Melody of Mana

A Progression Fantasy

By: Wandering Agent

Narrated by: Reba Buhr

Length: 12 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

A young bard must rely on otherworldly know-how to navigate a magical, war-torn kingdom in the first book of an inventive coming-of-age fantasy series.

Alana wasn’t always a child of the Kingdom of Bergond. In fact, she hails from an entirely different world. But an accident on Earth left her dead, and she was reincarnated as the daughter of a farmer and his wife in the hamlet of Orsken. Now, she’s learning how to live in a land vastly unlike that which she came from—and how to wield the new powers she possesses. For, even by the rules of her strange new home, Alana is special: a young bard capable of mending wounds, counteracting poisons, and healing the sick, all through the use of mana and her own mind.

But as she cultivates her newfound abilities through training with various teachers in the magical arts, those around her are struggling. War has torn the empire apart, and famine is disrupting the simple lives of the villagers. When the conflict comes right to their doorstep, Alana is separated from her family and forced to set out on her own. To remain safe and have any chance of reuniting with those she loves, she will need to apply all her cunning, sorcery, and knowledge—both of this world and Earth. Because there are forces that would do anything to control her, and they’re growing ever closer to discovering who and where she is.

Blending elements of traditional and progression fantasy, Melody of Mana is an action-packed and original story of magic, politics, friendship, and intrigue from a thrilling new voice in the genre.

The first volume of the hit progression-fantasy series—with more than a million views on Royal Road—now available on Audible!

©2022 Michael Robert Taylor (P)2022 Podium Audio

Loved it

I thoroughly enjoyed the story overall and am excited to get started on book two.

That being said I have one criticism - and please note this is a personal opinion and may not reflect what most of you potential readers may think. My one issue is the differing POVs from what I personally saw as side characters. This wasn't aggregious by any means, as it was not frequently used throughout the story. For me, though, even the few times it was presented, it felt like a waste of time. Important background story information was revealed through these POVs, but I know there are better ways to get that info across without detracting from the main character.

Love it

I love this book and I can’t wait to read every bit of the rest of the series

one of the best storys ive heard in a while

its a nice pace story with it never feeling too slow or too quick and good world building and main and side characters and doestnt feel like a generic reincsrnation with the whole story feeling fresh

Excellent grounded fantasy

It was the slice of life elements that surprised me the most. The pacing feels good, but in a way you don't often see. An event will be mentioned, then the story will skip straight to it after the current scene. A lot of time passes in this book, but not in a way that feels choppy. It helps a surprising amount with how well earned the power scaling seems.

Speaking of power scaling, I'd say this is generally a lower powered story both in terms of the world and the main character in relation to the world. Its a much lower powered world than even something like The Wandering Inn. The MC does gain a sizable bit of power by the end of the book, but even then it's not like you want to see her in a deadly fight against trained opponents.

She is a practical thinker with advantages from her memories, but any knowledge she uses is either general information that it is believable she would have, or, on one occasion, has a believable story explaining why she knows about a more niche topic.

*minor spoiler*

The thing I think grounded the story best for me were the effects of war on those not directly involved, and the way trauma is treated. Also how news travels.

Didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did

I don't normally review books (even though I've listened to a ton!) so I'll keep it short. This series so far (listened to the first 2) has been absolutely amazing & a very enjoyable listen. I found the narration to be very clean & engaging. I'll be looking for other books Reba Buhr performed for. The story itself has been very well thought out & put together very nicely. The MC is probably one of my favorite characters from any book I've listened too. She just has a great personality & is quite witty.

I'm looking forward to the next books in the series!

A well crafted story

The author has created a wonderful blend bright and dark moments along with familiar and fantastic. I’m only half way in and I appreciate seeing the character’s growth and not being a simple OP protagonist.

Satisfying tale

I enjoyed this story and am going to read the next one. The narrator took me a while to get used to.

Good but Bland

This is a cute little Isekai story that has a lot of the same elements as Ascendance of a Book Worm, although the actual stories are quite different. It has good points and bad, much like most books. On the good side, the main character isn't overly powerful right from the start, and she isn't all that special apart from having magic powers. Having magical powers isn't super rare in this world, but enough that most nobles are magic users. The magic system in the book is pretty lax, which is fine. There are three main types of users: wizards, physical magic users, and bards. The MC is a bard, which just means her magic is generally weaker but more versatile than the other two types, and she has to sing (or dance) to make it happen. Don't worry, though, there aren't any songs at all in the book and the fact that she is a bard is almost ignored, so we don't have to suffer through terrible rhymes every time she casts.
On the down side of things, the plot doesn't really exist. This is more like a blow-by-blow account of the main character's life as she grows up. It isn't bad, but just know that this is a slow burn, nearly slice-of-life style book. It's like a Jane Austen novel in anime form. However, I believe there will be more world-changing events in the next book, and our girl will probably be going off to magic school. I'm not too sure how to feel about that but the writing was good enough that I don't mind giving the next book in the series a chance.

Slow cooked masterpiece

really good I would go in depth but I highly despise audibles review system.

A good start.

The time jumps from during some chapters mid read can be jarring but overall a good first book outing. I will be picking up the next book to continue as it has hooked me just enough to want to see what happens next. As most good series should.