Rosalind's mission is simple: hunt demons and mages. As a member of the Brotherhood, she's dedicated to protecting the world from dark magic. Someone's got to stop the supernatural bloodlust - plus, hunting's a hell of a lot more exciting than her computer science classes.

Everything's going to plan until she meets Caine, a mage in league with the demons. He's scary as hell and just as sexy. Worse, he's brought her a warning: rumors are spreading that Rosalind is a mage, too.

Now, the Hunters have chosen their next target - and it's her.

While she works to prove her innocence, Rosalind must form an uneasy alliance with Caine. But the Brotherhood are closing in. If she can't figure out who to trust, and fast, she'll be exiled to the realm of the very demons she once hunted.

The first book in The Vampire's Mage series, perfect for fans of Ilona Andrews, Karen Marie Moning, and fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Read & Listen

between reading the Kindle book and listening to Audible audiobook.
Add the audiobook for a reduced price of $2.99 after you get the Kindle book as part of your Kindle Unlimited subscription.

Special offer: Includes this audiobook and another of your choice free
Plus a free monthly audiobook chosen by our editors
Keep your audiobooks even if you cancel
Unlimited access to exclusive podcasts
After 30 days Audible is $16.45 for 1 credit/month, cancel anytime

Learn more about membership

By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible’s Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice.

Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company

People who bought this also bought

Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1

The Fallen
C.N. Crawford
505
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
Darkest Moon: Shadow Guild: Wolf Queen, Book 1
Linsey Hall
689
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
Blood Hunter
C.N. Crawford
100
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
Divine Hunter
C.N. Crawford
102
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
Delivering Evil for Experts: Guild Codex: Demonized, Book 4
Annette Marie
1286
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial

Product details

Listening Length	7 hours and 50 minutes
Author	C.N. Crawford
Narrator	Laurel Schroeder
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	26 December 2016
Publisher	Audible Studios
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B01N1VC3SS
Best Sellers Rank	20,395 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 231 in Supernatural Thrillers (Audible Books & Originals) 1,055 in Supernatural Thrillers (Books) 1,973 in Urban Fantasy (Books)

Customer reviews

5 star		63%
4 star		20%
3 star		10%
2 star		4%
1 star		3%

How are ratings calculated?

Review this product

Write a customer review

Top reviews from Australia

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Angelite

The Hunter and the Mage

Reviewed in Australia on 31 May 2017

Verified Purchase

Good Read. Looking forward to Reading the Rest of the books in the series. Anyone who likes Paranormal Romance /Action or likes Supernatural will love this book.

Helpful

Amazon Customer

magic hunter

Reviewed in Australia on 26 September 2017

Verified Purchase

liked

Helpful

Damian Southam

Content and Style in Spades!!! A definitive TBR.

Reviewed in Australia on 21 February 2017

In a world where the things that go bump in the night are hardly a secret, the demons are quite happy to gnaw on a cashier or two, right in the middle of a busy market filled with screaming witnesses and fleeing pedestrians. Rosalind's cynical enough to know that her role in helping to keep them at bay, in protecting students of Thorndike (Massachusetts) from being slaughtered, doesn't bestow her any bragging rights. It certainly isn't conducive to picking up or flirting with the peers she's meant to be protecting. Especially when drenched and cold and searching out any lingering traces, whilst they instead get to spend their Friday nights with booze and djs, dancing with a roof over their heads. Unsurprisingly, it set her apart from those peers, but not in the ways most people her age typically wanted.

Besides that she didn't however consider them as her true peers. Her less than glamorous nightly study in demon killing for the Brotherhood remains her one true life goal, but it won't be if anymore are killed on her watch, or if she fails any more assignments. So goes the saying, three strikes and your out, for which you couldn't help but wonder if the people who adhere to that rule are secreted fans of baseball. Having the Guardian overseer (Josiah) who also happens to be your ex- isn't exactly the sort of relationship breaker that makes a split up easy to move on from, especially when said Guardian called off the relationship in order to stick to the rules that dictate Guardian-Novice romances as taboo.

With the rare and advanced tracking abilities of not only feeling nearby presences of magical auras, like every other hunter, she also sees and scents them at a far greater distance too. But in just the past month at Thorndike alone, every precaution hadn't managed to prevent the two latest student deaths. The coming out by the supernatural world five years ago, had unseen and unfortunate consequences, the most salient byproduct herein was that the predators who prey on humans no longer cared enough to do it with the utmost discretion. Where the predators had once been forced through their own policing to keep their feeding to the dark, thus limiting the presence of their prey and therefore a reduction in the number of deaths, the brazen killers not restricted to movements in the dark are now killing with impunity from their own kind.

In environmental conditions where the killers murder indiscriminately, the Brotherhood have been able to put themselves forward in the best possible light. Through their own coming out the secret order could now promote steadfast dedication that begins being perceived as humankind's saviour and protector; with a blanket over the transparency of their operations, the requisite healthy suspicion of a group once considered to be no more than a well funded and organised cult, fails to bring them to popular culpability. The Brotherhood isn't infallible but it recruits very specifically and only permit recruits so many mistakes of any kind, after which you could expect to be waving goodbye to the motto of “Lux in tenebris lucet” (Light shines in the darkness). Thus we arrive at the greatest fear Rosalind presently has in her life. That if anything more should go wrong then life as she planned and knows it, will cease to exist.

Was it really that shallow to want to keep the perks of being cashed up, having really nice boots, and access to an array of cool lethal gadgets? She didn't need reminding of just what is at stake (no pun intended). Rosalind's birth parents were drained dry by vampires in a night of murder she could never manage to recall. Her failures thus far have originated every time in the hesitation sparked by the human guise she sees in the eyes of the demons she was intending to kill. Despite her training and repeated exposure to the things she's ordered to kill, Rosalind thus far hasn't actually killed anything. As she neared the current greatest threat of the night, a red cap demon dripping human blood from it's maw and it's hat, hence the name given to these sorts of demons, she inows its not specifically her skills that'll lead to failure whilst the said demon is gearing up for it's next slaughter.

She couldn't help but daydream again of staying in and playing beer pong with the sort of hot guy that helps moving on from what can no longer be. Irrespective of antecedents, training and guidelines, though, Rosalind feels that hunting is coded into her blood. Why else would she be equipped with abilities that permit her to track what no other hunter can do so nearly as well. With her quarry so near that he'd hear a single misstep, she guessed she'd soon find out once and for all, whether it is the right life for her. Not knowing what you're truly capable of is a sure path to an early grave, something that'd be her next bedfellow should a repeat of her failures revisit her tonight. She knows she can be made to kill when no other choice remains. Its the carrying out of these requirements when its not in self defense that troubles her most.

Fate or otherwise, Rosalind's night would become a pitcher's dream of the curveball making it her third strike. Furthermore, shock after shock was shortly to amalgamate in the new most feared experience of her life. Whilst Rosalind was preparing for, and undertaking the chores of this night, not very well as it so happens, someone else was getting set to possibly hunt her. With another epic failure, this one resulting in the demon having his teeth embedded in her neck, Rosalind's obsessive thoughts were amazingly still on the eventual debriefing that'd she her fired before she really ever got started. If only she knew then of what her final lessons for the day would become, it'd be a resounding yes to the use of red plastic cups and ping-pong balls, lubricating the lowering of social inhibitions that preceded some clean making out, paving the way to forgetting further a relationship that wasn't meant to be.

Success would've seen a shift to the next grading, with it's accompanying chalice pendant that signifies a new rank. Had she eventually makde it all the way through her training, and whilst still alive, her path as a Hunter for the Brotherhood could've led to becoming a Guardian; thereby overseeing her own group of trainees and hunters. But as it turns out, the Brotherhood weren't the only group out this night with the capacity to take on the denizens of the dark, or for that matter, the Brotherhood's hunters as well. The Shadow Mages are an ancient group with as much history and who are in direct contention and a share in an ages past grudge. One that its likely neither side can remember why or who started it. Admittedly, whatever Rosalind knows of the organisation, if it can even be referred to as such, she mostly only knows through third hand experience and propaganda she'd been hearing for as long as she remembers being alive.

Outmatched because of her hesitation, and too inexperienced to react in the necessary ways, with the sort of speed and grace that only comes from sufficient enough practice, the sort she witnesses from the shadow mage whilst clamping her hand over the holes left in her neck from the red cap's bite; who now lays gurgl8ng at her feet and missing his heart. Whilst her saviour had killed what she could not in little more than a blink of her eyes, he's truly what's delegated by her order as being among the greatest threats to date. Consolidating this information about a man who just saved your life, in some ways helped her to see her way past the arguments of the Brotherhood, ones that call for capture and return to headquarters for interrogation of any and all shadow mages regardless of ilk But no amount of training could ever have prepared her for the faintest, unidentifiable subconscious recognition embedded within her psyche. This was however an encounter she'd already come to realise was not by chance.

The thing that scares her most about this is that he made none of the professed hostile moves toward her, leaving her unable to react solely on dogma in lieu of what she can perceive of her own accord. He'd done more than killing the red cap, he'd also healed a wound that would've likely led to her death. Enticingly she can also see it is evident in his eyes that he knew more her biggest puzzles than she does herself. Furthermore, he shows recognition of the ring that'd become her lucky charm, one she never removed regardless of where she was or what she was doing. His cryptic clue given with curiosity in his eyes, he states “That’s how you stay sane”. That puzzle grows via his expectation that something far different from what she expects would occur should she opt to follow his request to remove the ring, covertly remarking that he only wanted to see what happens. What was one more thing to join her total bewilderment that this night had wrought. If your whole world was about to be rocked would you opt to have it all happen in a single night.

There's few things more infuriating or intimidating than encountering strangers who seem to know more about you than you yourself are aware of. Nothing in her experience of the Brotherhood could've prepared her for the stranger's omen that the Brotherhood wanted "to watch the world burn, and (her along) with it.” Upon asking him why the Brotherhood would come for one of their own, he told her she wasn't one of theirs, and that once they cottoned on to what she truly is, something that'll happen very soon, then her peers and colleagues would fast become her antagonists and hunters. As she lowered the weapon she was trained to use against shadow mages, portrayed in ways by the Brotherhood that had not the slightest similarities to what she took from this meeting, the beguiling man slunk back into the shadows from whence he'd come.

With natural writing styles and excellent content, the entertainment and enjoyment factors of books are pretty assured, as they are herein. Either factor alone isn't really ever enough to keep intrigue powering the captivation of readers who fail to register just how long its been since they grabbed a comfy chair, their favourite drink and snack, and opened their book in the place they favour for their escape from reality. Just as having fun and stimulating plans turns a holiday into a break that's always too short and gone too quickly, being bored and unorganised turns the same holiday into the ones from hell that never end: picking up the right book with the correct ingredients is a sure way to wondering where the last hours went, and having another night without enough sleep. This is my experience of Magic Hunter, a book that must make it onto your TBR list.

Rosalind's world sets the scene of what happens when you have the right type of management that is well established at promoting dogmatic following of the propaganda written to warp the reality outlooks of not just its own personnel, but also the world at large. The Brotherhood's upper echelons have invested in practices that effectively skew the efforts by its agents to suit their needs, whilst concurrently allowing those same people to believe that what they're doing is not only justified, but is also the right thing to do. With the correct balance the people seeking to do the right things are capable of overlooking their behaviours which aren't the right thing to do. Add into that mix a society at large who believe them to be their guardian angels and protectors, creating the ultimate of situations where hero worship breeds, and you have the recipe for any number of attrocities being committed in the name of what's good and righteous. It doesn't require conspiracy theorists to see through the trees in order to reveal the forest, it just requires people with open minds and blinkers removed from their perception.

Such whistleblowers, for lack of a better word with the capacity to encompass the principles at the core of the issue, are often more zealously hunted than the so-called enemies for which an organisation is instituted. In the real worlds of the book's readers, in mimicry of the book's principles, there's numerous matching examples from the present to right the way back through their histories. The capacities of people who ache for the feeling of having places where they fit in, and having self worth in their achievements, to be manipulated in ways that fail to be registered for what they are has undoubtedly baffled hindsight analysts given the privilege of being objective whilst examining the wider scopes not afforded to the subjective experiences of those involved in the actual events, rather than the examination of the events. The subjective operators show the very real influences of human nature being a great deal more complicated because they do not have the benefits of being objective vacuums; instead, people experience any number of emotions that don't lend themselves to rational observations, for whilst they are influenced by cognitions they aren't responsible to them alone.

Ingenuity in the construction of the lore of The Vampire's Mage brings unique and varied concepts welcome in the miasma found throughout urban fantasy worlds that are now well and truly explored. Whilst far from a prerequisite for creating storylines in the rapidly expanding genre, it is nonetheless nice to encounter signature pieces in the ways that set authors' hard work apart from the rest of the field. Several of the staple components of storylines within the encompassing genre of fantasy have been reimagined into hitherto unseen ways; at least that is, by this reader who has read over five hundred books across the various subgenres like the aforementioned urban fantasy above.

The semi-cliched ways that have been turned into completely humorous sketches of an uncultured interpretation of the cultural manifestations help to transform some of the other staples that aren't uniquely rewritten. All-in-all the two different techniques work well together to create a new take on the content therein. One character in particular does extremely well at interpreting her species in an avant-garde chic manner that juggles between jawdropping OMG and giggly I'm-trying-to-keep-a-straight-face, with the coinciding emotions that accompany each expression.

The same ingenuity applied to the fictional world at large is also applied to the characters themselves. In Rosalind there exists a synergy of elements that would truly be spectacular if you could choose to have it for yourself. Its not completely picturesque or without cost, as no true elements are either all or nothing in the real world. With every choice there comes the benefits and costs, neither being completely positive or negative either. Her path to changing her life goals, although primarily driven by the need to react to situations that contradict her every conditioned response, is a great map of some of the most baffling questions still roaming the existential perceptions of what it is to be living beings. Her faults are laid bare for both the other characters of the book and for the readers of this installment of the series.

I know I'll need to read the rest coming and currently available, and that I'll also be seriously considering the two other series by the authors that I know to exist. Sometimes, in addition to outstanding content, or in the exception of okay content, sometimes you just click well with the storytelling styles of authors well matched to your tastes. That is how I see the Crawford partnership of Christine and Nick, and sometimes you come to realise that following certain authors instead of trying to blurb your way through podles of books to find the right sort of story is an often redundant waste of time when you already know how well some books are written.

Helpful

Nicole

When the hunter becomes the hunted

Reviewed in Australia on 18 May 2016

Magic Hunter is book 1 in C N Crawfords The Vampires Mage Series.

As a member of the Brotherhood, Rosalind's mission is simple: hunt demons and mages. She was built for hunting and it is a hell of a lot more interesting then her computer science classes.
But her whole future and her life gets thrown upside down when she meets Caine, a lethal and sexy as sin Mage who brings her the ominous warning that rumours are spreading that she is a Mage and in danger from her own people.

Now she is the Hunters next target, can she form an alliance with Caine, who is in league with the demons she once hunted, to save her own life?

I really enjoyed the idea behind this book. A Secret society created to help defend humans against the demons running amok in the world, that turns out to be corrupt and making its own rules, when Rosalind discovers the truth and becomes endangered she fights back and tries to make amends. And it pretty much covers off everything that makes a good urban fantasy book and has some fabulous characters: Action, violence, espionage, comedy, romance, demons, vampires, magic, mages, incubi.

All the characters in this book have been well thought out with specific traits. Rosalind is strong, independent and stubborn. Caine is powerful, arrogant but secretly compassionate. And the peripheral characters are also well developed for the amount of 'page' time they get.

Magic Hunter ends with enough loose ends that you'll want to read the next book but is semi satisfying. I look forward to picking up the next one.

I was gifted a copy by the author in exchange for an honest review.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Toni

Great story. Irritating heroine

Reviewed in Australia on 12 September 2018

I hate to leave critical reviews if I can help it but this story is so promising & almost ruined by an irritating MC who is stubborn & stupid at times. Really good story though. Promising start. Just annoyed at the MC making the same mistakes over & over and mentally rehashing the same stuff with the same erroneous thinking over & over. Once reality violates expectation - accept it. I wanted to slap her. Tammi, her friend, & Aurora, were far better female characters. Will read book 2 to see if she improves though.

Helpful

Lee-Anne

Good start

Reviewed in Australia on 1 December 2018

Not a bad start to the series. The MC can be somewhat frustrating at times but her supporting characters provide the edge. Honestly, I read the entire series before I thought about what to write in the review. Overall its definitely worth a read for those who enjoy paranormal and fantasy.

Helpful

Printjunkie81

Gripping til the end

Reviewed in Australia on 11 July 2017

It had me hooked til the end. I can't wait to read the next instalment in this series now. I haven't decided yet if I like the main character as she is so stupidly impulsive. I guess it's what makes her interesting

Helpful

Brosmett

Protagonist not very clever

Reviewed in Australia on 2 August 2017

I've enjoyed later works written by this author but this story's protagonist suffered from very tedious TSTL syndrome and only survived due to another character rescuing and healing her, over and over again. Tossing up whether to read the next story.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Poetic Puppy

An enjoyable read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 January 2017

Verified Purchase

Rosalind has a secret that is so well kept that even she doesn’t know what it is. When her secret is revealed, she finds herself running from the Brotherhood and praying that she can find a way back to the life she once had. If Caine has his way however, she’ll be fighting against the institution that raised her.

I found the start of the book a little heavy going, as in, it took me a while to settle into it and I often felt as confused as Rosalind probably felt. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it allowed me to connect to our heroine more easily. Unfortunately, it also made me want to skip ahead to figure out what the hell was going on. (I can sometimes be a little impatient). I find gaining the information along with the character a little frustrating but I kept reading, waiting to see what she’d learn/do next. It may have taken me a little longer than I like to settle into the story but once I did I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Rosalind and Caine’s working relationship is not an easy one. There are many reasons for the discord between them, but the more they work together, the more they seem to settle into an alliance that might be based on something more than dependence and duty. Rosalind’s blind devotion to the Brotherhood is challenged almost constantly throughout the novel, showing just how naive she truly is. Caine is at times as annoying as he is beautiful. I enjoyed the teasing he received about his ego. Typically he’s an alpha male type and very difficult to read.

You won’t learn everything in one book, so you will need to continue with the series if you want to have all your questions answered. That said… I’m off to read book 2. Enjoy!

Suggested Audience: Mature readers of Paranormal Romance
Perspective: Third person limited
Profanity: Negligible
Sexual content: Negligible
Violence: Frequent and severe
Cautionary element(s): Scenes depicting torture

14 people found this helpful

AyJay

Lead is a turn-off...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 June 2017

Verified Purchase

I was tempted to read more books in this series because the male lead and the supporting characters are all interesting, however the female lead is a hypocritical moron - I get that she's brainwashed and therefore can't really be blamed, but she's still very irritating with her thoughtless actions, supposed moral superiority and refusal to see the painfully obvious truth.

I recommend trying out the authors' co-written Dark Fae FBI series instead.

3 people found this helpful

Kindle Customer

Who is good and who is not?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 August 2017

Verified Purchase

A heroine whi is stubborn, blinkered, convinced black is white, I wanted to shake her and cry for her at the same time. Great characters with enough flaws to keep them interesting, and plenty of twists in the plot. I was hooked from the beginning.

One person found this helpful

Andie

I loved everything about this series of books and just couldn't put them down,

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 September 2018

Verified Purchase

I loved everything about this series of books and just couldn't put them down, fantastically written with stunning and captivating characters, Multi layers of sub plots that are easily followed and wonderful action with romance. A must read for so many reasons. I am sure you will love these books as much as I did

AVID READER

Goodness!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 August 2017

Verified Purchase

One of the best books I have read in a long time! It had me gripped edge of the seat gripped. Nobody had tea I just had to finish this book. Brilliant just brilliant. Buy it you won't be disappointed.

See all reviews

Magic Hunter: An Urban Fantasy Novel Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Read & Listen

Free with Audible Trial $0.00

Pay with 1-Click $27.79

People who bought this also bought

Product details

Customer reviews

Review this product

Top reviews from Australia

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Free with Audible Trial

$0.00

Pay with 1-Click

$27.79