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Stone and a Hard Place

The Alastair Stone Chronicles, Book 1

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Stone and a Hard Place

By: R. L. King
Narrated by: Kevin R. Czarnecki
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About this listen

It's hard enough for Alastair Stone to keep his two lives - powerful mage and mundane Occult Studies professor - separate without an old friend asking him to take on a new apprentice. Especially after a university colleague wants him to investigate a massive old house for things that go bump in the night. Still, Stone figures it's an easy job: just turn up, put on a little show, and announce that the house is clean.

Only it isn't. A malevolent spirit is reawakening in the basement, imprisoned between dimensions and intent on escape. If it succeeds, countless people will die. Worse, a trio of dark mages want to help it break free so they can control it for their own sinister purposes. They'll do whatever it takes - including seducing Stone's young apprentice and using him against his master - to get what they're after.

With time running out, Stone has to stay alive long enough to uncover the spirit's secrets. But even if he does, he fears that his own power won't be enough to send it back.

©2015 Robyn L. King (P)2016 R. L. King Fantasy Supernatural Thriller & Suspense Fiction Wizardry Paranormal Magic Magic Users
All stars
Most relevant
Looking forward to the next instalment. Good mix of story and action. Love the broody main character.

Excellent start!

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I was hoping for my next series addiction. Sadly I was disappointed. I'll start with the bits I did like, Alistair himself was ok and I think given a few more books his character will grow and become stronger and more likeable. The world was ok and the magic system while not unique could have kept me reading. The story and plot were also ok for a first book in series, and there was definitely potential hidden there.

However there were many many things that made me wonder why I kept listening. First off, why on earth did no one use a mobile phone or internet if this book was published in 2015? Secondly Ethan was an annoying, snivelling, poor excuse for a teenager and his selfishness and lack of any form of character drove the whole plot forward. He wasn't even bad in a villain sort of way, just incredibly weak and I hated that we got his point of view so often. Bringing me on to the next, the constant switching of points of view, I literally had no interest. In audio, due to the monotone nature of the narration I found it hard to work out who was who. This was, in my opinion, a bookish example of being told what was happening instead of being shown, leaving the characters feeling very flat to me. The style of the story telling itself was not for me, and sadly I will not be picking up any of the author's other works

Poor

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