Minor Mage

De: T. Kingfisher

Narrado por: Christopher Williams

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

Really enjoyed this!

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

Such a Minor Mage

Definitely enjoyed the armadillo’s sarcasm. Minor Mage is a brief novel that tells the story of a truly Minor mage. My family enjoys listening to audio books as we drive. This creative look at the first quest of a very young mage was very entertaining and I hope some day a follup, Not So Minor is released.

Think on your feet

A person's abilities are only as "minor" as they allow themselves to be. An adventure about thinking on your feet, working with your actual abilities, and perseverance. Fun with danger and macabre tones, this is a good book, though a little short. I especially enjoyed the way magic works - a mix of emotions, knowledge, and practice.

Good

Good but more for younger readers. Reader does a good job. Still a good book

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.

Balanced, Cute Story

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

Great story! Awesome armadillo!

Oliver is a minor mage. Indeed, he is a very minor mage, which his familiar reminds him of several times a day. After all, he only knows three spells, one of which is to control armadillo dander, and gives himself nosebleeds when trying to summon elementals. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter that Oliver is a minor mage when he is the only mage the town has. So, when the town needs water, they tell Oliver that he must leave and bring back rain.

Thus begins Oliver's journey.

This was such a great story and I don't know which character I liked more - Oliver or his Armadillo familiar. What begins as a sad story with the way Oliver's town all but physically forces him to leave the village to travel to the Rainblade Mountains in order to bring rain back to the village turns into an almost heart-warming coming-of-age story with the experiences Oliver has, the people he meets, and the lessons he learns - some good and some bad.

One of the things I liked most about this story was the presence of struggles that Oliver had to face where the choices were not easy and there were no cut-and-dry "this is the good choice" and "this is the bad choice" options. As with real life, sometimes there is only the best choice for the situation, even though it's still not great. This is not often seen in books for children, even though it should be, so it was nice to see it here.

While there is some debate over whether or not this book is appropriate for children, I would argue that it is, simply because it deals with tough situations where there aren't simple answers, situations where the adults who are supposed to care for the children may be more monstrous than the actual monsters, and that the consequences of choices can have long-reaching effects. These are things that can be difficult for some children, but other children already experience in their lives. For those parents who are concerned about whether or not their children are ready for this book, I suggest reading/listening to it with your children and talking with them about anything they have questions about.

For this book, I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by Christopher Williams. It was a great audiobook, and Williams did a wonderful job with the narration. I don't think I've listened to any other books narrated by him - or at least, if I have, it hasn't been many and not recently, because I didn't recognize his voice - but I would definitely be willing to listen to other books narrated by him in the future. I am also adding this book to my list of wonderful books to listen to when I have an afternoon and no other plans, because it is definitely worth listening to again. After all, how many books have a snarky armadillo who's willing to tackle you because you're too stupid/preoccupied/overconfident to realize that the invisibility spell that you were certain was going to work this time even though it's never worked before and said armadillo has already told you multiple times that you don't have enough magic to successfully carry out said spell? This is the only one that I know of. Though, if you happen to discover another one - or one with a similar character - please, please let me know. I would love to add it to my reading list.

Definitely for 10-13 year olds

While I enjoyed the story, narration, and writing this was most definitely for a preteen audience.

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

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.