Book 1 in the Death Before Dragons series
Narrated by Vivienne Leheny
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook
About Sinister Magic:
I’m Val Thorvald, and I’m an assassin.Source: Info in the "About Sinister Magic" was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51474324-sinister-magic on 15/08/2021.
When magical bad guys hurt people, I take care of them. Permanently.
This doesn’t make me popular with the rest of the magical community — as you can tell from the numerous break-ins and assassination attempts I’ve endured over the years. But thanks to my half-elven blood, a powerful sword named Chopper, and a telepathic tiger with an attitude, I’ve always been able to handle my problems with aplomb. Maybe some cursing and swearing, too, but definitely aplomb.
That changes when my boss is afflicted with a mysterious disease, a government agent starts investigating me, and a godforsaken dragon shows up in the middle of my latest job.
I’ve taken down vampires, zombies, and ogres, but dragons are way, way more powerful. And it doesn’t look like this one is going to like me.
Worse than that, he wants to use his magic to compel me to do his bidding, as if I’m some weak-minded minion.
That’s not going to happen. I’d die before being some dragon’s slave.
But if I can’t figure out a way to avoid him, save my boss, and get rid of the government spook, I’m screwed. Or dead. Or screwed and dead. And that’s never comfortable.
Buy Link(s):
I was beyond bored so a trawled amazon for something to read. As if my TBR piles are not taller than me! Anyway, I came across this book and it has an audiobook version so it got bought. I was glad I did because I enjoyed it. However, it also had the same pitfalls a lot of the urban fantasy books I've read before, i.e., Sookie Stackhouse. Meaning the heroine has a tendency to run headlong straight into trouble and had to be rescued. **sigh** But, she is kind-hearted and honorable. All gristle and raw hide on the outside and a big softie on the inside. Plus, the story also got dragons and magic and Sindari the magical silver tiger sidekick! So the next book got bought. Besides, I also wanted to know if Zav and Val finally killed each other or fall in love!
This is my first Vivienne Leheny listen and she is not too bad at all!
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 4
Story itself = 3
Writing Style = 4
Ending = 4
World building = 4
Cover art = 5
Pace = 4
Plot = 3
Narration = 4.5
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries
Books In Death Before Dragons Series:
Meet The Author
Full-time indie fantasy/scifi author who loves hiking, tennis, and vizslas.
The Narrator
For over two decades, Vivienne Leheny has worked professionally in New York City and Los Angeles as an actor, voiceover artist and writer. She’s appeared on Off-Broadway and regional theatre stages, been screened at numerous film festivals (including Sundance in the 2019 opening night film: AFTER THE WEDDING), toured the northeast doing stand-up, and her writing has been published in national publications.
Vivienne has built a successful audiobook narration business, reading under her own name as well as under the pseudonyms, “Nola Zandry” and “Lily Collingwood.” She has a home studio and records using punch & roll software. Currently narrating six ongoing series, she also has numerous stand-alone book narrations, all of which are doing brisk sales on Audible, Amazon and iTunes. She’s narrated titles for Harper Collins, Macmillan, Recorded Books, and Simon & Schuster, among other audiobook publishers.
Vivienne will soon be recording her 150th audiobook narration.
Her audiobook narration course, The Voice in their Ear, has been a sell-out Maine Media Workshops+College, where she’s also taught her Putting Your Voice to Work: Building a Career in Voiceover curriculum, while her Breaking Into Audiobooks seminar for the SAG Foundation fills up quickly and with long wait lists. She’s also taught audiobook narration at the Caymichael Patten Studio.
She’s recorded over a thousand promotions for NBC programming (Saturday Night Live, Nightly News, Days of our Lives, Late Night with Conan O’Brien), including over a decade with The Today Show. She’s also done promotional spots for HBO, Showtime, and Bravo. Vivienne has voiced numerous national commercial campaigns, including Coca Cola, Fruit of the Loom, Florida Orange Juice, Bristol Meyers Squibb, Maxwell House and Revlon.
Her narration work has run the gamut, from Chain Gang Girls on Oxygen to Charles and Di: Once Upon a Time on TLC, from Fine Living’s Esquire’s Man at His Best to the six-part series Killer Outbreaks on Animal Planet, where she was the voice of the Bubonic Plague and West Nile Virus. She’s also the voice for the mysterious and disturbing “Phoenix Project” in the popular video game Assassin’s Creed, Unity.
FTC Disclosure:
The ebook and audiobook were bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.
The ebook and audiobook were bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.
