Minor Mage

By: T. Kingfisher

Narrated by: Christopher Williams

Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Oliver was a very minor mage. His familiar reminded him of this several times a day. He only knew three spells, and one of them was to control his allergy to armadillo dander.

His attempts to summon elementals resulted in nosebleeds, and there is nothing more embarrassing than having your elemental leave the circle to get you a tissue, pat you comfortingly, and then disappear in a puff of magic. The armadillo had about wet himself laughing.

He was a very minor mage. Unfortunately, he was all they had.

©2019 T. Kingfisher (P)2020 Argyll Productions

Very enjoyable

T Kingfisher has done it again with another highly entertaining story. Whether her writing is geared for an adult or YA audience, I've enjoyed it. She has this knack of creating personable characters that you can identify with in a story sprinkled with humor and the supernatural. But what I like most is that her characters are not dumbed down in any way. Regardless of their age, they're smart and savvy and typically out of their element while dealing with a supernatural problem. I absolutely love that and it makes for a very enjoyable and fulfilling adventure.

Minor Mage's main character, Oliver, is twelve and he and his familiar, an armadillo, set out from his drought locked village on a journey to the mountains to find rain. The countryside is not easily traversed and there's danger, intense situations, dire bodily harm and death in it. I believe there was difficulty getting it published, because of all that. It's also very entertaining, with Oliver and the armadillo finding pragmatic, practical solutions to the problems they face.

I always keep an eye out for any new ebooks from T Kingfisher. Reading them is a pleasure and I look forward to their audio release, to see if the narration improved upon the original. It did. Christopher Williams does and excellent job bringing the characters to life. He has a wide range and vivid, distinct voices.

So if your looking for a story that will immerse you into an interesting world and lift your spirits, leaving you happier than when you started, you've found it.

Minor Mage is YA but it is not childish

I’ve enjoyed every one of T Kingfisher’s books. This is YA, yes. But it deals with issues kids face, even though we adults don’t like to admit it. There is snarky humor, and horror, adults screw up, one quite horribly, but there is also real kindness. I’d recommend it to adults as well as kids

A Delightful Listen

After trying to listen to a couple of books that were difficult to get into and not very compelling I was desperate to find an enjoyable listen that was both entertaining and satisfying. Minor Mage hit the spot. The main character is only 12 but he is forced into solving adult problems in a magical world. There is plenty of humor in the story with an amardillo for a wizard’s familiar and one of the few spells the Minor Mage knows is tying shoelaces together. Who knew you could defeat bandits with a shoelace tying spell? This isn’t a deep and dramatic story but since I was in the mood for something light it was exactly what I was looking for. Problems are solved with cleverness and ingenuity- unlikely friendships are formed - and the 12 year old main character spends a lot more time thinking about human behavior and motivation than the adults around him. T. Kingfisher (pseudonym for Ursula Vernon) has written several other books I’ve enjoyed included so I’m going to continue looking for more. Her main characters are resilient and likable and her stories are engaging. Anyone could listen to this book.

Balanced, Cute Story

A nice, well-paced story, with a light hearted approach but touching on some much deeper topics.

Really enjoyed this!

Perfect novella “pallet cleanser” between big series reads. Cute, engaging story loved it more than I expected!

Armadillo steals the show

I thoroughly enjoyed this. It seems that I enjoy T. Kingisher's YA work a lot more than her adult work. The romances in her adult work just don't seem to click with me, but the banter between her characters and the whimsy of the characters is always great, and this is no exception. Armadillo is so funny and completely steals the show. Oliver is mild tempered, but not boring. Trabastian is endearing.

My only complaint about the book is its pacing, which I felt was quite uneven throughout the book. More time was given to the ghoul plotline compared to the main plotline, for example. I think we needed more pages to have a better pacing.

The narrator, Christopher Williams, was fantastic and I need to check out more of his work.

All in all, this book really helped me get through a tough work week.

Another charming magical tale from T. Kingfisher

Another charming magical tale from T. Kingfisher! A young mage is sent on a quest to bring back the rain to his village, despite only knowing three spells, one of which controls his allergy to armadillo dander. Nevertheless, he and his familiar set out to accomplish the impossible, and run into even more trouble along the way.

Clever

This was a short and fun story about a boy on an adventure. The humor was absolutely 5 star clever.

Kingfisher’s world with younger MC

This feels like an Anouket City story and I’m here for all of them. Oliver and the Armadillo are a great addition to a her world. Minor Mage reminded me a lot of the Seventh Bride in tone and magical talent.
I really enjoyed how this story finishes up, but I’d read more about Oliver and Rhea for that matter.

The narrator did a great job and I’m only downgrading because there were strange pauses through the book that I’m guessing are chapter breaks but it’s an bit distracting and takes you out the story a second.

Forgive any misspellings I listened to many of those books so am guessing on spelling.

Charming Tale of a Young Wizard

Oliver is forced/sent on a quest and instead of wishing for more power he must learn to lean on his strengths and compassion.