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    The Innocent Mage
    The Innocent Mage
    The Innocent Mage
    Audiobook20 hours

    The Innocent Mage

    Written by Karen Miller

    Narrated by Kirby Heyborne

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    "The Innocent Mage is come, and we stand at the beginning of the end of everything."

    Being a fisherman like his father isn't a bad life, but it's not the one that Asher wants. Despite his humble roots, Asher has grand dreams. And they call him to Dorana, home of princes, beggars, and the warrior mages who have protected the kingdom for generations.

    Little does Asher know, however, that his arrival in the city is being closely watched by members of the Circle, people dedicated to preserving an ancient magic.

    Asher might have come to the city to make his fortune, but he will find his destiny.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateNov 17, 2010
    ISBN9781400189847
    The Innocent Mage
    Author

    Karen Miller

    Karen Miller, who has over 25 years experience in the early childhood field, is well known as a keynote speaker and consultant. She has worked as a teacher for Head Start, as national education director for Children's World Inc. and as a national training director for Min-Skools Ltd.

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    Reviews for The Innocent Mage

    4/5

    49 ratings25 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I didn't find it bad, I definitely wasn't awed either.I find it odd that the native folk would have forgotten so well that they were invaded in the first place, that they used to have their own magic, that it's tapped to save everyone's butts and should make them as a whole as valuable to society as the newcomers and their weatherworking. To the point of not even knowing anymore that they can be mages in their own right (see the lines about someone nailed for trying to learn invaders' magic).The lack of any thought, suspicion or curiosity regarding what lies outside behind the barrier in the general population is odd too.If they knew and feared the enemy and devastation that lies beyond, it would be a somewhat believable incentive to contribute to maintaining the current social order and regulations regarding magic, but no one seems to think about that. Not once does a character seem to express the dread that he might be living in an isolated, fragile bubble surrounded by a dead world.When it happens, snitching against (apparently mostly wannabe or falsely accused) native mages seems to be an exercise in pure spite or gratuitous submissiveness. And the invaders themselves seem to frame it mentally as an encroachment upon their privileges and superior talents, rather than an endangerment of collective safety.And if they don't really know (and apparently they don't, as even the high mage toward the end of this first book needs to take a peek himself), shouldn't more people be curious, or dubious about the enduring necessity of the status quo ?
    • 1/5
      The audiobook is broken. It skips part of the end of chapters, not sure how much it skips, very dissapointed.
    • 4/5
      With a title like this one and the blurb that it has, I was expecting a tad more magic to be involved. But that does not negatively affect the book's performance. There is certainly plenty of political intrigue involved, for those who enjoy it (I certainly do). I think this book does a great deal of justice to the development of the "minor" (or shall I say, "less major") characters. I found it hard to hate some of the characters, even though everything they have done have warranted that feeling. Although, of course, there are some exceptions whom we can channel our strong feelings toward without feeling the slightest remorse.At the end of the day, the difference between a five stars rating and a four stars rating is my own personal bias. There is one "plot mechanism" (I'm not sure what else to call it) that I really dislike, but by no means does that make the book bad.One warning though, make sure to have the second book on hand before finishing this book, it will make you want to read more!In short, great book! I would recommend it to people who like political intrigue and fantasy readers who like magically based worlds.
    • 4/5
      An interesting tale that slowly builds up the back story in small drips.Certainly an enjoyable read once you got used to the style, however at times I felt that too much time was spent on the normal day-to-day life and I was tempted to skip parts until something interesting happened. However, the further towards the end I got the better it seemed to get.I would recommend reading my review for the sequel though before making up your mind.
    • 4/5
      At first I found the main voice of this book rather irritating. It didn't take long to adjust, however, and it was well worth the effort. Young fisherman's son Asher has gone to the big city to make his fortune and return with the money to buy a new fishing boat and show his elder bullying brothers what he's made of. He - and they, in time - get rather more than he'd bargained for, as his job in the Royal Stables is transformed into something much greater.This first book of the pair focusses mainly on the meteoric rise to prominence of the plain-speaking and sometimes tactless fisherman and his growing friendship with magicless Price Gar, and establishing sufficient background and history that when it ends as it does, you cannot help but be aware just what disaster is waiting to happen.The ending was, perhaps, a touch predictable - but how else was the Evil Plot ever going to become a possibility? An enjoyable read, and one I will be coming back to re-read in future.
    • 3/5
      marked down for ending on a complete and utter cliffhanger. Otherwise, enjoyable, if a bit slow at the beginning.
    • 3/5
      3.5 - A flawed book but still very, very enjoyable! Looking forward to the rest of the books in this series/universe.
    • 5/5
      Aaaargh, I have to find the next book as fast as possible!! :D I have really enjoyed reading this one and I've sped trough it quite quickly, but now I'm so curious as to what is going to happen next.
    • 2/5
      Just ok. I was a little disappointed in this book. I just felt the author could have done more with it. I loved the characters, especially Gar and Asher. The plot is a little predictable, but it has some intriguing elements. Somehow she just didn't quite pull it all together. I realize this book is part of a series, but within itself there just didn't seem to be a clear conflict, climax and resolution. Despite the cliffhanger ending, I don't know if I'll be following up with the rest of the series.
    • 4/5
      Oct11:Characters: Actually pretty good despite the cliche "boy off to discover the world". The boy is unique and the characters in the kingdom are solid enough. The true villain is also sustaining.Plot: The history of this world is rich enough to drive forward a plot. The steps it takes might be mundane, but that didn't bother me overly much.Style: Again, very strong on the world building. Weak on the plot logic. Would read again for the characters.
    • 5/5
      Not since I cracked open Robert Jordan’s The Eye of the World, or George R. R. Martin’s A Clash of Kings have I enjoyed a novel as much as Karen Miller’s The Innocent Mage. Rare is the book that makes me smile as I turn each page, or that drives me to stay up into the wee hours of the night reading. The Innocent Mage did that with its combination of intriguing and clever characters, juxtaposition of lightheartedness and solemnity, and fast paced story. Continue Reading review of The Innocent Mage
    • 4/5
      On one hand it would be easy to dismiss this book - the honest yokel (fisherman rather than peasant) befriend a prince, tools of prophecy, the empathic stable-master, the ugly duckling that the yokel loves, the power-crazed Master Magician, the younger sister that hates her big brother the Prince: we've seen it all before.But the division between the Doranen and the Olken, the two races, the very literal sacrifice of the king to the safety and happiness of the kingdom, and the way those who know about the prophecy are used by it, and miserable because of it, let alone those who DON'T know they're tools of prophecy all act to make this rather different.By the end of this book, there still appreciable mysteries to come, although it looks like the series might be tricky to join in the middle and it's hard to imagine a much bigger cliff-hanger on which to end the book, although it is possible to imagine a bigger one.
    • 4/5
      The Doranen have ruled Lur with magic since arriving as refugees centuries ago. Theirs was a desperate flight to escape the wrath of a powerful mage who started a bitter war in their homeland. To keep Lur safe, the native Olken inhabitants agreed to abandon their own magic. Asher left his coastal village to make his fortune to help his dad. Employed in the royal stables, he soon finds himself befriended by Prince Gar and given more money and power than he'd ever dreamed possible. But the Olken have a secret; a prophecy. The Innocent Mage will save Lur from destruction and members of The Circle have dedicated themselves to preserving Olken magic until this day arrives. This is a very good book the only downside was the ending of it which i found to be a bit of a cliche (I await the awakend mage in earnest)
    • 5/5
      An excellent from start to... "finish". It was a great lead in to the next book. I had to go out and buy it the next morning. A great fantasy that leaves you wondering what could happen next. I strongly recommend this one, and I can't wait to read the next.
    • 3/5
      Slow paced start, weird main character, but still left me with enough incentive to pick up the 2nd book which is better then the first.
    • 4/5
      Asher is born the son of a fisherman but has bigger dreams about what to do with his life. He rescues the prince and becomes a friend. His life becomes complicated and involved with the politics of the kingdom. There's hidden magic involved in the plot and prophecy.It's pretty predictable in parts but I did enjoy the story.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book.Asher is what you often find in fantasy - the ordinary boy destined for a Greatness. But I really liked him. He is smart, loyal, honest and bad tempered.Gar is the prince. Gar realizes that Asher is exactly the person he needs. Someone who will be honest with him. Asher is not intimidated by the fact that Gar is a prince. Asher also doesn't look down on Gar because he has no magic. Gar is Doranen and Doranens do magic, but Gar cannot. Because of that he cannot be the next king and weather worker. His parents have his sister to be the heir. His parents have to get special permission to have a second child because the law is the King or Queen can only have on to prevent the devastation that happened in their history when the King's children fought for control. I found Gar a fascinating character. Viewed by many Doranens as a cripple he works hard for their Olken subjects who have no magic (or do they?) You get inside his head and his feelings.
    • 3/5
      So what's more cliche? A main character with humble beginnings as a fisherman's son, or a main character with humble beginnings as a stable boy? ...Not sure? That's alright, doesn't matter anyway. THIS main character starts out a fisherman's son, and moves to the big city to make a fortune...as a well-paid stable boy. I kid you not. ^_^ And no, this is not a parody (though there are enough cliches sometimes you'd swear it must be).As for the rest of the plot, main character Asher is part of the quaint, magicless, under-respected, under-appreciated race, and the Prince Gar and the rest of the noble family part of the noble, stuck up their asses magical race. Gar is actually a nice guy, though, and he's looking for an assistant, and wants someone from that nice put-upon race to do it so he can bridge the gap between the peoples and what have you. And of course the rough-around-the-edges Asher is the one to do it. Also, there some business about him being a 'chose one' type thing, people in court who'd like to bring them down, etc, etc.So. My ideal fantasy novel would have, among other things, a great plot with lots of action, magic, mystery and what have you, but also great characterization, great dialog, great conversations. When I see a reviews for a book commonly mentioning both, I jump on it. However, that's rare, so you chose to look for one or the other, and since it's more commonly mentioned, I tend to go for the interesting plot (admittedly with at least some mention of good character, if not actual good dialog).This novel got three and a half stars on Amazon. With all the crap that gets five, normally I wouldn't touch it. But all the horrible reviews seemed bothered by the absent/shaky plot, the ones that loved it love it for the conversations, and the ones in the middle, unsurprisingly, praised the dialog but admitted the plot needed work. So. I figured, really it's just one thing over the other. It's just good plot is supposed to be mandatory, while to a certain extent great characters and dialog are...not AS MUCH, to many people's eyes (hence the low score). So hey, why not give it a shot, right? It won't be perfect, but it could be considerably more intriguing than the usual stuff.In the end, or rather, in my inability to get to the end, I'm going to have to go for a generally negative verdict on this one. My biggest problem here is not the lack of plot (which is indeed a problem, as was generally agreed), but that the supposedly most intriguing aspect of this book, the dialog, is only out of the ordinary by virtue of being more of a focus. It's clear the author had fun making the characters banter, but while it's not aimless and masturbatory as it could have turned out, it's really not that great. It's not that clever, not that subtle, not that good at showing interesting sides of the characters, not that anything at all.Another problem here is that the characters have to be interesting to make their dialog so. The mains, Asher and Gar, are generally simplistic, predictable, good natured, easy to read. This goes for the reader, as well as the other characters in the book watching them. They aren't simple to the point of being pointless caricatures, but I feel like I'm reading characters from a children's book with somewhat more complex prose. Besides just making reading the characters less interesting, it also hurts the novel more overall because it seems to be trying it's hand as a story of court intrigue. Though I may not have read enough of these to judge well, it seems to me such a story would thrive off of the trickiness, the deceptiveness, the manipulativeness, the secrecy of man? Using psychology.... Turning what the 'opponent' doesn't know against them. The characters here are simply too un-complex and tame to hold such a story. So far what I've seen of the less-than-perfectly-good characters has also been cartoon-villain-esque in their manner. Still. This book is by far not the worst I've read. The writing in general really is SOMETIMES more...entertaining to get through than others. It's average, maybe a little under. I've finished till the end books Ive thought worse of. But in most of those cases, I was either TOLD things picked up later, or there was some sort of plot that lead me to believe it might. Since I've heard no such thing about this book, and there's barely any plot to speak of to suggest a pick up, and it's 640 pages, I'm on 180 and don't have free time spitting out of my ears, *breath*, not to mention that even if I manage to finish it I won't get a 'conclusion' since it's a multi-part series, there's not much motivational factors at work here. There's just better things to read.
    • 5/5
      I thought this novel was quite awesome! Asher is a down-to-earth type of man, truthful and tells it as he sees it kinda guy. It was sad to see him sneak off in the night but what he does with his new life is amazing! The friends he makes are of the best kind, granted a couple might shy away from telling the complete truth, they still make the best of friends. Prince Gar is a swell fellow, not swelled with arrogance even though he's a prince - understands people well. I can't help but feel for him though, no one should be called a cripple. His sister, Fane, now she an arrogant creature - full of icy resolve and fiery personality I find myself pitying her often. Although I may understand her feelings her reactions are hard to reconcile. Dathne is strong and ruled by prophecy, unable to fully connect with anyone. Matthew is a wonderful character, full of love for horses and his friends. Durm, Durm I dislike with a passion- a passion that only grows as the book reads on. The king and queen are a passionate, caring lot and I would be proud to have them as my royalty. All these characters play well off each other and make this book feel very real. I would definitely recommend this book to be read. It is one rollicking ride!!!
    • 4/5
      Fisherman's son Asher leaves his small seaside town to head to the big city to make a fortune. His arrival causes a stir he doesn't see: he's the face in a Circle prophecy about the end of the world. As he becomes friendly with the prince Gar and trusted by the royal family, the Circle wonders how it can use him for their own ends.At first glance this story contains a huge number of stereotypes and tropes about magic, natives, prophecy, and so forth. It even has its fantasy-contrived small order of women. But a closer look reveals that none of the stereotypes are dealt with the way we'd expect. The class system in Lur between the native Olken and the invaders Doranen--the latter long since faded from warrior mages to simple high-class rulers--is painted with subtlety and yet has a huge impact on everything that happens. In fact, that's the order of the day: everything from description of the prophecy to the growing relationship between our hero Asher and the prince Gar is subtlety written, yet totally developed as the pages go on. I've seen reviews that complain that too much isn't explained or described, but actually this is what I came to respect about the book. We aren't insulted by a page and a half explaining what a harbour looks like in a small town. The author assumes we know, and in doing so lets us paint the world realistically. Or me, at least. As I say, this seems to be a common complaint: not enough hand-holding. Well, good.I also appreciate that I couldn't guess where the story was going from one chapter to the next. The romance, what there is of one, is a surprise, and awkward enough to be real life. The scarce women hold their own as developed as any of the male characters, and the characters we don't like are given good reason for the way they are and yet don't magically becomes better, greater people just because the story demands. The whole book is a surprise this way, right up to the last page which is a cliffhanger that nearly leaves the book in the middle of a sentence. I will definitely read the next in the series.Like The Game of Thrones, this book is heavily involved in politics, but unlike that book it happily skips the minutiae that doesn't matter (thank goodness.) I don't think everyone will like this book, because it is not very much like every other fantasy book out there, and it will take more thought and attention than the average story. But I like it a lot and I'm impressed with its skill and courage.
    • 4/5
      I really liked this. Miller is a great writer and provides well-rounded characters in believable scenarios. You can't help but feel like you know them all very well. A little too long at times, but that's just what happens in epic fantasy.
    • 3/5
      I haven't quite finished this book yet, as I type this. I'm on the last hundred pages or so, and I feel so torn. I was feeling very frustrated by all the build-up with no plot as such, and then I read this review and thought, hm, actually, I agree. The thing that I've enjoyed so much throughout this book is the characters. I love Gar (not a second son for once! but with all the self-perceived inadequacies of the best second sons of the genre) and his relationship with Asher; Asher I find abrasive and annoying and often too coarse to be true; the supporting characters like Matt and Darran and the king, I love, because they seem like people. Borne and his wife genuinely love each other and you see that coming through in the writing. Fane is genuinely a girl with too much responsibility and a sharp tongue. Even Durm, with his sickening attitude towards Gar, is still a person -- he loves the king, genuinely has the good of the kingdom in mind. And the worldbuilding is pretty good too, not delivered in chunks but naturally revealed through the story.The thing that is making me seriously reconsider reading the rest of Karen Miller's work comes about five hundred pages into a six hundred page book. I would've been happy to keep reading if this was a slowly grinding political book, and collosal shows of magic weren't on the horizon. I'd have been happy to keep reading even if it's about to become a magic lightshow, if the villain was treated with as much care and buildup as the other characters. I mean, in a way he has buildup, he's part of the history of the kingdom that you get to know, but he turns out to be a pantomime villain.I'll keep going and finish The Innocent Mage, but I'm now regretting having bought Karen Miller's other books (and I think I've bought all of them written under this penname).And, okay, I've finished it now, and hmm. I still don't know. Just. Pantomime villain.
    • 5/5
      Fascinating, a superb debut from a new Australian author.In an idylic land two people live together in harmony. Trouble and strife, even poor weather, are kept at bay from the Wall upheld 600 yrs ago by the sacrifice of Barl, and the King's Danoven Weatherworking magic, while the Olken fish and farm and lead simple, happy lives. Asher is a son of fisherman who journeys to the capitol to make his fortune, as all youngest sons seem destined to do. There he meets the unfortunetly magicless prince Gar, and becomes his friend and assistant, risen high in stature from his lowly beginnings. Gar is looked down upon by his kin for his magicless status, is still a worthy administrator. Yet the king is aging, and the Prince's sister Fane not yet old enough to master the complex Magic that keep the peace. However the King's advisor Drum is there to help.Lightly written with a wonderful easy reading flowing style, Innocent mage is full of humour. Asher has an irrepresable charm, the dialect speech rendered perfectly. The world, though small, is well described and the characters leap off the page. One hopes that trouble is not brewing in paradise. First of a duology.
    • 5/5
      I listened to it obsessively it is unbelievably good. I started the second book immediately.
    • 2/5
      One-dimensional characters. Standard fantasy plot. But, what killed me was Asher's over-the-top accent, which I'm sure is the most irritating accent ever in fantasy.