The Other Magic

Passage to Dawn, Book 1

By: Derrick Smythe

Narrated by: Greg Patmore

Winner - Pinnacle Book Achievement Award.

Winner - Global Book Award.

Runner-up - Global Ebook Award.

Runner-up - Independent Publisher Book Award.

The men secured the shackles slowly, hesitantly, but Kibure did not resist; he couldn’t. Whatever otherworldly power had come over him in those moments of passion had fled his body the second he realized what he had done....

In a realm where only clerics are permitted to practice magic, Kibure’s inexplicable use of power places him in grave danger. In a twist of fate, the rogue priestess hired to strip him of his power chooses instead to help him escape. Her reasons for doing so are her own, but something worse than death awaits if they are unable to evade the Empire's most potent wielders.

This epic fantasy series will be especially enjoyed by fans of Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan, Michael J. Sullivan, Edward W. Robertson, and Michael Wisehart.

©2019 Derrick Smythe (P)2020 Podium Audio

WARNING MMCPOV

what does that mean to most, multiple main characters points of views, so if you believe that a story can/should have only 1 MC, please don't waste your time. Aesthetically the story is really engaging, and each character has distinctive quirks to make them more 3D. First of all let me state that structurally speaking there's nothing wrong with the story either. Some people can't stand the jumps from characters who are engaged in various different activities across the world because they're easily confused, but I don't mind. Personally my only structural issue is that the jumps in time for certain characters are not bringing you back to present before the character signs off and you are unsure of where in time you are for that character when it gets back to their turn. Definitely looking forward to more and a stellar narration

Interesting characters

The book has characters that I cared about but it just didn’t come together for me. I made it to the end but didn’t stay up past my bedtime to hear what happened.

interesting and unique

A well written story that combines a deep word building experience with subtle characters and wonderful potential. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

Good start, where is the rest?

This books does not end. The narration stop due to lack of text to read, but the story does not reach an acceptable stopping point. This whole first book is just character and world building, and that's about it. I hope the rest of the series provides a satisfying ending to the story.

A great if disjointed story

The overall story is good but with a mediocre narrator and far to many perspective shifts its hard to settle into.

A tapestry weaving multiple characters on different sides into a fantasy epic.

The Other Magic is a fantasy adventure about The God King Magog, born under supernatural conditions which prove him to be the prophesied savior of the world.

The story is primarily told to us through the point of view of three major characters:
Grobennar: the priest who was astute enough in his youth to have recognized the signs and helped raise the baby into the future savior he is prophesied to be.
Aynward: A young prince with a chip on his shoulder and a penchant for drunken shenanigans and embarrassing his father.
Kibure: The evil one's emissary/warrior in this world, whom the God King is prophesized to defeat: a slave boy who suddenly finds himself with abilities he doesn't understand and on the run for his life.

Derrick Smythe weaves a tapestry told through the points of view of 4 characters in total. As you learn more about each of these characters, what motivates them, and what they learn about the world around them, while the story progresses, deeper lore of this world is revealed making it clear that our prophesized hero and his priests are not the good guys in this story.

I do wish that some of the chapters (each a different character's perspective of events) were a bit longer (some are only 1-2 pages), but I really enjoyed this way of telling the story. My suspicions about the Klerol priesthood and Magog not being the good guys grew and was ultimately confirmed as we learn more of the backstory of the world and learn of other characters and events. I am quite eager to see what happens in book #2.

Double threat

The book was great in and of itself, the reviews on the in print page speak for themselves. The author clearly understands the nature of young people and captures them so well. This story is both satisfying as a stand alone but also builds an epic world one can help but wanting to return to.

The audio version of this story is amazing! I wish the voice in my head sounded like Greg's voice...life would be so much more entertaining. His performance brought these characters to life and made it even easier to be transported to their world.

Overall a great performance on top of an already great read

GoodStory.zip

The prose is awesome and the plot moves quickly but those two together make this a very dense read. There are many different characters with their own stories lines and a few flashbacks spread out. While this does come together nicely later in the book, it's hard to keep track of who is who. One extra sentence in each chapter to remind me which character goes with that name would make it a lot easier to read.

All that said, I love the diction, this is a very interesting world, and I am excited for the sequel. If you are willing to listen closely or rewind every now and then, I definitely recommend this book.

fun characters in a fun world

I enjoyed the characters with their flaws and all. look forward to the next one!

jump

The story started by Jeffrey from one character to another character to another character at 1st I thought 1 could have been dumb without but jumping from carrot to the carrot to the character it almost makes sense but I'm going to the next book and see