First Truth

Truth Series, Book 1

By: Dawn Cook

Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin

Alissa doesn’t believe in magic. Her father’s stories about the Hold, a legendary fortress where human Keepers learn magic from the enigmatic Masters, are just that—stories. But her mother insists Alissa has inherited her father’s magical ability, so she must go to the Hold to be trained.

On her way, she crosses paths with Strell, a wandering musician from the plains. Though Alissa is not sure she can trust a plainsman, Strell has something Alissa needs—one of her father’s old maps. Traveling together, they can reach the Hold before the snow sets in. But they don’t know that the Hold is nearly empty. The Keeper Bailic has sent the Masters on a fool’s errand and systematically killed the other Keepers in his search for the First Truth, a book of magic that will give him ultimate power. And he believes that Alissa and Strell hold the secret of the book’s hiding place.

This is the first book in the Truth Series by Dawn Cook, who also writes under the pen name Kim Harrison.

Listen to more in the Truth Series.©2002 Dawn Cook (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A beautifully told, simple story that looks unblinkingly at how prejudice unnecessarily reinforces misconceptions, misunderstandings, and hatred." ( Booklist)

A real story with a slow start

Y'all, this series is a must read. So often especially in audible plus you pick a story with a great description that's fantasy and you think it sounds great. After starting that book it's essentially porn without the admission in the summary. This story has complex relationships and backgrounds that make you connect with a d understand the whole book. I 10 out of 10 recommend. And if you're gauging based on age, I'm a 28 year old woman.

Entertaining Listening

Overall it is a pretty good audiobook. It has a reasonably well thought out plot and a better than average storyline. The one problem I have is with the female lead,who is just too spoiled, bratty and contradictory for me. But I guess those particular character flaws had to be way over the top in order to show growth on her part.

Only one negative

I really liked this story. My only negative is that because I am a fan of her other works,under kim harrison, Using the same narrator for both works the Rachel Morgan Series and This series was a little jarring and made it hard to stay in this story.

Very good series

I read this series based upon my enjoyment of the author's Hollows series. I thoroughly this series. It had a strong plot, the characters were well developed and was easy to follow. I also enjoyed the little twists that caught me off guard. I recommend this to anyone who wants to lose themselves in good fantasy.

Wonderful

Read very nicely and I really enjoyed unwinding and listening to the book thank you

Well.....

I couldn’t bring myself to sit through this book word by word, paragraph by paragraph. It started fairly early on, I skipped through, and I had the same frustrated annoyance listening to the last chapter. I’ve written over 1500 reviews, mostly Audible with some kindle, so I take my reviewing seriously. I just can’t face going back through this book for a more detailed review.
Gavin has a very dynamic narrative style that added some life to this story.

a good start to a series

a clever way to handle magic leaves a stratifying world where magic is tantalizing but easy to make serious mistakes. this world rewards the clever, but even the wary can catch one trap whilst blundering into another. very satisfying, I look forward to the next book.

I really want to like this. Parts of it are great.

The premise of the world and the story is superb. It includes interesting twists on ‘a world of magic’ and a world with racial strife. The overall storyline and sequence of actions within the book are really well chosen.

The portrayal of the characters is maddeningly uneven. Characters that are first portrayed as a master manipulators are suddenly bunglers. Characters who swear they will rip each other apart are suddenly negotiating for seemingly no good reason. On top of this, the two traumatized main characters spend much of the book verbally abusing one another - while supposedly falling in love.

The end of the book has two endings: An interesting one that concludes the main actions of the story and the second that strong arms the storyline into the next book.

a very good young adult story

As always Kim Harrison's world building skills are wonderfully displayed. This book is written from multiple personalities of various featured and main characters. There are not many characters in the entirety of the book, but each one was well written and understandable. I like the clever ways the author disguises snippets of importance that the reader can link together just before the characters catch on. The story is simpler in terms of complexity, but it has many enjoyable nuances. Overall a good read and a good performance by the narrator. I think if you have read any if the books with Rachel Morgan in the Hollows series by Kim Harrison you will enjoy this, even if it is shorter. There are many clues to the future that you will be waiting to fit together, something I really enjoyed from the Hollows series.

Very happy with this series!

Where does First Truth rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Very high - almost as great as the multiple-reader productions done with many of Orson Scott Card's books.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Alyssa - obviously the main character with the most focus.

Which character – as performed by Marguerite Gavin – was your favorite?

All of them - Gavin does a great job at both male and female voices with enough difference to feel like you are hearing a different voice.

Any additional comments?

A wonderful story that stays clean enough for children to listen to as well!