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  • Winds of Fate

  • Valdemar: The Mage Winds, Book 1
  • Written by: Mercedes Lackey
  • Narrated by: Karen White
  • Length: 18 hrs and 36 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (22 ratings)

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Winds of Fate cover art

Winds of Fate

Written by: Mercedes Lackey
Narrated by: Karen White
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Publisher's Summary

Winds of Fate is the first book in the Mage Winds Trilogy.

High Magic has been lost to Valdemar centuries ago when the last Herald-Mage gave his life to save the kingdom from destruction by dark sorceries. Yet now the realm is at risk again. And Elspeth, Herald and heir to the throne, must take up the challenge, abandoning her home to find a mentor who can awaken her untrained mage abilities. But others, too, are being caught up in a war against sorcerous evil.

The Tayledras scout Darkwind is the first to stumble across the menace creeping forth from the "Uncleansed Lands." And as sorcery begins to take its toll, Darkwind may be forced to call upon powers he has sworn never to use again if he and his people are to survive an enemy able to wreak greater devastation with spells of destruction than with swords....

©1991 Mercedes R. Lackey (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Winds of Fate

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

valdemar is one of my favorite fantasy worlds

great story great narrator, can't wait for the next book. I hope it is as good

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

excited

I cannot wait to find out what happens next. elspeth has a long way to go and has only just arrived where she needs to be

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Book is amazing! Narrator mispronounces names and it drives me BONKERS.

This is not a review of the story - it’s a review of the narration. (The story is fantastic btw)

Every time I listen to this much beloved story from my childhood I get to the first pronunciation of ‘Gwena’ and I cringe and pause the book to consider whether I can stand to continue. The narrator pronounces it gwee-nah.

If Gwen is pronounced g-when and Gwendolyn is g-when-do-lyn then on WHAT planet is Gwena pronounced with a long ee???

After pushing through it countless times for the sake of the story it finally bothered me so much I spent half an hour researching it. I understand why the author came up with gwee-nah as the first search result returns that pronunciation, however looking anywhere beyond that very first search option reveals that the popular vote has Gwena pronounced with a short e. The English, Americans, Italians, French, Finnish, Dutch, and Polish ALL use the short e. The only country that supposedly pronounces it gwee-nah is Canada but I am Canadian myself and I assure you the majority of us would pronounce it g-when-a.

This is a pretty vital misstep in otherwise good narration. Honestly, I would love to be told that Mercedes herself dictated this particular pronunciation herself because learning I was wrong all along and adjusting my understanding of what’s correct would be 1000 times easier than listening to this recording as is.

Side note: Alberich is pronounced all-ber-ick not all-bear-itch

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not as bad as other reviews suggest

The narrator wasn't great, but not as bad as I feared. The very first chapters are kind of bad but she does get better. A majority of it she is ok to good. The story is good. Not my favourite of the whole valdemar series. If you are a first timer to the series start with Arrows of the Queen.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book, bad narrator

I absolutely love these books. But this narrator kept jarring me out of the story with horrid pronunciation.

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