Fantasy

My family- daughter, husband and myself- take turns picking different Middle Grade audiobooks/series and listen every night before bedtime. We are three ravenous (audio)bibliophiles. It is rare though that the three of us agree on anything let alone what was the good, the bad and the Meh of a book/series. Since the youngest of us (my 11 year old daughter) tapped out midway through book #2, Shadowblack, when the pacing stuttered and stalled in a bunch of areas. She is definitely more along the lines of this book's intended demographic... not sure what that says about the book... BUT my husband and I decided to soldier on soooo without further ado, here are both of our reactions. (My daughter opted to move on to another MG read so her opinion will no longer be relayed).

Hubby (38 years old) - "I liked this book better than the last one (Shadowblack), but not as much as the first (Spellslinger). I really liked all of the new characters and the tease of dragons. I'm excited to see where all of this ends up. Even though there was more action in this installment, the ending was a bit of a letdown. Overall, I rate it 3.5 Stars."

Myself (mumble grumble years old) - I (shockingly) agreed with my husband's take on this book and moreover, this series. This Middle Grade read is fun, unique and full of loveable/loathable characters. The writing is smooth, easily digested and (usually ) not boring. There is some witty dialogue and the narrator is simply perfect!! I could go off on a raving tangent about how versatile his voices are and how his range of differing inflections, personalities and genders is astounding! The pacing, on the otherhand, was a problem in the second book (Shadowblack), seemed to have been seriously worked on... things flowed a bit better in this installment. There was action, drama and some comedy. This is good, clean fun for the whole family. I'll definitely stick with it and see where this story leads us. I too will rate this 3.5 Stars... come on GoodReads, make this half star rating a thing already so I can give books their due.

Anyway...

Overall: This book's pacing was an improvement over it's predecessor. The World was dynamic and original... a cocktail of Wild Wild West mixed with Magic wielding, murderous psycho mages and Shadowblack (wielding) infected, not so innocent, pariahs. The hero is a reluctant one... which is a bit tropey BUT in a good way... not in the "oh no, not this again." kind of way but more along the lines of (ahhhh, now this is how a familiar plot devices is done right!" Is this one of my all time favorites? No, but it is definitely worth trying... especially Middle Graders. I reccomend this to all ages, genders and genre lovers!

~ Enjoy ( )

I continue to enjoy this series. Easy to listen to and interesting characters. I'd gone off YA but this is the better end of it. ( )

This third book falls under the *fun* category. Okay at first, episodic, action-filled, with quirky dialogue, but it really picks up later when the stakes get a lot higher.

I really like the magic system in these books and figuring out the meanings of the cards is pretty delightful. Heroes journey and all. It's always good. Especially when you're the most horrible traitor to your own people and all. :) We learn a lot more about his particular kind of magical skills, too, but the focus is mostly on preventing war and saving friends. What else?

Well, the writing is FUN. I really can't stress that enough. :)

I think I liked the first one best and the second was pretty okay, but this one improved things quite a bit. So much so that I broke down and got the fourth book and started it right away. :) ( )

I see somebody below wrote it's "better than Shadowblack not as good as Spellslinger".
That abut sums it up.
Shadowblack was all over the show. Charmcaster is much more focussed and user friendly. The plot is tighter and dialogue snappier.

Kellen also gets some more tools for his arsenal in this one thank the gods.
The strength of the series lies in the characters. I found Kellen circa Spellslinger spellbinding always trying to get ahead against the odds. Magic. And his combo with the squirrel cat is awesome.
This episode Nephenia is back. So unwieldy names are still a problem.
Parsus? (whatevs) is less airy-fairy annoying than last time and third Reich (whatevs) is still adorable. The interplay between the core three is priceless.

Overall, Charmcaster is more grounded and less fantastical creatures, reviving a series that was threatening to get silly after a stellar start. ( )