Magic Time

Angelfire

By: Marc Scott Zicree

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall, Anne Marie Lee, Robertson Dean, Ned Schmidtke

Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

The world has changed forever. Across America, technology has been eclipsed by magic, and people are changing into the embodiments of their darkest desires and deepest fears. In this new time, former lawyer Cal Griffin has united a small group of outcasts to battle the chaos.

Searching for the source of the unholy phenomenon, and to save Cal's sister, Tina, these unlikely heroes make their way cross country, led by the visions of a lunatic and the fragile song of a blind man. Hidden within ancient burial mounds, a secret paradise may offer the chance of hope, if they can find Tina. But first they must make their way to Chicago to battle a primal monster, and the darkness within themselves.

©2002 Paper Route Inc. (P)2004 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"A terrific story featuring powerful, strong characters¿" (Booklist)

Interesting universe!

This is an interesting universe that the authors have created. I didn't know that it was the second in series. You really don't have to read the first one to understand it. The story have 4 very different main characters who are definitely a team (I guess the first book describes how they came together), a seemingly impossible quest with a long journey thorough a very changed world. I like the character development and the adventures that they encounter along the way.

I dislike the change of point of view that occurs virtually every chapter. I feel that this gives an artifical and disjointed story. To me, this is a poor writing technique: why is it necessary to change point of view with every chapter? However, the authors do state who is telling the story with each chapter; and, the reader does such an excellent job of distinctive accents that it does work very well in this audio book.

I am disappointed that Audible doesn't have the first book. I guess I will have to find a copy at the bookstore...

Valeron

This was an excellent audio book. The script was well written and the narration was excellent. The story is very catching (about 15 hours worth, I finished it in under three days)and doesn't let you stop listening. Only downfall is that it is the SECOND story in the trilogy. Hopefully audible.com will obtain the first and final books. I am very much looking forward to hearing them.

Quite enjoyable, but...

This book was very interesting in the concept for the story. The only problem with it was that it is actually the middle book in a trilogy (which is not made clear anywhere) so the story seems to start in the middle of something, and doesn't come to a solid conclusion since the story continues beyond this book. Plus there are references to things that happened in the first book all through this one, and it made me wonder what had happened in the first book that I had missed. I would recomend getting ahold of the first book before listening to this one.

Enjoyable fantasy

Although this is the second book of a trilogy I had no problem picking up the plot. Having four different readers for the four different narrators is nice, and they all have very professional, clear delivery and the voices are well matched to the characters.
As they travel on horseback across an America where technology no longer works and people have been 'tweaked' into resembling their inner natures we're in familiar fantasy territory. absorbing but not challenging it's great for listening on a commute where you might miss few words here and there through traffic noise.

fun but

Some time it got boring “get on with it already” kind of thing. I had to get away from it. But all in all It was good would make a good movie of the week.

Fun, fun, fun!

I couldn't put it down. Fast paced, exciting and very imaginative. Sad to see there isn't more books with these characters.

Disappointing Sequel

I got this after liking the first "Magic Time" book, but I haven't been able to finish it.
The narrators are intrusively melodramatic, and every situation is just a little bit too cliched, too Holywood, to allow me to suspend disbelief.

Mixed feelings

Although the storyline was interesting and had a couple of good twists, this was definitely not a "feel-good" book.

I'm not sure if I like the various jumps between characters viewpoints. I sometimes had to pause and think "Ok, who is speaking right now?"

I'll admit that I haven't listened to the last volume of the trilogy yet, but the second book left me a bit disappointed.

Bad of Mixed Reviews

I like the concept of this book (and the first one (book)). However, the writers seem to write themselves into corners and have to come up with clever ways to get out of them (Oh look, I have a new power that just saved us). A few things are in the book that I just can't see why they are there. I actually thought this was going to be the last book of the series but found out, about half way through, that it was going to go on and on and on. It did have well written dialog and the action scenes where very good.

If you like good readers this book has them. Now if we could just get them something good to read.

Second book in a series!

The description of this book fails to mention that it is the second in a series. The first book is not currently available on Audible...