Magical Creatures Academy 1: Night Shifter

By: Lucia Ashta

Narrated by: Kate Marcin

Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's Summary

Rina Nelle Mont has never been a part of the paranormal world. Until now.
Well, maybe not. The Magical Creatures Academy only accepts supernaturals, and she’s been invited to the school, but she has none of the powers she’s supposed to. Blip. Nada. Not even a spark.
 

The school hasn’t made a mistake in a century, but she might be the first one. That’s just the kind of thing that would happen to her. Especially since no one has any idea what kind of creature she’ll be...assuming her powers ever decide to make an appearance.
 

The Academy is the leading institution for paranormal creatures in the world. Its students are the finest of shifters, vampires, and fae.
 

Speaking of fine fae...Leander Verion, prince of the elves, is off limits. Not only is he arrogant, stubborn, and totally not her style, he’s her brother’s best friend. She will not fall for him. No way. Besides, he’s not interested...is he?
 

When two men who head the Shifter Alliance, a rebel faction of shapeshifters who seek to escape the control of the Enforcers - the supernatural police force - find out about Rina and her potential for a different kind of magic, they hunt her. For them, the stakes are as personal as they get.
 

Whether she’s ready or not, Rina is about to find out what she’s made of....

©2019 Lucia Ashta (P)2019 Lucia Ashta

A good concept, but lackluster launch

First let me say, the overall idea and world are really good, and I enjoyed what little there was in this book. The fact I wanted more should tell you how compelling the story is. However, the book suffers from two major flaws.

First, The book is incredibly short given how detailed the author is. Once the main character gets to "the academy" the story only has 3hrs left in it. The main drama takes place in the first week or so of being there then we jump to the end of the "semester" and the book ends.

It felt like more of a short story than a full length book. why not do some more world building and character development and give us a story over the entire semester. I honestly felt a little cheated...

Second, the entire story is launched when the main character turns 18 at 3:03am except that none of the surrounding story support her being 18. It feels like she was suppose to be 15 or maybe 16. For example, she talks about going back to school at her normal high school with her friends, Shouldn't she be talking about graduating?

At every turn I felt like an editor decided she should be older and and change the lines referring to her age. The people accepted to this magical creature academy are supposed to be there for 9 semesters, which would sound a lot more like college if _any_ of them actually behaved liked they were 18 and not 15. I just couldn't shake the feeling that the original concept didn't have this set around an 18yr old.

Overall, it is a fun book, Given how short the book is, if the author is releasing these quickly, then it will be a fun series, if we are only getting a long short story every 6mths or a year this one will quickly fall off my radar.

magical creatures Academy

This book is just amazing. It is funny, engaging and I just loved it. The narrator does an amazing job with the different characters.

Very good book

As a lot of action in the series love it i would highly recommend it

Wow

I felt like I was a part of every scene. This is my first book by Lucia Ashta and I loved how when she writes it feels like you are experiencing everything as well. There was some slow burn, mystery, and lots of action. The world built around the characters is really neat and interesting. All the characters have great personalities and are easy to like. The narrator is also new to me and I thought she did a great job bringing the story to life before me. I enjoyed listening to her and she did a good job on distinctive voices. I can hardly wait to listen to what happens next! Lucia Ashta has a new fan.

That was rough...

Narrator did the best with what she was given but, I’m afraid it just wasn’t enough. Lucia Ashta just missed the mark on this one. The protagonist lacks gumption when it matters. At the age of 18 she seems to have the emotional intelligence of a 15 year old girl. The male characters are likewise lacking strength and focus. Couldn’t get past the 9th chapter. I’m afraid it was just not bold enough for the genre...

Shifters meet Harry Potter

This was a fun book! I really enjoyed it! It was kind of like shifters meet Harry Potter, really fun and addictive! I can’t wait untilbook 2 comes out in audible!

Magical Creatures

Rina starts out hopeful she will be some sort of magical creature and get to join her older brother at school but then figures she is human until someone shows up to invite her to the same school her brother attends. It was fun having a main character who knows almost as little of this magical world as we do since the readers get to discover the same wonders for the first time as Rina does. I love the trolls and their description. Rina has to figure out what sort of supernatural creature she is and how to access her abilities. I loved getting to meet the characters especially a certain prince. I can't wait to see what happens next since Rina is now in a lot of danger.

love the book and narrator

Can't wait for the next book to be turned into an audible story. I love the narrator don't change her she makes the book come alive with her wonderful voice. The book was so good when it ended I was looking for the next one like a crazy person. I want more! <3

Good read

Wish it was longer. Enjoyed reading the book and listening to the audio very much. I am looking forward to book two.

Great narration

Loved the narration in this book. Well developed storyline and characters. Gripping plot to keep me interested.

kept me interested.

Great book easy listening intriguing,kept me listening. Now off to download next book.
Good narration.

Amazing

This book is amazing. It follows rina a new student at the magical creatures academy that doesn’t no what she is but with her new friends, her brother and his best friends and the staff at the academy everyone is determined to help her as well as help with the shifter alliance a dangerous group of shifters that want to change the magical world. Rina must learn to become who she’s meant to be

Great book

I loved this series and can't wait to read/hear the rest. I had never heard of this author before until she was suggested in a group I was part of n turns out she's amazing. Love the books so far. Keep them coming please x

Just brilliant.

I have already bought the next book!
Never read any of Lucia Ashta’s books but from what I’ve read in this she’s an exciting and brilliant author that creates a world you can envisage happily joining in with.

Fabulous listen.

I thoroughly enjoyed this introduction to the Menagerie shifter academy. Well written, with a perfect dose of humour, suspense and magic. This was a great relatively short listen.
The narration by Kate Marcin really brought the story to life and is a great compliment to Lucia Asta's writing.