Shadowspell Academy: The Culling Trials: Book 1

By: K.F. Breene, Shannon Mayer

Narrated by: Khristine Hvam

Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's Summary

You don’t choose the academy. The academy chooses you.

I had no idea how those words would change my life. Or how they’d changed my life already...until the day the most dangerous man I’ve ever met waltzed onto my farm and left us a death sentence. In an invitation. 

My younger brother has been chosen for the prestigious, secret magical school hidden within the folds of our mundane world. A place so dangerous, they don’t guarantee you’ll make it out alive. 

If he doesn't go, our entire family will be killed. It’s the same invitation my older brother received three years ago - the same place where he mysteriously died. 

The academy has already killed one sibling. I’ll be damned if they take another. I do the only thing an older sister can: chop off my hair, strap on two bras to flatten the girls, and take my brother’s place.

Magic and monsters are real. Assassins are coming for me, and the dead are prone to rise. What’s a girl faking it as a boy supposed to do? That’s right - beat the academy at its own game. Or die trying.

Praise for the book:

"This book is Harry Potter meets the Hunger Games in a bold twist on a classic magical young adult adventure." (Jaymin Eve, best-selling author of Supernatural Academy series)

©2019 K.F. Breene and Shannon Mayer (P)2019 K.F. Breene and Shannon Mayer

Great beginning

Ah hell, another series I’m going to be addicted to! Another freaking awesome & wickedly addictive story by two of my favorite Indie authors! I love Wilde! She’s a strong willed and charismatic heroine who has some very impressive skills & her rag tag crew are quite interesting in their own right. This is a nice start to a new series but I’ll be honest, I wished it was longer and I could definitely do without the cliffhanger! The narrator did a fantastic job!

1 person found this helpful

Very engaging story and narration!

great story line engaged my hard to please 12 year old and keept me entertained as well during a long drive. look forward to the other books. the performance was really good. vocals were pleasing great voice acting and accents. she made the characters come to life the only issue was that the volume and tone would very from one chapter to the next so we had to keep making adjustments on the mixer and volume to compensate. Everytime the sound would change it distracted from the story and took a min to adjust to the new pitch. I'd give performance 4.5 but I can't so one star down just because the weird sound changes in the recording.

Wilde is wild!

I knew this series would be good because the authors are both fabulous story tellers but I’m not usually into YA. Again, with these two authors behind it I had to dive in and I’m so glad I did.

I love Wilde. When a summons is left for her little brother, one threatening her entire family of he doesn’t show up for The Culling Trials there is no way in hades she’s letting him go. Her older brother left for the trials and never returned.

So now with her hair chopped off, her body wrapped to look like her brother she sets off. She’s a girl on a mission, one that will save her family, possibly put her own life in peril and hopefully end with her in the top of a magical academy. The problem is, she has no idea that magic is real. No idea how this new world she’s thrust into works nor does she understand what is really going on around her.

It’s almost like a bad day dream that she can’t get out of. With a band of misfits along side her she enters the first trial and prays she can get through it in one piece. She can’t fail her family nor can she fail the new friends that have sort of adopted her.

The Culling Trials are a mix of wonder and chaos. The Hunger Games meets The Maze Runner with a side of Harry Potter and The vampire Academy. So I’m other words, an epic read that has left me wanting more.

Get ready for a Wild ride!

Shannon Mayer and K.F. Breene are two of my favorite authors, so I was beyond thrilled when I found out they were writing a series together. Book one definitely did not disappoint!

Join Wild as she discovers that supernatural beings exist and she is one of them! Will she be able to pass herself off as her brother? Will she survive the Culling Trials? And what exactly are her supernatural abilities?

Pick up a copy of the audiobook to find out and get ready for a "Wild" ride!

Awesome beginning!

Book 1 was a great start to this series. I loved the characters and the world setup was entertaining. Both authors make their presence known and compliment each other. I can't wait to start book 2!

Shadowspell Academy: The Culling Trials

This book holds load of tention, not to mention bravery and courage. Wild seems to beable to servive it all.