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Andrea's Reviews > Od Magic
Od Magic
by
by
Not a successful story for me, I think in part because it seemed quite clear at the outset where the story was going. With so many viewpoint characters, it seemed to be taking an inordinately long time getting there (I have a strong preference for fewer viewpoints, not more). I was also bugged by the plotline of the princess, ordered to marry and not pleased with it. It just didn't seem to fit with the world, where every other woman we see seems to be having careers or, at least, possess considerably more self-determination than the princess did.
The narrator, Gabrielle DeCuir, read most of the story in a very floaty, new-agey voice (except for a couple of the men, where she seemed to be going for 'sepulchral') which really didn't work for me at all.
The narrator, Gabrielle DeCuir, read most of the story in a very floaty, new-agey voice (except for a couple of the men, where she seemed to be going for 'sepulchral') which really didn't work for me at all.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
May 22, 2015
– Shelved
May 22, 2015
– Shelved as:
flipped-to-the-end
May 22, 2015
– Shelved as:
audiobook
May 22, 2015
– Shelved as:
fantasy
May 22, 2015
–
Finished Reading
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There was some weirdness about setting up the king and his advisor as bad people, and then reconciling them to the people they've been oppressing. That was unexpected, but mainly in a disappointing way.
Well, they were supposed to have had a change of paranoia after first Od appeared and threatened to take the Wizards' School away, then the Mysterious Old Ones were shown to be good and not horrors, not to mention so powerful they blew the wizardly adviser over, and then Theramin was shown to be Not A Bad Wizard, and then the princess turned out to have magic herself. I found the cumulative effect worked quite well, at least on paper.I also thought it was quite a good parable for xenophobic America, particularly now.
The narrator can make or break an audio book, which is why I've always been wary of them. But I've been lucky, I think, with the guy who read my books for Audible. His work on the opening of Everran's Bane was amazing - I found myself thinking, Wow, can I really write *that* well? Didn't buy them to hear more than the samples, but even reading as Sellithar in The Red Country he seemed pretty good.
Yes - it's amazing how much impact the narrator can have. The way they read dialogue impacts the impression of the character in a massive way.
I didn't find it clear from the outset wherethis one was going, perhaps because the magician and his daughter weren't in the act that early. Brendan's story was predictable, yeah, not so much the rest. But I didn't have huge trouble with the plotline apart from the princess's arc, possibly because I read rather than listened to it.
That cover is crappy, though, cf. to the Kinuko Craft one I have on the hardback. It's much better and closer to the story as well.