
An Unkindness of Magicians
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Narrated by:
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Madeleine Maby
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By:
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Kat Howard
About this listen
There is a dark secret that is hiding at the heart of New York City and diminishing the city's magicians' power in this fantasy thriller by acclaimed author Kat Howard.
In New York City, magic controls everything. But the power of magic is fading. No one knows what is happening except for Sydney - a new, rare magician with incredible power that has been unmatched in decades, and she may be the only person who is able to stop the darkness that is weakening the magic. But Sydney doesn't want to help the system; she wants to destroy it.
Sydney comes from the House of Shadows, which controls the magic with the help of sacrifices from magicians.
©2017 Kat Howard (P)2017 Simon & Schuster, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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The post-Katrina New Orleans of The City of Lost Fortunes is a place haunted by its history and by the hurricane's destruction, a place that is hoping to survive the rebuilding of its present long enough to ensure that it has a future. Street magician Jude Dubuisson is likewise burdened by his past and by the consequences of the storm, because he has a secret: the magical ability to find lost things, a gift passed down to him by the father he has never known - a father who just happens to be more than human.
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Enchanting Creative Story
- By William on 09-02-18
By: Bryan Camp
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Blood Song
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- By: Cat Adams
- Narrated by: Arika Escalona
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
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Bodyguard Celia Graves has definitely accepted her share of weird assignments, both human and supernatural. But her newest job takes the cake. Guarding a prince from terrorists and religious fundamentalists is hard enough, but it seems like the entire supernatural world is after this guy too. When she is betrayed by those she is employed to help, and everything goes horribly wrong, Celia wakes to find herself transformed. Neither human nor vampire, Celia has become an abomination-something that should not exist-and now both human and supernatural alike want her dead.
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Blood Song
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Magic to the Bone
- Allie Beckstrom Series, Book 1
- By: Devon Monk
- Narrated by: Emily Durante
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
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Everything has a cost. And every act of magic exacts a price from its user---maybe a two-day migraine, or losing the memory of your first kiss. But some people want to use magic without paying, and they Offload the cost onto innocents. When that happens, it falls to a Hound to identify the spell's caster---and Allison Beckstrom is the best there is.
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Good start to a Great series
- By Dana on 12-30-11
By: Devon Monk
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Shadow Blade
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- By: Seressia Glass
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
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For Kira Solomon, normal was never an option. Kira's day job is as an antiquities expert, but her true calling is as a Shadowchaser. Trained from youth to be one of the most lethal Chasers in existence, Kira serves the Gilead Commission, dispatching the Fallen who sow discord and chaos. Of course, sometimes Gilead bureaucracy is as much a thorn in her side as anything the Fallen can muster against her. Right now, though, she's got a bigger problem....
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Agile Narrator, Fun Story, Realistic POCs
- By D on 02-22-15
By: Seressia Glass
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The Warrior Heir
- The Heir Chronicles, Book 1
- By: Cinda Williams Chima
- Narrated by: Robert Ramirez
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
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When 16-year-old Jack forgets to take his medicine one morning, he soon learns what the medicine is really for. It's a suppressant for his magical powers....He's a Warrior Heir.
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Better if you read yourself
- By Sara on 10-28-08
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Tempted by Fire
- By: Erin Kellison
- Narrated by: Bernard Setaro Clark
- Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins
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Tempted by Fire is the first in the enthralling new Dragons of Bloodfire series by New York Times best-selling author Erin Kellison. Dragon shifter Thane Ealdian has waited 600 years to avenge the loss of his family, and finally a clue has surfaced that implicates an old adversary. Thane will stop at nothing to seek his revenge, but to prevent violence between the clans, the Bloodkin Triad has forced a mediator on him. Some upstart named Emerson Clark.
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An "OK" Plot But No Chemistry!
- By Cheri on 10-06-16
By: Erin Kellison
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Some Girls Bite
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- By: Chloe Neill
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They killed me. They healed me. They changed me. Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn't exactly glamorous, but it was mine. I was doing fine until Chicago's vampires announced their existence to the world---and then a rogue vampire attacked me. But he only got a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker...and this one decided that the best way to save my life was to make me the walking undead.
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Almost Great...
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By: Chloe Neill
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The Devil You Know
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Felix Castor is a freelance exorcist, and London is his stomping ground. It may seem like a good ghostbuster can charge what he likes and enjoy a hell of a lifestyle, but there's a risk: sooner or later he's going to take on a spirit that's too strong for him. When Castor accepts a seemingly simple ghost-hunting case at a museum in the shadowy heart of London, what should have been a perfectly straightforward exorcism is rapidly turning into the Who Can Kill Castor First Show, with demons and ghosts all keen to claim the big prize.
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Horror combined with misogynistic characters
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By: Mike Carey
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The Voodoo Killings
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Kristi Charish's The Voodoo Killings introduces Kincaid Strange, not your average voodoo practitioner.... For starters, she's only 27. Then there's the fact that she lives in rain-soaked Seattle, which is not exactly Haiti. And she's broke. With raising zombies outlawed throughout the continental USA, Kincaid has to eke out a living running séances for university students with more money than brains who are desperate for guitar lessons with the ghost of a Seattle grunge rocker - who happens to be Kincaid's on-again, off-again roommate.
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Loved it!
- By TAz on 11-16-16
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Company Town
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They call it Company Town - a city-size oil rig off the coast of the Canadian Maritimes, now owned by one very wealthy, powerful, byzantine family: Lynch Ltd. Hwa is of the few people in her community (which constitutes the whole rig) to forgo bioengineered enhancements. As such, she's the last truly organic person left on the rig - making her doubly an outsider as well as a neglected daughter and bodyguard extraordinaire.
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Different
- By J.G. Brandt on 01-16-17
By: Madeline Ashby
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Blood Rights
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Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle's body bears the telltale marks of a comarré - a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility. When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the mortal world... and into the arms of Malkolm, an outcast vampire cursed to kill every being from whom he drinks. Now, Chrysabelle and Malkolm must work together to stop a plot to merge the mortal and supernatural worlds.
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A Good Book that no one knows about
- By Sheri on 11-15-12
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Hex on the Beach
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Lily Locke has never believed in witches and wizards, ghosts and magic, shifters and vampires - especially cute blonde vamps with blood-intolerance issues. A rising star at a hotshot marketing agency in Minneapolis, Minnesota, all Lily knows is that she's a PowerPoint guru, an Excel ninja, and a coffee-maker extraordinaire. Not to mention she's next in line for a huge promotion.
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Watered Down Stephanie Plum Plot
- By Teethnclaws on 11-14-16
By: Gina LaManna
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What listeners say about An Unkindness of Magicians
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- Anonymous User
- 04-13-23
Cool concepts, poor execution
This felt like the author had a dozen or so awesome ideas for scenes. She wrote them and realized she needed more book to go around it. A few times, I didn't even realize a climatic event was happening because the scene had no build-up. The magic system really needed some more definition. Soft magic systems are great until things are happening with no apparent rhyme or reason to just move the story along or to make cool scenes. Despite that, I did love the tone of the book and the dark uses of the magic system
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- Michael L.
- 05-25-18
Tried too hard
This book tried too hard to be a good story. I wanted to like it more but there was too much crammed in to feel for the characters
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2 people found this helpful
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- Magicalkat
- 12-26-17
amazing
I loved this book. I can also see why Neil Gaiman enjoyed it. the book has a wonderful magic system and is very immersive.
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- Anonymous User
- 09-29-19
Unique and qwirky
This unique take on magic started off so well, but lagged in the middle. Thankfully, the ending was also great. Hoping for a sequel!
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- Cody
- 04-02-23
more of a screenplay than a book
lots of characters and a good story that get let down by the length of the book. The characters are interesting, but one dimensional. And the story has a lot of build up that lead to several moments that feel a tough they should be epic moments that turn out to be "blink and you miss it" moments. there were several instances where I had to rewind because it was a finger snao and the moment was over. give this book and a good budget to a film studio that knows what they're doing, and I'm all in.
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-03-21
Great Concepts, Unfulfilling Ride
When it comes to set up and world building the first few chapters drew me in. The book's opening narative gave me a promise of intrigue and danger. But as things went on the story became stale, unexplained, and even predicable. The story has no tention or stakes given the Main character (MC) is so overpowered and prepared. Im reluctant to call her a Marry-Sue, but the way the story playes out I had to wonder if she is, given all the power she has and perfect support system she has. The Villians while introduced as killers or players to watch never succeed in, or do anything consequential. They're just plot devices to facilitate inconveniences for the MC. At no point does the MC worry that she can be truly harmed. The Magic System is very soft, with no explanation other than where it comes from and that its painfull. Duels with magic last only about 2 pharagraphs and are highly lack luster. Things just happen. And everyone except extras and one obvious person seems to be sitting fully wraped in plot armor. However the book really tries to avoid contrivances. The story was gripping enough to keep me going, untill I realized nothing of what the setup promised was going to be given to me but by this point the book was winding down. The characters where solid though with real motivations, and history. But they all felt useless and never had right amount of screen time for all the things happening. Once I finished I realzed how underdeveloped all the A B & C plots where. I wouldnt recommend this book but i wouldnt say to avoid it either. Strong starting chapters, but the rest was underwhelming
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- DC
- 09-23-20
Fantastic story
I found the story to be very interesting and it kept me compelled to continue listening. The narrator did a fantastic job and gave the book life
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- S. Yates
- 07-10-18
Very dark magic, indeed
Imagine a world where magic is everywhere but most people don't see it. Feels fairly typical, doesn't it. Like any of a host of fictional landscapes where the fantastic and the mundane are side-by-side, but only those with special powers are fully aware. Such stories are usually often largely bright and cheery, and often driven forward by non-adult characters. And should the tale stray into darkness the conflict is often resolved by the triumph of good (think Harry Potter and its predecessors). The darkness, is there and important, but not typically overwhelming. You get some excellently crafted stories that skew a bit older and a bit more serious, like Lev Grossman's "The Magicians" (which I am embarrassed to admit I have yet to finish), with magic as a costly thing, requiring serious study and perseverance, and plots that cannot neatly resolve into good versus evil.
Kat Howard's "An Unkindness of Magicians" takes place in a world where the fantastic and mundane are side-by-side, but also intertwined at certain points. Those who are not part of the magical world are largely unawares. And those within the world are movers and shakers in both realms, where house affiliation and individual power are just another way to measure influence and strength. And the magic in this world can be both wonderful and terrible, and there is always a price to pay.
The main character of the story is Sydney, who shows up on the scene in New York just as the magical world is about to undergo a Turning. Turning typically take place about every generation and during the Turning the power structure and hierarchy are in flux. Houses choose champions, challengers make their moves, and new houses can be born. Through this magical and political intrigue, we are introduced to the world and slowly uncover the workings of magic. And what makes the magic in this book stand out is that it is suffused with suffering and cruelty, and the costs for using the magic are not equally meted out.
There are times the dialog feels stilted, and I think the book could have used more length to explore certain characters and the world's workings more fully. It does not feel set up for other entries, so I'm sorry to see that my questions won't be answered and a fuller history of the world (not to mention its future) is forthcoming. But an interesting book where the magic takes place in an urban setting, the players are adults, and the consequences both bloody and sobering.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Ashley Casey
- 03-20-20
Great story
Wow! I started off a bit hesitant, but this story really packs a punch.It shows an evil side to magic that rarely gets portrayed.
Great story, great premise! Definitely give it a shot
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- Kindle Customer
- 02-02-19
Glad I took the chance
I'm glad I wanna hit and took the chance and got this book. It was absolutely wonderful. The story was thorough and enthralling and will narrated. I'm really hoping that the author decides to do a sequel there has to be more that can happen because this world she created was so complex and interesting.
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