literal sense.

I should also mention the characters are real. There are maybe a few dozen flat characters, but let's say on the order of twenty or more fully-fleshed round characters that each have their own motivations and history, and you get treated to it all. Now imagine a unique voice for each by Mr. Pinchot and you begin to feel why so many people love this book. Death is not treated lightly, and characters you start to know will get hurt; some will die. This is a book with real stakes, and there is very little deus ex machina to protect them.

I could go on and on, but seriously, it's a good read. I reserve 5 star ratings only for the books I think I'll come back to several times, and this is one of them for sure.

Better than the cover!

I like his Monster Hunter series ... but was hesitant to listen to this series because of the cover. Big mistake - the Grimnoir books are incredibly deep and even better thought out than the MH series! Filled with historical fiction and one of the best narrators I've ever heard - this is one series you can't miss!

Good book

I really liked it characters interesting and plot moved along nicely if you like sci fi it will be a good fit for uou

OMG I loved it!

I was fairly skeptical when I read the reviews by others here exclaiming how great this book was. I had just finished the first Monster Hunter book and was still deciding whether I really liked it or not. After listening to the first chapter of Hard Magic, I was intrigued. The faux-history was a bit weird at first as I was wondering where it all was going to lead but within the first few chapters, I was hooked by the cleverness and plausibility of each of the historical quotes.

I was happy that Hard Magic didn't follow the same formula as Monster Hunters in that although there was a bit of weapon terminology and discussion, it wasn't just for the bravado of the character(s) but rather for fleshing out specific props for the character.

The characters in the story were outstanding. I loved that Correia "bent in" real characters from history such as Pershing, Browning, Tesla, and Roosevelt to name a few. The lead bad guy was a bit "Voldemortian" but Correia still managed to separate him from the cliche boss with some interesting personality traits and a bit more ambivalence than just being "evil" plus an explanation of why he is rightly so more scary than any other magic user other than just being meaner or more psychotic than your run-of-the-mill boss. Quite the opposite it seems. The interaction between the characters was excellent as well whether it be between the Grimoire or the Imperium. Imperium weren't just all bad and Grimoire weren't all just good. There were shades of gray on each side driven by personal agenda just like in the real world. That being said, don't be put off by the Sullivan character being so similar to the Owen character of Monster Hunters, they are only similar in their build and bad-assery but Sullivan could kick Owen's butt any day (IMHO of course).

The magic world and its explanation throughout the story were very well done. Don't worry, if it sounds lame at first, there's a reason and logic to everything and Correia does a marvelous job of leading us through it while feeding us missing details throughout the book right up to the suspenseful ending. The creativity to come up with a design like that and the source of the magic was impressive, all the while keeping the concept of balance and real world physics in play. His inclusion of a magical history was another treat that kind of hints at where the timelines of our reality diverged from his. The many types and styles of magic were also a very cool concept but he left us open to possible "improvements" that each type of magic user could accomplish just by knowing how the system works. Everything is symbiotic so Ignorance in this world, is not bliss.

I was a bit worried about Bronson Pinchot's narration before I started to listen as I was afraid that I would constantly be picturing Balki speaking the parts but thankfully, he brings his acting talent to bear much to my satisfaction. His character voices are unique to themselves, for example, his interpretation of Harkeness' bizarre inflections were as annoying as they were surely supposed to be and his narration of Faye reflected her innocent naivety and growth superbly.

There's so much more that I could say but am afraid to ruin it for new listeners because Correia has designed a new world that leaves much to be explored and details to be discovered. I'm in for the next book and am sure that I'll love it equally. This officially satisfies my "Harry Potter" addiction. It's grittier and geared for adults and that's just fine by me. I just hope Correia keeps putting these out past Book 2.

Great listen

Would you listen to Hard Magic again? Why?

Yes, because there are little things that you miss until you know how things turn out. I'll wait until I finish the trilogy before rereading it.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The loss of Delilah was bitter sweet.

Any additional comments?

This book has a lot of historical references in it that I missed. It really makes me want to read more history.

The story concept is interesting I liked this book

Would you try another book from Larry Correia and/or Bronson Pinchot?

Before I read this book I finished reading the Monster Hunter International Series (or as much as of it that is written) it was great by the way. Back to Grimnoir Chronicals, I purchased this book looking for another series as engaging as MHI.

The story line and character development were good. The book is definitely entertaining, I would recommend it but save your credits and try to purchase it when they have a sale. For me it just wasn't one of those books I couldn't put down.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The most interesting aspect of the story are the "powers" that the characters exhibit, this was something that was new for me.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The narrator was good however the voice he chose for the main character (Sullivan) was a slow witted high sounding drawl that I found annoying. I really liked this character, knew he was intelligent but the voice took away from the character.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I would have to see the previews to see if it went cartoonish or serious.