Audio Book Review: Ancient Magic

Ancient Magic

By:  Linsey Hall

Publish Date:  April 6, 2016, Audiobook Release July 19, 2016

Format:  Audiobook - 7 hrs 0 mins
Narrated By:  Laurel Schroeder

Genre:  Urban Fantasy

Series:  1st in Dragon's Gift: The Huntress series

First Impression:  Three girls with no past and adventure in their future.

Synopsis:
I’m good at two things: finding treasure and killing demons. Lying low is a close third—but not because I want to be good at hiding. I have to be. I’m a FireSoul, one of the unlucky few to inherit a piece of the dragon’s soul. Being born with the dragon’s covetousness should be a sweet gig - I have the power to find and steal any type of treasure, including the powers of other supernaturals.

But it doesn’t come without a price - stealing powers requires that I kill, and others would destroy me if they discover what I am. In a world full of magic, hiding my species is the only way to survive. Finding magical artifacts is the only way to pay the bills. It’s a dangerous job when you can barely use your magic, but that’s one of the things I like about it.

When Aidan Merrick, the most powerful shifter in the city, hired me to find an ancient scroll, I didn’t want to take the job. His immense amount of power reminds me of too much of murky memories from a past I can’t remember. But I don’t have a choice. The scroll reveals what I am. And if anyone finds out, I’m dead.

First Sentence:
Blood. I rubbed my tongue against the top of my mouth.

Purchase At:
Amazon  /  Barnes & Nobles  /  Book Depository

Audible

My Thoughts and Summary:
*This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBoom dot com, at my request.

Cass and her sisters, Nix and Del, woke in a field not remembering anything, for when they try the feel pain, other than they are FireSouls and have Magica powers. They are running from an evil someone.

Ten years later, the three sisters have settled in Magic's Bend. They have their shop, Ancient Magic, where they sell duplicates of artifacts with the magic transferred to it. Cass is known as one of the best hunters of treasures, which is how they get their stock for their shop, and Aidan Merrick comes to ask her to do a job for him, and a date now that he's met her. The item to find, the Scroll of Truth, which sounds familiar to Cass but sparks pain when she tries to remember about it. Learning about this scroll, she finds that it possesses her and her sisters dark secret and must destroy it before anyone reads it.

I've listened to Laurel once before. She has a young feel to her that fits the characters. Aidan has an Irish accent, and Laurel does that with a slightly lower tone to be male. Even when coming across other beings and characters, Laurel adds to her voice to make them sound slightly different. But most of all, I like the way Laurel sounds relaxed as she speaks and also brings a calm feel to Cass. Though when Cass is nervous we get that feel in Laurel's voice as well.

I liked diving into this new world. There is magic of all kinds here, and there's a system to it. FireSouls are those that kill to steal magic from magica, and also have a part of a dragon's soul in them. Which shows in the way they hoard items, what they feel are treasures. The girls don't feel as though they are FireSouls yet they have the signs of it. They don't remember how they got their powers but life as good people getting by each day.

The job for Aidan takes Cass to Ireland, the place the person she and her sisters are running from, could be living still. We don't run into the man they are running from directly, but we do see there is something more with their past, though we (and they) don't know what that past is, yet. I love the introduction of the world and characters here. We meet them and adventure with them, and I've become curious of all their secrets.

Cass was a believable character for me. She knows she and her sisters have to be careful and not let their secret out, but she's human too. She has feelings and they cloud the best of intentions, even on the inside, which makes some decisions for Cass harder than usual. I love that Cass loves food. And Aidan knows the way to her heart, food. Aidan is the perfect gentleman. He says the right things and he lets Cass know he's interested in dating her, throughout the story. At times Aidan even made butterflies in my stomach.

Aidan is a special person in the supernatural world. Oh wait until you see him do his magic! Neat what we see. (I don't want to tell you as it's cool to see.) From first meeting, Aidan has asked Cass out on a date. But she's resisted, though she does find him attractive. And that attraction grows as the story goes, even for me.

I really enjoyed this story, it was fun and relaxing for me. I look forward to more books with these characters and their secrets.



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