It's a good book, but it could have been great. Great narration for the audio book.
583871
First of all - It's a good book. If you've read the previous books, then you should definitively read this one.

I like the character development and the very intense discussions ("ethical" discussions) the characters have. Not going into too much detail, I'll just say the characters seem to be processing things that in other series just get swept under the rug.

I really liked that.

The plot is OK. Not the best in the series, but interesting and develops the overall plot arch quite nicely.

The world is very well built. The magic is very interesting and well described. Well, all the magic EXCEPT our hero's magic...

And that's an issue with the series I had from the beginning. Alex's divination is really under used / under described. It's like the writer imagines Alex most of the time as having no divination at all. Sure, sometimes he explicitly uses it, but other than those instances, it's as if the writer doesn't even think about it.

And this could have been solved so easily - even a simple semantic change in the exact same text would have gone a long way to give us the "feel" of divination and added a whole lot to the books!

As a small example from a different book in the series - Alex is having a training fight with another mage, which is used to kind of explain to us (the readers) what divination is.

At some point he says something like

"I saw her attack left her head open, so as she moved in I hit her in the forehead"

This could have been said by anyone! Nothing in this sentence says "divination"!

Just changing it into

"I saw her attack will leave her head open, so as she moved in I hit her in the forehead"

Just that small change add a whole lot for the reader's "divination" sense. And that sort of thing is everywhere.

Big and small, the author just doesn't seem to "get" divination. Annoying.

-----------------------------------

For the audio-book fans - it's still the same narrator as the previous books. And he's a darn good narrator. He really fits great with this book
4956310
Having listed to audio book, wanted to see movie.  Book was great, kinda disappointed the movie went off course from the book somewhat.
4668073
The best and worst thing about an audiobook is that the narration very much affects your enjoyment of the book. And the best and worst thing about a review of an audiobook is that it very much takes the narration into account when discussing the book. Some books are only made better by great narration. Sadly, my experience has been that this is rare. Usually the best an audiobook can hope for is to not ruin the book for the listener with narration that is uneven, filled with weird accent choices, delivered too fast or too slow, read at an odd pitch, or just otherwise odd. This, in my experience, is far too common.

Take, for example, the case of Sinatra and Me: The Very Good Years, by Tony Consiglio and Franz Douskey. It's plenty interesting. It's a memoir of Sinatra's life as told by one of his oldest and closest friends, Tony Consiglio. It's also an audiobook narrated by Norman Dietz. It's the last bit that's the problem.

There's a fine line between bringing a story to life by imitating the voice and cadence of the author (or the subject), and turning your narration into a stereotyped-filled caricature. Actually it's not that fine a line. I felt like I was listening to Jackie Mason as Rabbi Krustofski from The Simpsons.

Disclaimer: I received a digital copy of this audiobook free from Tantor Media through Edelweiss. I was asked to write an honest review, though not necessarily a favourable one. The opinions expressed are strictly my own.
2371555
I really enjoyed listening to this book, the narrator did a fantastic job. The book itself painted a very vivid world and left me wanting to know more of its history and people. However, be warned.. At times the book can repeat itself and go in circles, leaving you frustrated and confused when it begins dialogue between the two main protagonist.
2484154
Just finished this audiobook today on the way home from work. I really enjoyed it. Often times, I've found that the reader can make or break an audiobook. The reader on this book is very good. And the content is very good as well.
3926066
To the publisher I would appreciate it if the publisher could produce an audio adaptation of this book. I would love to listen to this while I drive to work and to let my 16 month old son listen to it as a bedtime story.  Arnold D Veness
199724
I listened to this book on audible during a long drive. I found it very entertaining. I must say, it threw me for a loop. While I really liked the book, the ending seemed rushed for the amount of suspense the author built up in the previous chapters. I feel if she went and changed things, it could have lead the reader to the conclusion instead of the way the author had the main character blurt everything out. I really enjoyed in a deep, deep wood as well.
3576510
I thought the beginning was not very good, but ended great. My first audio book.
2196240
I enjoyed the book a lot and have sped through the whole series. These have everything you would want to convert a book into a good movie, so I am sure that will also be a good series. Overall, it can be disjointed at times and I wish for better character development sometimes, which is why it got 4 instead of 5 stars. I do realize that some of that is because of the storyline, so I still really enjoyed it.
3280834
The book itself is quite good. I didn't see the ending coming at all and there was actually a couple of different plot lines that came together nicely. I reviewed this book initially before I had finished because I was so irritated by the narration. At that time I gave it 3 stars, but it deserves more than that. In fact, if it weren't for the narrator in this audio version, I would have given 5 stars.

The narration was really distracting. There were times when it was okay, usually when the narrator was just reading the descriptive parts. Unfortunately when he got to actual dialogue I couldn't believe how horrible it was. No one speaks this way. He enunciated every single syllable and pronounced "the" as "thee" as part of his attempt (I guess) to mimic a bad Southern accent. Honestly, I felt at times, as though I was listening to Hank Hill's buddy, Dale Gribble. I'm amazed he didn't have the main female character talk like Peggy! Not only that, every bit of dialog sounded exactly the same, whether it's one of the boys talking or the adults.

I love audio books and as I stated the actual story is quite good. A better reader would have made a big difference.
2414218
Ive read the book twice and this time wanted to listen on audio. Great narrator.
2929427
I liked the story, but the book could have used just a bit more editing.  I was exhausted with the amount of conversations taking place in the book.
More narrative would have improved the book tremendously.
2638531
I think this series had so much potential to be great. Poor editing and a lack of depth kept it from reaching said potential. I still really enjoyed it though! It's worth a read.
3176023
The first 2books were great and I can 're wait for the next one. I wish they had been audio
I
2959533
I enjoyed the book, even though there is something unfulfilling about it. Maybe it's the audiobook narration by Timothy Dalton - the story fits him well. Or maybe I enjoyed the glimpse of 1950-s Ireland and America.
2958720
The reader is excellent and my son and I have been really enjoying this audiobook.  However, I have noticed that some parts have been left out. A paragraph here or there--nothing too terrible but it is not completely unabridged.
3332719
I really like this book but it could be much better. I recommend you get it. Even though it's not to good I still like it.