The Awakened Mage

By: Karen Miller

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

Length: 23 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

"The evil foretold has risen...and we are all that stands between it and the end." Asher has come a long way for a fisherman's son. Together with his friend Prince Gar, he has defended their kingdom against its bitterest enemy, but at great cost.

Now, the evil mage Morg is preparing for his most deadly assault. Desperate, trapped in a broken body, Morg has little time and fewer scruples. And he has a plan. As Gar and Asher unwittingly fall into a dangerous deception, Morg gets ever closer to his goal. And this victory would be particularly sweet... for who better to destroy the kingdom than the two who would give anything to save it?

©2007 Karen Miller (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Adventure, magic, friendship, love, and a battle of good versus evil---I can see this tale becoming a classic." (Scifichick.com)

Could Have Been Better

After having enjoyed The Innocent Mage, I expected more than this book delivered. Much of the story line was so predictable that it felt as though I'd already read it by the time I actually got to the parts I already knew were coming. There was also a lot of repetition that could have been done away with by a good editor. Many times I thought my iPod was playing up or the audio book was skipping or hadn't been properly cut together, but it turned out just to be the author repeating the lines again.

Having said that, the last third of the book was a lot better. There were several events that I didn't see coming and one or two quite clever plot devices. It basically saved the book. I also thought Karen Miller did a good job at making her characters realistic. Few of them were wholly good or purely evil, which is more in keeping with truth and reality. It did, however, sometimes make it quite difficult to decide whether a character was likeable or not and left me never quite knowing if I wanted to invest any particular feelings in the characters. Still, it added depth to the book and was well done and I applaud her for it. Do I recommend the book? I don't really know. This is one book where I would make an exception for an abridged version as a lot could have been cut with no ill effects on the story.

Narration: The book is well narrated and I would listen to Kirby Heybourne again.

fabulous!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. the narrator was superb. The story was fabulous. It touched me deeply. i found myself shedding tears as well as exalting in celebration with the characters. I cant wait to explore more of the story as it carries on in the books that follow. A complete delight!

good story

If you made it through the first book then you should enjoy this one. I would even say it is better than the first in the series as the characters have matured and we finally come to our conclusion. My main criticism of this series is it is a bit drawn out and there is a lot of whining and unnecessary conversations through out the books. Terrific narrator by the way. I applaud his performance.

good but needlessly wordy

the story is good. but often the author would roll on and on inside a characters head and their emotions.
most of the time for the main character the trouble is men don't have endless words talking about their feelings. especially not in the round about way done here. we are direct in how we feel and why we feel that way, describing it over and over in different ways shows that the author does not understand this. it made me dislike the main character (if the main character were female it would be ok still boring but ok) because it stole his masculinity and also did nothing for character development or to move the story... I nearly quit many times. and had to skip allot of drivle.

good read

overall good story .the only downside for me was the hero's temper made him sound like a brat . narrator s voice fit the story well . I ll be reading all the mage books by Karen Miller .

If you can get past the protagonist...

The main character is annoying and unlikable, but if you endure his whining and sniping, you'll be rewarded with an engaging, engrossing story.

Worth it!

Narrator energetic, story was great, the climax too short but still good for its length.

Excellent story, excellent narrator

I would highly recommend this book. The narrator really brings out the drama of this story and it is easy to get lost in the story and narration. I loved this book.

The ending Of this really killed it for me.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Well to start, from the begining to the end, its a giant disaster, of things going from bad, to worse, Thing just keep going wrong for characters without respite. However, the way the main characters go about it does make it interesting, And for the most part, as long as you don't mind a story thats just one big,, "poopstorm" For lack of a better word.

What was most disappointing about Karen Miller’s story?

The ending, It was a solid story of series of unfortunate events with characters acting rashly. and others getting more understanding, The most interesting tidbits of the king-maker king-breaker, was the villians opinions of the rest of the characters. But that being said, The ending was awful, the last 20-30 minutes are a gaint fight scene that is unclear, uninteresting, and completely predictable, with "shock factor" thrown in for no other reason than to make it more "tragic" and it killed my somewhat waning interest in the story because "Everything is going wrong because of prophecy" Pro-log was decent enough. i guess

What about Kirby Heyborne’s performance did you like?

He does vioces well, in these two books, and does a good job of patraying people of different groups

Do you think The Awakened Mage needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Its done. i dont think ill read anymore of her books, these books were fine, but ive had my fill, again the ending ruined it for me.

Any additional comments?

Ending bad, journey there, decent, And one character's arc is rather interesting, even if he was just a side characters.

Narration level: epic

The narrator did such a fantastic job of being the various characters. The story was good, but the narrator really made it superb.