The Congruent Apprentice

The Congruent Mage, Book 1

By: Dave Schroeder

Narrated by: Peter Kenny

Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Young wizards coming of age in a time of war.... Will they be ready?

Eynon was excited to leave his village and set off on his wander year. He’d turned 16 today, and hoped for at least a few adventures.

At high noon, he arrived a crossroads and saw a shimmer of silver in the mud. It was a thin and dirty oval, about the size of his palm. He washed it with squirts of water from his goatskin, then marveled at what was revealed.

It was a silver amulet, worked with complex, interlaced designs. An oval blue gem more than an inch across, with deep facets, was set in its center. The silver danced with reflected sunlight and the gem seemed to be filled with sparks. It was the most beautifully crafted thing he’d ever seen.

Eynon noticed strange writing on the back of the amulet. As he raised it to eye level for closer inspection, one of his fingers inadvertently pressed a small stud on the edge. A tremendous blast of blue fire shot out from the gem on the opposite side, striking an ancient leafless oak and turning it into a flaming torch.

Someone behind him whistled. Eynon dropped the amulet, afraid of what else it might do, and turned to see an old farmer, leaning on a shovel.

“Well, young man,” said the farmer. “It looks like you’re going to need a wizard.”

©2018 Podium Publishing; 2017 Dave Schroeder (P)2018 Podium Publishing

Excellent book, except it ended in...

I would have given this book an overall five star rating if it and ended in a cliffhanger like it. The book is very well written and performed admirably by the narrator I think you could not ask for anything more and a fantasy novel. I hated to only give it four stars for the story because the story is very very entertaining.

Cooking book

Dave must really enjoy cooking and eating. I do not. Cooking to me is a chore and so was 1/3 of this book.

Good Story Interrupted by Untimely Book Ending

This story is engaging with believable characters. The biggest problem I have with it is the ending being so abrupt. It is rare that I find an ending so infuriating. The author might as well ended with, "stay tuned for our next thrilling adventure... "

A slow and interesting take on magic,

A well made book; however the love story wasn't all that great. Characters are fun and bright if a bit mary sue ish at times. The book really kicks off when the two children are learning magic and the dialogue oddly has a habit of repeating itself at times.

That being said this book sports a beautiful unique magic system that I've never seen before, that way it allows you to visualize the magic is also beautiful in its simplicity. Overall a simple and easy listen more for adults than children

Most of it is great

Great book and it builds to a very exciting climax, but ends right before the exciting big fight scene. huge let down.

Gets better as it goes

The narration is very good, although the animal vocalization can get annoying, and the young protagonists are sometimes too breathless in their wonder. The story starts slowly with the laying of the foundation in an overly simplistic way. But the tale is good and improves as it progresses.

This book had potential...chi chi chi killed it!!

Well I really liked this book. I was really starting to get into it. when a secondary character came into the story. This is were I I can only imagine the author fell and hit his head. drank some unknown fluid that killed half his brain cells or somthing else catastrophic happened to him! Chi killed the potential of this book. I don't want to ruin it for you. The first time you hear Chi talk you will know why!

A fun read, however...

I enjoyed the light, whimsical story with humor, especially since several stories I have recently read were 'doom and gloom'! Bummer! However, there were a few points to the story that I didn't like, consequently, I marked down the number of stars given.

Unfortunately, the author added a sexual component that added nothing to the story and was not appreciated by me. One lead character (Eynon), out on his 16th birthday for his 'wander year' (similar to the Amish and other groups), met a young girl (Mary, a precocious girl) who was 15 years old. Within a week, the girl seduced the clueless boy, and sex ensued. While I agree this happens in real life, all too often, it added nothing to the story, purely gratuitous sex!

Another weakness in the story is where Eynon has learned magic, uses it for practical purposes but fails to use it in an offensive way when confronted with danger. This was more evident in the second book.

And finally, the book ended with a cliff-hanger, which I really don't like. It makes it more like a 'soap-opera'!

I liked it

I found some situations to be hard to accept and a bit to young adult except for the sexual references but it was a positive story and I kept listening when normally I would have put it down so. I liked it.

Great story

This is a great listen. The author has brought me a new world and characters to care about. Thank you