The Innocent Mage

By: Karen Miller

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

Length: 20 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

"The Innocent Mage is come, and we stand at the beginning of the end of everything." Being a fisherman like his father isn't a bad life, but it's not the one that Asher wants. Despite his humble roots, Asher has grand dreams. And they call him to Dorana, home of princes, beggars, and the warrior mages who have protected the kingdom for generations. Little does Asher know, however, that his arrival in the city is being closely watched by members of the Circle, people dedicated to preserving an ancient magic. Asher might have come to the city to make his fortune, but he will find his destiny.

©2007 Karen Miller (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A solid epic that posits political intrigue, ethereal prophecies and a rags-to-riches hero against a vivid if familiar fantasy backdrop." ( Publishers Weekly)

Well worth the listen

I purchased and read this years ago in paperback and absolutely adored it. I adored it so much in fact that I purchased it for the kindle w/audio so that I could share it with my husband. I finally got around to listening to it and it didn’t disappoint.

The Innocent Mage follows Asher a lowborn fisherman who makes his way to the big city landing on his feet there with a bit of help. Unbeknownst to him, he is believed to be part of a prophesy and is gently herded in that direction. Asher’s unique personality wins him both friends and enemies. This is the first book in the duology and much of it is set up for the next. However, its such an immersive world, time flies.

Kirby Heyborne narrates this and is wonderful. His timber is very pleasant to listen too and easily understandable. I listen at .85 speed and found it didn’t distort his voice at all. He has individualized voices for the main characters that are easily distinguishable. Overall his performance was very well done and I look forward to hearing him in the next book.

A long prologue

I struggled to finish this book. The performance was great, but the book only felt like it was just beginning right at the end. With the title of the book, you'd expect a high magic fantasy story of an unlikely hero (I thought to be Asher), but that was not the case. Asher has little going on in this book and it confuses me why he was introduced first (there are three major character perspectives throughout the book). There are people plotting against him halfway through, but none of that pans out. Even the main threat (who isn't introduced until the final 4-5 hours of the book) is not interesting enough to push you toward the next book. In the end it just felt like a really really long prologue that may be only somewhat necessary for the next book.

Fun story with a lot of build up

This book is extremely dense with setting up a finale. I feel that the journey is fun but it does a lot of foretelling without results which are meant to be revealed in the second book.
The narrator is generally pretty solid although he has moments where he made some odd pronunciation (ie Magi pronounced May Gee {like in geese})
He puts a lot or emotions into the performance so it makes it quite an entertaining listen.

Karen Miller Delivers!

Excellent story, interesting characters, and a believable world.
Narrator was superb.
I'm going to dive right into the next book!

Nice Story

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, story is very good the characters build up quite well. Narrated very nicely.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Innocent Mage?

The main character's raise to fame.

Have you listened to any of Kirby Heyborne’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not really, but then there were many great parts that kept me listening to more of the story.

Heroic Fantasy well written

This was my first experience with Karen Miller's work. I enjoyed both books in this series very much. This is Fantasy with characters I could understand, a lot of raw emotion, and a rich background story only hinted at. Looking at the other books available, I can see that the history behind the Innocent Mage is out there as well. Miller breaks a couple 'rules' of writing and does it very well. She writes in dialect, and she calls real things by made up names. These rules are meant to be broken, but it takes a good fantasy writer to do it. She succeeds. The narrator of these books handled the dialect very well but does not return to read the series that comes after, and that may be a difficult switch. I was looking for long fantasy novels where I could get involved with the characters and not have my attention wander. Miller gave me that and I will continue to read her novels. The only criticism I have is that she seems to be dancing around a religious allegory and that was a bit distracting. I may be confusing the basic progression of "The Hero's Journey" with religious allegory... something to think about. It may also just be my imagination, and if so, she has touched on an issue in Fantasy I strongly believe in. We have to be able to believe in the character's world before we can believe in them. If it is too alien, we shouldn't just be dropped into the deep end unless we already know how to swim. That doesn't say it very well, but I've read books where I've drowned, and a few brilliant works that I have learned to swim in. I prefer to wade in and swim out to the deep end when I'm comfortable. These are well worth the time to listen to.

Bit long but interesting characters

My dad recommended this book to me about three years ago. Just goes to show you how long my reading list is that I'm just now getting around to it. I enjoyed listening to this one. Yes the plot is (very) slow, but the characters are interesting and well written. With the exception of the villain, Morg, who shows up in the last.. fourth? of the book and he's just such boringly evil for the sake of evil, mustache-curling villain and I can't stand him. But I am interested to see how the prophecy around Asher plays out. There is a cliff hanger - ha, CLIFF hanger, but at the same time I could see the cliff coming from a mile away that I wasn't too shocked by it. I am glad that I have the second book ready and waiting for me.

yea

it exceeded expectations, the book kept me listening for hours and the reading and characterization he put in was FANTASIC. I'm pretty sure I've listened to this book about 3-4 times now. looking forward to listening to the empress next!!

couldn't turn it off.

I wanted to listen to this book constantly. alas, life does not permit one to shirk all responsibilities in order to listen to an audio book.

Ending was not good

Any additional comments?

The story was decent until the final chapters. At that point it seemed the author was in a rush to finish the book. Characters that distrusted and disliked each other, and would not speak, suddenly became friendly. The story continued in this fashion until the end. I was quite turned off and will not complete the series.