Great Starting Point to the Age of Magic!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this book to people of the proper age/maturity. I wish there wasn't so much crude language as it really limits where I can listen to this story and who I might recommend it to. The story is really fantastic and I hate to see something like too many curse words dampen that.

I still recommend this audiobook, though, because the story really is that good. I love the world of magic this story is set in and I love that the magic is impressive, but still has a cost. There aren't a bunch of wizards running around throwing around powerful spells because they feel like it. Using magic takes energy from their body. You need a consequence in stories like these.The characters are great. The villains were people that I truly despised and the heroes are likeable and I was definitely rooting for them. Hannah shows growth and plenty of emotion.

This was the first book I've read in the Kurtherian Gambit series and I loved being introduced to this universe. The audiobook was very attention-grabbing and I found myself listening every chance I could get.

What does Kate Rudd bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Kate does a great job of conveying the emotion that each character is expressing. The emotions she puts into each character's dialogue really helps to immerse the listening into the story. She does a great job with the characters and it helps me to keep the pace. Sometimes when I'm reading a book, I tend to rush through the story instead of enjoying it at the pace the author intended it to be.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

A dream corrupted. A hero awakened.

Any additional comments?

I wasn't a fan of the amount of cursing in this book, but don't let that be something that stops you from experiencing this audiobook. The story really is excellent and I can't wait to listen to the next one in the series. And Kate narrates this story beautifully.

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Action at its best!

This was my first audio book into this world that Can. M. Raymond created and I enjoyed it. The story follows Hannah as she finds out she has magic and learns how to use it! In this world magic is outlawed and almost gets her raped and killed.
Her life is the easiest as she looks after her sickly brother and an alchoholic dad and runs cons with her friend to make money to live. She vows revenge when Her family is killed against the same men who tried to rape her.
I loved the story and will start the next book right away!

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On Point!

Freaking Phenominal! Loved the charachters! Plot was outstanding! Narrator was on point! Loved this book!

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Good book

Good book with an interesting plot. The narration is also good and fits the story.

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Exhilarating

This is a series I could get lost in, locked in my room, hiding from the world for days until getting the chance to hear it all. From the lowest in society, stealing and scamming for money to buy food..... then becoming one of the highest held in esteem - by accident. I love the detail, characters and plot. I cannot wait to start the second. I listened to this in nearly a single day, while redoing the lock stone in my driveway. I couldn’t believe it had been 7+ hours because I was engaged in the story while working. Made time pass so much faster than if I’d been doing that work without. Very excited to listen to the next one :)

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Fun fantasy, series starter!

What a fun little treat of a book! The audiobook was very well narrated. This book was full of everything a fantasy needs, magic, a wizard, good vs evil and even a cute dragon.

I really enjoyed this book for the reasons below:
~ Well written story that flowed
~ Interesting characters, both likable and despisable
~ Dystopian future world shows what happens when magic is controlled by the wrong people
~ Strong Female MC
~ A good start to a series

Con(s) ~ maybe I could do without the MC's potty mouth. Nothing she said was terribly offensive, but it made her sound a bit foolish at times. Overall she seemed smarter than her cursing portrayed. She lived a difficult life, but the character doesn't have to swear to sound tough. It could be a good teen book except for the language.

I would recommend this to readers of fantasy and magic, yet I would wait until they are at least 16 yrs old due to the cursing.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Audiobook Access for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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this is a great addition to the KG Series!

your collaboration is amazing for this addition to the KG Universe! great job everyone!

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Unusual

This was a very good listen. The pace was steady and the narration was excellent. There is some graphic violence but it is not the main theme. The story is a different take on the origin of magic and the fate of earth but still maintains the premise that absolute power can corrupt absolutely.

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This is a perfect gateway to the Kurtherian Saga..

Restriction is a marvelous book... I was sucked into the this story from the very start... Hanna is just trying to save her brother while he's having a seizure, and in her desperation, she accidentally uses magic out in public... And magic is highly illegal! She's narrowly escaped from the authorities, with the help of a mysterious, powerful magician. We follow Hanna as she secretly learns how to use her magic, instructed by that same magician...
Kate Rudd narration is amazingly good as she tells Hanna's story...

If you've never read a single Kurtherian Gambit story, don't be afraid to start right here! This is a perfect gateway  into the series! Just keep in mind that this is literary crack, and you might find yourself with a need to read the entire saga. If you do need more, you might check out fantasticfiction.com for help navigating through this rather extensive, multi author series... You can dive into these tales and go as far as you want, or if you're like me, you can pick up one of the side (spin-off) series like this one, and fool yourself into believing that you can quit anytime! 😄

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An interesting take on high fantasy

This is the first book of a trilogy, set in the already well-developed fictional universe of the Kurtherian Gambit, which is founded on (Arthur C.) Clarke's law, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

I haven't read any of the previous Kurtherian Gambit books, so some of what I say that relates to previous events may be imprecise or just wrong.

The invention and escape into the wild of nanotechnology caused major changes in humanity, changes which allowed some people to attain powers not easily distinguishable from magic, some became vampires, ore werewolves, and others to just go completely mad and turn into cannibals. This is called The Age of Madness, and it lasted entirely too long. There was a long-ruling vampire named Michael, and faces with yet another attempt to overthrow him, he recruits Bethany Anne. She becomes, among other things, one of the major mythic figures of the world that will follow her. I think this is when humans start to get real control of the "magic" that is now inside every single human.

And all this matters because it's the background for the world Hannah, a young woman living in the "Queen Bitch Boulevard" slum area of the city of Arcadia, has grown up in.

Except one more important person came along, maybe half a century ago, roughly. Ezekial is revered as the Founder--the founder of the city of Arcadia and its school of magic. He got everything on the right path, with peace and prosperity, along with magic, breaking out all over, and then he left his best student, Adrian, in charge of the school, someone else as governor of the city, and left. Adrian turned out not to be who Ezekiel believed him to be. Arcadia is an old-fashioned, oppressive plutocracy. And unauthorized use of magic is illegal.

Hannah didn't mean to use magic; she didn't know she could. But her brother was having a seizure, and she wanted to help him--wanted to so badly that she reached into herself and tapped the magic she didn't know she had. Unfortunately, some of Adrian's Hunters were nearby, and she's quickly running for her life. Ezekiel has finally returned, and is appalled to see what has happened to Arcadia--and is in the right place at the right time to rescue Hannah.

When he understands what she's done, untrained, he recognizes her as possibly key to his hopes of restoring Arcadia. Hannah is potentially an even more powerful magician than he is.

Ezekiel, Hannah, her brother William, her friend Parker, and Ezekiel's assorted friends who are still around and haven't followed Adrian's path, are interesting and worthwhile characters. I have some serious questions about what "Earth" and certain other seemingly obvious terms mean in context in this book, but some of that may simply be not having read previous books. It is a weakness for this book as a starting point, however, and it may be more rewarding for people already at least somewhat familiar with the Kurtherian Gambit world. It's also the first book of a trilogy, and while there is somewhat of an ending, it would really be helpful to have that next book lined up.

Nevertheless, it is enjoyable.

Moreover, the narrator, Kate Rudd, is just fantastic, and added significantly to my enjoyment of the story, and even the three authors' notes at the end.

Recommended if you like high fantasy and are looking for a different take on it.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from one of the authors, and am reviewing it voluntarily.

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