The Flaw in All Magic

Magebreakers, Book 1

By: Ben S. Dobson

Narrated by: Travis Baldree

In a world of elves and dwarves and sprites and mages, Tane Carver is a human with no gift but his wits. Which, to be fair, did get him into the world's most prestigious university of magical technology.

For a while. Until his lack of magic was discovered. And then it all came crashing down.

But when a student is murdered on campus behind unbreakable wards, Tane gets a second chance. Solving an impossible crime should be easy for the man who fooled the university's best mages for years. Except he's not counting on the head constable being an old flame who isn't so fond of him anymore. Or on Kadka, the half-crazy half-orc who insists she's his partner - whether he likes it or not.

Not to mention the masked mage who keeps trying to kill him. Now, Tane's survival depends on the one truth that has never failed him. The flaw in all magic that those who have it prefer to ignore: the mage.

Outsmart the mage, and you outsmart the spell. And outsmarting mages is what Tane does best.

©2017 Ben S. Dobson (P)2018 Tantor

Break From the Monotonous Genre and Listen to This

Another winning Travis Baldtree narrated audiobook. He totally brings the characters alive with emotion (or in Kadka’s case, lack of emotion but full of jokes) and their unique voices.
A non magical main character uses his knowledge of the world to solve a crime. I’m not crazy about that premise but it worked. I’m just kind of over the newbie showing up professionals.
In this case, the law enforcer, a Blue Cap, if you will (or was it Blue Hat?) is his ex girlfriend. I know. We saw that coming, too. Police being associated with Blue also seemed unimaginative. I wanted new, different, unique.
He acquires a partner. You guessed it. He wanted to work alone.
I overall enjoyed the world building. It was not an info dump.
The third person narrative was a breath of fresh air. Too many books in the genre is first person.
Our main character is level headed and NOT snarky!! Double kudos with a triple shot of espresso.
It was short and sweet. The climax was a bit lengthier than desired, but mostly because it wasn’t action packed. It flowed with the writing style of the book.

I actually adored this book enough to pick up the next in the series. Which is EXTREMELY rare.
Strongly recommended for urban fantasy lovers who want a non epic adventure with promising characters who could be your best book buddies!

Fast and fun magical détective story

Paced like a roller coaster, with engaging heroes.
Several magical races mingled with humans and true mages.
Lots of humor, a bit of romance, technological feast.

A great movie

I have been waiting for something like this! A mystery set in a fantasy setting! The acting is good.

A Good, Clean Adventure Story

Characters were likable, and grew over the story. Clean, no sex or great violence. If you acn watch Lord of The Rings, then this has far less violence than that. Good story and naration. I recommend it and the author.

Storytelling elevates the story

I really liked the narrator. Travis Baldree did an excellent job making the characters identifiable and interesting. He allowed emotions and action to elevate the story. Unfortunately the story wasn’t as good as the narration. I guessed the Big Bad Guy long before the hero. At times I just wanted to grind my teeth because the character made stupid choices. The world building was good with rules and boundaries for magic. However, I could do without the info dumps to get the rules out there. It might sound like I hated the story but I really didn’t. I stuck with it all the way through, mainly due to the narrator pulling me in. The world is interesting and I really liked the characters. If you find it on sale, give it a try.