Not worth getting into as a series

I'm a big fan of my fantasy, writing this fresh of listening to some Brandon Sanderson, and I'm glad I gave him a go, cause this series almost made me lose interest in the fantasy genre. this first book is like, fine. what kept me going was the knowledge that it was leading into a larger story across a series, so threads that I thought were left unresolved would be resolved later. Halfway into the second book where they were still establishing characters that we'd already met in this book, and I decided this author doesn't know what they're doing. Rarely do I leave a series unfinished, but I was relieved to do so in this case.

This series doesn't respect your time, and the characters are pretty boring. The setting is interesting, if a little shallow, but it's not enough to save it.

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Good story, jarring narration

I’m so glad the narrator switches for the remaining books. Steven Crossley seems good for some kinds of story, but his accents and voices for the bad guys was very cringey and he also made spell casting sound far too creepy.

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never read this author

I have never read this author"s work before but I will keep an eye out for him

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Great story

I liked how fast-paced the story was.
It held my attention even though I wasn't invested at first. But I stuck around and oh boy, how things changed.
Two last hours kept me completely mesmerized. Several times I caught myself holding breath.
Can't wait for the next book!

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Had to finish on the Kindle

The story is good but I can’t stand the narration. The way he does the different male voices is okay I guess. The voice he does for Lila on the other hand is awful.

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Dark, fast-paced, and immersive.

The pacing of A Darker Shade of Magic reads like a young adult book, but the content feels far darker. The plot and world building felt like they moved effortlessly from the outset and the fantasy elements didn't detract from the humanity of the majority of characters.

The only negative for me was that the villains felt almost too evil, giving a bit of a black and white feeling to morality which was a bit jarring.

The narration was largely great, but the voice for Lilah came across a bit ridiculous - more like a Monty Python character than a serious protagonist.

Overall, a really well read and engaging story!

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"Intriguing Story, but the Audiobook Falls Flat"

I had high hopes for A Darker Shade of Magic, especially with such an intriguing premise, but I found the audiobook to be a slow build-up. It took a while for the plot to truly get interesting, and by the time it did, I realised it’s part of a series. That explained the slower pacing, but I still felt it dragged too much before reaching the engaging parts.

The narrator's voice was decent overall, but I wasn’t a fan of the way he voiced the female characters. The high-pitched tones felt a bit condescending and took away from Delilah Bard’s character, making her seem much more bland and vain than I think she was meant to be. Lila’s a great character, but the narration made her less compelling, which was disappointing.

In the end, I’d give the audiobook 3.5 stars. The story has potential, but the narration and pacing held it back for me.

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Fast paced story!

This book raced along and I found myself pulled in and absorbed by the story. Not my usual genre but one I will return to.

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Listen to the sample

did not enjoy the narrator. Liked the story, even though it felt more like s setup for the other books.

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Did not like the character performance but good enough

Not sure why Lyla sounded like she was an annoying 12 year old when she’s almost the same age as Kell, I also thought the voices of characters were inconsistent and didn’t match the writing (aka not whispered when should be, wrong tone of voice, etc)

Good enough story though that I didn’t give up, though I almost did to read the words myself.

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