The Charm Runner

Book 1 of the Broken Throne Saga

De: Jamie Davis

Narrado por: Stacy Gonzalez

Running Black Market Magic Is Deadly....

Winnie Durham just wants honest work in her shop selling charms.

Then Nils Kane’s Resolution 84 outlawed magic.

Caught between the law, her mother's escalating medical bills, and a vow to never deal in dark magic, Winnie is given an opportunity that's too good to refuse.

Will they close Winnie’s shop?

Can she stay ahead of the law long enough to discover the real reason magic was banned?

The Charm Runner is the first book in the action-packed Broken Throne series. Enter a magical world with gangsters, crooked cops, and a dark secret threatening to end it all. Join Winnie and her crew and find out what life is like as a charm runner.

Click and get The Charm Runner now.

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Brilliant Character Driven Story!

Charm Runner follows the story of 18yr old Durham, a young woman with the ability to use magic in a world that is in some ways similar to ours (the story is kind of set in our time frame), but in which there are ‘Chanters’ people who are able to cast magic. This can be on items to make life easier, such as a shaving blade that gives you a clean shave and never cuts you, to helping building foundations and electrical grids for those more technical minded. But there is also a darker magic, the Sable magic, that can be cast on a person, which is illegal. This is any magic that affects a person, from enhancing a person, to causing a negative affect on them.
Winnie has taken over her mother’s shop, ‘Charmed’ as her mother has severe arthritis and needs expensive medicine to help her. Winnie uses her magic to enchant items, and things are ok, except that at the opening of the book, a new law, Resolution 84, is passed, banning magical items and enchanting, putting Winnie out of business.
This is a fascinating story, there are multiple different storylines and characters that we get to learn from Winnie.
From the start of the story, Winnie is harassed by those that ‘Police’ Chanters, the Red Legs as they called for their distinctive uniforms (funnily enough, with red pants), unfortunately for Winnie, she has come to the attention of a fanatic of the Red Legs, a Constable with delusions of grandeur called Victor, who hates anything and anyone magical.
Winnie has also attracted the attention of Artos Merrilyn, who everyone knows (but can’t prove) to be the king of the Sable trade – getting those items that are illegal for people who can pay, through his own group of Charm Runners.
When Winnie gets shut down, Artos sends a customer to her, to ‘repair’ an item, which is a loophole in Resolution 84 (Chanters can’t make new items, but they can fix them), and whilst doing this, Winnie discovers she is able to do something very unique.
At the same time, her cousin, Joey who is addicted to using Sable magic (you get a rush from using Sable magic like a drug addiction), and is now in trouble with some Thugs, her mother’s medicine goes up, the shop can’t operate anymore, which means she can’t offer her friend Cait a job, everything is going wrong.
Added to that, is the fanatical Constable trying to arrest her at every opportunity, just to make her life even more difficult. And, then there is the strange rich boy, Danny Barber, who keeps coming to her aid, and she can’t resist his smile.
This is a brilliant story, with some wonderful characters, Winnie is this vibrant, strong and fascinating character, caught in this difficult position of desperately needing money, but having a strong moral code as well. She is highly intelligent, but she also knows that there are several people relying on. There are so many other great characters in this book to, her friends, Cait, the ex Chanter Soldier, who has been trained in magical combat arts, and is intensely loyal to Winnie, Tris, who works for the city, and is clever, and very technical, her cousin Joey, who is a bit of a mess, having been a ‘Sable-Junky’, but is actually a really nice guy, and just needs help. And then there is Danny Barber, the rich kid, whose parents are fanatical magic haters and high up in the movement to rid the city of magic users.
Artos Merrilyn is also outstanding. He is not what he seems, kind and wise, but also in charge of this criminal organisation, but it is set up to help Chanters.
One other thing that is really intriguing is that there is a lot of Arthurian links and hints throughout the story (I am not going to give any spoilers – but there are multiple ‘easter eggs’ as such to take note of in this first book – one of the first being Winnie’s proper name). It just adds this whole extra dimension to the story and makes it so much more fun!!
Charm Runners is a fun, beautifully written story, that is easy to read, with stunning world building, and enchanting characters that you just get captivated by. This has everything, magic, action, romance, intrigue, betrayal, and it also has some wonderful Arthurian references with are just brilliant. Jamie Davis has created a stunning start to what is going to be a sensational series!!
Stacy Gonzalez is exceptional as the Narrator for this series, she has the best voice for Winnie as she gives her this wonderfully strong and vibrant young voice, with that hint of defiance that is so prevalent in Winnies characters.
The wonderful thing about Gonzalez is though, she creates all these other characters (including the male voices) with such ease, so that each of the characters has their own, very distinctive and easy to recognise voice, making it very easy to know who is talking. Davis has written this with an audiobook in mind, so that it flows very nicely as Gonzalez tells the story, and she does an outstanding job of not just the voices, but also capturing their emotional state. She really brings the characters to life, so that we understand if they are angry, frustrated, happy, you can even here that romantic edge in some of the characters voices, that emotional edge people get when they are excited by the start of a new relationship. Gonzalez is just extraordinary, and this is a brilliant performance, it is absolutely a must listen!!

Pretty decent start, fun to listen to when driving

This is not my favorite from Jamie Davis, but it is fun and entertaining in its own right. Definitely gets stronger as the series goes on. The magic system is interesting and artfully done (I like the idea of "weaving the flows" of the enchantments), but there were a few moments when the plot lost me a little (sometimes things just seemed to get... unrealistically bad for Winnie). At the same time, it is massively entertaining, especially once you get to the later books. Give it a shot if you like modern fantasy!