Stuck with it and got sucked in!!

I struggled with the beginning of this book but stuck with it as I have really enjoyed Faith Hunters writing with the Jane Yellowrock series. Even her writing seems totally different with this book, but once I got into the swing of things I really enjoyed the book and will be purchasing part 2. Faith Hunter paints a vivid and real picture of the world as it is in this book and i can't wait to find out what happens to the heroine in the next one. Well done Faith!!

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1 person found this helpful

Great story and a really good narrator

A really good read and quite a bit different to the usual fantasy magic sword storylines. The heroine has a complex and interesting background which you always want to learn more about. The other characters are also well fleshed out and fun.

I strongly recommend this book and the other audible books by Faith Hunter - I rapidly listened to the Rogue Mage books and then moved on to her Jane Yellowrock books. I almost bought the third one of those in hardback, because I really wanted to know what happened next, BUT audible got it up so quickly I didn't have to!

I've also enjoyed other books read by Natalie Gold, so I recommend looking through those as well. A good narrator makes a real difference. A good book usualy shines through, though a bad narrator can detract (rarely had that problem with audible books though), on the other hand a good storyteller can make a great book even better!

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2 people found this helpful

stunning

absolutely unable to stop listening good good good good good good good good good good good very good good good

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Absorbing and a good listen

I have to say, I struggled to precis this book, now finished a couple of weeks ago! That said, it caught my interest immediately, and I looked forward to my next installment (I listen at the gym) to the extent that I was annoyed when I had to miss my usual alternate day gym session, as it meant I'd have to wait to find out what happened next.

So... what's it about? The story is set on Earth, in modern day, but a somewhat different modern day to now. Most of the Earth's population were wiped out a hundred years or so before the book begins, in the apocalypse. Earth is now in a mini ice age, there are Seraphs (angel like. maybe heavenly beings, complete with wings), demons (subterranean nasties that have a taste for human flesh), humans, and a few mixes between the supernaturals and each other, or supernaturals and humans. Our heroine, Thorn St Croix, is a neomage, a race despised and feared by most of humanity for deeds done during the apocalypse, and lusted after (if I remember rightly) by the Seraphs (for sex), and by demons (for their super-tasty blood). Humanity, which seems to have reverted to religious orthodoxy and rigidity, hates and fears neomages with an intensity that mirrors the inquisition.

Thorn escaped from the Enclave 10 years earlier, when her powers developed in a way that was driving her insane. The Enclave is a place where others of her kind have to live - being out and about without registration is absolutely forbidden. As Thorn is unregistered, and thereby very, very illegal, she lives disguised as a human and channels her gifts as a stone mage into making jewellery.

When her ex is kidnapped and the authorities get suspicious Thorn tries to find out why he was taken, by who, and to where, all without exposing herself. On the way, she finds support, friends, and attracts far more attention than is good for her.

This is well read, with the various characters well narrated and differentiated.

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3 people found this helpful

A simpering and ineffectual heroine

Faith Hunter has written the Jane Yellowrock series, which is a fantastic and exciting set of stories with a strong female lead and I find it hard to reconcile the fact that the Rogue Mage series was written by the same author.

Quite frankly I found the rogue mage to be simpering and mewling, I'd find it very tough to be around someone who was so constantly depressed. If it's not moaning about the latest injury she's had in a fight it's about how "her man done her wrong" or being alienated from her own people or her "inappropriate" attraction to certain beings and while its okay to allow some complaining it gets old and you feel like shouting, "lady, just get it together already". If you knew Yellowrock you know you'd betray her at your own peril, she's come back for your proverbials, whereas the mage just gets constantly trodden on in the most annoying way.

Ineffectual. Despite being a mage that can call upon the power of angles for goodness sake, you always get the feeling that she's constantly on the verge of screwing something up, making a bad decision or getting herself killed. For me this doesn't add tension, it just gets more and more annoying.

Imagine putting a team of warriors together to storm an evil supernat strong-hold. Jane Yellowrock would be leading and a team member comes up to her and says "does 'she' have to come with us?", Yellowrock would be like "Nah, she'll only screw something up. Tell to stay home and do NOTHING, the last thing we want is getting back and finding that the food's gone bad 'cause she's been communing with bad spirits." The team laughs and mage shuffles off crying to her room, falls asleep and is woken up by the raucous celebration of Yellowrock's butt-kicking victory.

On this post-apocalyptic earth, I didn't feel as if there was enough scenic description and character development. Some parts of it read like the a bad acid trip colliding with revelations in the bible, but since I've never taken acid I may just say odd and confusing but not in an entertaining way.

I have listened to all three books in this series and they read pretty much the same. If you want to read an entertaining Faith Hunter series pick up Yellowrock, it's well worth it.

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13 people found this helpful