
The Witch Who Came In from the Cold: Book 1
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Narrated by:
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John Glouchevitch
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Christine Helen Lakin
About this listen
Welcome to Prague, 1970: ground zero in a Cold War of spies and sorcerers. The streets are a deadly chessboard on which the CIA and KGB make their moves, little dreaming that a deeper game is being played between the Consortium of Ice and the Acolytes of Flame, ancient organizations that seek to harness elemental magic.
Tanya Morozova is a KGB officer and the latest in a long of Ice sorceresses; Gabe Pritchard is a CIA officer and reluctant Ice recruit. Enemies at one turn, but forced into alliances at the next, their relationship is as explosive as the Cold War itself.
Praise for The Witch Who Came in from the Cold:
"Those who like to mix magic, spycraft, and secret history should enjoy this—it may please fans of Stross’s Laundry series." (Locus Magazine)
"Full of fast-paced, high-intensity action paired with magic at a level that has not been seen until now, with a cliff-hanger that lets readers know that the game is not over and has only just begun." (The San Francisco Book Review)
"The Witch Who Came in from the Cold is a chilly evocation of a different kind of Cold War." (Charles Stross, author of the Laundry Files series)
“Take a double shot of Le Carré, a dash of Deighton, a twist of Quiller, a splash of Al Stewart’s The Year of the Cat, throw in a jigger full of elemental magic, mix well...and voilà! The Witch Who Came in from the Cold.” (Victor Milán, author of The Dinosaur Lords)
"The occult love child of John le Carre and The Sandbaggers." (Marie Brennan, author of A Natural History of Dragons)
"As soon as I saw that, I was instantly hooked, and the pilot jacked the intrigue to the max. Two female Soviet spy witches, an American spy with something weird drilling magical holes in his head, and a world of secrets within secrets in a locale where old-world myth and the Cold War face off, pedal to the metal...it’s awesome. Or as we said in 1970, Far out." (Sherwood Smith, author of Crown Duel)
"The installments are easy to read one at a time, but the tangles of alliances, secrets, and shocking double-crosses will have readers up all night mumbling, 'Just one more.'" (Publishers Weekly)
©2016 Lindsay Smith, Max Gladstone, Cassandra Rose Clarke, Ian Tregillis, Michael Swanwick (P)2016 Serial BoxListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"The Witch Who Came in from the Cold is an action-packed, thoughtful, and above all fun reconsideration of an era when the slightest slip or provocation could’ve spell doom for millions: the international intrigue we know and love, with the added layer of sorcery and world-ending catastrophe on top." (B&N Sci-fi & Fantasy)
What listeners say about The Witch Who Came In from the Cold: Book 1
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Mark Hancock
- 08-29-20
Fantastic, but where is Part 2?!
This was a good mix of espionage & magic; a fun read for those of us who enjoy LeCarre & Alan Furst as much as Tolkien or Martha Wells or NK Jemisen or George Martin.
My only complaint is when Audible doesn’t get the series next parts- a gripe I seem to run into too often.
That said, it’s a fun read and if you like spies and/or sorcery, it’s worth your time.
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- Anonymous User
- 02-03-23
Excellent, smooth, and superb!
Excellent writing, smooth and pleasant narration, an overall superb retelling of a "classic" spy thriller! I am very impressed!
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- Stef
- 02-19-20
Not what I hoped
I really like spy stories. I really like stories about magic. So I was excited to find an audio story that combined them. Unfortunately this story makes something boring out of the combination. The pacing is uneven and slow. Christine Lakin (whose narration I've liked in other works) uses a gratingly bad Russian accent. I wasn't able to finish.
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