Elizabeth's Legacy

Royal Institute of Magic, Book 1

By: Victor Kloss

Narrated by: Peter Kenny

Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Like most normal people, Ben hadn't the faintest idea there was an Institute of Magic.

Two years after his parents' sudden disappearance, Ben Greenwood stumbles upon a cryptic letter that could shed some light on their whereabouts. But before he can track them down, he'll need to find the mysterious organization that sent the letter: The Royal Institute of Magic.

To succeed, Ben will have to navigate a land filled with fantastic creatures and spellshooters, where magic can be bought and sold, to unravel an ancient family secret that could hold the key to defeating an evil the institute has been fighting for the last 500 years.

©2014 Victor Kloss (P)2017 Podium Publishing

What a fantastic tribute to Kloss

This book is an amazing piece of work. I haven't enjoyed a YA book this much since the Potter series. The performer does an amazing job with voices that clearly have a tone for each character.
Although I have read all the books in the series I will eagerly purchase each audiobook when it's released.
Victor Kloss would be proud of the direction his series has taken. His wife and daughter should be proud that his legacy is immortalized in audio format.
I am so impressed with the book I am playing a chapter a day to my students in my history class as a mental warmup for them.

Great story and narrator

There are definitely elements in the story that are Harry Potter like.
I still think with the fast moving plot, loveable characters, and great narration I'm chomping at the bit for the next book!

Queen Elizabeth the First great secret

A fanciful look at the reign of Queen Elizabeth the First and a secret sorcerers society. The setting for the story is present day but with many flashbacks to the Queen's reign.

This is a YA novel in somewhat of the same vein as Harry Potter what with fantastical creatures and characters and a special young son, Ben, left parent-less at a young age but this is where the similarities mostly end. While there is some magic being tossed around, little is from the primary protagonist who is clueless to his parental magical lineage. This book mostly evolves around Ben, his BFF Charlie and Natalie a young female elf venturing on a journal to find Ben's missing parents. The are violent encounters but they would generally classify as tame compared to more adult novels. The antagonist is a legendary dark elf who will stop at nothing to gain access to Elizabeth's legacy.

The narrator did a splendid job in performing the voices of the characters in a distinctive manner and with just the right amount of enthusiasm to their various situations.

Charlie should get the girl

author and narrator do a great job.. nice little story about unicorns and fairies you can't go wrong

FUN YA MAGICAL MYSTERY

FUN YA MAGICAL MYSTERY
Clean and entertaining, l found this the ideal introduction to the mystery of Charlie and Bens lives and am sure it will be a successful series. Recommended

Good

This is a great book and there should be more books and there would also be a movie

Worth a try

So I’ve read this series twice now and I got hooked on it both times ! The reader takes a bit to get used to but the story is really good

Peter Kenney is a master of voice!

If you could sum up Elizabeth's Legacy in three words, what would they be?

Magical hidden world.

Would you be willing to try another book from Victor Kloss? Why or why not?

Only if it's on audible and voiced by Peter Kenney. He made the story more alive for me because he did such a great job. He had different sounds for different characters making it easy to know who was speaking, much like listening to a movie without looking at the screen. Sometimes the story written by Victor had grammar issues or weak verbs and a bit telly, but Peter's voice helped overlook these problems.

Have you listened to any of Peter Kenny’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Nope. This was my first listen.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Boy in search of his missing parents finds a hidden magical kingdom where his parents have been deemed as outlaws.

Any additional comments?

Fun story and worth a listen!

Classic Series - Beautifully Written, Exceptional

This is a Must Read series for any age. From Book 1 through Book 6 the writing is first class, the story is packed with adventure, wisdom, friendship, and loss but always more gain . . . very uplifting, a joy to read over and over and over again.

Has all the tropes.

Ben, bereft of parents, quests to rescue them, redeem their reputation and save the world. Our protagonist is obviously a hero, by virtue of being the chosen one with uncanny good luck despite minimal training. He has a penchant for breaking into locked offices. He is emotional and loyal to his best friend, and a bit confounded by the love interest angle; so we like him.
The Institute becomes a parallel world to Potterverse; feels like Hardy boys at Hogwarts, framed by Deltora Quest.

I like the book series as it presents an endless list of Potterverse similarities. Students can be challenged to identify those similarities and to express them in the abstract terms of themes, motifs, tropes and variations.