Magic's Pawn

Valdemar: The Last Herald Mage, Book 1

By: Mercedes Lackey

Narrated by: Gregory St. John

Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins

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!

©1991 Mercedes R. Lackey (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

I found it again

Would you consider the audio edition of Magic's Pawn to be better than the print version?

Some what

Who was your favorite character and why?

The two main characters

Which scene was your favorite?

When thanyell got pulled from the river.

Yes I can't spell

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

Any additional comments?

This is a great book and well narrated but several of the names were mispronounced I know this because I heard the original which I have and I have heard several of the songs with the character names in it. Minus the mispronunciation its as good as the original.

If you wont the originals email me.
[e-mail]

This story grips you from beginning to end.

I have read it many times. It is my favorite of Ms. Lackey's works. I like it because it captures the true angst of teen emotion and coming of age but makes it exotic in a wonderfully unique world with captivating magic. The second and third books of the series continue Vanyel's adventures as an adult; but in my opinion this first book outshines them and is most satisfying in if itself.

Don't overlook this older gem!

Would you consider the audio edition of Magic's Pawn to be better than the print version?

Well, no, but it's great to have an audio version finally.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Vanyel, because he's such a human, flawed hero and his journey is epic.

What about Gregory St. John’s performance did you like?

He did a great job making all the characters' voices distinct.

Any additional comments?

Great gay role model for teens!

Great book performance odd

Thrown off by odd pronounciations. First time hearing it, but have read it loads of times.

Love Valdemar.

I love Valdemar. My main criticism of all the aidio books is that the narrators don't research the previous works so that pronunciatons stay the same. It is very irritating that names and words specific to this series change from book to book

A Tragedy Steeped in Magic

This was a tragic read! I enjoyed Van, but seeing him struggle so much in this book was painful. It felt like the lad could never seem to catch a break and had maybe two chapters of bliss before everything fell apart. He has all the magical power he could ever want but, obtaining it cost him everything.

(As a side note: the narrator for this book was excellent! There were quite a few scenes where characters lashed out at one another and he did such a great job at that! Along with voicing all the emotional bits of the books too! The scenes that stand out the most were Van's mother ripping his father a new one & his aunt giving Van's father a piece of her mind! Van's dad was a piece of shit so it was highly enjoyable watching these women tear him to pieces!)

Misty’s awesome story - okay narration

I love the story of Vanyel, and of Valdemar, but this narrator drives me nuts. The pronunciations and pacing are off and there are weird breaks in the way he reads. One example of the pronunciation being off - it would be nice if there was a consistent way he pronounced “Ashkevron” the main character’s last name. For the pacing, the way he reads sometimes comes across that he either never read the story before he sat down to narrate it or had to stop the recording mid sentence to swap up pages. But overall it was good just some very odd phrasing, using the wrong words, and the off-at-times pronunciation. It wouldn’t be so bad if the odd pronunciation was consistent but he at one point uses two versions of Ashkevron in the same sentence.

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.)

Another childhood favorite ruined by narrator

I love the Valdemar books, in particular, this series. It was my introduction to the Mercedes Lackey. I have the paperback (that has been replaced numerous times due to rereading damage) the Kindle version and thought why not get the Audible version too since I have started getting those as well for other books in the series such as Take a Thief and Arrow's Flight. I have only listened to about 30 mins of it and I am so disappointed. The narrator is rushing through the book except for when the characters are speaking. His pacing and unneeded emphasis on words is horrible. He has turned the book into something that sounds like a bad horror novel. Why oh why didn't they get a narrator that has done some of the other books in the Valdemar series like Paul Woodson, Kevin T. Collins or Nick Podehl? Any of those guys would have done this book justice, by preference I would have picked Paul Woodson though. I can not recommend this audiobook at all. I would rather like to the audio cassette recording from 1989 that I still have of this book. The audio quality may be bad but at least the narration is worth listening to.

Great book decent audio

Absolutely amazing book. Just wish the reader took time to pause or read slower to make the dramatic scenes better. Especially in the first chapter. I'm just glad they made an audiobook of my favorite book I read as a young teen! This book has lots of emotion, struggle, pain, a touch of romance, and magic.