Melody of Mana

A Progression Fantasy

De: Wandering Agent

Narrado por: Reba Buhr

A young bard must rely on otherworldly know-how to navigate a magical, war-torn kingdom in the first book of an inventive coming-of-age fantasy series.

Alana wasn’t always a child of the Kingdom of Bergond. In fact, she hails from an entirely different world. But an accident on Earth left her dead, and she was reincarnated as the daughter of a farmer and his wife in the hamlet of Orsken. Now, she’s learning how to live in a land vastly unlike that which she came from—and how to wield the new powers she possesses. For, even by the rules of her strange new home, Alana is special: a young bard capable of mending wounds, counteracting poisons, and healing the sick, all through the use of mana and her own mind.

But as she cultivates her newfound abilities through training with various teachers in the magical arts, those around her are struggling. War has torn the empire apart, and famine is disrupting the simple lives of the villagers. When the conflict comes right to their doorstep, Alana is separated from her family and forced to set out on her own. To remain safe and have any chance of reuniting with those she loves, she will need to apply all her cunning, sorcery, and knowledge—both of this world and Earth. Because there are forces that would do anything to control her, and they’re growing ever closer to discovering who and where she is.

Blending elements of traditional and progression fantasy, Melody of Mana is an action-packed and original story of magic, politics, friendship, and intrigue from a thrilling new voice in the genre.

The first volume of the hit progression-fantasy series—with more than a million views on Royal Road—now available on Audible!

©2022 Michael Robert Taylor (P)2022 Podium Audio

one of the best storys ive heard in a while

its a nice pace story with it never feeling too slow or too quick and good world building and main and side characters and doestnt feel like a generic reincsrnation with the whole story feeling fresh

Excellent grounded fantasy

It was the slice of life elements that surprised me the most. The pacing feels good, but in a way you don't often see. An event will be mentioned, then the story will skip straight to it after the current scene. A lot of time passes in this book, but not in a way that feels choppy. It helps a surprising amount with how well earned the power scaling seems.

Speaking of power scaling, I'd say this is generally a lower powered story both in terms of the world and the main character in relation to the world. Its a much lower powered world than even something like The Wandering Inn. The MC does gain a sizable bit of power by the end of the book, but even then it's not like you want to see her in a deadly fight against trained opponents.

She is a practical thinker with advantages from her memories, but any knowledge she uses is either general information that it is believable she would have, or, on one occasion, has a believable story explaining why she knows about a more niche topic.

*minor spoiler*

The thing I think grounded the story best for me were the effects of war on those not directly involved, and the way trauma is treated. Also how news travels.

Didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did

I don't normally review books (even though I've listened to a ton!) so I'll keep it short. This series so far (listened to the first 2) has been absolutely amazing & a very enjoyable listen. I found the narration to be very clean & engaging. I'll be looking for other books Reba Buhr performed for. The story itself has been very well thought out & put together very nicely. The MC is probably one of my favorite characters from any book I've listened too. She just has a great personality & is quite witty.

I'm looking forward to the next books in the series!

A well crafted story

The author has created a wonderful blend bright and dark moments along with familiar and fantastic. I’m only half way in and I appreciate seeing the character’s growth and not being a simple OP protagonist.

Satisfying tale

I enjoyed this story and am going to read the next one. The narrator took me a while to get used to.

Incredible

Normally I have to give a book the benefit of the doubt for the first few chapters before I can really make a judgment whether it's going to be a good read or not. Not so with Melody of Mana. Not only did it seize my attention from the very beginning, it maintained quality throughout the entire story. A very good read.

Extremely well written and preformed

I can not get enough fantasy books with Reba Buhr as the narrator. She is extremely good.

This book is really well paced and written and engaging. I can't wait for the next one.

Rather Love the Story

The way the story builds up the main protagonist on how her life goes growing up is good. Not much on action but it’s really good making you want to cheer for her grow up from a child learning about the world to a near teen. I’m glad there’s a book 2 in a few days because you’re gonna want more.

Wonderful in every way!

This was a delightful surprise...extremely well-written and well-narrated. I love the main character and how she adjusts and thrives to the best of her ability. I also love how her past life makes its way into the story, but not intrusively, not too much. The world building and the magic "system" are completely engaging. I wasn't excepting this to be on a par with The Wandering Inn, but it is. My only inconsequential complaint is when the point of view switched (not that often), I didn't have any idea who was talking, even with the voice of the narrator doing a brilliant job. I am new to this story and in time will figure out who's who.

Slow and enjoyable journey of a recarnated Bard

The story is about a reincarnated Bard that is a a bit of a child prodigy usung her knowledge of her previous world. It goes through the suffering of her life during war as a farmer to traveling to different places and becoming a better wizard overall as a magical bard. Its an enjoyable journey that does a good job of making the character relatable, and not having her be too overpowered like most lit rpg. Not that I mind overpowered protagonist, but its nice to have a steady progress with the main character and see her interaction with the world around her.

There is a minor complaint with how the mom would punish her 3 yr old kid by hitting her with a spooon to not not make her talk. That is so stupid since most 3 yr old would cry from that, defeating the purpose and just one of those thing that does not need to be in the book. All it does is make the mom unlikable. Also its a bit of a shame that we only see a glimpse of the rebellion side of the war.

But overall a solid journey through a reincarnated world.