Magic's Pawn

Valdemar: The Last Herald Mage, Book 1

By: Mercedes Lackey

Narrated by: Gregory St. John

Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

In Magic's Pawn, an ancient age in the history of Valdemar comes to life - an age when the kingdom was ravaged by the ungoverned fury of bandit warlords, ferocious ice dragons, and the wild magic of wizards. A new addition to Lackey's Valdemar kingdom - and her most powerful series to date!

©1991 Mercedes R. Lackey (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

pronunciation problems

the reader is not saying words correctly. Ekele is Ek-ell-ey, Vanyel Ashkevron is Van-yul Ash-kev-Ron (not Ash-kre-von). the reader did not do his best.

Ms. Lackey should sue for defamation of character

The story itself is a decent read overall, assuming you actually read a physical copy and can muddle through the thick fog of teen angst. The narration of Mr. St. John is horrendous and completely takes away from the pentameter and general flow of the work. I have never heard so many blatant mistakes made in an audiobook in the years I have been voraciously consuming them. Improper inflection mid-sentence and way too many mispronunciations had me sitting here completely discouraged. Having enjoyed The Mage Wars series so much, this just didn’t feel up to her standard. Because my OCD will not allow me to do anything other than read these novels in order, I will carry on. However, I will be giving the audiobook versions a very wide berth until I run into a name that is not Gregory St. John.

Overly dramatic reader

I have loved this book for almost 30 years and wanted another way to enjoy it now that sitting down to read is difficult. This narrator was a headache. There was no tonal change between characters for the most part and when he did try to do voices he was inconsistent with keeping accents to the correct characters. Every other word had a dramatic lilt, there was emphasis in places that made no sense, and the pronunciation was annoying.

emotions r so real, relatable

I have seldom found any Mercedes Lackey books anything except incredible and relatable, but my favorites are the Valdemar and Fairy Godmother series.

This is my favorite Valdemar series.

Where does Magic's Pawn rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Great listen!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Magic's Pawn?

When Van stood up to his father.

Which character – as performed by Gregory St. John – was your favorite?

Vanyel

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The end but I don't want to spoil it.

Any additional comments?

A well done production spot on. Homosextual main charactor done with such care that you could even let a young adult listen to it.

Good story, bearable narration

Phrasing and pronounciations off. Love the story. Would buy it again with a better/redone narration.

Love it

I've always enjoyed this book. This series is one I always suggest. Listening was a joy.

Great narrator!

Having read every Valdemar book, it's easy to notice some early writing "hiccups" that only show Lackey's starting. This is still such a good start to Valdemar, enough world building that leads to further development, a great hero, an awesome message of diversity and commitment.

loved the narration!

In the beginning I wasn't so sure of the narrator 's voice but I totally grew to love it and feel he really did a great job with Van's voice.

Good enough

I wish the narrator had more consistent and accurate pronunciation. He also paused in the middle of sentences weirdly, but his voice acting was alright, and none of this took away from the story at all.