At the Sign of the Crow and Moon

By: Mitchell Hogan

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 3 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's Summary

A fast-paced fantasy prequel in the world of the Sorcery Ascendant Sequence, whose gripping conclusion, A Shattered Empire, released September 13th, 2016.

Ten years before A Crucible of Souls...

In the bustling capital city of the Mahruse Empire, Felicienne Shyrise spends her days as a talented investigator, taking on stolen goods and missing person cases and the occasional murder the city guard are too incompetent - or too lazy - to resolve.

During the nights she hones her skills playing Dominion, a board game almost as complicated as life itself. She dreams of making a name for herself and becoming the richest woman in the Empire.

But when she's roped into a murky investigation by a First Adjudicator to the immortal Emperor himself, her life is thrown into disarray. Will this be the perfect opportunity to showcase her skills and make valuable connections, or will her future now be in the hands of political powers that can never be denied?

Working against her will, and afraid of the consequences of refusing the commission, she uncovers evidence that points to an attempt on the Emperor's life. Felicienne rapidly finds herself a target and must use her considerable wits to uncover the plot of an unseen enemy who always seems to be one step ahead of the game.

©2016 Mitchell Hogan (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Worth It

This is a good prequel to an enjoyable series.

Oliver Wyman's performance is as amazing as usual! Wyman always elevates every book he performs with his limitless talent.

2 people found this helpful

A little too obvious

While I liked the world in which the story took place, I could not help but find the plot a little slow and its development to be a little to obvious. The main revelation in the story was not a surprise and the mystery was not much of a mystery since it was clear who was the antagonist since about the middle of the book.
I'm still going to give the rest of the series a try, but overall I must admit to being a little disappointed with this one.

1 person found this helpful

an interesting story

it was a good introduction to the series, I liked that it was entertaining and deep in some manners, it was pretty cool actually.

the story was pretty well done, a little politic warfare here, death, intrigue and interesting heroes and heroines all well packed in a fantasy action based world.

1 person found this helpful

Very short but good

Would you listen to At the Sign of the Crow and Moon again? Why?

Probably not due to I do not listen to books more than once

What was one of the most memorable moments of At the Sign of the Crow and Moon?

Felicienne Shyrise spends her days as a talented investigator

Which character – as performed by Oliver Wyman – was your favorite?

Felicienne

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

The Earth shatters

2 people found this helpful

Did Not Disappoint!

The narrator did a great job. The world building was great and now I have a dozen questions. The story was amazing and gave me so much more than I expected from a prequel.
I definitely recommend this book. And now I'm off to listen to book 1...!

Great Insight into A Side Character's Background

Lady Felicienne is one of my favorite character from the series, so it was great to hear more about her. I just finished the series and I'm glad I listened to this one too. It's a great story even on it's own.

Lady Felicienne's origin story

In the main trilogy of the Sorcery Ascendant Sequence, Lady Felicienne is one of the "point of view" characters that plays a key role in determining the outcome of the story. This prequel novella gives you some insight into how she acquired her role in service to the Emperor. Lady Felicienne started as a private investigator in the capital city of the Mahruse Empire and her knack for the game Dominion starts to get her noticed. Dominion is a board game that is played across the empire using a board with 3 tiered levels and a wide variety of pieces, making it very complex and strategic. The annual tournament in the capital is so popular that the Emperor himself meets the winner and this event is the backdrop for this novella.

It is an interesting tale that gives you a glimpse into the bigger world and the events take place 10 years prior to the first book in the series, A Crucible of Souls. Lady Felicienne uses her skill in Dominion to win enough money to fund her lifestyle as a investigator, which sometimes doesn't provide steady income, and these two worlds will overlap as her most recent case turns out to be far more dangerous than she initially anticipated. Dangerous not only because of the criminals that she is investigating but also because this case has put her in the sights of the Emperor's secret intelligence agency. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Lady Felicienne will need to decide which side is worse and find a way to come out alive as these two opposing forces have her trapped in the middle.

I listened to this novella prior to the series itself and for me it was ok but not great. I think it is better experienced after the main series and already knowing Lady Felicienne, which would make this insight into her origin a little bit more special, and that is what I would recommend. This is narrated by Oliver Wyman, who narrates the main trilogy as well, and he does an excellent job on all of it.

1 person found this helpful

Nice intro of Felicienne to the series

Any additional comments?

I had actually hoped to read more of Felicienne, as I'd read Crucible of Souls when I found this. I was glad this was a novella, since the plot was not complex, a bit boring sometimes (which is why only 2 stars), but just enough to introduce us to this character as well as give a little more detail about this world.

Oliver Wyman did a really good job with the voices. Sometimes when the two women were speaking, I couldn't tell which one it was, but mostly, the voices for all ages were well done.

I like the character and wish the series were about her rather than the young man in Crucible of Souls.

Fantastic novella full of rich detail

Listening, I was transported to another world. Expert pacing/delivery by the narrator. Being a prequel, I now intend to buy the other books in this series, so intrigued am I by the story.

Good book and looking forward to the others.

This was a good book and I'm glad I read it first. Now I'll start the rest of the series and I hope it will give me a better understanding of the other books. Good read

Felicienne Revealed

At the time of writing this is free so I was certainly never going to have any complaints about it. It is actually an interesting piece of character background for one of the main characters in the series and for that reason alone is interesting. Consistency with the main storyline is reasonable though somehow at this time she is considerably more talented at Dominion to suit the plot.

In itself it's also a decent short story with the same narrator so if you are enjoying the Sorcery Ascendant series and would like a little more of Felicienne then this should do the trick.

It's a real bonus of the modern reading platforms that it is now so much easier for writers to publish such "extras" so bravo to Mitchell Hogan and of course Audible for making this one happen.

4 people found this helpful

A great little story, works as a standalone

Considering this is a prequel to a series, it genuinely can be read as a standalone (I've never read the Sorcery Ascendant series, though I plan to soon). The cast of characters were fantastic, and I'm looking forward to possibly revisiting them in the rest of the series. The world was well developed considering the length of the story, and makes me curious to see how it's built upon in the rest of the series.

The narration let me down a little as with most of the characters being female, and the narrator being male, they all seemed to wind up sounding the same which made some conversations difficult to follow.