Owlflight

Owl Mage Trilogy, Book 1

By: Mercedes Lackey, Larry Dixon

Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins

Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's Summary

Apprenticed to a venerable wizard when his hunter and trapper parents disappear into the forest never to be seen again, Darian is difficult and strong willed - much to the dismay of his kindly master. But a sudden twist of fate will change his life forever when the ransacking of his village forces him to flee into the great mystical forest. It is here in the dark forest that he meets his destiny, as the terrifying and mysterious Hawkpeople lead him on the path to maturity. Now they must lead the assault on his besieged home in a desperate attempt to save his people from certain death.

©1997 Mercedes R. Lackey and Larry Dixon (P)2017 Tantor

Critic Reviews

"The story is exciting and its action fast-paced as the forces of good and evil are pitted against one another... Sure to delight the series' fans." Booklist)

Good story, ok narrator

As always, a good story by Mercedes Lackey!

Narrator over emotes a bit, and you never quite forget you're listening to someone else read, and just get lost in the story. Also, the narrator didn't listen to any previous books based in Valdemar and pronounces names differently than other narrators do. Why does this even happen?? Why not get all readers on the same pronunciation page?

How disappointing.

After looking forward to seeing this book in audio format for a long time, it finally comes out. Unfortunately the narrator does such a poor performance that it makes the book painful to listen to.

Generally it is a good story, although better for a younger audience (I liked it a lot better when I was younger and it first came out in book form). The story is set in the Valdemar world, references are made to Heralds but there are not any in the book. There are Hawkbrothers though.

great book, poor narration

Would you consider the audio edition of Owlflight to be better than the print version?

No. This narrator is awful and nearly ruined a good book.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Kevin T. Collins?

Nick Pohdel. He reads the Collegium books very well. Love his voice. Had to change the narration speed to 1.25X in order to stand Mr. Collins' reading.

Any additional comments?

Please get a different narrator for the other two books in the series.

does no one listEn to these books before they are

sold? at least the pronunciation could be corrected. it would be much easier to listen then

Enough of the whining!

I had read this before in hard cover and didn’t reread it. (I usually read and reread this authors’ work. ). Listening to it on audible reminded me why. The protagonist, Darian, is a young orphaned teenager who has been apprenticed against his will to a local village mage. The villagers despise the mage who lost much of his magic as the result of a war wound. They despise Darian because his parents were different: they ventured into the Pelagir forest to trap game and collect due-making plants. He resents being told he should be grateful for what he has. So...he has grounds for being dissatisfied. BUT he spends most of the book whining and emoting and wallowing in misery/ self doubt and general teenage angst. I found it difficult to tolerate! It was as if the authors wanted to create another Vanyel (there are some distinct parallels) but skipped Vanyel’s charm. Darian has a mage gift, we are told, but he doesn’t see the point and won’t practice. Even when he can see some of the benefits of magic (mage lights) he still doesn’t make any effort. I got rather bored with him and only stayed listening in the hope that he, like Vanyel, would finally ‘get it’. (Plot spoiler: he does, kinda,but only in about the last 15 minutes!) Not worth the trudge to get there, in my opinion.
I’m not even sure that YA audiences (if this was meant for them) would put up with this protagonist - but since I’m rather far removed from YA I may be doing the book an injustice if that IS the target audience.
The narration was adequate.

The narrator is a big disappointment

I've always enjoyed the Valdemar series and couldn't wait for this book to be added to Audible. What a letdown! The narrator sounds as though he is reading to primary school children. His pronunciation of the main character is the worst part of it. How does Darian get pronounced -- Dairy-On (pause) --? I know it's probably too late, but I sure wish the rest of the series will get a new narrator.

Tragic

The person reading this book RUINED the story with their staccato reading.

I love Mercedes Lackey but I ended up returning this audiobook because of Kevin Collins.

A Superb story

This first book in the Owl Mage trilogy takes place after the end of the mage storms in Valdemar. This is one of my favorite theologies in the Valdemar stories. This book introduces Darian, a boy who has lost everyone he loved and w/o is adopted the Hawk Brothers. I loved listening to this book. Great narration. I look forward to the rest of the trilogy.

worst narration I have heard

story wise this is the weakest of th Valdemar books. Narration wise it is not only the weakest, it is intolerable. I wanted to stop after 5 minutes of the stilted and unnatural performance but forced myself to continue for 30 more minutes.

This narrator has a bizarre cadence to his speech that makes it impossible to relax while listening. it sounds forced and almost like some kind of parody of an audiobook.

Good but I feel like the story needs more editing

The story and its idea are good, but I really felt like it took way to long to introduce the characters and the environment. Six hours into the 13 or so hour audiobook and The reader was still not given the arch of the plot, but a lot of repeated information. The book finally started picking up at about nine hours in, but I felt it left the climax and the conclusion feeling rushed and under detailed compared to the early on description. I did like the story, I really just wish it were better balanced.

The narrator had a good variety of voices, and did great at the beasts, however he portrayed what felt like a condescending or arrogant tone throughout a good portion of the book. I felt this tone would have had a bigger impact if it were less used as it made the book frustrating to listen to. No one likes being spoken to that way, including the listener.

Good listening

I'm a fan of the valdemar series and was thrilled to see this pop up on my list. The narration was good ( although name pronunciation always differs from how I read them) and the story flowed with a good pace. I'm hoping Owlsight and Owlknight will be released soon to follow it so I can continue to listen to Darians adventures.

a good absorbing story well worth listening to

A good story well worth listening to more than once and I certainly will listen again

Repetitive, wordy, unbelievable ending

Very different from other books set in Valdemar world. Extremely detailed world building.
First hour just keeps repeating the same thing in different ways. Many scenes repeated almost word for word.
Totally unbelievable ending- boy goes back to village that he hates? Really?
Very disappointing
Narrator was just ok after speeded up. Did not like the accents

Hard going

Would you try another book written by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon or narrated by Kevin T. Collins?

A little bit sleepy........! Disappointing as overview made it sound really good. I must confess I didn't finish this book ;.(