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  • Mage's Blood

  • The Moontide Quartet, Book 1
  • By: David Hair
  • Narrated by: Nick Podehl
  • Length: 26 hrs and 6 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (187 ratings)
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Mage's Blood cover art

Mage's Blood

By: David Hair
Narrated by: Nick Podehl
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Summary

David Hair is the award-winning writer of two young adult fiction series, The Aotearo and The Return of Ravana (based on the Vedic epic The Ramayana). Mage’s Blood, the first volume of a series called The Moontide Quartet, is Hair’s first work of adult fantasy. In a starred review of Mage’s Blood, Publisher’s Weekly said, "This multilayered beginning to the Moontide Quartet plunges listeners into a taut network of intrigue and mystery that tightens with each chapter. Hair portrays a stark and beautiful world breaking apart, with both good and evil characters desperate to reshape it through magic, war, and treachery. This strong debut should draw in fantasy readers of all stripes."

Most of the time the Moontide Bridge lies deep below the sea, but every 12 years the tides sink and the bridge is revealed, its gates open for trade. The Magi are hell-bent on ruling this new world, and for the last two Moontides they have led armies across the bridge on "crusades of conquest". Now, the third Moontide is almost here, and this time the people of the East are ready for a fight... but it is three seemingly ordinary people that will decide the fate of the world.

©2012 David Hair (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved. Published by arrangement with Quercus Editions Ltd (UK).

What listeners say about Mage's Blood

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    113
  • 4 Stars
    43
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    13
  • 2 Stars
    10
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Performance
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  • 4 Stars
    22
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Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome!!!!

Would you listen to Mage's Blood again? Why?

Yes, there are so many amazing characters, a brilliant story with so many twists, I just couldn't drag myself away.

What other book might you compare Mage's Blood to, and why?

I think Mage's Blood is too original a story with its multi cultural characters to compare to any other book.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

Every scene where Elena fights back and wins through despite the odds.
It is very difficult to name one scene in such an epic story.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The snake people's short lives.

Any additional comments?

Please hurry up with the final part of the trilogy! these are amongst the best books I have ever read/listened to.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Mr
  • 15-03-15

Terrible

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I saw a few people compare this to George RR martins Game of Thrones series. This simply isnt true. It's not remotely on the same level. From the start i didnt feel any empathy with any of the characters. Again like in so many novels we have the young boy whose is downtrodden and treaten badly by his equals, his peers etc But wait, hes going to overcome his adversity! It felt like it was being written by a child. The story never got going for me and to be honest i think it was compounded by the awful reading. A different reader and maybe i would have finished the book and as it was i managed 6 hours and was thankful when my new credits arrived.

What didn’t you like about Nick Podehl’s performance?

His poor accents

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

racist and transphobic (at the very end)

it's hard to move past the dirty-eastern-savages-your-colonist-knows-best overtones and the visceral transphobia at the end. The names of the countries are changed but it's obvious where the writer was referring to.

Also, just because it's set in the alternative past doesn't mean it's ok to use an antiquated view of the world that was never true.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Listen to the reviews

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

If the writing wasn’t so disjointed & the storyline didn’t jump around so much & if the character actually got on & did things it might have been ok.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

No idea, was like the first film in a series where they try to set the scene for the following films just without letting you know what the story is actually going to be eventually, I found myself wishing that they’d just get on with it & do something interesting

Which scene did you most enjoy?

Can’t answer this question

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Real disappointment, Nick Podehl is a brilliant narrater but even his skill couldn’t do much with this book.

Any additional comments?

If there was ever a rewrite of this book it would really help if the timeline didn’t keep jumping forward & backward in time by weeks or months, it’s too confusing to try to work out where, when & who your listening about & limit the amount of storylines being disjointedly expanded at one time. I persevered to the very end of the book hoping that something would happen to pull all the storylines together & some clear explanation of what Moontide is, which is repeatedly referred to all through the book & where the story was heading but sadly all I came away with were lots of questions that will never be answered.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely brilliant!

The story is absolutely fantastic, with so many twists and turns, the literature of the book itself is fantastic. Nothing is skipped, it's word for word and Nick Podehl is an absolutely fantastic voice actor, the many different voices feel real and imaginative and I was immersed in it, absolutely fascinated and always looking forward to the next time I'd get a chance to listen to the next part!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

????

struggle to keep up with the story !!!! !! ! ! ! ! ! !

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Not engaging

Would you try another book written by David Hair or narrated by Nick Podehl?

The Narration was not bad but the story was lacking even though I wanted to like it as the premise sounded so interesting.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Bordom

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

This books has introduced a world with diverse and full characters. The story is well written and I look forward to the rest of the series.

So many great books have been ruined by audio, not this one. The narrator is wonderful, he brings the characters to life and the sound quality is perfect.

Well worth listening to.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Unbelievable story

I put myself in the “very picky” reader category, a story needs to draw me in early on to maintain my interest and wow this certainly doesn’t disappoint. At the time of writing this I am half way through book 3 in the series and it is without question one of the best fantasy series I have ever read (well listened too). David Hair has managed to create a true epic that uses real world visualisation, to which we can all relate, in an east versus west style battle with magic (or Nosis) at the fore and I have to congratulate him on an unbelievable job well done. Whoever chose Nick Podehl as the narrator needs an award as it was a stroke of genius. He is so good that I have found myself searching for other books with him as the voice behind the story. His ability to capture the scene coupled with a different voice for the MANY characters is truly special and if this was a film casting they definitely found their star. Can’t wait to finish book 3 and move on to Ascendants Rite and I will definitely be exploring his other books.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

hard to follow

I found it very hard to follow and get into after 10 hours I still wasnt invested and was already looking for a replacement. the story chops and changes so much

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