What the Lady's Maid Knew

Riftmagic Saga Series, Book 1

By: E. E. Holmes

Narrated by: Mary Sarah

Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

London is a powder keg...and Eliza Braxton is the match.

Imagine a London where magic is real...real, but feared. This is Eliza Braxton's London, and she has always accepted her place in it gladly. As one of the Riftborn, her magic has relegated her to the servant class, where she dutifully serves as the lady's maid in one of the most powerful households in the country. There, she uses her remarkable powers of persuasion to keep Elder Hallewell's rebellious daughter in the path to an arranged match of power and prosperity. Eliza has never questioned her loyalty...until now.

Currents of discontent are roiling beneath the city's surface, and Eliza's comfortable existence is about to be caught up in the tide. A resistance is building, a resistance that covets Eliza's talents above all else. But can Eliza betray everything she's ever known for things she never dared to dream?

©2020 E. E. Holmes (P)2021 Tantor

Didn’t like the narrator. Strange way of speaking.

I liked the story, but not the way the narrator speaks. I will be listening to the next book though.

Good story

Lots of suspense and intrigue. Well written and expressed characters that are relatable and believable.

A Good Story

This story is good. I like the build-up of the main character and the supporting characters as well. And its one of those stories where you want to see how the conflict develops and grows. The only problem is that the narrator is sooo BORING. The slow drawl with each word the high to very low cadence she takes every single sentence will put you to sleep. it takes considerable effort not to fall asleep, so much so that you're excited when she stops narrating and starts voicing the characters themselves. It's the only time any type of emotion is actually heard or felt. If you can manage not to fall in a trance of tranquility, then you will enjoy the story.

Sloooowly it goes

The narrator has a delicate proper voice that doesn’t quite fit all the range needed to move the story along. It is an excellent voice for jessamine or a fine lady, but as a narrator it seems overly prim and cold.

Story then felt like it moved too slowly; I tried reading the book at the same time as listening and it was painful to wait for each page to be narrated so I could turn the physical page too.

VERY SLOW START…

This story starts slow, mostly background setup. It doesn’t get to the heart of the story till nearly 3/4 done, but that’s when it picks up on the guts of the story. I have changed the speed of the read which has helped me not to snooze thru the chapters.

I bet it isn’t the narrator’s fault

This narrator is clearly a professional and I am sure she is not solely responsible for the horribly distracting reading. I dont know why the lisps were added. It was so painful to listen to. I think the story is good. If I continue with this story I won’t get the audio books. What I want to know is who is responsible for the horrible decision to present this story so badly. Who suggested it be read with such a slow and breathy voice? Thank goodness I am finished with this.

Dreadful narrator

It’s a very rare thing that I find myself returning what seems to be a good book because the narration is atrocious. But this one takes the cake. An incredibly affected, stylized reading with accents all over the British empire. And none of them quite right. Such a shock from Tantur audio which is usually so outstanding in it’s productions. It looks like I’ll take a break from audiobooks and read this on my Kindle.

Narrator is bad, but story is okay

I put it on 1.2 speed and that made it bearable…but whoever had the idea to add “th”to the end of every word that ends in d or t, that was a terrible idea! And she read it SO slow. It was very distracting. I stuck it out and the story is pretty good. Your typical class revolution with a little magic. I would have appreciated a little more background on what the rift is, why they are called riftborn and how they got their magic. The background was a little lacking.

Amazing

Love, love loved this book!! Magical, well written and I hated to see it end. Ready for the next!

Push through with the narrator, it's woth it

I really enjoyed this story and am about to start the next one. The narrator is difficult, but the story is worth the effort. She gets better, or you adjust further into the book.