The Black Gryphon

Mage Wars Series, Book 1

By: Mercedes Lackey, Larry Dixon

Narrated by: Gary Furlong

It is an age when Valdemar is yet unfounded, its organization of Heralds yet unformed, and magic is still a wild and uncontrolled force.

Skandranon Rashkae is perhaps the finest specimen of his race, with gleaming ebony feathers, a majestic wingspan, keen magesight, and sharp intelligence. Courageous, bold, and crafty, Skan is everything a gryphon should be. He is the fulfillment of everything that the Mage of Silence, the human sorcerer called Urtho, intended to achieve when he created these magical beings to be his champions, the defenders of his realm - a verdant plain long coveted by the evil mage Maar.

Now Maar is once again advancing on Urtho's Keep, this time with a huge force spearheaded by magical constructs of his own - cruel birds of prey ready to perform any evil their creator may demand of them. And when one of Urtho's Seers wakes from a horrifying vision in which she sees a devastating magical weapon being placed in the hands of Maar's common soldiers, Skandrannon is sent to spy across enemy lines, cloaked in the protective of Urtho's powerful Spell of Silence.

©1994 Mercedes R. Lackey and Larry Dixon (P)2018 Tantor

wonderful!

you know the guy from The Mummy that we all had a crush on? the ejyption one with the sexy axxent, dressed in black with the bird.

the narrator makes Amberdrake sound like him and its AMAZING.

one of my favorite books and very well done!

Old Favorite Brilliantly Voiced

I was nervous about listening to one of my favorite books from my teens as an audiobook because of the sprawling cast of both fantasy races and cultures, who have very particular ways of speaking. So, let me just say, wow. The narrator nailed the individual gryphons (and the punchlines).

Which brings me to why I love this book. The characters are so vivid and in some cases so inhuman. Their voices tell the story of a mage war from the point of view of the people on the ground (and the air): the healers, the wounded soldiers they make whole, the wounded souls they help learn to fly high, and of course the vain and brilliant Black Gryphon. I think the story is just as timely today as it was when I read it all those years ago. And that I am very thankful it’s a trilogy.

Love the series

The book is great and if you can follow along for some other more slow areas you will love it sometimes the speaker says words that we’ve seen in the books that are pronounced differently but it’s still really good book and a Greatly appreciate the fact that he took the time to read it for me cause I’m too busy to sit down with a book cause I got kiddos and I never have time to do any of that now

great reading

I really enjoyed the first time I read this book 20 years ago. it was a well written story on the magical creator of griffons. Some parts are slow and it draws a lot on a fantasy basis that is not explained. but as an exciting read and compelling caracters it was fun.

A Uniquely Solid War Story

It's a very good read, with strong pacing, charming characters, and a fantastic non-human perspective. But what really grabbed me was it's focus on the aspects of war that take place away from the field. I've deployed twice, and seeing a story effortlessly capture the stress, growth, and comradery that takes place during the 99.9% of time you spend not fighting was something I didn't know I needed. This isn't the deepest story on my shelf, but I absolutely adore it!