C. Cowan
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Bound and Tide
- Villains and Virtues
- De: A. K. Caggiano
- Narrado por: Ellen Quay, Seth Podowitz
- Duración: 7 h y 44 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Xander Shadowhart's mother is dead. Well, no, not exactly--she is banished to the infernal plane, and that's almost as bad, especially considering she seems to have taken Xander's control over his powers with her. Born to a demon, Xander’s purpose has been beaten into him his entire life: serve his maker and carry out her will, but when the time comes to summon his mother back into the material realm, he’s not exactly sure he wants to…er, is able to, not without mending his command over the noxscura first.
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A must read if you’re not ready to say goodbye
- De NickR en 04-16-25
- Bound and Tide
- Villains and Virtues
- De: A. K. Caggiano
- Narrado por: Ellen Quay, Seth Podowitz
Solid addition but not quite as good
Revisado: 02-24-25
I was looking forward to more of both this world and Xander, but somehow this installment didn’t grab me the same way the original trilogy did…perhaps because it didn’t feel like there was much new? I can’t quite put my finger on it. It was still solid and I might even listen to it again to see if I can figure out why I wasn’t swept up into the world and humor and romance, and will amend this if I figure it out.
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Bound to Fall
- Villains and Virtues
- De: A. K. Caggiano
- Narrado por: Ellen Quay, Seth Podowitz
- Duración: 11 h y 25 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Cursed with dark magic, living virtuously has always eluded Celeste, but she’s determined to right the wrongs she wrought in the sleepy village of Briarwyke and maybe even find her ever after, happiness unrequired and, as she sees it, undeserved. But darkness accompanies Celeste as keenly as clumsiness and shame, and when she accidentally releases a new evil on Briarwyke, she must find a divine source of magic to destroy it.
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Sweet story, easy listen
- De Casey M Beers en 12-02-24
- Bound to Fall
- Villains and Virtues
- De: A. K. Caggiano
- Narrado por: Ellen Quay, Seth Podowitz
Interesting story, Imbalanced characters
Revisado: 10-15-24
First, this is romantasy with a dash of humor, so I’m reviewing it relative to that genre and the other Villains and Virtues books. Context matters! Sadly this book was somewhat disappointing relative to the original series. I didn’t feel like there was enough character development, and perhaps the story would have been better as a duology. My biggest gripe is how deeply traumatized the characters are - horrible abuse in many forms takes place, and the resulting psychological damage is all over the page for both MCs. There is some healing where they share their stories with each other, but the breakneck story line and ending really glossed over how broken these two characters were. It’s not explicit that their trauma is magically healed by the power of love, but pretty strongly implied bc it’s like their baggage and negative self talk just *poof* is gone and suddenly the FMC has confidence to vanquish…well, you get the idea. While it’s true that healthy loving relationships go a long way in helping people heal from deeply rooted trauma, it’s not a magic antidote. I was taken aback that this story would go that way, when I felt the primarily trilogy was a lot more grounded and honest about human emotions and interaction dynamics….yeah ok that’s perhaps a weird thing to expect in a romantasy, but it was so refreshing to read such an amazing series with great world building AND complex characters with messy but realistic emotions…and NOT wish-fulfillment subtly toxic shadowdaddy-bratty teenager relationships!! So yes, I was a bit surprised and saddened when this book threw two deeply broken characters together (seriously, the negative self talk was getting painfully repetitive) and magically healed their traumas with love (and spice of course). It’s not bad, just not to the level of the original series. As far as performance, the narrators did a great job, no notes!
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Eclipse of the Crown
- Villains and Virtues, Book 3
- De: A. K. Caggiano
- Narrado por: Ellen Quay, Seth Podowitz
- Duración: 14 h y 9 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Damien and Amma have landed themselves in the midst of Yvlcon, the preeminent congregation of the vilest and most unscrupulous villains in existence. Once again amongst his peers, Damien’s moral growth is threatened just when he’s learning to be slightly less evil. Consequently, Amma finds her own virtue in peril when faced with so much temptation. But a burgeoning romance is doused in the coldest of baths when the Grand Order of Dread commands Damien to once again face the swirling vortex of entropy that’s been hunting them all over the realm.
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Cthulhu and cuddles: an odd combo that worked
- De 🔥 Phx17 🔥 en 03-31-25
- Eclipse of the Crown
- Villains and Virtues, Book 3
- De: A. K. Caggiano
- Narrado por: Ellen Quay, Seth Podowitz
Damnit why was this so good?!?
Revisado: 09-23-24
First context - this is romantasy, and it’s impossible not to compare it to other romantasy. If you don’t know what you’re getting into, you’re more likely to be disappointed. This entire series was a lovely romp that I think did a near perfect job balancing fantasy world building, main characters with authenticity and complexity, humor and just a hint of self-awareness that wasn’t over done, romance and spice, and action/plot. The relationship serves the plot and vice versa. Yes there’s drama and angst but it’s also not overdone THANK GOD. Somehow the author embraces the tropes and also subverts them, and also makes fun of them - I really don’t understand how she managed to nail the tone to accomplish all within the same series but I think she did! The action gets a little breakneck, but even that is hilariously acknowledged and I much prefer the speed vs slogging along through first person angst for pages and pages. The writing isn’t formal or perfect all the time but also there aren’t glaring stylistic holes or inconsistency. Language style insertion is intentional but I didn’t find it abused as a tool. If you squint too hard you’ll find some plot holes but really, why would you analyze this like a freshman trying to impress their hot TA with their critical reading chops?!? Just enjoy it! I love fantasy and sci-fi, and appreciate romance and spice thrown in rather than romances with a hint of fantasy, so I totally adored this series and really appreciate the quality of the writing which made it absorbing and never took me out of the story. The narrators were pitch perfect so audio format was stellar - with the one warning that the fast paced action required attention to the listen, rather than my frequent multitasking.
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Summoned to the Wilds
- Villains and Virtues, Book 2
- De: A. K. Caggiano
- Narrado por: Ellen Quay, Seth Podowitz
- Duración: 12 h y 59 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Lady Ammalie Avington, Baroness of Faebarrow, has discovered the truth, and it should not come as a surprise: the blood mage who threatened, spellbound, and abducted her intends to bring ruin to the realm—the very one she is sworn to serve. It's just a terribly inconvenient fact to learn because, well . . . he's rather cute.
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Second verse same as the first
- De 🔥 Phx17 🔥 en 03-30-25
- Summoned to the Wilds
- Villains and Virtues, Book 2
- De: A. K. Caggiano
- Narrado por: Ellen Quay, Seth Podowitz
A very solid 2nd entry!
Revisado: 09-20-24
A fun wild ride, slow burn, romantasy without glaring plot holes or terrible writing that takes you out of the story?!? Yes please!!
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Throne in the Dark
- Villains and Virtues, Book 1
- De: A. K. Caggiano
- Narrado por: Ellen Quay, Seth Podowitz
- Duración: 14 h y 13 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Dark lord, demon spawn, prophesied realm destroyer. With a demon for a father, Damien Maleficus Bloodthorne’s destiny could be nothing but nefarious, and with the completion of his most vicious spell, Damien is on the cusp of fulfilling the evil inevitability all of his dark machinations have led to. And then, her—bubbly, obnoxious, blonde.
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An All Time Favorite
- De Amazon Customer en 01-30-25
- Throne in the Dark
- Villains and Virtues, Book 1
- De: A. K. Caggiano
- Narrado por: Ellen Quay, Seth Podowitz
Took a little while, but ramps up!
Revisado: 09-17-24
In the category of adult light-hearted romantasy, this is excellent! Yes the relationship is a primary plot driver but the world building and characters are equally enjoyable and compelling, as is the major plot conflict…it’s more organic relationship arising within the overall plot, rather than just angsty feels and porn with little else. If you’re looking for hot and heavy, this isn’t it. I prefer more plot with just a heavy dash of relationships and spice, and this hit the nail on the head for me. The writing is humorous and fun, and more importantly well done without glaring plot holes, character inconsistencies, or other mistakes that tend to pull one out of the story. My only gripe is it took about half the book to really be sucked in…might be the audio format and my tendency to multitask tho. The narrators were excellent, I liked their voices and they read at a good pace IMO (but I often listen to books at 1.2x and find a lot of romantasy plots and narrators to move too slowly). I’m immediately diving into the next book!!
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Alveria Dragon Akademy
- The Complete Series
- De: Ava Richardson
- Narrado por: Rebekah Nemethy
- Duración: 30 h y 42 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
When her dying mother reveals a horrifying truth about her identity, Kaelan is thrust into a world for which she is ill-prepared. Faced with a new life at the proving grounds for humans and dragons alike, Kaelan must reconcile not just her past, but embrace the future laid out before her. When her responsibilities as an Akademy tamer collide with her feelings for a powerful dragon shifter, it will take everything she has to prepare for the danger threatening them both. The fate of the dragons she has sworn to serve rests in her hands.
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nope
- De CHASE MORGAN en 05-13-21
- Alveria Dragon Akademy
- The Complete Series
- De: Ava Richardson
- Narrado por: Rebekah Nemethy
Why isn’t this more popular?!?
Revisado: 08-30-24
First note - this series falls firmly in YA, and I’m a middle aged adult fan of fantasy, romantasy, and sci-fi. The while YA category is so confusing these days bc of the breadth of books it includes, so I wasn’t clear that this would be definitely targeted to a younger reading audience…but that said, holy moly it was such a joy to listen to!! The meh aspects: the prose and plot are straightforward. A bit too much telling, not enough showing. Not enough complexity of other characters or the world building. The great aspects: DRAGONS AS CHARACTERS AND NOT PLOT DEVICES. Young main characters that are actually smart and show they are most of the time…are decent people and written with good complexity for this level of story, and are not horribly inconsistent in behavior, power, or intelligence (yeah you can guess what authors I’m side-eyeing). They wrestle with some meaningful questions of honestly and forgiveness in a fairly realistic way. The world is also fascinating and while I would have loved more info, I was happy enough for all of the DRAGONS!! And even with the straighforward YA writing, I was caught up in the action and bombed through the audiobooks. The bad (SPOILER ALERT): the one inconsistency that killed me was that they didn’t figure out the resolution of the end, well, until the end. It was GLARINGLY obviously the solution from early in the second book…like, c’mon guys!! I get that the world set up was such that supposedly they couldn’t consider that particular solution…but that excuse felt really forced and the fact that it wasn’t even ever discussed as a possible solution between the MCs had me tearing my hair out. That was totally inconsistent with the level of smarts and problem solving skill established for the characters otherwise. That unfortunately was so glaring I docked a star for the story line. Regardless, this was a very enjoyable and surprisingly well done YA series - you won’t be disappointed if you know it’s YA/basically no spice but want the romantasy vibe in a fascinating world with all the dragons!! I’m def listening to the next books from this world. Also the narrator was solid - I didn’t love how juvenile the FMCs voice was (she made her sound like she was 10years old), but she technically was a young woman so it’s kinda unfair to criticize that choice too hard. I just found it a bit incongruous with the personality in the text.
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The Hero and the Crown
- De: Robin McKinley
- Narrado por: Roslyn Alexander
- Duración: 10 h y 50 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Uncertain of the past, Aerin-sol, daughter of King Arlbeth, decides to forge her own future by challenging the lashing tongues of the dragon’s fire. Aerin’s proficiency as "the Dragon-slayer" sets her on a quest for the stolen Crown of Damar, believed to be in the hands of rebellious northerners who threaten to destroy the Damarian people and their home forever.
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Second only to Blue Sword
- De mkc en 01-18-13
- The Hero and the Crown
- De: Robin McKinley
- Narrado por: Roslyn Alexander
Magical realism YA, shows its age
Revisado: 07-29-24
While I am old enough to have read this at the target age, I’d never heard of it before and so am listening to it in middle age…which certainly provides a different perspective. Knowing it was published in 1985, I had already braced myself for disappointments around the heroine’s arc. Overall I did enjoy the characters and plot - the magical realism is OK. There is a way in which it robs the main female character of agency, making her actions not direct choices but the result of some magical instinct or perhaps even someone else’s “hand”, without demonstrating her capabilities. I very much did appreciate that the romantic storyline avoided being tropey love triangle, but there was a certain sense of “woman chooses duty over passion” that I’ve read in a variety of other female led fantasy from the same time that is a bit irksome. It seemed the author was trying to avoid that by reminding us that “she really had loved him all her life…” but there was quite a lack of chemistry on page, and strong older brother vibes. Oh and the relationship age gap immortal and young woman, plus him being her unofficial mage teacher, was just a bit worrisome messaging for YA young women. All that gave it a very strong “throwback” fantasy storyline. These are relatively minor criticisms that many won’t mind, but with the breadth of complex heroines in modern fantasy and storylines that aren’t so simplistic or problematic, this falls a bit short.
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Two Twisted Crowns
- De: Rachel Gillig
- Narrado por: Lisa Cordileone
- Duración: 14 h y 12 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Gripped by a tyrant king and in the thrall of dark magic, the kingdom is in peril. Elspeth and Ravyn have gathered most of the twelve Providence Cards, but the last—and most important—one remains to be found: the Twin Alders. If they’re going to find the card before Solstice and set free the kingdom, they will need to journey through the dangerous mist-cloaked forest. The only one who can lead them through is the monster that shares Elspeth’s head: the Nightmare.
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Slow start but great end
- De Kindle Customer en 11-04-23
- Two Twisted Crowns
- De: Rachel Gillig
- Narrado por: Lisa Cordileone
Overall great, minor holes and annoyance
Revisado: 06-13-24
Like the first, the world building and magic systems are unique and overall the duology is great and I’d highly recommend to any fantasy/romantasy fan. I was able to overlook some plot holes…and thank heavens there wasn’t annoyingly drawn out periods of character miscommunication or of characters making idiotic choices…those tropes are way too common. Particularly for the romantasy genre, these were very well written. The narrator did a solid job of voicing different characters, however continued to mis-pronounce “hearth” the entire book - same as in the first book. How did someone not correct her or at least ADR it?!? The word appears frequently enough that I was gnashing my teeth every time I heard “herth” said…UGH. I will still recommend the series but will warn any audiobook listeners.
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The Hobbit
- De: J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrado por: Andy Serkis
- Duración: 10 h y 25 m
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Deep down here by the dark water lived old Gollum, a small slimy creature. I don’t know where he came from, nor who or what he was. He was Gollum—as dark as darkness, except for two big round pale eyes in his thin face. He had a little boat, and he rowed about quite quietly on the lake; for lake it was, wide and deep and deadly cold.
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Andy Serkis Was Sheer Perfection
- De Barbara en 09-22-20
- The Hobbit
- De: J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrado por: Andy Serkis
Serkis nails it again!!!
Revisado: 05-30-24
I’m just reviewing Andy Serkis’ audio version of the Hobbit here - and I loved it as much as I loved his narration of LotR!! Listening to his narration brings me back to the best parts of being read to as a child - distinct voices for characters, dramatic emotive enunciation….the Hobbit has always struck me as a bit more children’s tale and this reading of it fits perfectly with that general vibe. It’s interesting to me bc Serkis’ reading of LotR was also dramatic and with great voices, but he gave those more gravitas, fitting of the more serious and adult stories. I couldn’t point to one specific thing, but he just manages to adjust his reading to match the slightly different tone of each book/series perfectly. Bravo!! Will re-listen many times no doubt!
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Spark of the Everflame
- The Kindred's Curse Saga, Book 1
- De: Penn Cole
- Narrado por: Amanda Dolan
- Duración: 13 h y 12 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
In a mortal world colonized by the gods and ruled over by their cruel offspring, the Descended, Diem Bellator yearns to escape the insular life of her poor village. Her mother's sudden disappearance—and the discovery of a dangerous secret about her past—offer Diem an unexpected opportunity to enter the dark world of Descended royalty and unlock the web of mysteries her mother left behind.
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Should I say - Watch out ACOTAR? - just because this might be my new favorite. NOT comparing the two series yet..
- De Bradley Pacyga en 04-16-24
- Spark of the Everflame
- The Kindred's Curse Saga, Book 1
- De: Penn Cole
- Narrado por: Amanda Dolan
Slow burn….and slow everything
Revisado: 05-12-24
Oof…predictability, obnoxious first person narrative, painfully slow moving story yet somehow still underdeveloped characters. I think this would be a much more interesting story from anyone else’s point of view. The narrator also spoke so slowly that I listened to the book at 1.3 speed and eventually increased to 1.5. Redeeming qualities were the interesting world building and central conflict/mystery. The narrator’s voicing was great other than the slowness.
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