The Powder Mage Novella Collection #1

Stories from the Powder Mage Universe

By: Brian McClellan

Narrated by: Julie Hoverson

Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's Summary

Enter a new world or return to see old friends in four Powder Mage Universe novellas featuring Erika, Tamas, Adamat, Taniel, Ka-poel, and Ben Styke.

©2014 Brian McClellan (P)2016 Brian McClellan

Great prequels, horrible narrator

Great supplementary tales for anyone who enjoys the powdermage series. However, the narration was often cringeworthy.

Bring back Rodska.

Story is great but narrator really detracts

I won't restate all of the comments already stated about the narration. In this case, She just isn't a good fit and it I share the frustration of the differences in the pronunciation. I think it is really unforgivable to have the same fictional characters name's mispronounced. There are at least 3 different groups that should catch this (the narrator, the author, and the editor). It is a simple prep function that shouldn't be overlooked.

Unfortunately, as much as I like these books, any other books in this world narrated by her I will have to pass on. If they are ever re-recorded, then i would definitely get them.

good backs story, poor narration

I can't tell if the writing was subpart from the Powder Mage trilogy, or if the narrator just cannot compete with Christian Rodska outstanding performance.

Narration detracts from stories

Narration detracts from stories, and the stories are not as engaging as Power Mage trilogy or Gods of Blood and Powder.

Narrator takes on a stilted, unnatural affectation that becomes annoying and distracting -- it would be better if the narrator would use a more natural voice and speech pattern.

Update NEEDS to happen

I am typically not one to write reviews, but I do read them before I ever make a purchase. I admit that I held off for quite a while on making this purchase because a lot of my fellow reviewers did not like the narrator. I finally gave in and made the purchase because I LOVE these books so much. I admit I am quite disappointed and feel the narrator was not the right choice for books/collection. Just the simple fact that Tamas was not pronounced correctly was very troubling, let alone that the pronunciation of the name was done at minimum three different ways. I caught myself thinking more than once who was Thomas? Audible you really should listen to your customers and make an updated version of this collection using Christian Rodska. The story was fantastic, the narration for the book was not.

Great story almost ruined by the reading

I almost never write a review even though I have almost 100 audio books read in my library. But I had to give some feedback here. I fell in love with the powder mage series and this new author is amazing ( I met him at a recent book symposium and have loved each of the books he has written)... however this series of Novella's is almost ruined by the choice of the reader. Julie Hoverson overacts the reading, kind of like you read to your small children the story of little red riding hood...but the killer for me is that she didn't even take the time to learn the characters names. I kid you not, of the 5 main characters she mispronounces 3 (consistently). It is very very hard to listen to the story though the overacting and the name mess up. Kind of like talking with someone who gets your name wrong each time, hard to take them serious. Or picture if in the empire strikes back Luke became luck, and darth vador has became darth Veador.

I hope Brian McClellan gets to have some say in who does his reading going forward, I look forward to his next book and do not want to have to cringe every time a name is spoken.

Good stories, great setting, off-putting narrator

I rarely give any credence to Audible reviewers who complain about narration -- it's usually so subjective -- I often find that I don't mind, or even like, narrators that others complain about. But not in this case.

Here the narration really does negatively impact the listener's enjoyment of the book, especially if they're already familiar with the Powder Mage series, which, if they're reading these novellas, they almost certainly are.

I cannot imagine how someone would come onto an existing book series and not check the established pronunciation of the strange names and terms. It seems to me that, if you're a pro, that's part of the gig. Even if, as an experienced narrator, you might feel something should be pronounced differently, what does it matter? It's the listener's experience that's important here, not yours. And what about the producer of the audio sessions? Aren't they supposed to be watching out for this sort of thing? (I imagine them sitting in the engineering booth with their feet up on the console, reading the paper, and not paying any attention.)

This is no minor thing in an audiobook, especially for a story set in a fictional land with fictional towns and countries and filled with characters who have strange, non-standard names. If the names of places and people are pronounced differently it's hard to tell that they're talking about the same places and people from previous books.

Ok enough about that. Now, on to a few words about the stories.

They're great. It's a lot of fun to visit the characters from the novels earlier in their careers. If there's a downside here it's only that they're so short. But, they're novellas, so one cannot really complain about their brevity.

If you're a fan of McClellan's Powder Mage novels then you'll like these stories. Just be prepared for weird pronunciation and you should be fine.

Great Stories, Not So Great Narration

The title really says it all. Although I'm sure the narrator is good in some things her voice didn't really work for me in this. I would much have preferred the same narrator who performed the other Powder Mage books.

excellent story

excellent story, subpar narration. these books give an excellent look into the powder mage universe. however the narrator seems to struggle with pronouncing names. she also struggles to make her voice take on a deeper tone(which was unnecessary) for some of the male characters and ends up sounding a bit comical. kinda like a little kid trying to sound like a grown up. honestly it does become a bit distracting for a while maybe even annoying. thankfully the stories are good enough to drown out the performance. loved seeing the main characters of the powder mage trilogy at different points in their lives.

Great stories, questionable narrator

The narrator, although not great, isn't as bad as others say. Still worth the purchase.

If you can get through the first novella in the collection, Julie will start to grow on you. However, she is no where near the quality of the narrator from the main series.

Only Book I've ever returned.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A different Narrator.

Would you be willing to try another book from Brian McClellan? Why or why not?

Yes all his other books are fantastic and well narrated.

How could the performance have been better?

In every way, her range was awful, her continuity and timing well off and her voice is terrible and nasal.

What character would you cut from The Powder Mage Novella Collection #1?

None

Any additional comments?

WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU CHANGE NARRATORS AND IF YOU HAD TO WHY SOMEBODY SO DREADFUL?? RUINED THE BOOK>

Great addition - subpar narration

An amazing add-on to the Powder Mage universe. This is actually a collection of 4 short novels that take take place before the events of the first book of the Powder Mage trilogy "Promise of Blood". The fact that they are bundled into one collection obtainable for 1 credit make this a pretty good bargain.

First of all, here is a guide on how to listen to this:
Forsworn (Book 0.1) - Chapter 2-3
Servant of the Crown (Book 0.2) - Chapter 4-5
Murder at the Kinnen Hotel (Book 0.3) - Chapter 6-7
At this point switch to "In the Field Marshal's Shadow" (Books 0.4 -0.7) and then continue here
Ghosts of the Tristan Basin (Book 0.8) - Chapter 8-9

Narration 6/10
The narration for this was such a letdown for me. I expected to listen to Christian Rodska's amazing narration once more since his work for the main Powder Mage trilogy is some of the best narrations for Audiobooks. Unfortunately, he seems to be replaced for these short novels for a female narrator that fails to leave up to the expectations and meet the bar set by Christian Rodska. The narration is pretty flat and uninspired and while almost every character is male, a female narrator was chosen and her voice imitations is subpar. For me the narration for this was a big disappointment.

Story 9/10
These are short stories that look into the past of several main characters from the Powder Mage trilogy, so we get to look into Tamas' past, him meeting his wife and climbing up the ranks over the years to become a field marshal, etc. The stories are really good and engaging

Overall I really enjoyed this collection and would suggest to it to all the fans of the main trilogy, but I just wish they were narrated by Christian Rodska like the main trilogy.

Not the right narrator; but v. good story telling

Very enjoyable romp thru the back stories of Tamas, Erika, Vlora, Tanial, Styke and others. Makes me want to learn more - ESPECIALLY about Tamas' rise to F/Marshall and how to concocted and executed the plan revealed in The Promise of Blood.

I'm not sure the correct narrator was chosen - some odd pronunciations and not really enough range in terms of accents / regional dialects for this type of work. Particularly jarring after listening to the brilliant Christian Rodska bring so many of these characters to life in the 2 trilogies.

more,more,more

Am lovin' stories from the powder mage world,great characters and there's room for plenty more,Julie was good but have to say Christian Rodska does it better.

Top notch Brian McClellan

This is the second of his Novella complilations that I have listened to and I think the format is great. Nice neat stories, filling in the gaps in the novels.

They are typically well written and give some life to the myths of Tamas and Taniel.

I was not as keen on the narrator as with the narrator of the novels(the name escapes me) which was disappointing as I didn't think the novel narrator was particulrly good either.

These books deserve a Rupert Degas or Colin Mace for my money as they are really good

Not what I had in mind

Whilst the storyline was fairly entertaining the narration was very off putting. Not to mention that this is not the main series of books that I intended to read.