A Blight of Mages

By: Karen Miller

Narrated by: Eileen Stevens

Length: 25 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Hundreds of years before the great Mage War, a land lies, unknowing, on the edge of catastrophe....

Barl is young and impulsive, but she has a power within that calls to her. In her city, however, only those of noble blood and with the right connections learn the ways of the arcane. Barl is desperate to learn - but her eagerness to use her power leads her astray and she is banned from ever learning the mystic arts.

Morgan holds the key to her education. A member of the Council of Mages, he lives to maintain the status quo, preserve the mage bloodlines, and pursue his scholarly experiments. But Barl's power intrigues him in spite of her low status. Together, he realizes they can create extraordinary new incantations. Morgan's ambition and Barl's power make a potent combination. What she does not see is the darkness in him that won't be denied.

A Blight of Mages is the new novel set in the world of Karen Miller's best-selling debut The Innocent Mage.

Spellbound? Also listen to The Innocent Mage.

©2011 Karen Miller (P)2011 Hachette

I like the other books better

This book probably should have been several books. The story felt rushed towards the end.

entertaining listening that breaks down

I really enjoyed the first half of the book. Ms Miller does a great job of setting the story plot regarding two people who have been misunderstood and fighting to overcome odds. The narrator is great. They meet, fall in love, all that. Where the story turns completely is when the man, goes crazy and now we enter the realm of the "Mad Scientist" who chases everyone including his lover to extinction. It becomes more of a B movie horror flick. The man changes people into giant armored plated vicious bugs. Then it abruptly ends. He of course is doomed. It looks like the girl is probably doomed as well as her interesting altruistic brother who gets it at the end. It reminds me of a soap opera where they kill off characters you grew an attachment with and now you are wondering if the author will let them go or bring them back. In the sequel we are waiting on someone new to rescue the world. I'll buy the next and hope it gets better.

Almost gave up with the narrator’s phrasing

I have enjoyed every Karen Miller book. They are unique enough to be captivating. The narrator for this book wasn't a great pick. In her attempt to make unique male voices she fell flat and her phrase pacing was problematic.

agood start to an epic adventure.

a little slow at times and argumentative character s. can be upsetting. But there is a good story in there.

Dialogue is Excruciating

I very much enjoyed The Innocent Mage and The Awakened Mage. Having read those two books makes this book interesting. However, in this book, the two major characters don't even meet unti the 15th chapter. There is an excessive amount of unnecessary dialogue that does not push the plot forward. I spent well over 50 minutes listening to two characters fight each other about the same points, going in circles over and over again. I am determined to finish this book, as I have great love for this story as a whole, but the dialogue makes it almost unbearable.

The narrator has about 3 total different voices and her male voices sound garbled and like bad vocal frying.

I didn't expect to dislike the book so much.

What disappointed you about A Blight of Mages?

I read Innocent Mage and Awakened Mage and enjoyed them very much.
The two main characters of A Blight of Mages hadn't even met before I couldn't listen to any more. I found the dialogue very argumentative. If I wanted to listen to family squabbling, I'd watch American reality television. I also thought the story itself was very predictable...socially dissatisfied poor girl meets disillusioned rich boy.

Would you ever listen to anything by Karen Miller again?

I wish I could think of a redeeming comment to make about the book but I really didn't like it. I've moved on to a different book and likely won't read any more of this author's works.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Personally, I didn't care for the performance. I found the narrator's male voices especially jarring.

boring

it's ok just drags on. hope the next one is better. disappointed for sure. poof