magic – Page 28

Review of Enna Burning by Shannon Hale

SFFaudio Review

Enna Burning
By Shannon Hale; Read by Cynthia Bishop and the Full Cast Family
8 CDs – 8.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Full Cast Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781934180198
Themes: / Fantasy / YA / Magic / Fairy Tale /

First, I have to say that I LOVE Full Cast Audio. They always do family-friendly books and they are always unabridged. They do an excellent job.

Enna Burning is the sequel to Goose Girl, Shannon Hale’s novelization of the classic fairy tale (also on audiobook by Full Cast Audio). However, you do not need to read/listen to Goose Girl to enjoy Enna Burning”. Hale does an excellent job of giving just enough background to ensure that the reader knows what is going on.

The story is well paced and full of action. The cast of actors does a great job of keeping the feel of the book and keeping the listener’s attention.

Izzy, the “goose girl”, is now princess and her friend, Enna, has gone home to the forest to take care of her dying mother. Enna’s mother dies before the book starts, but she is still in the forest, taking care of her older brother, Leifer. Leifer finds a long-hidden piece of vellum that teaches him to magically work fire. He struggles to control this power as it slowly consumes him. Finally, he uses his power to save their country of Bayern from the invading country to the South, but the fire destroys him.

Enna’s curiosity gets the better of her, and she, too, reads the vellum, telling herself she won’t ever follow the path her brother chose. But her need to help Izzy and save Bayern from being destroyed soon cause her to take a path not of her choosing.

The story is well paced and entertaining. It is written for the Middle Grade/Young Adult market, but is a great story for all ages. I highly recommend both the book and the audiobook.

Posted by Charlene C. Harmon

Review of Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

SFFaudio Review

Fool Moon: Book Two of the Dresden Files
By Jim Butcher; Read by James Marsters
1 MP3 Disc or 8 CDs – Approx. 10.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Buzzy Multimedia
Published: 2003
ISBN: 9780965725583
Themes: / Fantasy / Mystery / Magic / Private Detective / Wizard / Noir /

The fantastically grey world of Wizard Harry Dresden is back in this, the second book of the series. Harry Dresden is still a private investigator who has special supernatural powers that people who believe in him would call being a Wizard. Those who do not believe in such things might call him a fake. This coupled with the fact that Dresden still has the ability to get himself in to the deepest and darkest of trouble makes for a equally fun and entertaining read.

Fool Moon takes place less than a year after the climax of Storm Front (Dresden, Book 1). As the title suggests, Fool Moon spends much of its time dealing with supernatural creatures of the night known to us as Werewolves. And as it turns out there is a lot I did not know about werewolves. There are many different ways to become one and there are many different versions of them as well. So, even if you are not an expert in werewolves, don’t worry, because neither is our hero, Mr. Dresden.

For two months, when the moon is full, certain people have been dying horribly gruesome deaths and Dresden finally gets a call from his friend and main source of income, Detective Murphy. She’s the head of the city’s special investigations and leans on Harry whenever the mystery has a twinge of the unexplainable. When Dresden gets the call from her, he jumps at the chance to pay the bills and put some food on the table. The moon is full for four nights and that’s all the time they have to solve the murders. As they start to connect the pieces to the puzzle, they both begin to realize that they are not prepared for what is about to happen.

The details and story are dark and horrifying. Dresden is the consummate intuitive detective, acting on things that he isn’t quite sure about, but just has a solid hunch or gut feeling. His sage-like wisdom often leads him in the right direction, but also leaves him asking the question, “Now what?” These intuitions are what I like best about Harry. His wizardry is more than just using magic. It’s more like an innate ability to look at any given situation from a different perspective.

It always gets him in to trouble, not because he is wrong, but because he is right about so many things. You might find yourself pitying the poor wizard as he follows his nose and heart in to trouble. He gets beaten to a pulp more than once and I was wondering how much more could he take? Trust me, Harry Dresden gets pushed to the physical and mental limits in this story and the depths he visits, both magically and psychologically, are sure to get your heart pumping. The thought “don’t go there” crept in to my mind more than once. The Harry Dresden “hat tricks” will put a smile on your face and keep you asking for more.

I like the way Dresden is written, always telling the tale in a first person. It sucks you in to Dresden’s brain. It’s from his perspective, which isn’t always correct. But, you’re in it with him. Dresden often makes decisions based on his point of view or the facts that he has at the time, like we all do and some times. It’s just not every day that we are all making life or death decisions on how to best defeat a violent, man eating beast, like Harry does in this book.

The first person narrative is perfect for the audio book outlet. In fact, it’s almost as if these words were meant to be spoken out loud. The text is not too proper and not too relaxed either. Just right. The book is narrated stunningly well, once again by James Marsters, AKA Spike of Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. He’s able to capture the essence of the character, moment by moment. He immortalizes the wit, sarcasm, and underdogedness of Dresden in a single paragraph, all while sounding incredibly relaxed. It’s just another telling of a story straight from the guy it happened to.

Fool Moon is not unlike the previous production of Storm Front. In some places the audio production is flawed. There are periodical flubs by the reader, things that could be easily edited out of the soundtrack to bring the quality of the production in to the same level as the writing and performing. You can also hear the faint sounds of page turns and other pesky undesirables that only pull you out of the story that Jim Butcher and James Marsters are working so hard to keep you sucked in to. I have spoken about this before and will resist the urge to go on another tirade about the virtues of audible storytelling and the need for quality to assure the listener’s total absorption in to the world that they are listening to. So, I will only say that it is a little upsetting, because these are simple problems that even podcasters, such as J.C Hutchins and Scott Sigler, with their homegrown recordings have figured out how to avoid. Why not the professionals at Buzzy?

But, all criticism aside, if you are a fan of audio books and a fan of Harry Dresden, the flaws and inconsistencies in this production of Jim Butcher’s wonderful concoction Fool Moon are few and far between. The world he has created grows richer and deeper with every word. The story starts strong on page one and continues on full force until the end. That’s said of Harry Dresden, as well. He is growing as a person and a wizard and I am looking forward to listening to the next installment of the Dresden books. And with eight more of them published, including the newly released Small Favor, I am sure to have many, many more hours of Dresden to spark my imagination and to keep me wishing I had some of those tricks up my sleeve.

Posted by Michael Bekemeyer of the Scatterpod podcast.

Review of Melting Stones by Tamora Pierce

SFFaudio Review

Melting Stones
By Tamora Pierce; Read by Grace Kelly and the Full Cast Audio family
8 CDs – 8.5 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Full Cast Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9481394180051
Themes: / Fantasy / Young Adult / Magic / Earth / Volcano /

I’m always excited when a new audiobook from Full Cast Audio comes across my desk, but this one was special, because the book doesn’t even exist in print at this time. Nope – this is an audio exclusive, folks! Tamora Pierce wrote this book with the Full Cast Audio family in mind, and it’s a wonderful audiobook.

The book’s main character is Evvy (a short form for Evumeimei), a young girl who is a stone mage. The book begins with her traveling on a boat, which is a difficult thing for a stone mage, because the separation between her and the rocky ground where here magic is effective is too great. She is accompanied Luvo, a heart of a mountain, who has very powerful magic, and a water mage named Dedicate Myrrhtide. The group ends up on an island called Starns Island after being drawn there by earth movement felt when the water was shallow enough. From there the adventure really kicks in, as the small band of mages try to calm the moving earth.

The audiobook is done in the distinctive Full Cast Audio style – it’s unabridged, but read by a full cast. I fear sounding like a parrot, but every review I write of a Full Cast Audio audiobook needs to convey the absolute quality of the audio experience that you get with one of these books. Full Cast Audio consistently enhances the text they are performing. Their audiobooks are unique, and a joy to hear.

Melting Stones is no exception. Grace Kelly performs Evvy, and therefore has the main narrating duties, since the book is told from Evvy’s point of view. Tamora Pierce gave Grace much to work with, and work with it she does. She offers a captivating and believable performance as the plucky young stone mage. Surrounding her is a large cast that, without exception, performs well. Seamless editing makes it all work together, giving us another excellent piece of work from Full Cast Audio.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Commentary: The Metamor City Podcast

SFFaudio Commentary

[Editor’s Note: In this commentary one of SFFaudio’s highly valued behind the scenes contributors, Nick Gassman, talks on the record about a recent podcast fiction series he’s been enjoying.]

Imagine a world where magic has developed alongside technology. A world where the fabric of a city is maintained not only by gravity and physics, but also by magic. That’s the world that Metamor City is situated in.

It’s also a city where the police chief is a wolverine, the chief medical examiner is a vampire (her ‘special’ attributes make her outstanding at her job), and where the normal people are called ‘mundies’, for ‘mundanes’, having no special skills or attributes. Mundies, and a potentially unlimited range of mythical and fantastic creatures live cheek by fang together, and in general manage to get along OK. But where there’s tension and conflict, usually between races (if that’s the right word), then that’s where the interest lies for the fiction.

It’s a city full of potential for the exploration of many themes, and one which the author, Chris Lester, exploits to great advantage. The Metamor City podcast is a thorough, in depth look at the characters and events of this fantastic metropolis. Lester’s style isn’t about fast moving action. The mix of short and long stories take their time to explain, explore, dissect, discover. The motivations of characters are important here, and there will be dwelling on detail if Lester feels it necessary to create a believable world – which it is.

The focus of the stories is the city itself, and all the rich variety that it contains, rather than a particular character. Stories are told from different perspectives, and characters could be major, minor, or absent from one story to the next.

The first few podcasts are narrated (well) by individuals, and then change to a cast who speak for each character, whilst Lester retains his role as the linking narrator. The quality is superb, with the ‘acting’ only a whisker away from full professional, and with nothing left to be desired from the production, and integration of music and sound effects. These sounds always add to the dramatic effect, unlike many podcasts (and, indeed, professional productions), where they can be intrusive, typically due to excessive volume or inappropriate material (cue very lengthy sound effect of footsteps).

If you want fast paced action, this isn’t for you. But if, like me, you hunger for great storytelling, great production, and a setting full of potential, then you’ll want to put this podcast high on your list of priorities.

Subscribe to the podcast via this feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/metamorcity

Posted by Nick Gassman

Review of Seeker: Book One of the Noble Warriors by William Nicholson

SFFaudio Review

Seeker: Book One of the Noble Warriors
By William Nicholson; Read by Michael Page
9 CDs – 10 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781423318354
Themes: / Fantasy / Epic Fantasy / Young Adult / Religion / Magic / Science /

“Three Very Different Heroes, Brought Together By A Shared Dream”

An elite band of fighter monks called the Nomana (AKA the “Noble Warriors”) guard a garden on the island of Anacrea within which dwells “the god who made all things.” Seeker (AKA “Seeker After Truth”) is an extremely intelligent boy of sixteen. He lives on the island, and wishes to follow his brother, the improbably named “Blaze Of Justice”, into the ranks of the Nomana. His father disapproves and he is forced to apply in secret. Morning Star, a girl of sixteen, can read a person’s aura to determine their character and emotions. She has the same goal, namely to become a Noble Warrior. With her father’s blessing and a hired guard, Morning Star sets out on a long journey to Anacrea. The two applicants are joined in the application line by a unschooled but charismatic seventeen year old brigand known only as “Wildman.” Wildman too is determined to become a “hoodie” (his word for the Nomana) after he found himself and his gang defeated by just two of the Noble Warriors. Far away in the imperial city of Radiance, a plot is hatching which will eventually involve all three youths.

When I first started listening to Seeker I couldn’t place just what kind of fantasy novel I’d taken on. It opens in a classroom, with a student named “Seeker After Truth” taking an important exam and deliberately writing down all the wrong answers. Intriguing, huh? Seeker wants to fail – that way, he hopes his father, who is also the class’ teacher, will free him of his planned destiny.

Author William Nicholson is unusually sparse with description. The setting is a school, but what are the desks made of? I don’t know. Do they have electric lighting? No data available. It takes a while for the listener to settle on what sort of technological capacity these people have and it takes even longer to understand what kind of tale this will be. Is this deliberate? After finishing the novel I’m still not sure. This is Nicholson’s second fantasy trilogy, and he’s crafted a recognizably fantasy epic in an unusual form. Is the lack of visual detail deliberate? It may be. Nicholson had a hand in writing plays and film scripts before finding further success with novels. He wrote the film scripts of First Knight (the Arthurian legend starring Richard Gere), Shadowlands (a biographical film about C.S. Lewis), the Ridley Scott-directed film Gladiator, and most recently Elizabeth: The Golden Age!

What I am sure about is this novel, the first of a trilogy, is about the nature of religious experience. Looking at Nicholson’s upbringing and his career, his writing is never far from either fantasy or religion. And perhaps most interestingly, when the novel first came out, he offered a “personal challenge to the reader” – if you could figure out what the nature of the Anacrean god was, before book two or three came out, he’d send you free copies of the books. He said the Anacrean god “is something you can’t possibly imagine.” Intriguing stuff.

The religions of Anacrea (an island fortress) and the city of Radiance, capital of a vast mainland empire, are both monotheistic. Anacrea’s mysterious god is called the “all and only.” It grants its monkish priests special powers which I can liken only to those of Star Wars‘s Jedi Knights. The Radiance god is the sun in their sky, and the citizens there have practiced ritual human sacrifice at twilight for centuries to keep the sun returning. But there are no magical powers for religious practitioners of Radiance. Instead, the upwardly mobile middle class of Radiance concerns itself with commerce or competes for prestige by buying human sacrificial offerings from slavers. And the Radiance elite, who employ something they call “scientists” are developing a weapon to rid themselves of the meddlesome monks on Anacrea.

The novel is good, but it doesn’t stand well enough on its own for an unreserved recommendation. One of the aspects I quite enjoyed was a kind of a con-game played on some willing believers about four-fifths of the way into the novel. The ending, which provides some resolution, wasn’t particularly surprising or revelatory. Nicholson is a successful playwright and an Oscar nominated screenwriter. It remains to be seen whether the mystery at the center of this trilogy will be as big a payoff as Nicholson is claiming – he calls the Noble Warriors trilogy the “most important thing I’ve ever done.” I’m intrigued enough to listen to the second book, entitled Jango (also available from Brilliance).

Reader Michael Page, a ten audiobook veteran for Brilliance Audio, is a British actor who narrates well. His males are distinguishable, his female voices are too, at typically a pitch lower. At one point though, when we meet a roadside oracle, in what proves to be a funny scene, Page presents a character with a Monty Python-style falsetto. His rendition of the “Wildman,” a major figure in the book, is always filled with a fun bluff gusto. The packaging itself features the handsome paperbook art. Each disc does too, and each opens and closes with a musical cue which is handy for people swapping discs. Each disc has 99 files, the idea being it makes for more accurate bookmarking. But if you’re planning on ripping a disc to put on your MP3 player be aware that not all programs make ripping a disc with this many files easy.

Lastly, a quibble. They’ve spelled “Noble” (of an exalted character) as “Nobel” (like the Swedish chemist). This was fixed for the sequel’s cover.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of The Dream-Time by Henry Treece

SFFaudio Review

The Dream-Time
By Henry Treece; Read by Tim Bentinck
2 Cassettes – Approx. 2 Hours 25 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Chivers Audio Books
Published: 1987
ISBN: 0745185894
Themes: / Science Fiction / Young Adult / Prehistorical / Art / Language / Magic /

“The Dream-time is a story of people in the very early morning of humanity, when they were not really used to being people at all, and so everything had a strangeness about it, and nothing was quite certain; not even that the spring would come again next year. They were so near the beginning that they can have had only the fewest and simplest of words with which to talk to each other and share their thoughts and feelings and ideas. And yet we know, from the things to do with their religion and way of life that they left behind them, and from Stone Age people who are alive today, such as the Bushmen of the Kalahari, that they had all kinds of complicated thoughts and fears and longings in their heads and hearts.”
-Postscript to The Dream-Time written by Rosemary Sutcliffe

At the dawn of human existence a young boy named Crookleg has mastery over a new kind of magic. His people, deeply superstitious, curse him for they fear his magic will harm the barley crop and the community. But Crookleg finds himself not agreeing with their opinions. His magic, the ability to make pictures of animals eventually finds him cast out. When he ventures into the dangerous lands beyond his home he finds danger, a new name, starvation and eventually family.

First published in 1967 The Dream Time was the last novel written by Henry Treece, a specialist in historical fiction. I first encountered Treece in the early 1980s after hearing the entirety The Lord Of The Rings. My uncle, looking for another book to read to me, produced a slim boxed trilogy of paperbacks that were themselves thinner than just The Fellowship Of The Ring alone. But as my uncle read me the story I soon learned that what Treece lacked in wordiness he made up for in craft. Treece was a poet, a surrealist of prose and had a gift for maximizing the value of words by careful selection and placement. Hearing Treece’s Viking Trilogy it felt as deep as The Lord Of The Rings – no small feat. To be fair though The Dream Time isn’t very long at all. At just two hours it feels only just longer than a short novel. The world Treece describes in The Dream Time is one full of primitive beliefs. Its inhabitants have an ultra-limited technology, none can write, little metal exists and communication with neighboring tribes is as dodgy as communicating with animals. The Dream-Time feels as universal and surreal as one can imagine for a history based book. One blogger described the way Treece writes as “Romantic Surreal dreamshock … [Treece’s characters] were human too, he suggests; they understood things differently but their ideas seemed as valid to them as ours seem valid to us.” – and that is a good way to describe it. Narrator Tim Bentinck gives a sympathetic reading, even the villains in The Dream-Time understandable. If you want an artful living breathing history (or in this case prehistory) look to Treece.

Posted by Jesse Willis