The Shining City

By: Kate Forsyth

Narrated by: Elle Newlands

Length: 19 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Rhiannon, a wild and fierce half-human girl, tamed a winged horse to escape the vicious satyricorn tribe who raised her. In the human world, the handsome apprentice-witch Lewen has convinced her to stay with him and learn to use her strong magical talents. But before her training can commence, Rhiannon must answer for a past crime in....

The Shining City

Imprisoned in Sorrowgate Tower, Rhiannon awaits trial for murder and treason. While her days are spent in anticipation of Lewen’s visits, her nights are haunted by the malevolent ghost of a dead queen, hungry to live again. But not many care to listen to the prophetic dreams of a girl who has already been convicted in most people’s minds.

Then Lewen begins to cool toward her, and Rhiannon suspects one of the princesses has worked a spell to steal his heart. In a world filled with dark spirits and forbidden magic, conspiracy and intrigue, Rhiannon vows to win back her lover and escape once more, to save the land before it’s too late....

©2006 by Kate Forsyth (P)2022 by Blackstone Publishing

Great book

Really good book can wait till I can read the next book love the flying horse

Glad I stuck with it!

I became a Kate Forsyth fan when I picked up the Witches of Eileen. I was a little disappointed with the first book in this series. I felt it was way to predictable and got frustrated with some of the way to obvious choices made by the characters. That being said, this book makes it all worth it! This is the Kate Forsyth I was looking for! I CANNOT WAIT for the third book!

Also, shout out to Elle Newlands!!! I wish I could have her read me to sleep every night, lol. She is just incredible! I would listen to her read the ingredients off a shampoo bottle and be perfectly happy, lol. I wish she narrated all the books on Audible ♥️♥️♥️

Good- but very illogical characters at times…

Great narration, but at times the characters and pieces of the plot are so illogical you want to bang your head at the thoughts and conclusions of the characters… Be prepared rating say - What?!!? Who would even think that?!!? That does not follow, and is so completely illogical…

fast moving story

a really good read, enjoyable, exciting, like the authors imagination, and I have come to realize that all I have read by Kate Forsyth keeps me wanting more

Exciting all the way!!

My pledge to not binge listen….yeah right. I’m already sad that I’ll finish the series soon. So many characters to loathe and love! I’ll have a miss in my soul again when it’s over. I want more….

What happened to the women

I really liked the first one but this second edition just has so much sexism and grooming to bear. I loved the original series with strong women in powerful roles striving and taking charge. In this new series it is all the women’s fault for everything and they are all “whores” and dumb fumbling over men. A man accidentally kills someone after he was shaking a women and somehow it’s the woman’s fault and she’s just a whore anyway. This is theme is spread throughout and it’s just so hard to keep listening to. It makes me hate all the main characters from the original series. On top of this everyone forgets major details or events that would be very important to bring up to resolve everything. I love the world that the author created but man what happened.

I will say the narration is magnificent.

im sad I can't believe the author did that.

seriously what is with authors. I can't believe she made a scene where Alwyn forces herself on Lewen

The Characters are stupid and weak

If you read the Witches of Eileanan you will wonder why they have all lost their spine in this rendering.

idk man

The narrator was great, no complaints with her!

This book was alright, but the obvious prejudice of the author bled into the story. You can pretty much tell if a character is going to be evil based on if the main characters find them pleasing to look at or not. A bunch of fat phobia, too. It's pretty much without fail displayed as a "character flaw" (fat being used in place of other more useful adjectives like greedy, cruel, stupid, etc.) and not as a description of a body type.

Lewen is an actual awful person, with no care about his girlfriends trauma. He just wants to get his hotdog wet at any given opportunity and how she responds to him I find unrealistic. I doubt a girl would want to be intimate only a day after being molested by a jailer and two guards, physically abused, tortured with thumb screws, then watching a woman being eaten by rodents and seeing her (likely) grievously wounded. The female protagonist (sorry, forgot her name, that's how boring she is) is basically only an object for Lewen to lust over, or to be used and abused to propel the story forward. No one in the story appreciates her as a whole person, not even her lover... and that's just plain sad. I really want him to either die or get a big fat wakeup call. Also, creepy how preoccupied with her "innocence" he is. He is selfish and whiny and makes me want to barf.

The fall of the previous heroes.

Having loved the previous series, it's so hard to see what has become of all the previous heroes in this one. The now leaders rule with undisguised racism, despite having come to power supposedly to embrace all races. They care nothing for the poor of the city, pay no heed to abuses and disappearances that happen under their watch, and generally spend all their time playing. Little intelligence at all is shown from any of the witches, who come to conclusions at the pace of an elementary school student, and question their own conclusions in the very next scene after having experienced stark evidence. And finally, we're expected to believe that after spending all her days ignoring the kingdom, shirking her duties, and flirting with all the men at court to the point that they literally kill each other over her, somehow a certain young woman can lead the empire without it falling into corruption and ruin? The plot is weak and mostly hinges on everyone being idiots until it's too late. And, that's really all that happens in this book. All of the great, wise, experienced powerful people from the previous series do nothing but wring their hands and ignore anyone not of sufficient standing. I don't know what the third book brings, but I'm concerned that it appears the author thinks she can redeem characters without a redemption arc, park characters doing nothing until they're needed, and have everyone ignore the vilest deeds until death and destruction visit each of them personally--in the name of tension? Does she think this is plot? Such a disappointment.
The narration is brilliant as ever. I blame the characters for being so difficult to listen to.