The Wretched of Muirwood
Legends of Muirwood, Book 1
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
The Wretched of Muirwood
Buy Now for £18.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Kate Rudd
-
By:
-
Jeff Wheeler
About this listen
In the ancient and mystical land of Muirwood, Lia has known only a life of servitude. Labeled a “wretched”, an outcast unwanted and unworthy of respect, Lia is forbidden to realize her dream to read or write. All but doomed, her days are spent toiling away as a kitchen slave under the charge of the Aldermaston, the Abbey’s watchful overseer. But when an injured squire named Colvin is abandoned at the kitchen’s doorstep, an opportunity arises. The nefarious Sheriff Almaguer soon starts a manhunt for Colvin, and Lia conspires to hide Colvin and change her fate. In the midst of a land torn by a treacherous war between a ruthless king and a rebel army, Lia finds herself on an ominous journey that will push her to wonder if her own hidden magic is enough to set things right. At once captivating, mysterious, and magic-infused, The Wretched of Muirwood takes the classic fantasy adventure and paints it with a story instantly epic, and yet, all its own.
©2011 by Jeff Wheeler. (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
We love Kate Rudd.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
fantasy when it is best
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Pure treasure and sheer delight
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A captivating story which will draw you in
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A lovely Start
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What made the experience of listening to The Wretched of Muirwood the most enjoyable?
This historical story was easy to listen to. I am now moved on to book 2What other book might you compare The Wretched of Muirwood to, and why?
Game of Thrones.What does Kate Rudd bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
Sometimes her voice is rather monotonous but she adds to the different characters with her different voices. Very good.Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No.Muirwood book 1
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The author captured the middle ages very well although it doesn't play in the middle ages technically. How different classes of people interacted with each other in medieval times, he captured it very well.
I'm looking forward to listening to book 2.
easy read
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
Being written by someone with a talent rather than an agenda.What was most disappointing about Jeff Wheeler’s story?
There is a strong whiff of religious fervour, I kept expecting the trust in god theme to descend into outright Christian proselytising. Although god isn't mentioned, the author has evidently spent too long watching Star Wars and is stuck with the idea of The Force padawan.How could the performance have been better?
Having a better story to read.If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Wretched of Muirwood?
The middle and the end.Any additional comments?
Will not be bothering with the others in the series.Shouldn't Have Given Up The Day Job.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Good but slow
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
TLDR: A slow-burn journey of a girl with burgeoning powers and a young man she must protect. If you’re more into deep characters than you are a swashbuckling adventure, then this is a book for you.
The Wretched of Muirwood isn’t a super long book, but then it doesn’t need to be. If it were much longer then you would have seen the fairly concise events of the novel dragged out a little too much. If you’ve read any of my other reviews, you’ll know that I’m not the biggest fan of slow pacing, and there were certainly points where I contemplated giving up on this book in favour of something a little more entertaining, but I stuck with it and didn’t regret that fact that I did. This book may not be my particular cup of tea, but for the audience that I believe it is aimed for, it is most certainly written well. So, on to specifics.
The story follows Lia, an orphan raised within the confines of Muirwood abbey who shortly into the novel is given the responsibility to hide and care for an injured squire (of sorts) who is thrust upon her. The story then unfolds as the true nature of her charge (Colvin) slowly comes to light and the forces hunting him make themselves known. It’s a simple story, with fairly little happening until about halfway through the book, and even then, there is only a scattering of high-intensity scenes strewn about a middlingly paced backdrop. I wasn’t blown away by this book at any point really, but it did keep chugging away with enough content to keep me just about interested. However, this book certainly does have one very strong suit, and that is the characters themselves.
Lia is extremely well written. Because of the slow progression of the book we are gifted with enough time to really get to know this thirteen-year-old in a way that few other books manage. Lia isn’t some masterfully skilful adept or mystical chosen one (at least not yet). She is just a girl who has some fairly strong abilities that she has been unable to truly test… until now. She has strengths and she has weaknesses, and through the exploration of her character we are left truly knowing who this girl is by then end of the book. This was done very well, as was the development of Colvin. The young man on the run starts off appearing as a bit of a pompous prig but slowly simmers into a genuinely good young man. And the beauty of this transformation is less a change in his character and more a change in the way we perceive him and the ways he allows himself to be perceived by Lia as they become accustom to one another. Again, very human characteristics and extremely well executed.
The magic system in the novel is simplistic, but what is there is explained in fairly concise detail. I’m a stickler for logical magic systems, and although this one may be a bit wish-washy as to what it can do and how it exactly works, we are given enough explanation of what outwardly appears very vague that by the end we get a decent grasp of how it sort of works. It’s meant to be vague, and so I can’t fault it for that. The main villain in this story, the sheriff, is a fairly despicable bastard; just the right amount of creepy with the right amount evil. He isn’t some superpowered adversary. He’s just a scheming, power-hungry arsehole with a grudge to settle and an eye for the macabre. Again, for what he is, he is very well written.
The story overall isn’t particularly complex, which is both a strength and a weakness to some degree, but the one thing this book painfully lacks is action. I think there is one, maybe two fights in the entire book that have any description more than ‘they fought and person X lost’, and considering that there is a battle in the book, this is a little bit of a bummer. I like a good fight scene, and this book just seemed to gloss over them like they were actively trying to avoid them.
All in all, this book just wasn’t written for someone with my particular tastes. For those that like a slow-paced exploration of humanity’s strengths and weaknesses, then you will no doubt enjoy this book a lot more than I. There was nothing here for me to really dislike, but also nothing for me to sink my enjoyment into. Much like this review, my opinion of this book is just kind of ‘meh’.
As for narration, the writing style of the book felt like everyone was speaking proper English, with little colloquial flare, and the performance matched this. I believe Kate Rudd read the book exactly in the manner in which it was written, and so I’ll say that it takes a lot of talent to get across the slight awkwardness that the patterns of speech seemed to convey at times.
Personal Score: 3 stars
Profession Score: 3.5 stars
Lacking in action, heavy in character
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.