Stone and a Hard Place

The Alastair Stone Chronicles, Book 1

De: R. L. King

Narrado por: Kevin R. Czarnecki

It's hard enough for Alastair Stone to keep his two lives - powerful mage and mundane Occult Studies professor - separate without an old friend asking him to take on a new apprentice. Especially after a university colleague wants him to investigate a massive old house for things that go bump in the night. Still, Stone figures it's an easy job: just turn up, put on a little show, and announce that the house is clean.

Only it isn't. A malevolent spirit is reawakening in the basement, imprisoned between dimensions and intent on escape. If it succeeds, countless people will die. Worse, a trio of dark mages want to help it break free so they can control it for their own sinister purposes. They'll do whatever it takes - including seducing Stone's young apprentice and using him against his master - to get what they're after.

With time running out, Stone has to stay alive long enough to uncover the spirit's secrets. But even if he does, he fears that his own power won't be enough to send it back.

©2015 Robyn L. King (P)2016 R. L. King

Wonderful story!

Great story! On the surface It reminded me of the Dresden Files, but this was more mystery, less world magical politics. I'm looking forward to the next one.

slow and long

I feel like they could have made this book way shorter. but had to make it longer to make people feel like they got their money's worth

About average

The narrator is amazing. Using different accents and all.
The story line is so so. I’ll listen to the all the books because I’m OCD but I wouldn’t recommend it
FYI. The book was published in 2015. But none have cell phones and rely on answering machines for communication

Nothing spectacular but still a decent listen

For a first in a series it was rather stale but that's to be expected in such an oversaturated market like UF has become. It has a lot of potential and I'll continue the series to see what else Stone has in store.
What I liked:
Third person narrative was a very welcoming surprise for UF and I enjoyed the multiple perspectives.
Stone's character is very much a flawed protagonist that makes mistakes and gets his butt kicked quite thoroughly
the narration is pretty good, the spooky voice of the demon was perfectly creepy
What I disliked:
Stone is described by his magical peers as being one of the more powerful mages around, however he can barely hold his own against an amateur dark mage. Granted he says he's simply out of shape magically speaking early on so I'm wondering if this was just a fluke
The magic system is rather bland and wasn't explored much at all. Stone does little magic except for calling up shields, some levitation, and maybe one or two concussive blasts. Would like to read more on how the magic works and different implementations.

Not bad although predictable

Would you try another book from R. L. King and/or Kevin R. Czarnecki?

Most likely.

If you’ve listened to books by R. L. King before, how does this one compare?

no.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

less whine. but overall he wasn't awful. I'd probably listen to him again.

Do you think Stone and a Hard Place needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

already a series.

Any additional comments?

I'd give Professor Stone a C plus or even a low B. Overall the book was enjoyable. However, the switching POV's especially Ethan's bits, were on the more boring side and seemed to slow the flow of the story.

Slow and boring

Takes too long to get going, characters are not interesting. Only finished it because I paid for it

GOOD START TO A NEW SERIES.

The storyline is good. I find that it is good enough for me to continue listening right to the end. The plot is and the performance is good. I have not heard any books read by Kevin R Czarnecki before and he is quite good with the different voices he gave each character. Enjoyable and I hope the next book will come out soon.

Good start

Just that, a good start. We now have Alastair Stone at the cross road where he has to make a choice in how he will live his life. Here is where the world of magic will become more prevalent in Stone's life or rather he to interact with it more. Dabbling on the outskirts has brought more heartache into his life. He suffers personal losses, which will be marginalized if he does not take the next step.

If this was a single novel, I would not have given it so many stars. As ground work to a series this is fine. Let's see what comes with book 2.

Loved it!

I really enjoyed the characters and the storyline. Can't wait for the next one in the series.

I love this story! I haaaate the narrator.

So I bought the first book on Audible and I loved it so much that I immediately purchased the rest online! And then I started the second book and was completely in love until the narrator started changing his voice to play people of color, firstly a black person. At first I was just thinking, "Ah you know that...it's sorta a stereotypical accent for poor people, no big deal.." Then he changed his voice again to play a Hispanic person too. And then another black person received a slow, hung out stereotypical voice and then more people of color received more caricature voices...and I was just uncomfortable. So I stopped the second book and started the 3rd and same narrator... I am 8:03 seconds in and there's an African American Gardner who is like, slurring, "Wells I is a ..." Think the crows from Dumbo intermingled with Songs of the South's main character. Anyways, it was just pretty....uncomfortable. I returned them all. It sucks because I really love the story and I wanted to follow it but I need the audiobooks, I am a seamstress and I need to look at my work and use my hands all day so there's little alternative option.