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The Blacksmith's Son
- Mageborn, Book 1
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Categories: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fantasy
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Great potential
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It has been 20 years since the end of the war. The dictatorial Augurs, once thought of almost as gods, were overthrown and wiped out during the conflict, their much-feared powers mysteriously failing them. Those who had ruled under them, men and women with a lesser ability known as the Gift, avoided the Augurs' fate only by submitting themselves to the rebellion's Four Tenets.
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Matthew is the first human wizard to possess the true heritage of the Illeniels, a secret gift no one fully understands. Alone, he travels to another world, seeking the source of their mysterious enemies. There he will discover the origin of their ancient foe, the mysteries of the past, and possibly the future of humankind. If he can survive long enough. In a land beyond death and suffering, he finds the true source of evil, within the heart of humanity, and their newest creation.
Publisher's Summary
Mordecai's simple life as the son of a blacksmith is transformed by the discovery of his magical birthright. As he journeys to understand the power within him he is drawn into a dangerous plot to destroy the Duke of Lancaster and undermine the Kingdom of Lothion. Love and treachery combine to embroil him in events he was never prepared to face. What he uncovers will change his understanding of the past, and alter the future of those around him.
Critic Reviews
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What listeners say about The Blacksmith's Son
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- reader 23q
- 14-07-20
Ok book.
The storyline it's quite predictable. Performance was good. It's an ordinary book from the author with lot of promise.
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- Derek
- 30-04-15
A great tale that can stand on its own.
What did you love best about The Blacksmith's Son?
The author uses modern phrasing and language in the story and it works well for his writing style. He creates characters and is able to use them to a good potential. He has a direction and a purpose for all of his story and is able to fill in parts of the story with earlier incidental preparation.
What about Todd McLaren’s performance did you like?
The narrator gave energy to the story at the right moments and did an excellent job at reading. He just can't do female or children's voices, he makes them sound like old men. Other than that small complain he did an excellent job.
Any additional comments?
I write this review thinking of another author who did not prepare a story ahead of time and it felt like he just wrote it on the go. Michael Manning definitely put a lot of forethought into his writing and I will definitely be listing to or reading his next book. A good story is one built with a foundation and filled in with consistent details. I look for a good beginning, a climax, and a satisfying ending in each book, even if the story continues on in another book. This book fulfills these requirements for me.
11 people found this helpful
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- Sharon
- 08-09-16
Modern day meets D&D?
this classic mage story would have been received so much better had there not been modern english profanity and sarcasm spread throughout the entire story. it diminished the quality of the story itself which was good for an adventurer type of story.
6 people found this helpful
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- Skipper
- 04-04-16
POV jumps from 1st to 3rd
Excellent narration. The premise is good, and I want to go easy on a debut novel, but Gah!! The POV changes constantly from 3rd-person to 1st-person and back again, often within just a few pages. This occurred across the entire book. Disorienting.
Language felt like modern teenage punk. The modern slang broke the medieval atmosphere, drawing me out of the story. Anachronistic phrases include "getting laid, pissed off, scared the living sh-t out of me," etc.
No character development. Mort went from common blacksmith's son to Mage lord in just days, without a hitch, taking magic and money in his stride. Everything was too easy for him, including learning magic and a dead language from a book.
Mort — a green lad of 16 — took to sex easily. He repeatedly referred to teenage Penny as a woman, which annoyed me every time. Moreover, young Penny was molested, nearly raped, so she would be protective of her personal boundaries and sexual safety. She would wear clothes, at the very least! Nope. She can't even be bothered to put on a night gown or a sheet when two people enter the bedroom.
The story content is somewhat promising.
30 people found this helpful
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- Sarah Catherine Robinson
- 02-11-19
Rough launch for Manning - but sets up a great series
I just finished Manning’s Dragon series - it was great - so good in fact that I hunted down his suggestions on the chronology to follow for his books in this world. Unfortunately, it’s clear his earlier work was poorly edited (if at all) - the story is solid, but the prose, organization, fluidity, and pace all feel very amateurish. Echoing another reviewer - if I had started with this book I likely would have returned it and written Manning off entirely - but his later work really is gripping and significantly better pulled together and these Mageborn books are a part of the overall tale.
Unfortunately for McLaren, audible and other apps have upped the ante for skilled narrators and his inability to act out the character’s / bring them to life and believably narrate female voices just made this more plodding than the story already was - which just added to the disappointment.
Definitely worth the ‘read’ if you’re excited about the complex world Manning creates over the course of his career, but if you’re enjoying current-day (2019) production and narration quality books, look elsewhere.
3 people found this helpful
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- TheOpinion
- 11-09-13
Too little content
What would have made The Blacksmith's Son better?
Needs more content designed at driving the plot. There is a ton of missused space in this novel. It is one of those books were you read the whole thing and are still waiting for the book to begin. There are whole chapters that really don't add to the plot at all and the book basically goes nowhere but to build some basic characters and some plot lines.
What could Michael G. Manning have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?
Create more interplay between the characters.
Describe the world more. Basically you only have 2 points of interest in this book. The house where the main character grew up and the castle he gets invited to. There is not a dynamic environment in this book at all and that is a character on its own in epic fantasy.
What about Todd McLaren’s performance did you like?
He was clear and his voices were not bad. Good pace as well.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
melancholy
Any additional comments?
The book was not terrible but I think people are overrating it.
10 people found this helpful
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- G
- 27-04-16
This is writers first novel. Thank God he gets better in future works.
The first series I read by Michael Manning was the Embers of Illeniel. His second series in the Illeniel world. I really enjoyed it.I am glad I did not start with this, his first book. I would not have stuck around to see if he ever learned to write like a semi-professional. Because I know he got much better somewhere between this first novel and his fourth book I'm going to take a chance on the second book in the series. It has to be better than his first attempt.
6 people found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 04-05-20
good but...
You really have to suspend your disbelief for the.plot to work.. Characters always behave in the way that would bring the most drama and tension to the story not in any sort of realistic way...
2 people found this helpful
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- Joe
- 14-12-14
Loved it
I loved this series.
Young man awakening to his powers without a teacher. Finds various learning opportunities along the way, coming to discover he is probably the most powerful person of his kind ever born (although not put in those words, that's what's implied). Then tragedy strikes at the very end of the series - or so it seems; I wonder what the next installment will reveal?
2 people found this helpful
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- Bob-o
- 03-04-15
A great series once you get through the first 1/4.
A great series once you get through the first 1/4.of the book. The first 1/4 if juvenile and I could not tolerate the narrator and so i put the book down. Months later I picked it up again from where I left off and I adjusted to the narrator, probably because my expectations were low. By the end of the book I actually liked him. His i individual voices were good and consistent through the 4 books on Audible (there js 5th book not on Audible yet). The main theme of the books is about a mage that is self taught. The protagonist is arrogant, talks to himself constantly, and talks to the listener, and I do not like any of things. He is kind, loyal, and caresing, and yhese traits make up for that. However, the real reason I do like these books is because of the magic system grows and is explained more and more throughout each book. After my first reaction to the first quarter of the first book, I thoughy I had defiantly wasted a credit, but in the end I am glad I did spend the credit and have listened to all of the authors books on Audible.
7 people found this helpful
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- W. Pierce
- 07-04-15
good book
good book. not hard to follow, good pacing, over all Id recommend it to anyone who was a fantasy reader
3 people found this helpful
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- Michael
- 04-11-18
Early Work
Michael G. Manning writes some brilliant books so if this is your first try don’t let it put you off. The writing and narration here is a little stinted but the story is a good one. For me the biggest part of the problem is the narrator who really does not make the story flow. There seems to be too many pauses both in and between sentences. It makes me feel playing the story at a faster speed may help. Usually I feel a different narrator is just a new voice to get used to but sadly that’s not the case. Luckily I started with the Embers of Illeniel series which is brilliant and a better starting point as the story predates this one. I’m particularly picky and only really like 5 Star work but Mannings later work is so good I’m game to give the next few books in the series a go!
4 people found this helpful
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- Chris
- 14-02-19
Shame about the narrator
The narration is flat with too much emphasis on the punctuation and too much stop start within sentences. It makes the book too hard to listen to, I’ll read it instead.
2 people found this helpful
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- Mat
- 19-10-17
interesting book
very interesting book, purchased it without any previous knowledge of it, and I must admit it have gotten me quite interested, it's short yes and straight to the point however it gave few interesting points, making me want to listen to the other books from the series, which I intend to do.
overall a short and engaging fantasy story with a nice magic to it, nothing overcomplicated. a book worth looking into
2 people found this helpful
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- P. horscroft
- 16-02-17
wrong narrator
I enjoyed the story but wrong narrator . The voices were not going well with characters.
4 people found this helpful
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- Caroline
- 28-01-21
Enjoyable story but lacked development
A likeable protagonist and humorous narration made the story enjoyable but the plot was very fast paced, which I think missed the opportunities to delve into the character’s exploration of magic. The ending was disappointing for me, as there has seemed potential for more revelations about the magical world and the antagonist. Overall, worth a read for a fun story but lacking in development.
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- Joe
- 11-11-20
Just another book in this guy's series of rape
So apparently Manning cannot write a story without rape being included in some way.
I listened to the embers of Illenial books and while there was a tonne of rape there, those were meant to be dark books. I though this one was supposed to be more of a normal fantasy story, yet here comes the rape again.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-08-20
Good
I enjoyed this book very much, it feels like there could be a sequal to it
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- INVIZ
- 28-07-20
Hard to get through the cringe.
I enjoyed it but the dialogue can sometimes be extremely cringey and frustrating. During a battle where people are being split in half and burned alive the main character unironically says to his enemy "did someone beat you with an ugly stick?" That along with the american radio host narrator made it hard to get through.
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- charles macharia
- 18-12-19
below average
The writing is juvenile, the story building is at best disappointing and the pace is ponderous. To top it all off the performance is wooden and brings out all the worst things about this book.
I read this series many years ago and I wished to revisit for the nostalgia, much better enjoyed as a book.
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- Dr. J. S. Grimwood
- 06-04-18
Basic
The writing and the story were rather basic. I do not plan to read anymore.
2 people found this helpful