Light Mage

By: Laurie Forest

Narrated by: Amy McFadden

Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Journey to the magical world of Erthia in this exciting prequel to The Black Witch by critically acclaimed author Laurie Forest.

Before Elloren Gardner came to possess the White Wand of myth, the Wand was drawn to another bearer: Sagellyn Gaffney.

Sage’s affinity for light magery, a rare skill among Gardnerians, makes her the perfect protector for the one tool that can combat the shadows spreading across Erthia. But in order to keep the Wand safe from the dark forces hunting for it, Sage must abandon everything she once knew and forge a new path for herself...a dangerous course that could lead to either triumph or utter ruin.

©2018 Laurie Forest (P)2018 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited.

Loved it!!!

I don't know what people are referring to regarding the narrators accent. I didn't notice one and thought she did a great job. I agree that you could read this one before The Black Witch to be in accurate timeline order. The Black Witch pretty much picks up where this one leaves off. Glad for the fill in/back story on Sage as well as the white wand itself. Starting the Iron Flower now!

In love with this story

It is impossible to stop listening to this book and the series as a whole. So excited for the rest of the story to come out!

Disappointed

I enjoyed "The Black Witch" so much that I immediately searched for additional books in the series and purchased this one.

Unfortunately, "Light Mage" lacked the richness of detail found in "Black Witch.". Too many shortcuts taken and months skipped.

I suggest that if you are just looking at this series, you might want to listen to this novella first and then go to "The Black Witch."

Narrator neither added to nor detracted from my experience; therefore the average rating.

Get Rebel Mages

This book is amazing, but you want to get Rebel Mages which is both novelas: book 0.5 and this one 1.5, in the Black Witch series. Save your credit and get both in one book!

Left wanting more, but not in a good way

I've listened through the other Black Witch books in the series and the Light Mage was the one I didn't really care for. The overall story does well enough to piece together the gaps about Sage and how/why she becomes important to the main story arch, but her story, the Light Mage, leaves you wanting more of a resolution to her book. Her journey takes you through her progressive character growth and control of her power, which starts to feel as beautifully fleshed as Elloren's in the Black Witch, but the story tapers off towards the end in what should have felt a culmination of experience, but turned into a rather uneventful passing of the torch.

The narrator does a well enough job bringing life to Sage's experiences, but took much too long to get used to. Amy McFadden's voice is comfortable to listen to, and she does a great job of adapting to each character and giving them unique voice, but her accent or intonation can be pretty distracting otherwise.

Light Mage does a good job of bringing development from another character's journey to round out the Black Witch series with lore and experience, but I've come to expect more from the series and this book does not enthrall me like the others.

Laurie Forest does it again!

Laurie Forest has quickly become one of my favorite authors. Her fantastic and imaginative storytelling engrosses you and makes it easy to become emotionally invested in her character’s lives. The narrator did an excellent job and really brought the characters to life. I hope that there will be another book continuing Sage’s story! I highly recommend this book and the entire series.

A Necessary Backstory, Strange Narration

It’s nice to have Sage’s backstory and wonderful to hear another tale of a strong woman bucking the conventions of a repressive culture. I love the first two books so much, Light Mage makes me want to go back and listen to the beginning of The Black Witch to relive where this story leaves off.

However, while the narration is better than Wandfasted (which I had to abandon because the narration was so distracting), the Light Mage talent uses what I find to be very annoying inflections at the end of many sentences. Even the very last sentence in the book ends with an upturn of tone that led me to anything but a sense of conclusion.

My hope is that for future releases they’ll stick with Whelan for Elloren’s story. And if there are more stories through the eyes of other characters, choose voice talent who can deliver the same ease of listening as she does.

Redundant

I don’t dislike this book. I like Sage and while this story isn’t bad she has more potential than what’s in this book. My two main issues are the narrator getting into the habit throughout the book of ending every sentence with the same inflection for long periods, and the prejudice/discrimination theme that seems to be in every single sentence. It stops being a major theme and becomes the only thing happening, reducing the dimension and potential of the story. I’m smart enough to get the conditions of this society without every scene being about that. And I’d like to think the characters are too.

Could not concentrate on story...

I found myself distracted by the tones of the performer rather than the story. It was really annoying to hear every sentence end in almost a questioning tone. Only listened through because I paid for it. If it was free, I would have quit after chapter 1. Story was so so.

Cheap imitation

My daughter and I are huge fans of The Black Witch. However, Light Mage is basically the same story with different names. It it falls flat on it's face. I returned it before getting to chapter 4.

Starts out strong, then takes a wrong turn

This series started off well and I really enjoyed the new take on the witch/mage theme. There is so nice world building and the themes of racism a intolerance are well handled. In fact this may be one of the few books I have read that touches on genocide.

Then I read the latest book in the series... and it was really hard gowing. Really, really hard.

*spoiler alerts*
First, I was really surprised by the complete change of tack - our lead characters are separated for no apparent reason. And then nothing actually happens at all. I mean nothing. Pages and pages and no plot or character development at all.

And oh my god, if she mentions his much she loves wood one more time... It's just strange how often it's mentioned, it's makes me cringe.

But I did finish the book and I'll read the next. Hopefully we will see a return to form.

Slow and my daughter couldn't finish it

The idea of this story seems great -and my daughter started listening with relish ….. but it is slow moving and so much focus on relationships that she wasn't able to get past a handful of chapters.
It's also a shame that the narrator doesn't seem to capture the same essence that Julia Whelan was able to.

Twilight meets Hunger Games in a fairytale land

This is an enjoyable read, heavy on the magic and teen romance whilst being one big, fat allegory for the human condition. Engaging and well narrated.

Brilliant

Really enjoying this series. Haven’t enjoyed a set of books like this for ages! Clever, original, well narrated, by all narrators.