Tag Archives: audiobook

Audiobook Review: Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros audiobook edition cover

Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Narrator: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I enjoyed this sequel and plan to continue the series, but I gave it 3 stars for 3 reasons:

  1. The plot dragged in places
  2. The main relationship was less spicy
  3. I started wondering what the bad guys were doing for the 1,000 years they weren’t around and the more I thought about it the more cardboard the villains seemed.

I also read this book to fulfill the January prompt for the Magical Readathon: Orilium A Year in Aeldia Reading Challenge 2024. January presented two choices and my character, Vaughn, chose to rely on his wits to get out of a dungeon, which meant reading an audiobook. Who is Vaughn and why was he in a dungeon? Read on to find out!

Ken Hidaka, a character in the anime Weiß Kreuz

Vaughn is an electricity elemental known as a Lightning. Physically he is based on Ken Hidaka from the anime Weiß Kreuz. He uses a pair of goggles with magical liquid crystal display lenses and has a gauntlet that turns into any tool he needs and allows him to channel magic. An apprentice Craftsmage, his original goal in attending Orilium University was to make the first magical database, but his extracurricular experiences may be leading him down another path. Vaughn has already obtained keys to the secret alchemy lab and the secret library, and his new goal is to obtain all the keys to the entire university. He’s started carrying a set of magical lock picks at all times. So when his friend Tori wanted to do some urban spelunking to explore the university’s underground, he was all in! They were arrested for trespassing, but Vaughn wasn’t fazed. He just whipped the lock picks out of his shoe and went to work.

The adventure will continue next month!

Book Review: Foxglove by Adalyn Grace

Foxglove by Adalyn Grace audiobook edition cover

Foxglove by Adalyn Grace

Narrated by Kristin Atherton

Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Narration: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I enjoyed Foxglove much more than its predecessor, Belladonna. Foxglove pulled me in from the first with gorgeous, synesthesia-like descriptions of Fate creating and weaving the threads of life. From there it didn’t waste any time becoming a murder mystery. The characters were well fleshed out and their actions were believable. I enjoyed the plot and the ending.

I gave the narration 4 stars because Kristin Atherton speaks very quietly, almost whispering, to make Death and Fate’s voices. While the result is sexy, it’s hard to hear.

Foxglove is the first book I’ve used Book Roast’s CAWPILE system to rate. We’ll see if I stick with it. If you’re unfamiliar with CAWPILE, it’s a spreadsheet that calculates a star rating based on 7 attributes. I’ll explain further and how I’ve modified it in a later post once my friend Ryn finishes some illustrations for me. So far I feel like it calibrates with what I would have rated the book going off gut alone.

Year in Aeldia readathon map

Foxglove is also the final book I needed to read for the Year in Aeldia supplement to the Magical Readathon. My character can now summon a spirit fox friend!

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