Feast of Souls

Magister Trilogy, Book 1

By: C. S. Friedman

Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers

C.S. Friedman, acclaimed author of The Coldfire Trilogy, returns to the epic style which has made her one of the most popular fantasy writers in the genre. In this first book of the trilogy, Friedman introduces listeners to a world of high fantasy, replete with vampire-like magical powers, erotic interludes, treachery, war, sorcery, and a draconic creature of horrific power and evil that will have listeners eagerly awaiting the next novel in the series.

©2007 C.S. Friedman (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[I]maginative, deftly plotted fantasy." (Publishers Weekly)

"Powerful, intricate plotting and gripping characters distinguish a book in which ethical dilemmas are essential and engrossing." (Booklist)

A solid trilogy

This review covers the trilogy as each book in quality and content is about the same, so if you're going to listen to the first book you may as well listen to them all as they are consistent throughout.

I like Friedman for the darkness she portrays in the human soul. This series is one along the lines of "soul sucking vampire" types as her excellent Coldfire series was. This series however doesn't quite reach the heights of that one.

The problem I have with this series is that there are too many central characters for development and thus each is lacking something despite their importance to the storyline. In particular, the main character, Kamala has significant gaps in her story and in some places her story lines end quite abruptly and unsatisfyingly. The feeling of "loose ends" is evident in a number of places. One gets the feeling she isn't fleshed out enough.

Despite this, the story ideas are solid and overall it's a good series to listen to if you are a fantasy fan. Had this series been longer to allow full development of the characters it would have scored 5's across the board.

The narration was good although with an even mix of male and female roles it may have been better done by a man and woman as Elisabeth did struggle on some of the male voices.

This is worth a listen to as there are some great ideas and concepts with a solid story line and telling of it.

C.S Friedman is one of my favorite

I have read scores of fantasy novels by many authors in the 23+ years I've been an avid reader. C.S Friedman is a truly gifted fantasy writer and in my top 3 authors of all time.

Sensational Escapism

I only regret that it's a trilogy. I want so much more to enjoy. Get wrapped up in it.

Not The Series For Me

In the beginning I thought this book was interesting and well written. That interest began to fade due to the sexist overtones, that not only continued throughout the book but intensified.

There's an elite group consisting only of men based on their ruthlessness and tenacity, which women do not possess in this book. The female character comes from low origins, is impulsive, consistently loses control and is seen as a sex object one time too many. There's a secondary female character who has a bevy of male lovers who indulge her, allowing her to have her own realm in return for her sexual favors. One female is sexually abused in the book. Needless to say, the males in the book are smart, cunning, ruthless and fearless (whether or not they choose to use these traits for good or bad). I'm sure the females will evolve over time, but I'm not interested in reading three books to see this come about. I was also disappointed with the lack of worth placed on human life. I know its fiction but it still feels wrong to so freely sacrifice lives as a means to an end, and the ones that practice this are accepted and even revered within the society.

My frustration reached its peak when the book ended abruptly, so I have to buy the next book to find out what comes next. I prefer that each book stand alone. Although I have read and enjoyed books that do not, I do not enjoy books that are completely open-ended.

Took me to another realm.

What made the experience of listening to Feast of Souls the most enjoyable?

A great book; a well written fantasy novel and hooked me into the series.

What does Elisabeth Rodgers bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She narrated excellently. Offering different voices for each character and a level of realism to the story.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The intro in the witches den..

Pleasantly Surprised

Not what I expected even after reading the "back cover". Only chose this because of the narrator and she did not disappoint.

Political intrigue, suitably conflicted heros

Narration is well done and pleasant to hear. The story stays on track and doesn't splinter into too many plot lines á la Wheel of Time, GoT etc.

very slow

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

interesting twist, but very slow to get there. hoping book two will get to the guts. of the story

What could C. S. Friedman have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

pick up the story pace

What about Elisabeth Rodgers’s performance did you like?

well done

Was Feast of Souls worth the listening time?

yes - trying book two

ANOTHER TWISTED MASTERPIECE

If you could sum up Feast of Souls in three words, what would they be?

Mysterious, captivating, and dark!

What did you like best about this story?

I enjoyed the way C.S. Friedman portrays internal struggle of a tormented young woman determined to survive by any means. Even if it means killing a part of herself.

Have you listened to any of Elisabeth Rodgers’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Elisabeth Rodgers has done an outstanding job with this narration. Each personality comes through clearly and never had an issue with confusing voices during conversations.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

I really have no ideas.... Sorry for the lack of creativity here...

Any additional comments?

This is a brilliant idea taking concepts from childhood fairy tails and turning them into realistic and for the most part horrifying realities. C.S. is always a good read when you want to identify with the darker half of your imagination and fall in love with an evil protagonist.

A dark story with dim lights showing here and ther

This is my first C.S Friedman book that i have been listening to. My usual area of books are fantasy with a twist of humor and my normal comfort zone is David Eddings, Tamora Pierce, Anne Mccaffrey, Robert Lynn Asprin, Robert Jordan, Trudy Canavan.
I tried out Feast of souls due to a sale here on Audible and this is my rewiew:

The story is well written and well narrated. You follow the storyline quite well and easy and there are a lot of good introduktions to the universe, wich helps you make your own internal image about how the world is build. All in all exelent pennmanship and the narrator gets the high and lows of the story and catches it in her voice.

But i have difficulties getting above 3 stars because i miss some things in the story. Kamala never becomes my antiheroine due to the fact that you never get close to her. Yes it is terrible that she was a child whore and you can write a lot of her distant emotions off to the fact that she was in that state. Hell you could probably give her 2 or 3 diagnosises due to that fact, but instead of inviting us inside Kamalas head and letting us explore har lack of emotions from the inside we get this blank shell of a person who periodicly shows sign of being a human being. The whole dilemma about being human and being a magister is just not very well written out in my opinion and the ethical part of it is just stated bluntly. I would have loved a bit more exploring about this antihero thing. Even when she is up close and personal with it it does not get to go skin deep but instead becomes a gushy love drama with same depht as the cinderella story and i find that to be a lack i must admit. it make the story go stale and never really reach the extraordinary.

There are two scenes with sex in the book one rape and one due to love and i wonder why the passion that gets written out in theese scenes arent used in the rest of the book. It took me aback how much the author was able to make me live through theese scenes and how explicit she actuallly was and i must admit i didnt like theese scenes wich took me by surprice. I have no problem reading Sookie Stackhouse and 50 shades of grey wich is much more explicit, but the scenes in this book botheret me wich i pondered a lot about for some time. I figured out that the reason why they bothered me was that they stood out. The intensity in theese passages were 10 og 10 but the intencity in the rest of the book even the killing and slaughter scenes never got me over 5.

all in all i ended up feeling that ste story had so much more potential. it wasnt bad but also not trulty alive for me, and i missed some humor (or irony) and some deeper emotions and deeper exploring of the ethical dilemmas. like the one in Trudy Canavans Dark Magicians trilogy


If you managed to hang on this far then heads up to you. English is not my first language so sorry if i made some errors during the writing.

Greetings from Denmark.