Shadowplay cover art

Shadowplay

Spellmonger: Legacy and Secrets, Book 1

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Shadowplay

By: Terry Mancour, Emily Burch Harris
Narrated by: Fiona Hardingham
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About this listen

From the world of Spellmonger...blessed darkness conceal her!

Born into a mysterious family, Gatina always knew there was something special about those around her. But when the duke and duchess of Alshar - close friends of her family - are brutally assassinated, her idyllic countryside life is upended by secrets emerging from the shadows.

The family she knew proved to be more than mere Alshari Coastlords and occasional magi, as she once believed. For centuries, her ancient and distinguished House has been secretly both Shadowmagi and highly skilled thieves. With a devious count seeking to capitalize on the assassination, the future stability and peace of Alshar hinges on Gatina learning both arts.

Slavery and piracy loom malevolently in the distance as the Count allies himself with a merciless criminal organization to seize power.

Gatina’s House has vowed to stand against the rising tide of wickedness - no matter how hopeless the task may seem. Working in secret beneath the tutelage of an enigmatic and mysterious master, Gatina finds herself disguised as a street orphan. She runs the filthy gutters of Falas as she puts her training into practice amid the dismal reality of its most destitute neighborhoods.

Brutal thugs, violent riots, cunning soldiers, and the constant threat of discovery by the Count and his allies, all put Gatina’s life at risk as she struggles in secret against the rising tyrant.

For as the blessed darkness conceals her movements by night, she and the Brotherhood engage in a clandestine struggle, something much more deadly than mere...shadowplay.

©2021 Terry Mancour (P)2021 Podium Audio
Science Fiction & Fantasy Fantasy Assassin Fiction Epic Fantasy Magic

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All stars
Most relevant
This was an enjoyable read that offers greater insight into an interesting family and aspect of the war taking place in the Spellmonger series not yet covered fully in the main series. Anything that adds more details of this world and characters is appreciated.

Read the main series first to appreciate this book fully.

I look forward to the next book.

The narrator did a good job mostly although how the name Thinradel and the term irionite was pronounced differently from the main series which I found jarring. Given that the usual narrator was exceptional and has established how things are pronounced over a long series I hope the next book can be consistent with John Lee's work. Irionite is a frequently used term and I would find a different pronunciation annoying in the rest of the series.

I hope other characters and families will get their own book eventually and maybe even the point of view of the brotherhood of the rat, the undead or other factions would be interesting

A good story

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loved it, but the narrator needs to learn how to pronounce a few of the words to be more in line with the rest of the story arch. it doesn't distract from the story though.

amazing.

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Excellent story as always Mr Mancour, such a good idea to expand on their family history. My only criticism and it is so small but I think important given how far down the story line and book series we are is, the consistency in the pronunciation of both place names and other magical things with different narrators.

This is no slight on Fiona Hardingham's narrative as I think she was really good overall and formed great characters, but when Mr Lee who has performed the majority of the series, has been pronouncing a place such as Falas or item su h as Irionite one way for a long time, it's strange to be pronounced differently in Shadow play.

I think it's great to have differnent narrators playing their role in expanding the series and character base, would just like that tiny detail consistant :)

Keep up the great work and looking forward to Hedgewitch!!!

The smallest of criticisms

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I loved the story, magic plays a very small part of it but that is fine. It is good to see that magic isn't used as a crutch. Instead this is a good spy skulking heist story of honourable theives.

I have listened to the whole spell monger series, and was a little wary because of reviews about the narrator's pronunciation of key names and words.
Whilst it is true the mispronunciations are egregious they are also sufficiently infrequent not to detract too much from the performance. Otherwise I really liked Fiona Hardingham's performance, and hope she continues to narrate this fork of the story, but needs to ensure consistency with John Lee's prior performances.

Spying, thievery intrigue and honor.

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As a huge Spellmonger fan I have purchase the whole series and spins off's. However, I cannot listen to more than a few minutes of this without turning off. Fiona Hardinham's narration is grating off beat, and not in line with the rich narration of John Lee (who incidentally also pronounces certain words differently but this I can forgive. Fiona Hardinham's pronunciation seems to be directed at a 5 year old who only understands and upper class accent. Some examples which really annoy are: "falaaaaaaaas", house "Furteaaaaaaaaas", Irion- ite e.t.c. To be honest had I know in advance this book was directed at children and not adults I would not have bought it and frankly am still tempted to return it. Is akin to a cinema production loosing control of its continuity and swapping out the lead actor mid story. PLEASE BRING BACK JOHN LEE!

I found this hugely irritating

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