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

Publisher's summary

With The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Stephen R. Donaldson changed the face of fantasy fiction forever. In The Mirror of Her Dreams, the astonishing first novel in the two-volume Mordant’s Need series, Donaldson shows us a world of wondrous beauty and seductive illusion, where mirrors hold the deadliest of magics and nothing is what it seems.

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. Terisa is no champion. She wields neither magic nor power. And yet, much to her own surprise, when Geraden begs her to come back with him, she agrees.

Now, in a culture where women are little more than the playthings of powerful men, in a castle honeycombed with secret passages and clever traps, in a kingdom threatened from without and within by enemies able to appear and vanish out of thin air, Terisa must become more than the pale reflection of a person. For the way back to Earth is closed to her. And the enemies of Mordant will stop at nothing to see her dead.

©1986 Stephen R. Donaldson (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Slow start but well worth the Journey

it's a different type of fantasy but has all the growth and character development one could ever want. it was a great listen.

Fabulous

Great story to listen to on the way to work and read. This makes it come alive.

Interesting

Any additional comments?

The story is difficult to get into because it moves along so slowly. I'm still in the first half because I can't listen more than an hour before needing to listen to some other book with more action.

Needs an up beat narrator

Not bad but over all dull and the monotone narrator didn't help. If I was active while listening I could focus on it but just to sit and listen it put me to sleep a few times. I don't see my self picking up the rest of the series.

New life for an old favorite

Read this a bunch of times as a young adult in the late 90s, and recently felt like picking it back up again to see how different it feels as a full on "grown up." I have been working a lot though and so can't devote the time I want to reading. When I saw that this audible existed (I don't know why I never thought to search for it before) I was excited to have a way to listen while driving, cleaning, etc., so that I could still revisit that world. When I checked the narrator's name, I knew I needed to give it a listen, as I have listened to several books read by him before.

Very neat to finally have voices to put to the characters, it made it much more emotional, and really brought it to life. It's also nice to hear some of the names said out loud, as I had been reading and imagining them wrong all this time! Lol

Haven't read the 2nd book...

What did you like best about The Mirror of Her Dreams? What did you like least?

There is nothing I can say that I like about the "best" or the "least". The initial aspect that turned me off of the book was the reader. His over dramatic manner of reading turned me off from the get go. It wasn't until later in the book that he calmed down that I actually really started paying attention. It was then that I started noticing how feeble the main character, Teresa, was. My God woman, grow a spine!!!!! I've had a tough childhood. You develop coping mechanisms and they allow you to maintain yourself. They don't usually turn you into a puddle of nothingness.

If you’ve listened to books by Stephen R. Donaldson before, how does this one compare?

Haven't although I bought the 2nd.

What didn’t you like about Scott Brick’s performance?

He sounded like he was reciting Shakespeare yet he wasn't. This was very prominent at the beginning and thankfully dropped off about midway.

Did The Mirror of Her Dreams inspire you to do anything?

No

Any additional comments?

No

A favorite for decades

I read this book several times in high school and college and in my 20s and I have enjoyed it every time. This time I bought the audiobook thought I’d listen to it again as it’s been quite a long time since I last read it. It is just as good as I remember it being!

I have a love hate relationship with this book.

I have read Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant books in the 1980’s. I like them enough to finish the series. I liked this one better in comparison. I got impatient with Terisa’s idiotic self loathing dialogue, her ease at seduction by Master Aramis was cringe worthy. I didn’t like her. Maybe it was the time of 1980’s Donaldson wrote the book, that the misogynistic attitude went on without consequences.
Then there was the narrator, Scott Brick. I’ve listened to many of his audible performances and I never can get used to his “ William Shatner” like over dramatic delivery. There’s little in between. I wanted to hear the story so I tolerate his raging, shaky voices all waaaay over the top. It masks the authors characters, making the decision for the characters and the listener in setting the tone in his overdramatized style. I’m sticking with this series though, and I’ve bought the second book. I’ll need a break from this narrator for a while.

great listen

Scott Brick did an amazing job, truly enjoyed the book. read this 30 years ago, the audible brought it back to life for me.

wonderful

love this book. could not stop listening to it. going to get next book. excited