Magic Casement

A Man of His Word, Book 1

By: Dave Duncan

Narrated by: Mil Nicholson

Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Princess Inos lived an idyllic life in her fathers' sleepy, backwater kingdom, and she was best friends with her childhood companion, the stableboy, Rap. But when a prophecy seemed to say Inos should be married, she was exiled to the Impire to learn to be a lady. She was far away when Rap's magical talents began to emerge, and it was he who told her of the fate awaiting them both.

©1990 D.J. Duncan (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Older, but still interesting series

Would you try another book from Dave Duncan and/or Mil Nicholson?

In this series yes, it is a slow starter, but it is interesting slowly learning the unique magic system of the Man of His Word world. The characters are also deaper than our shallow first impressions.

What did you like best about this story?

The magic system, it is different than any other series in how it works and propagates. The second would be the suprise about the motivation for the main villain for book one.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The performance could have been a little better with something to make the different male and female voices more unique, but I still like the narrator I just wish there had been a second male narrator for male characters.

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

Yes because it would be easier to understand some of the images described and it woudl be faster paced.

Last paragraph of the story is missing

What made the experience of listening to Magic Casement the most enjoyable?

I enjoyed the book and I'm looking forward to listening to the second, however - This recording is missing the last paragrah of the story. The way it ended seemed a little off so I checked an online version of the full bood and there is a very important part missing.

Very Enjoyable!

Where does Magic Casement rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This was my first audio book but I can't imagine it could get much better.

An old favorite

Great fantasy at its finest in a unique story. Filled with romance and the growth of two, a lowly stable boy was forced into being a hero and a young princess who must learn what is off real value.

Great Young Adult series - highly recommend!

I read this series years ago and wanted to revisit but didn't have time to read. I'm so glad the whole series is available on Audible!

Brilliant

One of the best fantasy stories I have ever read. World building, character development, dialogue, magic… gosh it just has everything. Dave Duncan is just a phenomenal author.

I tried, I really tried to listen...

The narrator is monotone - there's a section when all I could hear was smacking... I really tried to listen to the whole thing - it put me to sleep 4 times! I made it 7 hours in and I'm giving up. I might get a copy to read but I cannot listen any longer. It's sad when you can't really get an idea of whether a story is interesting because the narration is poorly done.

Back to basic?

What would have made Magic Casement better?

More depth, Dave Duncan makes it so easy for himself because he never cares to explain anything and doesnt really care if it doesnt make sense.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Fine

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Simple, no complicated world or magic system. If you dont care about a well thought of universe and just want a story about princesses and magicians this is it.
Probably good for a younger audience.

One of those, "Took several hours of my life . . .

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I like to read several reviews before getting a book, and many people loved this one. Honestly, some people that enjoy romance novels might like it more. That's not a criticism of the genre or readers, but it is along those lines.

Would you ever listen to anything by Dave Duncan again?

I love Dave Duncan and the Alchemist series is excellent!

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Nothing wrong with the reading at all. I feel there are two kinds of narrators, readers and performers. Mil Nicholson is a reader, and a fine one. All the time listening to this book I kept thinking of books she should read. Wish Audible would redo, "Lord of the Rings." She's be on my list for that.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Magic Casement?

The whole book was filled with unbelievable people and situations. To edit it would be to end up changing the whole book.

Any additional comments?

The book is filled with unbelievable situations and characters. I know that fantasy if filled with Samuel Taylor Coleridge's suspension of disbelief. But there has to be some realism to anchor the story. Characters who walk up to each other and have vocabulary that simply wouldn't appear in the society the book is set in is only one example of the problems with this book.

Supposed to be a classic... it just didn't grab me

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I'm not really sure what it was about this book - it's been recommended to me by several people, but after reading through about half of it, it just dragged on and on without anything of substance ever happening that warranted enough interest for me to keep reading.

I might come back to this one, but there just didn't seem to be an engaging plotline; In several hours of listening, nothing happens besides following an adolescent girl through an exceedingly boring court life, listening to her whine about how boring it is, and then following the plot line of an unremarkable stable boy that was gaining magical powers (although they very well may be the more dull magical powers ever to grace the written page).

What do you think your next listen will be?

Something more modern...

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The narrator was fine, really. No complaints there.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Magic Casement?

The entire first half of the book.

Any additional comments?

Nope. This isn't bad writing, it just wasn't my preference. Perhaps I'm just desensitized by more modern fantasy writing that includes more structure, world building, and conflict.