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The Magician's Guild

The Black Magician Trilogy, Book 1

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The Magician's Guild

By: Trudi Canavan
Narrated by: Richard Aspel
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Summary
 Sonea is caught up in a confrontation between the hated Guild magicians and the angry youth of the slums. To her dismay, she discovers that she possesses the same powers as the reviled magicians. To avoid capture, she must seek protection from the city's feared underworld, The Thieves. In return, she must use her powers for them, but her magic never seems to do quite what she intends it to.©2004 Trudi Canavan (P)2004 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd. Action & Adventure Epic Fantasy Fiction Historical Magic Users
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Critic reviews

"The first part of the Black Magician Trilogy, this captivating tale has already been hailed by critics as a 'must for lovers of good fantasy'." ( Marie Claire)
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I believe this audiobook is let down by the narrator, Richard Aspel. His timing is poor, he uses inappropriate emphasis on sentences and his odd accents distract from the story rather than adding to it.

The book itself is fun and interesting. Some points were repeated too often and I found myself thinking: "yes, I realised that was important the first 5 times it was mentioned". However, the pace of the book picks up in the final third and I am very interested to find out how the lead character, Sonea, develops in the next book.

Thank you Trudi :)

Good book - shame about the narrator

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This is a great fantasy/sc fi book, which is suitable for all ages. The narrator was brilliant....he helped me to visualize the individual characters. The story is about Sonea who has magic but doesn't realise it. When she accidently uses it, the Magicians Guild start to look for her, and suddenly she becomes the most wanted person in town. I highly recommend this especially to younger readers...it is a great start into this genre.

A book suitable for adults and children

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I have read this trilogy and am a massive fan. I was looking forward to the Audiobook version. I was initially hesitant about purchasing this book as there are a lot of reviews indicating that the narrator is awful. I'm glad I didn't listen however. He takes a little getting used to but after the first 2 chapters I had gotten into his style. Like any narrator it can take time to become accustomed to there narration and I felt that here. I think he does a great job and this book is definitely worth a purchase. Give it a go, it really is a great book and the narrator really isn't bad at all.

Great book, great narration!!

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I had read the book previously and had the same problem as before. Both times i found the first half of the book hard to get into but again I found the second half absolutely fascinating. The series overall is brilliant and is one of my favourites, but it is slow to start.
The narrator is good and worth listening to but it is difficult to tell when the narrative has shifted to another character's point of view sometimes.

Good adaptation

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Does a an average job but the story makes up for it. I have the next book downloading now.

Great story, OK narrator.

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