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thinde's review against another edition
3.0
DNF 82%
I had trouble rating this book. It was well written, with a well-placed plot and interesting characters. However, one of the central themes is betrayal. I have a low tolerance for the subject and do not like spending time in the heads of characters that betray or are betrayed. That's just a personal quirk of mine and should not dissuade other readers.
I had trouble rating this book. It was well written, with a well-placed plot and interesting characters. However, one of the central themes is betrayal. I have a low tolerance for the subject and do not like spending time in the heads of characters that betray or are betrayed. That's just a personal quirk of mine and should not dissuade other readers.
parttimebloggerbookgeek's review
3.0
Stone and a Hard Place by R L King. Narrated by Kevin R Czarnecki.
Not bad but mostly predictable.
Alastair Stone is an Occult studies professor and Mage. As the book opens he’s asked by a fellow mage to take on a young mage named Ethan as an apprentice, which of course he’s reluctant to do, already struggling to keep his magic life and his professor life separate, but of course he does it anyway.
Overall, I’d say this book is a C plus, or maybe even a low B. Stone’s character while a bit shallow drives the story and the world building is simple enough to be believable. The problems for me stem for two things:
Switching POV’s: all told in a third person voice, fine, but instead of giving the book some perceptive it disrupted the main story flow, distracted and in some cases, boring the reader.
Ethan: Ethan’s parts, felt flat, lacked the depth of Stone’s bits and even those bits told through lens of the dark mage’s POV. Ethan overall seemed weak, only managing to stick to the rules for about a minute, never really struggling with breaking said rules. Even the fact that his mother and only source of emotional support, his father having died when Ethan was small, couldn’t make Ethan more sympathetic as a character.
Having just finished listening to the first book, I’m torn, part of me feels like ‘yes, I’d like to know what is Stone’s next adventure, but at the same time, I’m not all that excited given the ending felt a tad forced.
The narrator, Kevin Czarnecki, did overall a good job though he could be a bit of a whiner, but not enough to distract from the story or dislodge the reader from the story for longer than it takes to roll your eyes.
Not bad but mostly predictable.
Alastair Stone is an Occult studies professor and Mage. As the book opens he’s asked by a fellow mage to take on a young mage named Ethan as an apprentice, which of course he’s reluctant to do, already struggling to keep his magic life and his professor life separate, but of course he does it anyway.
Overall, I’d say this book is a C plus, or maybe even a low B. Stone’s character while a bit shallow drives the story and the world building is simple enough to be believable. The problems for me stem for two things:
Switching POV’s: all told in a third person voice, fine, but instead of giving the book some perceptive it disrupted the main story flow, distracted and in some cases, boring the reader.
Ethan: Ethan’s parts, felt flat, lacked the depth of Stone’s bits and even those bits told through lens of the dark mage’s POV. Ethan overall seemed weak, only managing to stick to the rules for about a minute, never really struggling with breaking said rules. Even the fact that his mother and only source of emotional support, his father having died when Ethan was small, couldn’t make Ethan more sympathetic as a character.
Having just finished listening to the first book, I’m torn, part of me feels like ‘yes, I’d like to know what is Stone’s next adventure, but at the same time, I’m not all that excited given the ending felt a tad forced.
The narrator, Kevin Czarnecki, did overall a good job though he could be a bit of a whiner, but not enough to distract from the story or dislodge the reader from the story for longer than it takes to roll your eyes.
clgenert's review
3.0
I had a hard time getting into this. It reminded me of other urban fantasy series and I held this book to the standards and character development of those books. It just didn’t stand out. It’s a popular series with a fair number of instalments so perhaps it finds it’s stride in book 2.
kesnit's review
3.0
Stone and Ethan are just stupid. Ethan can almost be justified by being young and naive. I would give that more credit except that the book shows Ethan struggling and frequently considering doing the right thing. He KNOWS what he is doing is wrong, but always justifies his stupidity to himself. Stone's stupidity is a little easier to justify. He's never had an apprentice before and Ethan's actions are easily explained by his mother's sickness. (I don't think that is a spoiler as it is revealed at the beginning of the book.) But, like Ethan, he considers doing the right thing and asking, but he never does.
My other major issue is how slow this book moves. Less words about searching the house and less about The Three's rituals would have gone a long way. Those things needed to be included, but the detail and pages it took were too much. I considered flipping ahead more than once, but was afraid I would miss something. (I wouldn't have.)
I'll read book 2 because it sounds interesting, but if it isn't an improvement, I won't go on.
My other major issue is how slow this book moves. Less words about searching the house and less about The Three's rituals would have gone a long way. Those things needed to be included, but the detail and pages it took were too much. I considered flipping ahead more than once, but was afraid I would miss something. (I wouldn't have.)
I'll read book 2 because it sounds interesting, but if it isn't an improvement, I won't go on.
lindzey's review
1.0
DNF - 2/3 through, I realized that I didn't care much about the characters.
The main character (Stone) is a Stanford prof in occult studies as well as a practicing magician. He is convinced to take on an apprentice, who starts to fall in with the same group of 3 mages who are giving Stone trouble in his investigations of a haunted mansion.
This is pretty standard urban fantasy, Stone's mental dialogue is simple and repetitive, and in the middle of what should have been a tense and climactic scene, I was bored.
The main character (Stone) is a Stanford prof in occult studies as well as a practicing magician. He is convinced to take on an apprentice, who starts to fall in with the same group of 3 mages who are giving Stone trouble in his investigations of a haunted mansion.
This is pretty standard urban fantasy, Stone's mental dialogue is simple and repetitive, and in the middle of what should have been a tense and climactic scene, I was bored.
andrewjstillman's review
5.0
I really enjoyed this book. A lot of the reviews seem to have come before the re-release, so I’m not 100% sure how it used to read, but now this is an action-packed story that had me turning the pages until I finished. Alastair Stone is a very sympathetic character and easily likeable, and this is the start to some great adventures from him. As of now, I’ve read a few more in the series, and I consider this one to almost be either a standalone or a prologue to what’s to come. Highly recommended.
anothercurleyhairbooklover's review
4.0
Engaging, nicely paced with characters I want to know where they went next
mariaschneider's review
This just wasn't going well. The interrupts with the three loser magic users was boring and trite. Alistar was fine, but that was moving slowly and I didn't really like where the Ethan thing was going. Seems to me the kid had enough going wrong and his "teacher" wasn't paying him much attention. I got the feeling it was going to drag on and end badly. Looking at the other review on this book, really glad I didn't continue.
ladymab's review
2.0
star for the fact that I could tolerate Alistair himself as a narrator, star for the fact that if it was better I might have liked it more. this was a chore to finish, and more than once I had to throw down what I was holding out of sheer frustration for the narration and the characters. characters were shallow, deaths were meaningless, and yes, (spoiler alert) I cheered when Ethan died (both times, even tho one was an illusion).
also, I detest the word "ubiquitous", and it was used only twice but twice within three pages and both times incorrectly. (then I gave up reading for about two months and finally forced myself to finish).
also, I detest the word "ubiquitous", and it was used only twice but twice within three pages and both times incorrectly. (then I gave up reading for about two months and finally forced myself to finish).
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