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The Wizard Hunters

Fall of Ile-Rien Seriesm Book 1

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The Wizard Hunters

By: Martha Wells
Narrated by: Talmadge Ragan
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About this listen

Ile-Rien is in peril. A mysterious army known only as the Gardier has surrounded the country, attacking in ominous black airships. Hope is not lost though, for a magical sphere created by Ile-Rien's greatest sorcerer may hold the key to defeating the faceless enemy. But the sphere is unpredictable and has already claimed several lives. When a magical spell goes disastrously awry, young Tremaine Valiarde and a brave band are transported to another world-a world of rough magics, evil mages, honorable warriors, and a secret Gardier base.

©2003 Martha Wells (P)2013 Tantor Epic Fantasy

Critic Reviews

"The subsequent story seems intended to combine elements of high fantasy and cross-time travel, as if it were a collaborative work by Andre Norton and S. M. Stirling. Thanks to Wells' narrative skill and considerably above-average characterization, it largely succeeds in those intentions." ( Booklist)
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The performance was so bad it made assessment of the story difficult, it might have been ok, with a reader who laboured over completing every sentence like a five year old reading, it made it very challenging.

Might have been good with a better reader

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Martha Wells is a master story-teller and The Wizard Hunters is a fine tale. The narrator, however, was difficult to listen to. It sounds like they have a minor speech impediment and overcoming that with over-pronunciation of ts and ds often detracted from the story. I'm disappointed to see that the next two books in this series have the same narrator. It would be better to use narrators who can speak and enunciate clearly without needing to correct the ends of their words or over-pronounce things to avoid having words land in a jumble.

Great tale, but awkward delivery

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I’m sorry, I really didn’t want to be negative but who encouraged this narrator? I sped the playback to 1.1 to try and alleviate the weird pauses but she consistently brought me out of the story. Someone told her to read 3 words at a time and to emphasise the third word no matter what it was or where she was in the sentence. Severely distracting from what was an entertaining return to Il Rien.

Good grief. Who chose this narrator?!

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really not god. hard to follow poor imagery. is that 15 words yet? shit shit

pass this one not worth time or money.

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Her speech patterns are utterly disturbingly bizarre. Just awful. Poor Martha Wells deserves better than this.

How does this narrator keep her job?

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I didn't like this book in the beginning, mainly because I found it difficult to sympathise with the main protagonist. However, as this complex fantasy began to develop, I became more and more interested. Ile-Rien is under attack by nameless raiders who appear out of nowhere, crossing from another world. Magician scientists of Ile-Rien manage to work out how to travel between worlds. They make contact with othes who are also under attack. The complexities of the two cultures makes for interesing reading. By the end of the book I wanted to know more.

A compex fantasy with interesting magic

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This was a well-written story, I just felt the narrator often paused at odd times which interrupted the flow of the narrative

Good story

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Struggled with the initial pacing but as the world building was fleshed out found it more enjoyable. Undecided on finishing series

Better the longer you go through

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I tried really hard to stick with this book, but after 59% I couldn't take it any more. I'm not sure if the terrible narrator had anything to do with my experience, but aside from her - just imagine William Shatner was reading, every single sentence was choppy - I also got really bored with how many times the characters were all standing around talking, especially when one character thinks something, and then another character thinks the same thing in their POV. It just didn't seem to go anywhere very quickly. I was so disinterested I don't think I could even tell you what the plot was for the portion of the book I listened to.

I'm a massive fan of Wells' Murderbot books, but this one really was not that interesting.

DNF

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Really enjoyed this tale. The characters were well developed and I could visualise the worlds created.
Despite some f the adverse comments regarding the narrator, I found her easy to listen to and easy to follow the storyline. She helped bring complex characters to life. Great listen and I’m looking forward to the following books.

Great

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