The Mage Queen

Her Majesty's Musketeers, Book 1

By: R. A. Dodson

Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies

After five long years under the Curse, France lies in ruins.

Its only hope — a deposed queen in hiding, hunted by her enemies.

* * *

The year is 1631. Charles d’Artagnan flees the ashes of his life in Gascony, seeking better opportunities in Paris. With his land seized by armed peasants and his family among the countless dead, he has nothing left to lose and little to gain beyond mere survival.

Magic — once a useful tool for those rare individuals who still possess it — has become a weapon of incomparable power and destructiveness employed by France’s bitter rival, Spain. With Louis XIII dead and a Spanish pretender seated on the throne, the country’s future appears bleak.

As one faceless refugee among many, d’Artagnan never expected to hold Europe’s destiny balanced in his hands. He certainly never expected to be welcomed into an elite guard protecting France’s one and only hope — a widowed queen wielding the same magic as her enemies.

But Anne of Austria’s power will be wasted unless d’Artagnan can help her stay one step ahead of the assassins nipping at her heels. Ultimately, he and his comrades must return her to the belly of the beast itself, confronting the very forces that have pushed France to the brink of destruction.

The Mage Queen can’t do it alone. But with the help of d’Artagnan and her loyal musketeers, France may still have a fighting chance.

©2020 OtherLove Publishing, LLC (P)2020 OtherLove Publishing, LLC

Impactful

I loved the spirit and nature of the trio (3 musketeers) and what they stood for. The battle scenes are so vivid when described, that I felt like I was a spectator on the fields and watching it all go down in real time. I rejoice with Dart and Connie when they were finally able to be together *sighs* at long last!!! I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator was fantastic and transported me to that time and place. The accents, voices, and expressions were amazing. I highly recommend this book.

Different!

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

D'Artangnan was always my favorite musketeer. This was a different idea on the typical musketeer story and it did take me a little bit of work to get away from all of my previous notions of the the classics but once I did, I enjoyed this story.

The fight scenes were amazing, the characters were wonderfully written and the plot was well paced. The dialogue was really good and the narrator was a great fit for this story. Well done! I will be keeping an eye out for more from this author!

All for One

A good spin on an old take. Great detail and imagination make this worth the listen. Narrator did an excellent job creating these characters.
This audio was given to me in exchange for an unbiased review.

Not enough Action ...

Narration: Pretty Good ... at times he actually goes a bit too fast. Some of the dialog just comes across as somewhat pretentious if not over the top.

Story: A retelling of the original three (3) musketeers with magic? Not so much magic really; unless you count the curse (aka the plague). The story does have a fair amount of dialog though ... actually it could do with a little less talk and a lot more action. As could be expected with so much talking, there is a bit of intrigue along with some awkward drama and a few, brief action scenes. Frankly I think the slow pace only works as an audiobook; I am not sure I would have been able to finish it otherwise (and I am sure I zoned out for portions of it). Having some familiarity with the original story that inspired this version made it perfect to play while I was working [from home as some of this is NSFW] ... and of course, I am a sucker for a happy ending :-)

This book is currently available on Kindle Unlimited.
I was given this free audiobook review copy (ARC) at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#audiobookboom #TheMageQueen

Great story and amazing narration!

This was a great piece of historical fiction! Light on magic, despite the name. The characters are well rounded and actually brought me to tears at one point (not an easy feat.) I loved how R. A. Dodson built such a vibrant world and I will miss the musketeers now that I’ve finished.

Matthew Lloyd Davies made this book a joy to listen to. Each character had their own voice and it was easy to hear the differences between them. His performance was amazing!