Outclassed

Warden of the West, Book 2

By: Annabel Chase

Narrated by: Amanda Dolan

The ace in a pack of lies.

I'm doing my best to settle into life at the academy and keep my secret under wraps. After all, I'm training for a future as a warden for the Agency of Magical Forces. Can't have a mass-murdering evil father as part of my pedigree.

I still can't tell a rune from a rock, but life is good. Until I discover a dead body in the river.

Before I know it, I'm thrust into an investigation to find the killer, which means using magic outside of my comfort zone. The more magic I use, the more I worry about succumbing to the dark side like my father.

With the help of my new friends and the sexy vampire Gray, I just might manage to live through it...if I'm lucky.

Outclassed: Spellslingers Academy of Magic, the second audiobook of the Warden of the West series, is a fantasy mystery with humor, action, a powerful heroine, and a fang-tastic hero.

©2018 Red Palm Press LLC (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Cute & enjoyable

The narrator Really made the characters come alive. Every simple and straightforward and enjoyable story.

good story

I'm not sure if this is in the young adult category, but it's a very good story, just maybe not quite as complex as some authors. Off to start book 3.

To much of the word she/he said

I like the story and the reader was good. I’m just really surprised that a well known author would use the word said to much like she couldn’t come up with a different word for the character to speak. Other that the word said to much it was a great story

Great Story!

I have loved these books, and the performance has been fantastic! The narrator really brings the story to life.

Kept me involved in the story.

Brinn is trying to solve the murder of a human found in the river running beside the academy. She and Grey again team up and spend quite a bit of time with each other. She feels bad for the secret she is hiding from everyone except the Chancellor. She can't afford for anyone else to know about her history. She feels if people find out they wouldn't want to be around her, even her 3 roommates. Is her secret safe or will her life be turned upside down?

Narration

I’m going to apologize now to those that read this and it causes them to start noticing the sound just because I’ve pointed it out! The only thing I didn’t like about the narration is how often you hear the person get spit lips (hyper-salivation). It’s happens when you have too much saliva in your mouth, & as you’re talking, it starts to pour over your bottom lip causing you too make an ever so slight slurpy-smack noise (or drool if you don’t suck it back in). I have misophonia (hypersensitive hearing) so I hear EVERYTHING & any sound close to a smack drives me insane!!! Other than that, it makes for a good read…or is it a good listen? ;)

Outclasser bk 2

Brinn orphaned by her Mom, is hiding from her evil sorcerer father amongst humans. She has magic but is terrified to use it because it will alert everyone, including her father as to her whereabouts.

On her way home from a night shift Brinn is forced to make a split second decision to use her magic to save an innocent family. She's instantly spotted but instead of being taken into custody she's whisked off to an academy of magic in a different realm. Here they're going to teach Brinn how to use her power responsibly. Trust comes hard for the once street kid - and it gets tougher when she's finds her 2nd dead body in the river.

Brinn feels it's up to her to investigate the killer, because the current warden is incapable of doing the job. The other concern that Brinn faces is the more magick she uses will it be easier for her to succumbing to the dark side like her father.

With the help of my new friends and the sexy vampire Gray, I just might manage to live through it...if I'm lucky.

Brinn continues to ask for Gray's help, an ex-warden and vampire. Together they're going to try and figure out who at Spellslingers Academy has it out for the love child of one of the most hated sorcerers in their history.

Good but

I love the series so far. Listened to the first book and laughed by butt off. I enjoyed this much except for one point that probably wouldn’t have noticed except I was listening. Brin kept saying “I queried” over and over and over so much it eventually pulled me out of the story each time.

Better than the first book

This book shows much more promise than the first book in the series. It's still relatively weak YA, but at least the writing is less Everything ex Machina.

That said, the reactions of the main and supporting characters seem to be described as if by aliens observing people without any actual understanding of how people work.

The plot is better, but the obligatory evil (oh, so evil) antagonist is revealed without much in the way of foreshadowing or actual evidence. The fight sequence is at best mediocre. And the "like interest" is pretty laughable.

Not recommended, but perhaps after a few more writing exercises the author might come up with something actually interesting.