Bloodring

By: Faith Hunter

Narrated by: Natalie Gold

Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's Summary

In a near-future world, seraphs and demons fight a never-ending battle. But a new species of mage has arisen. Thorn St. Croix is no ordinary neo-mage. Nearly driven insane by her powers, she has escaped the confines of the Enclaves and now lives among humans. When her ex-husband is kidnapped, Thorn must risk revealing her true identity to save him.

©2008 Faith Hunter (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Bloodring Redux

Earlier this year I wrote a review of Bloodring (Rogue Mage, Book 1) and I was highly critical of the narrator, particularly the pronunciation errors. I pointed out a single annoying example that was repeated throughout the book. Imagine my surprise when I got an email from Audible telling me that they took note of my review and corrected the mispronunciations. As requested, I downloaded the corrected book and listened. True to promise, Audible had corrected the annoying mispronunciation of solder. I found I could overlook the remaining mild errors like Seltic (Celtic) knot.

I thought the narrator was appropriate for the characters, especially the main character, a fairly tough young woman who had overcome hardships. Gold's voice is gritty and jaded just enough to tell this kind of story. Her characters, both male and female, are distinguishable and her style of reading contributes to the overall setting. In all fairness, the story was original and I liked the characters well enough to find out how the story ended. I did go on to finish the Rogue Mage series, rating all the books as 4 of 5. I do recommend this series to anyone who enjoys this genre.

51 of 52 people found this review helpful

A Refreshing Direction

This series by Faith Hunter was thoroughly delightful to me. Not to give too much away but most authors writing about Angels have such a sugar-coated view. Faith has managed to build interesting characters and personalities in these stories whether those personalities are human, or non-human, even within each group. This is a series of books to be read where you don't have to put the book down until you nod off from sleep deprivation and ardent reading...get this book and the two that follow!

25 of 25 people found this review helpful

i think there was a good story trying to get out

i gave up on this after 5 hours. the narrator is SO boring. I just could not get into the story because of her dull, monotonous delivery. very cross, as another wasted credit. Audible. why can you not make samples LONGER?

18 of 18 people found this review helpful

Narrator can't pronounce English!

I have enjoyed the Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter and was anxious to try a new series. The story is a welcome new take on a dystopian theme, more adult than most of the other books I have read on that theme. It reminded me a bit of Sharon Shinn's Samaria Series.

But I was glaringly aware of all of the simple words that the narrator didn't know how to pronounce. It got to the point where I wasn't always sure of the meaning of a word because Natalie Gold was so far off in her pronunciation. This became so off-putting that I found following the story to be difficult.

There is nothing else terribly wrong with the performance. I found her portrayal of the characters neither exceptionally good nor bad, just fairly monotone. I did have trouble distinquishing between the characters, even between men and women.

I saw an older review complaining about the narrators mispronunciation of certain words. That reviewer was thrilled that Audible corrected the repeated mistakes they complained about and found the book much easier to listen to after the corrections. If it used to be worse than it is now, it must have been unlistenable.

Examples of words she couldn't pronouce correctly: lure, enclave, vestigial. She even pronounced rocks like vox a couple of time. Every once in a while I could hear a bit of southern accent - appropriate for a story set in the Appalachians, but I couldn't tell if she was trying to sound southern on purpose or trying not to sound southern and ocassionally slipping.

Sorry, but I think I will get the other books in this series in paper form, so I don't have to listen to Natalie Gold's narration.

14 of 15 people found this review helpful

Faith Hunter??

I started this series because I loved the "Jane Yellowrock books." The writing style is so different here. So many long winded sections of descriptions and meditations. In between this over explained dialogue there are terrific battles and interesting relationships. It just seems to take forever to get somewhere. The narrator cannot do great voices like Margaurite Gavin or others. Men and women sound alike. I bought this series on sale so I am going to finish them but I would not recommend unless you like tons of slow paced ramblings.

13 of 14 people found this review helpful

A bit too romancey

I listened to the entire series, but I just found it a bit too...romancey. Grant it, not a lot of sex, just lots of compulsatory lust. The story elements, on the other hand, were good, and it was entertaining.

11 of 12 people found this review helpful

needs serious editing

Is there anything you would change about this book?

YES! Edit down the blow by blow account of EVERY step, breath, etc. We ALL know how to walk and breath...move on.....

What was most disappointing about Faith Hunter’s story?

meandering...much ado about nothing. So when SOMETHING does happen, I was too numb from boredom and overwrought prose to react or feel anything towards the characters or the convoluted story-line.

Which character – as performed by Natalie Gold – was your favorite?

none. they all blend into overly descriptive non-sense

Was Bloodring worth the listening time?

no

Any additional comments?

for god's sake, there was a decent story there to be told...yet got bogged down by lack of editing

15 of 17 people found this review helpful

Read the book, bad narrator!

Don't bother using your credits on this audiobook the narrator is really bad. Can you say Monotone!

19 of 22 people found this review helpful

Interesting world Faith Hunter has introduced

If you could sum up Bloodring in three words, what would they be?

Imaginative, deep and thought provoking. (I know it is four words but that describes it for me)

What other book might you compare Bloodring to and why?

I don't think I have ever read anything quite like it. Wonderfully different.

What about Natalie Gold’s performance did you like?

The flow of the read. The emotion and how she brings the characters off the page and into my reading experience.

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

Like the book cover says "The Apocalypse Takes Wing"

Any additional comments?

If you have yet to experience the worlds Faith Hunter has introduced us too, what are you waiting for? Download this book, buy the print or download the ebook and jump right in. I think you will be glad you did. OH...and read her other works too!!

7 of 8 people found this review helpful

I Just Don't Get It

I have very much enjoyed both the Jane Yellowrock and Solewood series by author Faith Hunter..and was quite surprised that this series didn't snap with me.

For some reason, I've yet, after 2 novels, to get involved with the protagonist. I don't feel her fears, her hopes and her needs.

Her world is weird to me..dunno why.

Those who like Soulwood or Jane, be aware that this is VERY different. Not that different is bad..it's just really different!

I listened to this first book and half way thru the second last winter. I'll give it another try while working in the garden, when I just want something other than music murmering in my ears..it that doesn't work, it will go back!

Too bad..but others do love it..just a different opinion here.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

A simpering and ineffectual heroine

Faith Hunter has written the Jane Yellowrock series, which is a fantastic and exciting set of stories with a strong female lead and I find it hard to reconcile the fact that the Rogue Mage series was written by the same author.

Quite frankly I found the rogue mage to be simpering and mewling, I'd find it very tough to be around someone who was so constantly depressed. If it's not moaning about the latest injury she's had in a fight it's about how "her man done her wrong" or being alienated from her own people or her "inappropriate" attraction to certain beings and while its okay to allow some complaining it gets old and you feel like shouting, "lady, just get it together already". If you knew Yellowrock you know you'd betray her at your own peril, she's come back for your proverbials, whereas the mage just gets constantly trodden on in the most annoying way.

Ineffectual. Despite being a mage that can call upon the power of angles for goodness sake, you always get the feeling that she's constantly on the verge of screwing something up, making a bad decision or getting herself killed. For me this doesn't add tension, it just gets more and more annoying.

Imagine putting a team of warriors together to storm an evil supernat strong-hold. Jane Yellowrock would be leading and a team member comes up to her and says "does 'she' have to come with us?", Yellowrock would be like "Nah, she'll only screw something up. Tell to stay home and do NOTHING, the last thing we want is getting back and finding that the food's gone bad 'cause she's been communing with bad spirits." The team laughs and mage shuffles off crying to her room, falls asleep and is woken up by the raucous celebration of Yellowrock's butt-kicking victory.

On this post-apocalyptic earth, I didn't feel as if there was enough scenic description and character development. Some parts of it read like the a bad acid trip colliding with revelations in the bible, but since I've never taken acid I may just say odd and confusing but not in an entertaining way.

I have listened to all three books in this series and they read pretty much the same. If you want to read an entertaining Faith Hunter series pick up Yellowrock, it's well worth it.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Absorbing and a good listen

I have to say, I struggled to precis this book, now finished a couple of weeks ago! That said, it caught my interest immediately, and I looked forward to my next installment (I listen at the gym) to the extent that I was annoyed when I had to miss my usual alternate day gym session, as it meant I'd have to wait to find out what happened next.

So... what's it about? The story is set on Earth, in modern day, but a somewhat different modern day to now. Most of the Earth's population were wiped out a hundred years or so before the book begins, in the apocalypse. Earth is now in a mini ice age, there are Seraphs (angel like. maybe heavenly beings, complete with wings), demons (subterranean nasties that have a taste for human flesh), humans, and a few mixes between the supernaturals and each other, or supernaturals and humans. Our heroine, Thorn St Croix, is a neomage, a race despised and feared by most of humanity for deeds done during the apocalypse, and lusted after (if I remember rightly) by the Seraphs (for sex), and by demons (for their super-tasty blood). Humanity, which seems to have reverted to religious orthodoxy and rigidity, hates and fears neomages with an intensity that mirrors the inquisition.

Thorn escaped from the Enclave 10 years earlier, when her powers developed in a way that was driving her insane. The Enclave is a place where others of her kind have to live - being out and about without registration is absolutely forbidden. As Thorn is unregistered, and thereby very, very illegal, she lives disguised as a human and channels her gifts as a stone mage into making jewellery.

When her ex is kidnapped and the authorities get suspicious Thorn tries to find out why he was taken, by who, and to where, all without exposing herself. On the way, she finds support, friends, and attracts far more attention than is good for her.

This is well read, with the various characters well narrated and differentiated.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Great story and a really good narrator

A really good read and quite a bit different to the usual fantasy magic sword storylines. The heroine has a complex and interesting background which you always want to learn more about. The other characters are also well fleshed out and fun.

I strongly recommend this book and the other audible books by Faith Hunter - I rapidly listened to the Rogue Mage books and then moved on to her Jane Yellowrock books. I almost bought the third one of those in hardback, because I really wanted to know what happened next, BUT audible got it up so quickly I didn't have to!

I've also enjoyed other books read by Natalie Gold, so I recommend looking through those as well. A good narrator makes a real difference. A good book usualy shines through, though a bad narrator can detract (rarely had that problem with audible books though), on the other hand a good storyteller can make a great book even better!

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

stunning

absolutely unable to stop listening good good good good good good good good good good good very good good good

Really disappointing

After being really addicted to the Faith Hunter Jane Yellowrock series I was really excited to see how Faith Hunter would explore the Mage powers and the different world. I found the setting really confusing, taking ages to see how the different new species fit together. The story is very slow going and it felt like nothing really happened until the last 4 chapters. The whole story builds to her rescuing her ex husband, which at the end we don't even see that happen as a sereph just sweeps in and saves the day. Totally confused with the whole "amethyst ship" thing that saves the day at the end of the book. Thought the narrator made the character a bit dull and struggled to stay awake listening to her. The constant "Mage heat" and the need to want to shag any bloke around was also really irritating and I found totally detracted from the heroines strong qualities and battle/spell casting abilities. After loving the characters and falling so easily into the world of Jane Yellow rock I'm left really disappointed by this first book in the Mage Series.

Stuck with it and got sucked in!!

I struggled with the beginning of this book but stuck with it as I have really enjoyed Faith Hunters writing with the Jane Yellowrock series. Even her writing seems totally different with this book, but once I got into the swing of things I really enjoyed the book and will be purchasing part 2. Faith Hunter paints a vivid and real picture of the world as it is in this book and i can't wait to find out what happens to the heroine in the next one. Well done Faith!!

1 of 2 people found this review helpful