Bright Blaze of Magic

By: Jennifer Estep

Narrated by: Brittany Pressley

Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Bad Things Always Come in Threes....

As a thief, I'm good at three things: hiding in the shadows, getting in and out unseen, and uncovering secrets. I put these skills to work for the Sinclair Family, one of the magical mobs that run the tourist town of Cloudburst Falls. Everyone knows Victor Draconi wants to take over all the other Families - and kill every last Sinclair. What they don't know is that I'm on to him, and no way will I let the man who murdered my mom get away with hurting all the other people I care about. Especially when I've got places to break into, stuff to steal, and Devon Sinclair fighting right by my side....

©2016 Jennifer Estep (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The characters are as fantastic as Estep fans have come to expect." (RT Book Reviews)

a whining whining story

again I was hoping this book would be a lot better than it was whole time she whined and complained about how everybody died and how she was going to die and then the author just made her stupid over and over again I got so frustrated with this book

Too whiny

It would've been a good story if the author didn't continually harp about the dead mother and the pains of the past. Luckily the app lets me fast forward through much of the whiny drivel.

Glad it ended!

It would have been a lot better if Lila did not keep repeating that this was the worst time of her life except when her mother was killed. If you followed the series that is a well established point. Every other sentence is about her mother teaching her to respect the monsters, her vengeance on Victory for the death or her mother, or how did Victor get the drop on her mother. It is not something that has to be repeated countless times. Those things were mentioned in books 1 - 2.

That countless repetition is something that Jennifer Esetp does in her Elemental Assassin series. Gin says countless times that she is the spider. I really think that Estep is limited in writing dialogue.

Lila is suppose to be an intelligent woman. Every leader knows how to read circumstances. Yet, she bemoan that it was her fault that she did not see fight coming. When the fight commences she tries to be bad ass in dire circumstances and always falls short. At what point will she learn to follow her instances!

Now knowing that Victor is a dick, why did all the families even go to a dinner without being armed? In each book, for the family dinner, guards are unarmed, Yet no one trust the other. Victor has been involved in countless dubious circumstances that someone should have made preparations. The head of the Sinclair family was killed at such a dinner.

The best part is the relationship with monsters, magic and Lila's relationship with them. With so many monsters how is it that no one else is aware of the old customs. How many men have to be killed for them to learn how to cross the bridge. It is a good read when the loch ness monster takes his revenge on those who do not pay the toll.

Can anyone tell me why with the technology of cars and cell phones they do not have guns? I wanted to give this a higher rating but ... I am glad it ended. I had invested to much to not finish the series.

A thrilling conclusion

Well Done Jennifer Estep. Well Done. This final book in the trilogy did what many YA trilogies failed to deliver: A Thrilling and Satisfying Conclusion.

This third book started with the head of the Family, Claudia Sinclair and her son Devon, the family Bruiser working with the family bodyguard Lila Merriweather, and Lila’s cousin Deah to foil Victor Draconi’s plot to control the town of Cloudburst Falls. If you read books 1 & 2, you know the significance of this alliance and how it came to be. *Hint* Read this series in order to fully comprehend the minutiae.

The action and power struggle began immediately as the line in the sand was drawn between the Sinclair Family and the Draconi Family with the other families trying to pick the winning side to back. What I loved most in this story was that Lila and Devon’s romance to a back seat to the family business as it rightfully should have.

Lila is one of my favorite YA heroines and the narrator Brittany Pressley did a great job giving Lila grit. Her voice portrayed a girl who was tough, resilient, smart, noble and resourceful. Now that she found a new home with the Sinclair family, she was putting her life on the line to protect them from the Draconi threat. Devon was brave as was all the supporting casts fighting on the side of good. The author did a fantastic job keeping the story adrenaline-charged and interesting. This was a quick paced story with an engaging plot that flowed and was congruous to the theme started in book 1.

The world building was complex enough without being too dense and boring. The supernatural creatures were different from the norm and there wasn’t too many of them to overwhelm the story. The final showdown allowed Lila to address a wrong committed against her family both from the past and in their current situation. Then ending was well thought out and satisfying.

I highly recommend this series to those readers looking for an entertaining YA urban fantasy with a light romance.

Not the best in the series!

Take forever to kill Victor. Irritating, predictable. Struggle to finish listening.
1st book the best.
in the series
Love the narrator.

Overwrought

I never realized how overwrought this book was until I started listening to the audio version of the book. I just finished chapter 20 and I could not quite stop myself from rolling my eyes! I mean, how can the main character even spare a single second gazing at a boy when she's in the middle of an effing fight for her life??!! No wonder she got knocked out!

I normally love Estep's books, especially the Elemental Assasin series. This one is just a major disappointment.

Fantastic conclusion!

What did you love best about Bright Blaze of Magic?

The Main Character, Lila Merriweather. She was awesome!

What other book might you compare Bright Blaze of Magic to and why?

This book was part of a trilogy, that was unique and stands out as one of a kind.

Have you listened to any of Brittany Pressley’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but she does a great job!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Awesome!!! I really loved the conclusion to this trilogy. Jennifer Estep has done an excellent job weaving a fantastic plot with a strong heroine and complex characters. I wish there was just a touch more romance in the trilogy, but the storyline was so compelling. The MC was strong, courageous, and a good person. The way the story concluded left me satisfied, even though one could always want more. Five glittery stars for The Bright Blaze of Magic and five glittery stars for the trilogy!

Wonderful End to the Trilogy

If you ask Lila Merriweather how she spent her summer break, she would tell you that she became a team player, made some friends, has a new boyfriend, and helped take down some bad guys. You know the typical teenager's summer.

Bright Blaze of Magic was a nice wrap up of the Black Blade trilogy by Jennifer Estep. Lila gets her closer from the past and a has bright looking future with the Sinclair family.

Well done Estep! I like that Lila's story was told in a trilogy, there was no unnecessary over-drawn drama that you get with some long running series. Estep gives you some fun characters, action, mystery and a little violence (I would have liked to see more blood and death but I'm a little dark that way LOL). Seriously I kept thinking "oh, this character is going to die", "this character should die" and then "finally that character died". Estep did a good job of balancing the dark with the light in Bright Blaze of Magic.

The Black Blade trilogy is a series that both young and "old" adults can enjoy. I highly recommend it on audio. Brittany Pressley has become a favorite narrator of mine and I waited for the audio this time around. She delivers a great performance for the whole trilogy. Her voice is youthful enough for the "kid" characters and still mature enough for the adults and she adds just enough of a Southern twang to Lila's voice. I've listened to other audiobooks narrated by Pressley, she truly performances the stories in lieu of just reading them.

3.5 Stars 🌟

3.5 Stars 🌟

This was the third and final book in the Black Blade series. I had a fairly significant break in the time between books 2 and book 3 but it was really pretty easy to slip back in and remember what was going on. The story arc had been building to a final conflict and that was where this book began.

I ended up listening to most of this book on audio and Brittany Pressley was the narrator. She had narrated the previous two books as well so there was a continuity for the series. I had no problems with her as a narrator and felt that she did a good job.

This book was centered on our female MC Lila and the evil villian Victor who had been planning a coup to take over all of the families. Lila had been bringing together various characters throughout this series and we got to see the results of all of her work in this book.

Yes, this book was definitely a YA book and this was never more apparent than in this book. Her comments about her love interest, even stopping to admire him during a supposed "fight for her life" was a bit of a struggle to take. There were many circumstances that created some eye rolling moments, but for the most part, it was an entertaining series. The storyline was completed, the events tied up nicely and everyone could walk away feeling content.

Definitely for young adults

I did buy all 3 in the series. I'm 67 year old woman who enjoys fiction and fantasy. The world was believable and the characters well developed. Again, it is definitely for young adults. I found Jennifer Eaten through a deal on her newest series beginning with Only Bad Options. It is incredibly fun and I am looking forward to more of the same.