Shadow Magic

By: Patricia Wrede

Narrated by: Nicole Greevy

In the magic woods of Lyra, a noblewoman struggles to escape from a faceless man.

Trouble is brewing in Alkyra. While the kingdom’s noblemen squabble, on their borders an ancient enemy, the Lithmern, raises an army. As the head of the Noble House of Brenn attempts to organize an alliance, the princess Alethia celebrates her 20th birthday. She is a remarkable woman: quick-witted, beautiful, and handy with a throwing knife. But on the next night, she passes through a dark corridor on her way to the banquet hall, and never emerges from the shadows. The Lithmern have kidnapped the princess.

When Alethia regains consciousness, an evil Lithmern with a face made of shadows is carrying her through the forest. These are magic woods, home to fabled creatures whose existence she has always doubted. To find her way home, Alethia will have to learn to trust in the old tales, whose legends of magic and daring hold the only hope of saving her kingdom.

©1982 Patricia C. Wrede (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Narrator could be better, but the story excellent!

To greatly improve the narration, play at 1.2 speed. This allows you to really enjoy the story.

Narration got in the way for my enjoyment

The narrator made an unfortunate choice for the accents of the magical people, it is airy and difficult to listen to for long periods.

ok story - robotic narrator

The story was fine but the narrator sounded like a computer -- a step down from Siri.

Story was great, narrator.... left much to be desi

The story was nice, if a little predictable, the narration left a lot to be desired, it was stilted and left much to be desired... I stopped listening on many occasions, was not sure I could finish listening to this narrator. Hoping the next book's reading is better.

Execution is Key

I have read this story over and over in the course of my youth, and I happily anticipated hearing it again. Sadly, the narrator had almost no inflection, and did not modulate her voice to indicate when different characters were speaking.

If I were to recommend a better narrator, that would be Amanda Ronconi, who did a wonderful job with the Thirteenth Child series, also by Patricia Wrede.