Matilda Seer

By: M.D. Allen

Narrated by: Damian John

Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

2020 Eric Hoffer Award recipient: Fantasy category honorable mention and short list finalist.

Rachel woke up on her 16th birthday dreading the day ahead. Little did she know that after being pulled into a mysterious mirror by an unknown force, she would emerge in a new realm and soon become Matilda Seer.

Every year on December 12th, 12 16-year old foster kids, all with the same birthday, are chosen to enter through "The Entrance" that leads to the Inner Realm. For the past 16 years, none have materialized - until now. To the shock of the Watchers only seven come through. Once there, new names appear on the teens' foreheads, revealing unique abilities. For the first time two of the teens receive a second name, share identical birthmarks, speak telepathically, and are inexplicably drawn to each other. Rachel becomes Matilda Seer, the only known seer alive. The Watchers leave the Chosen, seeking out answers. But when a vision reveals to Matilda that they’ve been captured, the group leaves the safety of Quarry Cottage to rescue them. The Chosen must quickly learn to master their new powers in order to overcome terrifying creatures, such as the Nightlings. Then there’s the Nameless, and the murderous Lord Rafe....

©2019 M.D. Allen (P)2019 M.D. Allen

Magical Adventure!

This was my first M.D. Allen's book. Matilda Seer is the first book in the Series, a great YA fantasy adventure. The story is well written, complex, but easy to follow. The storyline flow at a great pace. The characters are wonderful and intriguing. The world building is magical, and at some point, it reminded me a little of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Damian John did a great job with the narration. Looking forward to listen to the next book in the Series. I was given a free review copy of the audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Fun Middle Grade/YA book

First I want to thank Pixarati for providing me with a review copy of this audiobook. I really enjoyed this book. One of the key indicators to me on how much I liked a book is how long did I take to read it. This 10 hours long and I finished it in about a day and a half, meaning I really didn't want to put it down, and kept listening even when I should have been doing other work. It follows a time tested formula:
Young people are thrown into an unfamiliar, magical world,
Adults warn them not to do something
Adults leave the kids alone
The kids do the thing
Their lives are now in great peril
They use their new found power to survive.

This formula has been done well and poorly in many books. This is one that does it very well. Beautiful worldbuilding. So much of it sounds crazy and absurd, but it just fits for this book. It has believable characters. I love how these teens are told how things work, and then they proceed to forget what they were told and try to treat the world and others like they were still living in the real world, just like real teens would do. I am looking forward to books 2 and 3 of the series coming out on Audible. I would highly recommend this book.

A bold and interesting read

This was a bold and exciting book. I really enjoyed the writing, as it was well paced and the flow felt nice and continuous. I thought the characters were well thought out and descriptive. I enjoyed the premise of the story, and thought that the plot was exciting. I also thought the narration was great and really added to the story.

Unique Teen/YA Fantasy

I love YA/teen fantasy and this book fit the bill nicely! This book is very unique and the story flows at a great pace. The author did an outstanding job creating a new world with interesting characters and one adventure after another. There are a lot of characters to keep up with but they were well developed and kept the story fun.

Narration was well done and bought the story to life. I got sucked into this story and found it hard to put down.

The author had such creativity while writing this book. There is a lot of detail that makes it easy to visualize what is going on and we can create a clear picture in our minds.

It will be fun getting more in-depth development of the characters as the series progresses. Some are a bit annoying but they stayed true to their personalities and behavior. There is a lot of twists and turns and one adventure after another. I’m looking forward to book 2.

“I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review”

Good listen

I was up all night listening to this, once I started I couldn't stop.

Damian John's performance is really good. my problem was the pauses in the recording.

I received a free copy of this audible at my request. All comments in my review are strictly my own and given without obligation.

Appropriate for preteens

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This is the first book i have read/listened to by this author and I look forward to the next book. I enjoyed the different characters and their abilities and the way they developed. This book is uncomplicated, a bit predictable and entertaining.

This is the first book I have listened to by this narrator ( Damian John ) and I would definitely listen to another. He does well with the various voices and accents. His style leads more to reading than performing, and is clear so speeding up the listen is easily done. I did find I speed it up a bit more than usual.

There are no explicit sex scenes, excessive violence or swearing. Perfect book for young teens.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Please feel free to comment on whether you found my review helpful.

YA fantasy

Just a little too much Y in the YA genre for me. The story simply happened, kind of a sped up overworked version of Harry Potter. The main protagonist was just not likable and the story was very predictable. I may just be too old, but I did not enjoy this book.

“I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.”