Cursed

By: Christopher G. Nuttall

Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert

Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's Summary

King Randor has been defeated. Queen Alassa has taken her throne. The Kingdom of Zangaria can look forward to a new age of peace and prosperity. But their victory came at a terrible price. A moment before his death, King Randor hit Emily with a powerful curse.

She's lost her magic. She's losing her mind. She may soon lose her life.

As rumors start to spread, as her enemies start to gather, Emily searches desperately for the key to unlock the curse before it is too late. But the only hope seems to rest with House Fellini, an enigmatic family of magicians. Crippled, powerless, helpless, Emily places her life in their hands. If they can't help her, no one can.

But House Fellini has its secrets. As the family struggles to undo the curse before it's too late, Emily is drawn into a decades-old mystery that threatens to destroy the family, shatter her life...and smash the entire world beyond all hope of repair.

©2019 Christopher G. Nuttall (P)2019 Podium Publishing

Another great book

I love how this story has so much depth and has so much more to tell! Really excited for the next book! I know it just came out but I don’t know if I can wait for the audio! Keep me coming!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Love, Love, Love this Series

A downtrodden girls from earth winds up in a magical world. She discovered she too has magic there and that is where the story starts…

This series is so well written I can’t help but listen to it over and over again.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Another Great SIM Book

Good mystery story. Answers questions presented several book before. I really liked it.

I hope the series continues long into the future. It is the most intelligent fantasy series I have ever read.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Not the best book of the series.

Probably the worst. Clearly Emily is depressed in this book. It is just depressingly depressing. To paraphrase a movie. "this book went full depressed, full emo, never go full depressed, full emo"

Audible's rating is:
1 Star is "not for me"
2 Stars "it is okay"
3 Stars "pretty good"
4 Stars "it's great"
5 Stars "I love it"

How I see the stars.
A one star book could be a very dry topic, story,crude or someone preaching down to the reader. I generally don't have 1 star books. I will just return them and go my own way. My last 3 were from the same series, I had hit a very dry spot in my listening.

A 2 star story, would be something that was phoned in by a writer that typically has done much better work. I have a couple of reviews from authors that just seemed to phone it in, one most recently from an author that decided to mix current politics into his novel. If I wanted that, I would just watch the news.

A 3 star review is where I really start. It means I enjoyed the book. That I did not have a hard time following it (I have lost alot of my conversational hearing). That the story kept to a plot, the characters were not static, and the world built was plausable.

A 4 star review is something that I really enjoyed. It puts the author on my map to keep an eye out for. I go through 12-15 books a month. (audible is my primary source of entertainment. ) I will search for the author's works regularly, and seek out their stories for future purchases.

A 5 star review, These are not as rare as one would think. These are the books where the characters grow, learn, act according to their nature. Where the world is not only plausible but believable. Where there are economic systems, businesses, rules of law that make sense. Where the story is woven is progressed and told with caring and dedication. These are books, series, authors and narrators that bring it all in a package.

So, when reading my reviews, if anyone does, that is how I judge the books.

Perfectly engaging; excellent change of pace

I am pleased as can be with the turn of events in this book. We are away from war, with mighty problems to struggled through, but this book does a wonderful job of focusing on interpersonal relationships, very much building some new ones of great interest. I love how Emily gets involved with the House Fellini, the details of the mansion, the involvement of Freda and Caleb--well done! Every character from past books that made their way into this one--all were brought in by the author with very good reason, nothing gratuitous. One of the best installments in this excellent series.

Crap

Nuttall isn’t interested in telling a story about magic, he only wants to tell the story of Emily the doormat getting abused by everyone she meet. Crap book from a crap author

Incredibly boring.

Huge fan of Nuttall's writing and stories, but this book is the worst by a fair margin. I have re-read this series multiple times, however I will never read this one again. I disliked it so much I seriously considered making this my second returned book of hundreds of audiobooks. Only the fact Nuttal is an author I appreciated, has kept me from returning this half way through.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

ok sets up story for later and raps up other parts

i thought the main story was too predictable. up until the part where the main character sees thing out of the corner of her eye I was doing good. i understand other parts were set the way they were to enable the story progression but it was just not my cup of tea.the book is needed for the main story and the ending gets me back to what I was expecting of the writer. also unrelated to this book but as a whole, i feel the main character running away from her fuledal lands is the wrong direction. i feel that setting up a trade route from her land and the new school will be a great addition to the story opening new avenues. that and why has there not been more use of runes to make a thing for sale. like using runes to keep streets clean, or setting refrigerators powered by frost runes other things that would spur on a middle class. and why has there not been more use of runes to make hot running water in an older building, this is where the barony I feel comes in. set up companies that have premade runes in pipes that push water in one direction and retor fit older buildings this would be an export item.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Good entry

The only complaints I have is that this story got a little dragged down and for my own reasons the disparity and depression and complaints about it got a little old. Emily is a very strong and capable lady but seems to forget this a lot. maybe strong women and men alike feel like her in her head I don't know, maybe hearing her thoughts makes me feel like she is less of a kick butt, and more of a petulant child. If I look inwardly I often am filled with doubt and regret so.... perhaps I am reflecting on my own failings. Save for that I have almost made a drinking game over how often she "sighs inwardly" I really wish the author would change up the speeding on occasion.... or perhaps it's just part of the character... that said I don't know if I have ever sighed in my mind, though I have groaned. anyway the books good and it was nice to see it was a problem not easily solved. I am looking forward to the next book and while I have it already I will wait for the audio release.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Fans of Emily will feel wrongness.

To the fans of Emily, I think you will like this story, but feel a little abused by the end.

This was one of the hardest audio books to get through of this series.

So Emily is cursed and no longer can use her powers. I can believe curses can have insidious and unexpected side effects. But at no point is there an indication that this curse was capable of wiping out 6 years of training. 3 years of martial magic training. Where you're taught to fight with your body and your power. And that power is not everything. Yet some how we're lead to believe that Emily feels totally powerless because she can not use the power within her. Tsk

Mr Nuttall does a great disservice to anyone who's a fan of Emily, and a fan of good writing in general. I've lived through the moments when Emily "conveniently" misplaces past experience and skill to help provide a complication in a story or to show she's not all powerful, and that she may at times be fallible. But this book, at times makes her a cringing mouse. Of which I take offense.

Spoiler alert: Emily gets knocked out several times in this story.

I may be a little off on the numbers but I'm fairly sure, in nearly every book Emily is incapacitated at least 3 times. This practice is useful, but if my math is right, 51 times or there about, Emily has been transitioned from able, skilled and powerful to inert for the sake of transitioning to a new scene. The majority of which happens at the end of an epic combat.

It's not all bad though. I do like Mr Nuttall's attention to detail, his world building is very very good. My appreciation of this tricky craft is what got me through this book. I will read more of this story as it develops, because I very much like the nameless world and I like Emily and her friends.

Mr Nuttll, I've read many of your magical fictions, I can depend on a great deal of commonality with the lead character. Zero Enigma, Book Worm and of course this series. All have an Emily in them. And that's ok, as I said I like Emily. You've been very prolific writing these stories and I do not wish you to stop.

But if you can, please, when you write, take some mercy on those who like Emily and know what she's been through and what she is capable of.

Tavia Gilbert is a fabulous narrator for this story. Her character changes are consistent and enjoyable. It's an awesome skill that seems to fit the characters in this entire yarn very well. I thank you for doing these, the story would not be the same without you.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Underwhelmed me

Instead of writing lots of things in one book the series tends now to focus on fewer things a reiterating them over and over. Also the telling is stereotypical.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful