The Twelfth Enchantment

De: David Liss

Narrado por: Susan Duerden

Lucy Derrick is a young woman of good breeding and poor finances. After the death of her beloved father, she is forced to maintain a shabby dignity as the unwanted boarder of her tyrannical uncle, fending off marriage to a local mill owner. But just as she is on the cusp of accepting a life of misery, events take a stunning turn when a handsome stranger - the poet and notorious rake Lord Byron - arrives at her house, stricken by what seems to be a curse, and with a cryptic message for Lucy. Suddenly her unfortunate circumstances are transformed in ways at once astonishing and seemingly impossible.

With the world undergoing an industrial transformation, and with England on the cusp of revolution, Lucy is drawn into a dangerous conspiracy in which her life, and her country’s future, are in the balance. Inexplicably finding herself at the center of cataclysmic events, Lucy is awakened to a world once unknown to her: where magic and mortals collide, and the forces of ancient nature and modern progress are at war for the soul of England... and the world. The key to victory may be connected to a cryptic volume whose powers of enchantment are unbounded.

Now, challenged by ruthless enemies with ancient powers at their command, Lucy must harness newfound mystical skills to prevent catastrophe and preserve humanity’s future. And enthralled by two exceptional men with designs on her heart, she must master her own desires to claim the destiny she deserves. The Twelfth Enchantment is the most captivating work to date of a master literary conjurer.

©2011 David Liss (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Picks up interest

I liked the austenesque quality of this story cross matched with magic. The narrator at first really grated with her too breathy performance but I preserved and found I could set it aside at last to enjoy the story.

Not my "cup of tea," but it's not bad for the type

I generally like David Liss, particularly his 18th Century London adventure series; but this book didn't suit me. It's too much the feverish "family secret" melodrama of the VC Andrews "Flowers in the Attic" type for my taste. However, the performance was good, and many parts of the story were good "reading." I did not much like the end, though.

Fantansy

I listened because I loved the Whiskey Rebels, but this book is not as good. Comfortable because of familiar characters but the plot of the book is woven into magic spells and charms that are hard (at least for me) to believe.

well done

Well written novel. It was a struggle to develop any investment in the secondary characters. An enjoyable read.

Not Magical Enough

The Twelfth Enchantment - David Liss
audio performance by Susan Duerden
3 stars

It is possible that Lucy Derrick escaped from the pages of an unknown Jane Austin novel before becoming trapped in this elaborately (or perhaps randomly) plotted fantasy by David Liss. The recently orphaned and impoverished Lucy lives in England at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The country is gripped by the violence of the Luddite uprising, while Lucy is occupied with repelling her avaricious uncle in his plans to marry her off to a rich but disgusting mill owner. And, then there is the problem of her burgeoning magical powers and the arrival of a bewitched Lord Byron. This sounds like an engaging fantasy that I would really enjoy.

I’m not sure that I can fairly evaluate this book, because, the audio performance destroyed the narrative. I loved Susan Duerdon’s performance in the multi-voiced Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, but her reading of this book was annoying, to say the least. Her uplifted breathy inflection turned every statement into an implied question and her incredulous, little girl voice missed the wry, Austenesque, humor that David Liss was trying to inject.
I might have enjoyed a print copy of the book more than the audio, but nothing would clear up the muddled nature of this book’s magical forces and the convoluted plot. I found the story to be mildly entertaining and almost immediately forgettable.