Shadow Magic

By: Patricia Wrede

Narrated by: Nicole Greevy

Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

In the magic woods of Lyra, a noblewoman struggles to escape from a faceless man.

Trouble is brewing in Alkyra. While the kingdom’s noblemen squabble, on their borders an ancient enemy, the Lithmern, raises an army. As the head of the Noble House of Brenn attempts to organize an alliance, the princess Alethia celebrates her 20th birthday. She is a remarkable woman: quick-witted, beautiful, and handy with a throwing knife. But on the next night, she passes through a dark corridor on her way to the banquet hall, and never emerges from the shadows. The Lithmern have kidnapped the princess.

When Alethia regains consciousness, an evil Lithmern with a face made of shadows is carrying her through the forest. These are magic woods, home to fabled creatures whose existence she has always doubted. To find her way home, Alethia will have to learn to trust in the old tales, whose legends of magic and daring hold the only hope of saving her kingdom.

©1982 Patricia C. Wrede (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

ok story - robotic narrator

The story was fine but the narrator sounded like a computer -- a step down from Siri.

Story was great, narrator.... left much to be desi

The story was nice, if a little predictable, the narration left a lot to be desired, it was stilted and left much to be desired... I stopped listening on many occasions, was not sure I could finish listening to this narrator. Hoping the next book's reading is better.

Narrator could be better, but the story excellent!

To greatly improve the narration, play at 1.2 speed. This allows you to really enjoy the story.

Execution is Key

I have read this story over and over in the course of my youth, and I happily anticipated hearing it again. Sadly, the narrator had almost no inflection, and did not modulate her voice to indicate when different characters were speaking.

If I were to recommend a better narrator, that would be Amanda Ronconi, who did a wonderful job with the Thirteenth Child series, also by Patricia Wrede.

Horrible Narrator!!

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Not the audio version with this narrator.. Maybe print version.. I enjoy Patricia C. Wrede's books.

How could the performance have been better?

Different Narrator

Weak story, horrendous narration

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator was the worst I've ever listened to. I literally thought I was listening to text-to-speech.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The world-building was good, but the entire book feels like a summary of a much more interesting series of books. You know the old writing adage, show don't tell? This is a great example of what you should NOT do.

Would you be willing to try another one of Nicole Greevy’s performances?

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you think Shadow Magic needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I respect Patricia Wrede as an author and have read many of her books. This one should have been heavily reworked to bring it up to her current standard of writing. It's obvious that this was an early novel by a promising beginner, not the product of a seasoned writer.

Any additional comments?

Skip this one and listen to some of the author's later works, but not if they're read by the same narrator. I will NEVER listen to anything by this narrator again.

awful narration

Hard to listen to, although I enjoyed the book. Hope the next book is easier to hear.

Couldn't finish it.

The voice actress ruins the whole thing. It almost sounds AI. The story it self seemed alright. But the reading of it is just bad.

Wish I could get a refund

Nicole Greevy is THE WORST narrator I've EVER attempted to tolerate. Her voice is grating and her attempt at doing characterization through different choices made me want to pull my eyes out.

I couldn't even get past chapter 5.

What a waste

Enjoyed the book but can't bear the narration

Listen to the sample. If you don't mind that the entire story will be read in that exact tone and cadence, then give it a try. But I just couldn't finish.

I like the story. It's one I read in the 1980s, and enjoyed then. I'd hoped that the performance might get better as the narrator progressed some, but no luck.