The Magic Shop
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The Magic Shop
Narrated by:
Steve Barnes
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Narrated by:
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Steve Barnes
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By:
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Justin Swapp
About this listen
Some family secrets can't be unseen.
Marcus and his twin sister, Ellie, live in the loft above their grandparents' magic shop - the one all the rumors are about. He's all too familiar with the hand buzzers, card tricks, and fake vomit kits. He thought he had seen it all until he stumbles upon his grandfather hiding something in a secret room behind the family tapestry.
Now Marcus and Ellie must unravel a dirty laundry list of family secrets, and are thrown into a sinister world that has been hidden from them their entire lives. Not only is the family business a front, but Marcus has to develop his powers before the Dun-Bahr find him and assimilate the magic he was born to protect.
How will Marcus evade his enemies, and save his family?
It all comes down to what's hidden at the Magic Shop.
©2016 Justin Swapp (P)2016 Justin SwappListeners also enjoyed...
The narrator did voices well, his normal voice had an odd slightly nasal tone and occasionally a clipped kind of speech which took a bit of getting used to. The music at chapters was nice but carried on too loudly as the narrator started to speak but luckily not for too long so it didn't interfere with the story too badly.
A good fun story
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slightly let down but somewhat illogical main character behaviour especially at the start.
decent young adult story.
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magic and mystery with mayhem
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I don't think I would have chosen this book off the shelf unprompted, it's not my usual genre although I don't mind straying off the beaten path every now and again. The spoiler free synopsis is that two children begin to learn about their magical heritage and their grandparents magic shop. It's kind of an origin story I suppose which of course leaves the door open for a while series.
I did enjoy the story, it kept moving along and kept me interested but I do have a few issues, namely that in some points what the characters do is so infuriating, it's like it defies logic and everyone is ok with this. I had to remind myself that the main characters were children but even the adults in the book suffer from the same lack of common sense or reason. Secondly some of the dialogue is extremely cringe worthy. Somebody called someone else a pipsqueak at one point and that's just an example I can remember. This may well be aimed at children and this is why some points infuriated me but as a card carrying adult I did enjoy it..
The narrator takes a bit of getting used to, I don't know why but after about fifteen minutes of listening it just clicks and Steve Barnes is very good; even with some of the corny dialogue he is able to bring the story to life and has a nice range of voices for the main characters and the general narration.
The good of the story outweighs the bad and I feel like I am not doing the author justice by dwelling on the negatives, but those are unfortunately the bits that stick in your mind. If you are ready to suspend belief and enjoy a few hours away from normal life this book is for you, I'll be checking out the next in the series and hope that Swapp is able to build on the series.
Something a little bit different
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The book is well written, and it has a nice flow to it. Most things are clearly described, and while I would have liked a tad more descriptive prose now and then, it is quite a minor thing. Story wise it was good, albeit a bit too generic young adult fantasy.
I really liked the beginning of the book, as it set things up nicely, and created some open questions, especially with regards to the nature of the magic shop. Unfortunately, it dragged on way too long, so it took way too long for the plot to really pick up the pace. As a reader, you are well aware that there’s something more to the magic shop, but the main character Marcus is extremely gullible to the point where I just laughed at how far out it was. He’s getting continuous hints of magic being a real thing in this world, just short of unicorns jumping up and down in front of him with signs saying ‘Magic is real!’, and despite this, he keeps just putting of everything as being normal. To me it felt as if there was a huge box of fireworks with ‘PLOT’ written on its side in most scenes, and every time the characters took a match to light the box up, the flame went out. Also, the grand parents start out seeming nice, but act more and more irrationally as the story progresses, and at the end of the book they came out as some of the most arrogant people I’ve ever read about, and I whole heartedly disliked them, which I don’t think was the authors intention. In a large part the grand parents are at the core of my problem with the book, as their actions keep making me getting disappointed in yet another outset of getting the plot developed.
Fortunately the last half of the book picked up the pace significantly, and the ending set things up nicely for the sequel. If the beginning had been shortened (Which could easily have been remedied by the grand parents going "Okay, well, you are old enough to learn, so this is how things are"), I would have given it another star. In addition, the sisters role was quite underdeveloped, and it would have made things a tad more interesting if we had her character developed more. She was generally just a sidekick throughout the entire book.
As I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Steve Barnes, my perception of the book was somewhat swayed by the narration. Steve turns out to be a very good reader, with a clear voice and is excellent at tuning his tones to make up different discerniblele characters. My only but, it that his voice is too dramatic all the time. He’s reading as if danger is going to happen every single second. Like, when you are watching a movie, and there’s a brooding music in the background. For tense scenes this is perfect, but for an entire book it is way too much.
Overall, not completely up to my taste, but if you are into young adult books, chances are that you’ll like this one. 3/5 from me.
I received this audiobook for free, in return for a review.
Well written, but has problems with the pacing
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This is a very good book. A little slow in the beginning but it picks up pretty quickly . A little different from other magic books in that the magic in this book has some dangers to it.
Production quality and narration was of high quality.
Good book for all ages
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enjoyable story
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Listener received this title free
Very well narrated, with a fun magic story line. Some of the decisions Marcus makes can be a little infuriating, but I guess kids don't make the wisest decisions most of the time!
Highly recommended for younger readers who like Harry Potter, His Dark Materials etc.
Brilliantly narrated with a fun story line
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Listener received this title free
Not my favorite, but still fun and enjoyable
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Listener received this title free
It was free.
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