Well after my last disastrous foray out of the fantasy world, I decided to jump straight back in with the first in this series of books which was supposedly one of the top books in the ‘kindle unlimited with narration’ section.

I did enjoy listening to this book, the narrator did several accents and definitely not in a cringeworthy manner like the last book. There were times when the rhythm of the speech seemed a bit jilted and more like a computer voice, but this didn’t happen too often to become distracting.

In Muirwood, a wretched is the worst, most unfortunate person you can be. Unlike an orphan who has lost both their parents to death, a wretched is someone who was abandoned by their parents to live a lowly life of servitude. Lia works in the kitchen of the aldermaston, toiling every day to prepare food for the abbey. All she dreams of is learning to read and write, but this is something that will never be possible for a mere wretched.

But when a wounded man is carried into her kitchen by a knight Maston, Lia’s quiet world is turned upside down. The powers that she has to reach the medium are not normal, and become vital to help this wounded man protect Muirwood, and herself. Along the journey, she learns a lot about herself, and about her world in general. As a wretched, she’s never left the abbey grounds, so it’s an experience being out so far from home. And not one she’s particularly fond of, with the sheriffs men hot on her heels.

But why do they want her so badly? And can she and Colvin achieve what they need to?

I loved the storyline to this book, a young girl so desperate to read and write that she’ll go on such a treacherous quest. I found Colvin very hard to like. Such a surly character who is often abrupt and even rude to Lia. Hopefully he’ll be back for the next book with a sunnier disposition.

The book seemed quite short, although it’s supposedly 300 pages long, maybe the traffic jams to work and back were longer than usual, the narration is definitely a good distraction!

I’m very much looking forward to seeing how this series develops through books 2 and 3, it’s very promising so far.