Spellmaker

Spellbreaker, Book 2

By: Charlie N. Holmberg

Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden, Noel Arthur

Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

A Wall Street Journal bestseller.

Dead wizards, stolen enchantments, and broken promises force a young spellbreaker out of the shadows in the next thrilling installment of the Spellbreaker series by the bestselling author of The Paper Magician.

England, 1895. An unsolved series of magician murders and opus thefts isn’t a puzzle to Elsie Camden. But to reveal a master spellcaster as the culprit means incriminating herself as an unregistered spellbreaker. When Elsie refuses to join forces with the charming assassin, her secret is exposed, she’s thrown in jail, and the murderer disappears. But Elsie’s hope hasn’t vanished.

Through a twist of luck, the elite magic user Bacchus Kelsey helps Elsie join the lawful, but with a caveat: they must marry to prove their cover story. Forced beneath a magical tutor while her bond with Bacchus grows, Elsie seeks to thwart the plans of England’s most devious criminal—if she can find them.

With hundreds of stolen spells at their disposal, the villain has a plan—and it involves seducing Elsie to the dark side. But even now that her secret is out, Elsie must be careful how she uses the new abilities she’s discovering, or she may play right into the criminal’s hands.

©2021 Charlie N. Holmberg. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Narrator Elizabeth Knowleden returns to this magical series as brash Elsie, with Noel Arthur joining in as reserved Bacchus. Lyrical accents and evocative descriptions ground listeners in Holmberg's fantasy world as Elsie and Bacchus attempt to halt a murderous rampage through nineteenth-century England.... Knowlenden and Arthur deliver full-bodied performances. Their nuanced pacing pulls listeners into both the danger and the tender moments between the lovers.” (AudioFile Magazine)

“The romance between Elsie and Bacchus, combined with the fantasy of magic and good fighting evil, will appeal to fans of the previous Spellbreaker novel (Spellbreaker, 2020) and to fans of Naomi Novik or Katherine Arden’s Winternight trilogy.” (Booklist, starred review)

Fun & engaging

I listened to this 2-book series pretty much back to back. It was a lovely adventure, and I found the ending satisfying.
They chose a new male narrator for this book, thank goodness. This one voiced Bacchus much better.

The end to a wonderful series

The author does an amazing job of world building. Her characters are very well fleshed out and very likeable. There are many secondary characters that bring depth to this storyline. I really enjoyed this book and I am looking forward to reading more books by this author.

I bought the ebook and also the Audible recording. Both narrators do an excellent job.

Great story not great audio

The story was great and very engaging but the male reader (there are two, a man and a woman) was really not to my liking. He was hard to listen to. Otherwise, I really enjoyed these two stories in the series

An excellent end!

I truly enjoyed this, it was intriguing and complex story. I love the growth of all the characters and how they were able to each find their happy ending.

thoroughly enjoyed this series.

Thoroughly enjoyed this series. Love to read another installment, See what happens all the characters. Really liked Elizabeth's narration. I read the books some time ago, but this time listened to the audio.

great small series

i absolutely love charlie holmberg's books and this was no exception! great writing and performance

Book 2 was very good much better male narration

Super happy that the male reader changed for this one. Definitely a much nicer listen!
Story is fine. Elsie Camden is an interesting character. Sometimes predictable but a character one roots for. Bacchus is also very compelling. Happy ending for all.

Fun end to the duology

I really enjoyed the second/ last installment of Elsie's story. It had action, romance, humor and most important- magic! I do recommend reading Book 1 first.

Why is the heading optional until it's not

Excellent story and much better male narrator. Thoroughly enjoyed the world building and overall plot

Another one please!

would love to see another addition to this story! loved it! thank you for writing such a masterpiece