Shadowspell Academy: The Culling Trials: Book 1

By: K.F. Breene, Shannon Mayer

Narrated by: Khristine Hvam

Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

You don’t choose the academy. The academy chooses you.

I had no idea how those words would change my life. Or how they’d changed my life already...until the day the most dangerous man I’ve ever met waltzed onto my farm and left us a death sentence. In an invitation.

My younger brother has been chosen for the prestigious, secret magical school hidden within the folds of our mundane world. A place so dangerous, they don’t guarantee you’ll make it out alive.

If he doesn't go, our entire family will be killed. It’s the same invitation my older brother received three years ago - the same place where he mysteriously died.

The academy has already killed one sibling. I’ll be damned if they take another. I do the only thing an older sister can: chop off my hair, strap on two bras to flatten the girls, and take my brother’s place.

Magic and monsters are real. Assassins are coming for me, and the dead are prone to rise. What’s a girl faking it as a boy supposed to do? That’s right - beat the academy at its own game. Or die trying.

Praise for the book:

"This book is Harry Potter meets the Hunger Games in a bold twist on a classic magical young adult adventure." (Jaymin Eve, best-selling author of Supernatural Academy series)

©2019 K.F. Breene and Shannon Mayer (P)2019 K.F. Breene and Shannon Mayer

Grew on me

About halfway through I got used to the wording and long explanation of everything. Got into Wylde and now I've already bought the next one.

Magic is real

Wild already lost one brother and refuses to lose another when the same people come looking Billy. With a threat made to her family, Wild decides to take his place. Not only is magic real, but she discovers the trials to get accepted into Shadowspell Academy can kill you. With an unlikely group of new friends, Wild sets out to make it through the Culling trials, while trying to keep her secret and her family safe.

would recommend

Really good story & the narrator has a great texas accent for Wild, which I admit, did take a chapter or two to get use to but I really liked especially when during a group conversation really shows the narrator's range & ability of voices. Wild's is perfect for the character.
Would recommend this book & I'm starting the second book in the series next.

great book

loved it! but there were a couple of places where coolete sentences were repeated. but still worth the time.

Awful sound quality

Story is good, but each chapter sounds like a different person. The sound quality is totally inconsistent!

Fiesty

Meet Wild. She loves her family, and goes above and beyond to keep them safe! There's tons of action, and if you love snark...let me tell you...you're gonna LOVE Wild!

Very engaging story and narration!

great story line engaged my hard to please 12 year old and keept me entertained as well during a long drive. look forward to the other books. the performance was really good. vocals were pleasing great voice acting and accents. she made the characters come to life the only issue was that the volume and tone would very from one chapter to the next so we had to keep making adjustments on the mixer and volume to compensate. Everytime the sound would change it distracted from the story and took a min to adjust to the new pitch. I'd give performance 4.5 but I can't so one star down just because the weird sound changes in the recording.

Too Short

I don’t know why they split this into two books, otherwise it is entertaining enough.

Narrator issues…

Well this is a great story, the narration tends to ruin it.…
Some chapters are read loud and clear, but others are muffled and hard to understand. It’s clear that every chapter was recorded separately 😕

Would recommend

Overall, not a bad book. I enjoyed the story and I did get a kick out of some of the humor. The reader is absolutely horrible though… sounds like they tried to find someone in NY to do a Texas/Country accent… not even close… switch readers and this book is a 10/10.