Read by Angele Masters
Book 2 of The Soul Mirror (Collegia Magica, #2) series
Genre: renaissance, fantasy, murder mystery, investigative suspense
Format: paperback, unabridged audiobook
About The Soul Mirror:
By order of His Royal Majesty Philippe de Savin-Journia y Sabria, Anne de Vernase is hereby summoned to attend His Majesty's Court at Merona...Source: Info in the About The Soul Mirror was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8626348-the-soul-mirror on 21/08/2012.
Anne de Vernase rejoices that she has no talent for magic. Her father's pursuit of depraved sorcery has left her family in ruins, and he remains at large, convicted of treason and murder by Anne's own testimony. Now, the tutors at Collegia Seravain inform her that her gifted younger sister has died in a magical accident. It seems but life's final mockery that cool, distant Portier de Savin-Duplais, the librarian turned royal prosecutor, arrives with the news that the king intends to barter her hand in marriage.
Anne recognizes that the summoning carries implications far beyond a bleak personal future - and they are all about magic. Merona, the royal city, is beset by plagues of rats and birds, and mysterious sinkholes that swallow light and collapse buildings. Whispers of hauntings and illicit necromancy swirl about the queen's volatile sorcerer. And a murder in the queen's inner circle convinces Anne that her sister's death was no accident. With no one to trust but a friend she cannot see, Anne takes up her sister's magical puzzle, plunging into the midst of a centuries-old rivalry and coming face-to-face with the most dangerous sorcerer in Sabria. His name is Dante.
Angele Masters' voice is not as soothing to my ears as Therese Plummer's is. Nor as appealing as Alyssa Bresnahan. Plus I like it when the same narrator reads the books in the same series. I'm anal that way. Angele Masters also have the tendency to read "happy" lines and "excited" lines in a flat and monotonous voice at times.
I am guessing this happens when she is already tired as this does not happen all the time. But still quite apparent to my reader's ears. And quite irritating. The change in POV from Portier de Savin-Duplais in Book 1 to Anne de Vernase in this book (Book 2) also took a little getting used to.
Maybe I've been listening to this series long enough that I now appreciated the intricacies of the world of Collegia Magica. Or more likely, the author just spins a beautiful world for us. Either way, I think the world building is even more beautiful with this book than it was with Book 1.And unlike the Lighthouse series, this book actually has a well-structured story with a beginning, a central dilemma and a resolution in the ending at the same time as fitting into the main story arc of the series. That, earned a lot of brownie points with me!!
As if that is not enough to add to the goodness of this book, the plot is so twisty it threw me surprises where I never expected it! There were tiny holes in the plot but I choose to ignore those for the reading pleasure that this book gave me!
And thank you to Me And Reading for hosting a blog contest and making it possible for me to win a copy of The Daemon Prism (Book 3)! A huge thanks to Me And Reading!!
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4.5
Ending = 4
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = (18-hour listening time)
Plot = 4.5
Narrator = 3
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries
I like the sound of this :D
ReplyDeleteBlodeuedd - It was wonderful to listen to!
ReplyDeleteYah glad you liked it :)
ReplyDeleteJuju at Tales of Whimsy.com - Thanks for dropping by Ju! :)
ReplyDeleteGood to see you enjoyed this one. I love world building so now I'm more curious than I was before. :D Thank you.
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