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First Year cover art

First Year

By: Rachel E. Carter
Narrated by: Melissa Moran
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Summary

For 15-year-old Ryiah the choice has always been easy. Become a warrior and leave the boring confines of her lowborn life behind. Set to enroll in the School of Knighthood on the eve of her next birthday, plans suddenly shift when her twin brother discovers powers. Hoping that hers will soon follow, she enrolls with Alex at the Academy instead - the realm's most notorious war school for those with magic.

Yet when she arrives, Ry finds herself competing against friend and foe for one of the exalted apprenticeships. Every "first-year" is given a trial year to prove their worth - and no amount of hard work and drive will guarantee them a spot. It seems like everyone is rooting for her to fail - and first and foremost among them Prince Darren, the school prodigy who has done nothing but make life miserable since she arrived.

When an accidental encounter leads Ryiah and Darren to an unlikely friendship, she is convinced nothing good will come of it. But the lines become blurred when she begins to improve - and soon she is a key competitor for the faction of Combat. Still, nothing is ever as it seems - and when the world comes crashing down around her, Ry is forced to place faith in the one thing she can believe in - herself. Will it be enough?

©2014 Clean Reads (P)2016 Clean Reads

What listeners say about First Year

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Profile Image for Ashanti
  • Ashanti
  • 07-02-17

A Great YA Novel And Promising Start To A Series

“First Year: The Black Mage Book 1” is an excellent YA novel about twins, Ryiah and Alex. The two set out to join a prestigious mage academy, but the road to becoming an accomplished mage is not easy. The Academy has a brutal weeding out process that takes power, talent, and a strong will to survive.

“First Year” seems to be more about Ryiah than Alex. The mage academy teaches three types of magic, alchemy, healing magic known as restoration, and combat. Ryiah, who wants to become a combat mage, has her work cut out for her. Surprisingly, author Rachel E. Carter didn’t make either Ryiah or Alex particularly skillful. Both children are perennially at the bottom of their classes, but they somehow manage to hang on.

There are other students—supporting characters that are likable and not so likable, but definitely not one dimensional. “First Year” is all about the weeding out process just to earn the right to become mage apprentices. Although that isn’t a whole lot of plot, enough happens in book one to feel like a full length novel without feeling like the novel was padded to reach its length.

Narrator Melissa Moran did a great job bringing the Ms. Carter’s words to life. She also has a pleasant sounding voice that sounds age appropriate to the characters. Her male character voices weren’t bad either. Sometimes I find male character voices done by female narrators a little comical, especially if the female narrator has a naturally high voice.

Overall I found “First Year: The Black Mage Book One” to be an enjoyable read/listen and I would definitely like to finish the story by reading/listening to books two and three in the trilogy. Finally, this audio book was provided by the narrator at no cost in exchange for an honest review, courtesy of Audio Book Boom.

4 people found this helpful

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Profile Image for Ruby McDemon
  • Ruby McDemon
  • 22-04-17

So much awesome and only 1 story

I loved listening to Melissa Moran narrate this story. She gave such emotion and so much excitement to the story is was wonderful. I loved Ryiah's trials and battles thought the mage school. There was so much awesomeness packed into 1 story I don't know how they did it. There was a wonderful fantasy world to escape into and so awesomely done its hard to believe that it isn't just another view on history. There is so much about this story I enjoyed I can't even name it all without just reading you the book myself and no way would I do the amazing job that Melissa did narrating.

2 people found this helpful

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  • Anne
  • 16-03-17

awesome!!!

I cannot wait to hear the sequels​!! thank you audible books! I would recommend this

2 people found this helpful

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Profile Image for T. Lynn Moellendorf
  • T. Lynn Moellendorf
  • 20-12-16

I love the story and the writer but...

What made the experience of listening to First Year the most enjoyable?

I just started listening to audiobooks recently and have fallen in love. I don't always have to read the hard copy story, so listening to them is easier.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The only thing that I felt detracted from the story was that at times the narrator sounded more robotic then human. When speaking for the characters, she had personality. But as narrator, she sounded more like the automatic narrator on my kindle then a real person.

Any additional comments?

Overall, this book was enjoyable, but could have been better. I look forward to the second and final book to come out.

2 people found this helpful

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Profile Image for Erin Farmer
  • Erin Farmer
  • 22-07-18

Harry Potter + Divergent = The Black Mage

This was my 100th book of the year, hitting my Goodreads goal! Harry Potter + Divergent = The Black Mage! This book has all the makings of a great series! A quick read, but very entertaining! Highly recommend if you like magical boarding schools. I know I'm excited to continue on with the series. Narrator was great, really fit the story I thought. Listening definitely adds to the experience of the book.

1 person found this helpful

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  • omar zavala perez
  • 06-11-17

Bad performer

This the word performance
I wanted to slap the main character half way in to the book the romance between the main characters???dont how it happened

1 person found this helpful

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Profile Image for Alan
  • Alan
  • 06-07-17

whine, whine, whine

A female Harry Potter, nothing but whining. I will not be continuing with the series.

1 person found this helpful

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Profile Image for John F. Jaymes
  • John F. Jaymes
  • 01-04-17

Least original book I've ever experienced

Every single device, convention, tradition, character, event, and structure of this book, and presumably, the entire series, is a simple amalgamation of other works. It's the worst example of the fan fiction explosion. Scenes stolen from Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, and every other basic fantasy construct ever written, but without a single drop of originality. Pig's blood hazing incident? Could the author not even choose the blood of another animal? Or even a different prank? It's blatant and brazen. The narrator in the audiobook is even worse. It's like a manual on how to sound like an A.I. robot while an actual A.I. speech to text capability already exists. Worst book I've ever wasted an audible credit on.

1 person found this helpful

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  • Koolaid53
  • 07-12-16

Growing Pains

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Harry Potter a little bit, just starting older.

Magic. Just getting started.

Romance. Wait and see.

Underdog. Yes.

Add them all together and you have a great book. Would recommend this to everyone.

1 person found this helpful

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  • Hudson the Basset
  • 09-11-16

Wait Until You Meet Priscilla

I enjoyed this story very much. It slowly drew me in and I looked forward to resuming the narrative each time I halted the book. The Black Mage is a story about twins, Ryiah and Alex, attending a magic school. It is a Medieval type world where the twins are considered "low born" by the nobility. Ryiah, the main character, struggles to win a place at the academy. Priscilla is her major nemesis and she takes "mean girl" to the next level. There is the "spare non-heir" to the thrown and all the usual sycophants that help make the story exciting. I will definitely get the next book in the series.
Melissa Moran does an excellent job as narrator.
I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator

1 person found this helpful