Shadow magic (audiobook)

Connor was just a normal teenage boy with a father who taught ancient languages.  His world completely changes with a visit from his aunt, who happens to want to kill him.  He is transplanted into another world, Tir Na Nog,  where there is a prophecy of the son of the handed king.  There he meets another family member, his uncle, as well as his mother.  After a quick battle he is separated from his parents and he teams up with 3 other companions to find his way across Tir Na Nog to find his parents.  Everyone within the realm wants to kill him and Connor must work with his companions to find their way to their destination.  Along the way Connor discovers things about his friends as well as himself and grows stronger in the process.  Will Connor succeed in his quest and make it safely to his family?

I listened to this book as an audio book via LibriVox, and it is read by John Henahan himself.  I am not sure how I feel about audiobooks.  I tried it to see if I would enjoy them while I am at work or driving.   I found I had a hard time paying attention to the story because it quickly became background sound to the other things that I was focusing on, so I ended up listening to it when I wasn't doing something.  I enjoyed this book a great deal when I was able to finally focus on it.  The author read it while slight inflections in his voice when different characters were speaking.  That was a hard things to work through, knowing when someone was speaking and who.  When I read the dialog it is easier to understand when dialogue belongs to different people.

The story was very interesting and humorous, children in the age range (it says 7-10 but I would say 8-15) would greatly enjoy this story and get lost within.  I enjoyed the use of different Celtic folklores like imps and leprechauns.  There is a lot of action throughout the book, enough to keep readers (or listeners) interested and eager to find out what happens next.  The narration reads (flows) much like a teenager is speaking/writing which adds to the effect that the main character is in fact a teenager.  He acted and spoke the way a teen would rather than someone older than they were supposed to be.  Some of the descriptions were hilarious such as when he describes himself dismounting as resembling a giraffe on an escalator.  It was refreshing to "read" a book that had battle scenes and the sense of war, but didn't have a lot of blood or gore.  It focused more on respecting the people, plants and animals of the land, such as asking a tree for permission before picking an apple or asking a boar if it was alright to kill it.

I would recommend this book to young reads and older readers as well, it is refreshing to read something youthful and airy for a change.  I anticipate reading the other books in this trilogy, I may also listen to it on audiobook if it is available.  I give this audiobook a 4 out of 5 rating, and think I will give audiobooks another change, but I am not sure if they are for me.  We shall see...

Happy reading!