The Blight of Muirwood

Legends of Muirwood, Book 2

By: Jeff Wheeler

Narrated by: Kate Rudd

Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Rising from her humble beginnings as a lost orphan, Lia is summoned to be Muirwood Abbey’s protector and special guardian for Ellowyn Demont, the lost heir of the fallen kingdom of Pry-Ree. After the death of the ruthless king at the battle of Winterrowd, the great Aldermaston and Abbey leader calls on Lia to use her mystical talents to save Muirwood from two new threats—a vengeful queen accusing the Abbey of her husband’s death and a deadly plague threatening to destroy the land.

Amidst the turmoil, a battle ensues, and soon Lia learns the world’s magic has begun to falter. As a blanket of dread envelops the Abbey, hopes are tested, and Lia will be forced to come to terms with a secret that will change her life forever.

©2013 Jeff Wheeler (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Totally ADDICTED

Since the first line of The Wretched of Muirwood I have been hooked. loosing sleep and avoiding calls so the story isn't interrupted

Weak heroine

A good story frustrated by a weak heroine. Story ever giving long expositions of her emotional reactions and thoughts. She cries constantly, and pathetically pines for a man who treats her like a dishrag. Same basic story could have been made much better if she had a little more toughness in dealing with emotional issues. As it is, you just want to throttle her and yell, "Show a little backbone, will ya?"

the fun continues in a fast moving fantasy

Narration is very well performed,with great voice variation between players. Keeps a good story moving with excitement that is not over played.

I shouldn't like this, but I do.

First the bad(ish):
- There is a lot of teenage angst throughout the book. Constant worry about everything. Do I love him, does he love me, is she prettier than me, am I good enough, etc. I normally find angsty characters to be annoying, but somehow, the constant second guessing doesn't take away from the story and may even add to it.
- A lot of self reflection. Many books I've read where the MC is on a journey of self reflection over EVERY LITTLE THING becomes annoying and whiny. Somehow, Mr. Wheeler added the self reflection in a way that wasn't overdone and worked with the story. It may be because the MC and others actually learned from their mistakes and made better decisions instead of doing the same stupid thing over and over again.

The good:
- Well written with a well conceived storyline. The story was consistent, interesting, and it drew me in.
- Very good narration. The narrator/sound company was smooth without any obvious flubs in the story.
- I found myself interested in the characters. I felt bad when bad things happened to them. I felt good when good things happened to them. They were interesting and relatable'ish.

Just like book 1, I would have never purchased this from the title or description, but just like book 1, I was sucked into the story and enjoyed it. This was a good listen.

Wholesome scifi fantasy!

Jeff Wheeler proves that you do not have to resort to foul language, explicit sex scenes, and occultic rituals to weave a great fantasy. I would put this on the same level as the J.R.R Tolkien's
books. What a great find! I have read several of his series and plan on reading them all so far they have disappointed!

Love it

I'm an over the road truck and listen to audio books to keep me rolling. I drove 8 straight hours while listening to this book! I love the narrator, she brings the story to life... I've listened to this entire series and now I'm listening to "The covenant of Muirwood" series..

Fabulous!!!

So rich and deeply interwoven with symbolism and meaning. I very much appreciated the author's depth of knowledge and education into historic and legendary stories and texts so that he could draw from them inspiration and also make direct connections with their ideas and traditions. Great story, wonderfully told!!!

So Boring

Performance: The reader is horrible. Her voice never fluctuates when reading non-dialog, which makes listening to her very difficult. She pauses at weird times.

Story: It never seemed to get going. I enjoyed the first book, so had high hopes for this one. Nope. The main character never seems to be driving the plot. Instead, she is drug along by events. She comes across as very wimpy.

I could not listen to more than about 1/4 of this book. I tried, but it was just that bad.

Lia is my hero

I really enjoyed Lia’s journey and the story moved along at a brisk pace, Jeff wheeler doesn’t disappoint me ever.

Great book

Love the characters and the work building. One of my favorite authors. Excited to listen to the next one in the series.