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Magic's Pawn
- Valdemar: The Last Herald Mage, Book 1
- Narrated by: Gregory St. John
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
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Publisher's summary
In Magic's Pawn, an ancient age in the history of Valdemar comes to life - an age when the kingdom was ravaged by the ungoverned fury of bandit warlords, ferocious ice dragons, and the wild magic of wizards. A new addition to Lackey's Valdemar kingdom - and her most powerful series to date!
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Luck in the Shadows
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- By: Lynn Flewelling
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Spy, rogue, thief, and noble, Seregil of Rhiminee is many things, none of them predictable. And when he offers to take on Alec as his apprentice, things may never be the same for either of them. Soon Alec is traveling roads he never knew existed, toward a war he never suspected was brewing. Before long he and Seregil are embroiled in a sinister plot that runs deeper than either can imagine and that may cost them far more than their lives if they fail. But fortune is as unpredictable as Alec's new mentor.
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Fantastic Series! Homophobes, shut up!
- By Ted on 09-23-11
By: Lynn Flewelling
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The Mirror of Her Dreams
- Volume I of Mordant's Need
- By: Stephen R. Donaldson
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 28 hrs and 27 mins
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The daughter of rich but neglectful parents, Terisa Morgan lives alone in a New York City apartment, a young woman who has grown to doubt her own existence. Surrounded by the flat reassurance of mirrors, she leads an unfulfilled life - until the night a strange man named Geraden comes crashing through one of her mirrors, on a quest to find a champion to save his kingdom of Mordant from a pervasive evil that threatens the land.
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Thank Heavens, It's Finally Over!
- By Benjamin on 07-12-12
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The Queen of the Tearling
- A Novel
- By: Erika Johansen
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Magic, adventure, mystery, and romance combine in this epic debut in which a young princess must reclaim her dead mother’s throne, learn to be a ruler - and defeat the Red Queen, a powerful and malevolent sorceress determined to destroy her. On her 19th birthday, Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, raised in exile, sets out on a perilous journey back to the castle of her birth to ascend her rightful throne. Plain and serious, a girl who loves books and learning, Kelsea bears little resemblance to her mother, the vain and frivolous Queen Elyssa.
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Volume changed a lot
- By Nik on 12-20-14
By: Erika Johansen
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Crimson Bound
- By: Rosamund Hodge
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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When Rachelle was 15, she was good - apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was also reckless - straying from the forest path in search of a way to free her world from the threat of eternal darkness. After an illicit meeting goes dreadfully wrong, Rachelle is forced to make a terrible choice that binds her to the very evil she had hoped to defeat.
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Interesting and boring
- By Jessica on 11-03-16
By: Rosamund Hodge
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The Eighth Born
- Book 1 of the Pankaran Chronicles
- By: C.S. Night
- Narrated by: Erik Sandvold
- Length: 19 hrs and 22 mins
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The young magic-wielder known as Rhyen Hyldhem, newly graduated from the great Academy in Ikha, knows of the story of Taida - but such events occurred millennia ago. As war brews, however, Rhyen will learn more about his powers and the identity of the fearsome Dark Rider who has stalked him since childhood. Rhyen is about to discover the past isn't dead - and that his destiny is intricately tied to Taida's betrayal of humanity.
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Meh
- By Ivan Martin on 05-07-16
By: C.S. Night
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Daughters of the Storm
- By: Kim Wilkins
- Narrated by: Lucy Price-Lewis
- Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins
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Lying in a magic-induced coma, the King of Thyrsland is on the brink of death: if his enemies knew, chaos would reign. In fear for his life and his kingdom, his five daughters set out on a perilous journey to try to save him, their only hope an aunt they have yet to meet, a shadowy practitioner of undermagic who lives on the wild northern borders. No one can stand before the fierce tattooed soldier and eldest daughter, Bluebell, an army commander who is rumoured to be unkillable....
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Boring, could not even get through half…
- By Diana M Meredith on 10-30-23
By: Kim Wilkins
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Rhapsody
- Child of Blood
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Rhapsody is a woman, a singer of some talent who is swept up into events of world-shattering import. On the run from an old romantic interest who won't take no for an answer, Rhapsody literally bumps into a couple of shady characters: half breeds who come to her rescue in the nick of time. Only the rescue turns into an abduction, and Rhapsody soon finds herself dragged along on an epic voyage--one that spans centuries and ranges across a wonder-filled fantasy world.
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Good story! Terrible narration.
- By CharmY2K on 04-30-15
By: Elizabeth Haydon
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The Affiliate
- By: K.A. Linde
- Narrated by: Erin Mallon
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
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On the day of her Presenting, in front of the entire Byern Court, 17-year-old Cyrene Strohm's lifelong plans come to fruition when she's chosen for one of the most prestigious positions in her homeland - an Affiliate to the Queen. Or so she thinks. When Cyrene receives a mysterious letter and an unreadable book, she finds nothing is as it seems.
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Not a fan of Narrator
- By Priscilla on 05-25-17
By: K.A. Linde
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Wondrous Strange
- By: Lesley Livingston
- Narrated by: Lesley Livingston
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
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For 17-year-old actress Kelley Winslow, faeries are just something from childhood stories. Then she meets Sonny Flannery, whose steel-gray eyes mask an equally steely determination to protect her. Sonny guards the Samhain Gate, which connects the mortal realm with the Faerie's enchanted, dangerous Otherworld. Usually kept shut by order of icy King Auberon, the Gate stands open but once a year.
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"I do love thee"
- By Jayleen Martinez on 10-18-16
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Magic Casement
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- By: Dave Duncan
- Narrated by: Mil Nicholson
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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.
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One of my favorite Fantasy Series
- By Sean Dustman on 10-12-12
By: Dave Duncan
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The Bone Doll's Twin
- Tamir Triad, Book 1
- By: Lynn Flewelling
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- Length: 16 hrs and 36 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
As people start to recall the Oracle's prophecy, Erius begins to quietly kill off his female relatives who pose the only threat to his monarchy. Constantly in fear for her life, Princess Ariani the King's sister, gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. But Ariani is married to Lord Rhius, the patron of the powerful wizard Iya, and Iya has sinister plans for the babes.
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Not a bad beginning, but . . .
- By bluestategirl on 12-29-10
By: Lynn Flewelling
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What listeners say about Magic's Pawn
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- J.A.
- 11-21-14
It's not him, it's me
Here is my problem. I love this series. I have read and re-read these books for years and that means that I have formed an opinion of how certain names and words should sound - even if the author might pronounce them differently - so when I hear the narrator say a word that I think should be said differently, I wince. I shouldn't, but I do. So, in a sense, this might be a good version of the book, but my experience with the material has jaded my listening opinion. Sorry.
That being said, I do want to take issue with the way in which the book was read. I had a hard time distinguishing between characters. The narrator has a few different voices, but they are not distinct enough to tell which character is talking. Also, I was taken aback by not being able to tell when the narrator was moving from scene to scene. It all seemed to blend into one great big paragraph instead of sections of story. I didn't enjoy that aspect.
Like I said, it might be my experience with the material, but this reading was only an adequate version of this story. I am happy to have bought it, but it does not rank high of my favorite purchases.
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- Theresa
- 11-26-16
Still Readable, but.....
If you could sum up Magic's Pawn in three words, what would they be?
Overpowering teen angst.
What did you like best about this story?
Since I'm not a fan of excessive teen angst, that eliminates Vanyel. My favorite part of the story on listening after 20+ years was actually Savil.
Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Gregory St. John?
Someone who actually knows how to narrate a story? The narration was dreadful. The pacing was off (someone explain to Mr. St. John about punctuation and what it means), the pronunciations were off (some of them made me want to claw my ears off), there were often instances when I literally said to myself, "WHAT did he just say?" I found myself wondering what the narrator was using as his source for the reading. Was it OCR errors that he was actually reading rather than questioning? An example from the second book, which stopped me dead and threw me out of the story: a character says, "Count your messings!" What? I'm sure it was actually "blessings". That is not the only jarring instance. There are a lot of them. Honestly, Audible, did you not have anyone checking these readings for consistency and proper English? Direction would be good. Post-production editing would be good. Getting the pronunciations from the author would be good. At one point during listening (to one of the other two books), I literally pulled out the hardcopy and read along and was boggled by how... off it all was. This is not the first bad experience I've had with this narrator; so yeesh. No thanks.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It probably did when I was younger, but honestly, I was often rolling my eyes. Maybe I'm just too old to empathize with the teen angst and I was just "Oh, god, get over yourself." too much.
Any additional comments?
I have read these books occasionally since the first time when I was much younger. The story mostly holds up as a fairly decent coming of age tale. But after so long, my tastes changed and I realize in retrospect that the author as a writer does things that annoy the blazes out of me. It might be the supremely poor narration making me react more critically to Lackey's writing, but I don't think so. Still, these books are the only ones of Lackey's I can still tolerate, so there is that.
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- Jim "The Impatient"
- 11-19-13
Chick and Fay Lit
SOMETIMES BEING ALONE IS A HURT WORSE THEN DYING
Yes, I know, your saying, why would I get a book with a cover done in pastel colors, a horse and a tortured boy on it. The cover alone screams chick lit. The answer is: I have read Lackey before and found her not lacking. I liked The Serpents Shadow and was alright with Take a Thief, Brightly Burning and Owlflight. This is a combination of Chick Lit and Gay Lit. Lackey uses the word Fay to mean Gay. This also follows the same pattern she uses in 95% of her books. The story is about a young tortured soul who is an outcast, but finds peace and understanding in a Magic School.
HE GAVE ME THE KEY TO HIMSELF, HE WANTED ME TO HAVE IT.
I have nothing against the Fay, I just don't have much interest in the coming of age of a Fay. The main character is very melodramatic, you know your typical teenager. He does not know he is gay or even that gayness exist until he goes to this school which seems to be full of the fay. I don't like melodrama in real life and really can't stand it in my novels. It may be true to life, just part of life I try to avoid.
THE HIGH TABLE WAS HIGH
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- Caityrosey
- 10-29-13
This narrator is atrocious
What did you like best about Magic's Pawn? What did you like least?
I'm a sucker for Romantic Fantasy.
Who was your favorite character and why?
The teacher, Savil.
What didn’t you like about Gregory St. John’s performance?
The main character starts out as a whiny teenager. A good narrator could take that voice and inject a little humor and irony to make him relate-able. This narrator eschews subtlety and passes up opportunities for pathos and goes right for "whiny drama queen." The whole time. This makes the main character (who's supposed to be the hero) someone you can barely stand to listen to, let alone empathize with.
Others have commented on the bad/odd pronunciations of names. What floors me is that a professional narrator can mispronounce regular old English words. Repeatedly.
This story deserves so much better. I've never been moved to write a review of a performance before, but I was today. I just can't take it any more. I don't know how much of it is bad production and how much of it is bad reading.
Was Magic's Pawn worth the listening time?
I like the story. And I spent the money. So I listened.
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- Holly
- 08-20-13
One of my favorite stories almost ruined.
How could the performance have been better?
This is the book that got me interested in reading novels in the first place so is holds a special place for me. I have worn out several copies of this series so I have a definite "voice" in my head for each character. I understand that no narrator could live up to that, but even so, I was very disappointed.
The first complaint I have is his ever changing pronunciation. Even if it's wrong, stick with it. Second are his accents. Only do an accent if you can do it well, and don't change that accent each time a character speaks. Most good audio books I've listened to, you can immediately tell which character is speaking by the voice change and consistency of that voice. Third and possibly the most disturbing is his cadence and how he holds the vowels out. I have never heard anything like this. I laughed several times during very dramatic scenes because of his pace and how he was saying it.
Mercedes Lackey is an amazing author and I feel that her work deserves better than this. Listen to just about anything narrated by Davina Porter or Roy Dotrice and you'll hear how a good book deserves to be narrated.
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- Kindle Filler Plus
- 02-01-13
Finally Getting To the Classics!
I must admit - I probably have worn out 2 or three paperback versions of this series, as well as the Arrows of the Queen series (of which only book one is currently available for audio.) I remember my introduction to Misty Lackey, at the last convention she attended (Dragoncon 2000 - and therein hangs SEVERAL tales, but) - this is the first series I read where there was a protagonist who makes you cry and makes you laugh, and makes you feel the plight of the outcast so comprehensively that you CAN"T read only the one book - start one and before the week is out - you will be hunting down book 2 and 3 to finish the story off.
Fair warning - Vanyel is gay. Now, having MET Misty and Mark Shepherd (who sometimes co-writes with her) - I've sometimes wondered just how much of Mark is IN Vanyel - but she doesn't make it into a big deal. (She never really does much in the way of romance in her early works, and while the series DOES skew PG - I don't think Misty's ever written an "R" rated sex scene - and if you want X - look elsewhere.)
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- Scarpenter
- 08-27-14
Magic's Pawn: Book 1 of 3
MAGIC'S PAWN BY MERCEDES LACKEY
Vanyel Ashkevron is a 16 year old young man who's father is Lord of Forst Reach in the kingdom of Valdemar, and is expected by his father to take over his estate as Lord Holder when he comes to manhood.
However, Vanyel is far more interested in music than in being Lord Holder or in the "hack and bash" fighting his nemesis, Jervis, tries to force down his throat. He understands neither of those any more than he understands why his father never seems to think he does anything right and seems to believe he lies: though he does not. Eventually the root of his father's "problem" is told in this first book and handled well in all three of this trilogy. I found the treatment Ms. Lackey did of the issues around being gay with a parent who is homophobic (though neither word is used it becomes obvious) to be very accurate and true to life. Those who think it isn't either had awesomely progressive parents or they are not gay and therefore have no understanding of the wounds this inflicts.
Magic's Pawn, the first in three books of the trilogy known as "The Last Herald Mage" is the beginning of a tale that starts with the main character (Vanyel) very young, and ends in the third book in his mid thirties, quite a different man and very mature. It seems that things only go from bad to worse at first, but eventually the story shows what it took to make Vanyel the Legend he eventually becomes.The characters and relationships in Lackey's writing are very well drawn, and while this first book of the trilogy includes seemingly overdone emotions, for a 16 year old confused boy, it's just right. Emotions are always seem to adults to be a bit overdone at 16 years old regardless of gender or sexual preference.
About the narrator: James DeLotel did a FANTASTIC job of narrating all three books of this series for the American Printing House for the blind. However, my copy is old and missing at least 22 pages (broken tape, fixed ultimately but missing the broken part) of the first book is missing. I so badly wanted copies of all three books that were whole.
I am grateful that Audible did this, but I wish that Audible could have some way of checking the narration at the very least, even if they can't afford (or won't pay for) studio time for recording in which both editing and directing could have made a huge difference.
I think that this narrator, Gregory St. John, has at the very least a natural gift for narrating, but even gifts need direction. This narrator for this book has been reviewed MANY times as having anything from an annoying effect on listeners to an UN-listenable effect. I found it merely annoying because I know the story is worth it. No newcomer to these stories can be expected to see that though.
MERCEDES LACKEY has written quite a few fantastic series that many people follow in an age when reading has all but gone out of style. It's not fair to the author or the listeners to have such inconsistent, badly timed and badly pronounced (e.g. "Tamentable" is said in place of "Lamentable" for instance in book two) regular English/American words as well as the inconsistency of pronunciation of names as well as pacing. Speaking of which, the pacing is horrid. No pause, not even one second between obviously different scenes. The reading is so bad, my first listen included many lost sentences going by as I tried to figure out what the narrator had just said. And I had already read the entire series three times in hardback!!!
If too many of Audible's narrators are like this, I fear many people will find other places to get their audio books. I've even thought of doing that myself, which I find a bit disturbing. And all because of bad narration by one narrator. One. And I know, from experience with "The Island" and a few other books from Audible that regardless of the greatness of the writing, the horridly unprofessional narration made it so I could barely stand the too fast reading, very bad "accents" that do not remain consistent within characters, bad pacing, mispronounced words, etc. in any book from Audible. That's not good for keeping me from wandering around looking for other sources of audio books.
It is necessary, I believe, to bother with studio time, recording with editing and some direction.
I put up with it, because it's where I first found a copy of "The Last Herald Mage" trilogy not as old as my worn James DeLotel version. But....I won't be tossing that version, as it's nice to RELAX rather than be constantly irritated and finding myself correcting the narrator such as when St. John says the word "merc" (shortened form for mercenary) as "merse" rather than "merk". Actually, with that mispronounced word, St. John was absolutely consistent! Which only made me more annoyed. After about the fifth time he says "merse rations" I start correcting him ... as though that will make any difference. I'm glad I already loved these books or Audible, frankly, I WOULD NEVER HAVE BOUGHT THE SECOND ONE. In fact, I probably would have asked for money back and rescinded my rights to the first book once I got that money back. That's how annoying it would be had I not already been familiar with and loved the books themselves.
Really, these things could have easily been cleared up with a little direction. It makes your narrators look bad as well as your company. Of course, this is all assuming that Audible has any say and is something more than a place that rents audio books from other places. If Audible does rent from other places, perhaps Audible needs to first read user reviews from the companies they rent from so they can better choose which books Audible wants to present to it's clientele.
Magic's Pawn, Magic's Promise and Magic's Price are awesome books in written form. And if a bad narration, bad or no editing and no direction causes people to turn away from the books themselves, I hope authors check in and insist on their books being done by professionals rather than just well, gifted folks in home studios with no direction and absolutely no editing. I will start warning authors if I see this on the increase. It's a very bad misrepresentation of an author's work when the narration alone turns readers away. How many times do your customers have to tell you this, Audible, before you find a way to seriously address the issue? And if you'd like a dialogue, Audible, contact me, I'd be happy to talk to you about it.
For those who love fantasy and love books by Mercedes Lackey, you can still hear her works here, just allow for some really challenging moments in listening for this series.
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- undrwo
- 01-03-17
not quite what I remembered
Ever read something when you were young, think it was amazing, then come back to it and wonder what you were thinking? That's my relationship with my highschool obsession with Mercedes Lackey. I used to think her works were the most imaginative, romantic, intense things I'd ever read, and I honestly paused Magic's Pawn before I could even finish it.
I don't know if that's because this is one of her early works, but I did not make it all the way through this book. The prose was flowery and purple, the people's inability to communicate for the sake of plot-tension unbelievable in the extreme, and characters who were supposed to be tragic and sympathetic came across as snotty rather than flawed.
If you do like fantasy, or if you have a young person in your life who has just finished Twilight and wants to know what to read next, recommend this author to them- but maybe start with Owlflight or the Black Gryphon or Oathbound. They're perfectly lovely books- just more tween than I had remembered.
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- LAN
- 03-18-13
Great story, disappointing audio
Where does Magic's Pawn rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Mediocre reading with poor production. The narrator missed punctuation and read right through commas, periods, new paragraphs and scene changes. Poor reader or poor production?
Who was your favorite character and why?
Vanyel Ashkevron because we get to see him grow from an abused and difficult teen into a selfless hero.
What aspect of Gregory St. John’s performance would you have changed?
This needed better attention to details like correct pronunciation of character names and places. I wish St. John had been mindful of scene changes by taking a breath and leaving a little empty air space as a clue. I know the book has spaces between scenes for this purpose.I would have liked it better if he hadn't given every woman and teen character a whine.
Any additional comments?
I have waited a long time for an audio production of this series and am disappointed that it wasn't given the attention it deserved. I suggest you read the book first and let the characters become real to you. Mercades Lackey's writing is better than production makes it sound.
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- Greg Wheeler
- 03-22-16
Drinking game idea.
Take a drink of your favorite brand of booze everytime you read the word "Gods".
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