Pool of Knowledge (Book 1 of The Hidden Wizard) - Complete Unabridged Fantasy Audiobook 

Just listened to the whole book yesterday at work, both for my own enjoyment and some light research into the "noblebright" sub-genre. First the good: I liked the narrator and think he did a great job adding a certain medieval feel to everything. I liked the presence of sincere (rather than snarky) characters throughout, who actually cared about and didn't make light of things. I also very much appreciated the strong male mentor figures, who truly helped turn our young bright-eyed protagonist into a more wise and strong hero by the end. I also liked the simple presentation of a world where men and women are not squabbling over gender roles, but have simply found their respective places of influence and get on with civilization. I also enjoyed seeing the boy's loving father go with him, on his quest. Though for some reason I can't remember if he left or got killed off. I also liked the idea of the boy's own grandfather being the one who saved everyone, and somehow passing his abilities down through the generations. Now for the constructive criticisms: I personally did not find there to be much rising action, and I kept waiting for the twist or for something to go horribly wrong that would put our characters in ongoing danger. What I got instead was essentially a string of scenes where they have to fight different types and numbers of fantasy enemies, and everything basically drops back to business as usual afterwards. I wanted more tension both between characters we meet and the world around them, but instead, it all feels like a pretty low-key fantasy journey up until the part on the boat. There were also a lot of scenes that were essentially info dumps about the magic system, which I wouldn't have minded if the magic didn't feel like a lighter and much easier version of Wheel of Time's "One Power." I was also surprised to see the book end so abruptly like that. Yes, there are more books after this, available for free (Thank you!), but I would've liked to see a stronger ending than that to draw us further in. I do suspect with (spoilers) the wise mentor now put of the picture, that there will be more tension in book 2. We'll see.

I'm listening to the series again. The foreshadowing is incredible! It will be so cool hearing it again now that I know.

Finally something I really enjoyed which is clean, non exaggerating and very interesting story line keeping one fully immersed without over the top violence and/or romance/sex. Looking forward to the next one.

Free, clean, well written. Simply amazing. Possibly the greatest gift I could've gotten ❤

you've got to appreciate authors who do the most to reach as many people as they can

Thank you so much for sharing your stories. This is fun and clean which can be hard to find sometimes. I get migrains reading. These books on you tube help so much!!!

Excellent book!! I've just finished book 1 and I really enjoyed the story line, character development and narration! Thank you so much Vaughan W. Smith and Ulf Bjorklund! My inner child is jumping for joy over this! On to book 2 now! :-D

Oh! Finally I find good book for my bedtime. Thank you, Vaughan W. Smith for sharing with us, you are so kind. Thanks to Ulf Bjorklund for wonderful work that make the story come to life.

"Ye're a lizard, Perry." *Licks eyes.*

Wonderful ! the atmosphere is so warm🧙‍♂️ somehow i can picture this story happening in the world of the elder Scrolls oblivion

I really enjoyed this story. Took me about 2 weeks to get through. I listened at night or to relax so I drifted to sleep many times visualizing everything. This was my getaway treat from the real world. Well done! It’s about 1:45am and I’m about to begin book 2..Thanks for this fun journey

Amazing love it finally good stories to relax

Really well done, a fine story for pre finals to relax me before bed, thank you

Thank you so much for posting your work on youtube. It's a fantastic book with excellent narration. It's been an absolute treat to listen to!

Very enjoyable story and good narration!! Thankyou!

Wow! Thank you for share this! Happy to find it :)

I'm just getting started in this book. I keep hearing and seeing Papa Smurf!! The narrator's voice is great!! Epilog is when I first noticed the similarities. Now I can't stop seeing it! Lol Love it!! I'll update on the book once finished. Just had to say that! **Update: Very interesting story and great narration. It's always good when both the words and narration make you visualize what is happening. Entertaining and would recommend.

Thank you for you work.

I have been listening to bits of this story while at work, and just finished it. It was pretty good! Nice work to everyone involved in the story and narration!

finally a good book to listen to

I really enjoy this one but i am gonna listen to the other ones too

I love this kind of stories 😊

Thank you!

Just started listening. It's great to read your comments on your book. I read/listen to about 2 or 3 books a week. Fantasy, sci Fi and mysteries. I like John Sanford, Michael Connelly, B.V. Larson, Raymond.E Feist Robert Jordan. Good luck with your book! I like the narrator/voice actor. Cheers from Milwaukee Wisconsin 🇺🇸🍺🧀. P.s I subscribed.

this is supercool thank you so well written and a super narrator much love from denmark

Very good!Thanks

Awesome story, thank you

Starts to get really good around 3 hours. I like how there's no bad plot holes.. annoying characters..annoying characters and plot holes can be a huge turn off.. thanks

Nice! Keep on!

Thank you so much for this! I really enjoy the story as well as the narration. I haven't finished it yet but so far it has definitely kept my interest, it feels like I am in an adventure along side the protagonist. There is just one thing i wanted to point out: I found the repetition of ' Vincent said, he said, this that said' very mechanic and rather annoying after a while. If some of these were replaced with different words to create more diversity, it would immediately take the book to another level. This is just my small way to create feedback for the author. I tried to be as specific as I can so that it can be helpful and not just negative, because honestly I find this book really enjoyable! Shout out to the narrator as well for giving so much life to the characters. I am very picky when it comes to the voice but this narrator did an awesome job. I hope we will hear (and read) many more books from you in the future. Greetings from Croatia 💙

starting now. hoping it’s good and that I can find the rest of this series 😮

Thank you, only just starting to listen, but very good so far. leona

Oh my god is this a real audio book written by a real human being read by a real human being. SWEET!

I just finished. I really enjoyed that, cool book :D I'm writing mine and it helped me in many ways, can't wait to read the following novels.

Seems like a nice story. Just started. But honestly with the extreme monetization having 2 minute ads every 2 minutes I highly doubt I'll have the resolve to finish it.

This is more or less on the level of the Hardy Boys Or Nancy Drew (of course I never read her!!!) At 72 it is like being young again!

I can tell just by comments this seems good first time gonna listan to this :)

Welcome to RU-vid Vaughan! I've been hoping to see some of my contemporaries start appearing here. Best of luck. LMK if you'd ever like to talk shop. CF.

Nice love it good Job writing and voice acting ! ty a lot !

Wow!

The trouble with most audiobooks is they are too quiet. If the narrator was louder then those of us with poor hearing could gear what is being said. Those with normal hearing can turn the volume down.

The description reads like Harry Potter meets Dragon Age. Bookmarked!

I very much enjoyed listening to this story! It was also awesome to see the view count climb from 28K to 48K from the time I started listening to the time I ended.

Solid magical story.

Another good book similar to this is wizard's first rule there is about 15 other books with it and it's based off the sword of truth series

At 6:09:50 going to finish Book 1, at one point I thought Lara was the tainted one, I find it interesting who knows what the story might bring.

This was excellent. The story was a bit cliche but the reading performance was outstanding. Looking forward to the next installment.

Cool!

Cool af

I keep falling asleep and losing my spot!

Thank you for sharing your work I've just subbed and started listening. Sounds like it's going to be an interesting story to share with my granddaughter.

What to say: What an adventure(S) and what a voice,GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRR eat.

is a grate book

Not a bad start.

A little YA, but entertaining nonetheless. At least the characters and the narrator weren't irritating. You'd be surprised how often they are.

ahh the time of the Wizards return has arrived .. a reminder of who we are..

I'm sooo weak... getting ready to turn it off and my namesake arrives!!

I listened to this before and it seems to have way more commercials now. I can't do it. I want to listen to your book, not advertising.

6:52:00 - bookmark 2

The moment one says hidden and Wizard together ... 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂⚰️

"It is not an easy undertaking"!!! Writing!!!!!

OK soo you've stole from me, you've been stalking me, you can sense danger but never warned me anytime there was danger and now my friend is dead! I guess the best thing to do is not only trust you going forward but just tell you all my secrets. How stupid does the main character need to be to advance the plot?

Uhmm.. I really really hate it when the good guy has the bad guy beaten but doesn't kill the bad guy. Alway Always kill the bad guy.

59:19 - bookmark

Markierung 1:44:00

At one hour 40 minutes I was wondering if the "blight" was an analogy for statism.

Vincent said. Vincent said. Vincent said. Vincent said. Vincent said. ahhh... I was getting so distracted by that phrase that I gave up on chapter 15, it took me out of the story. I would have preferred if he replied or anything other than "said, said, said." Nice creativity and world-building though.

A intresting boock and a god start for a wizards story will be a naic juorny to folow

2:37:48

I always wonder if these books are in libraries. There are so many. Are there still libraries? I'm a liiout of touch!

3:00:00

2:00:16

How old is the main character? I have listened three hours so far, and they haven't mentioned it(unless I missed it :P )

6 hours in and i just dont care whats happening, characters are wooden

37:21

Ripping yarn 😉

24:35

Did the narrorator do anime?

Enjoying the story ,however , a bit of constructive criticism , phrases such as " the jury was out , they were screwd "etc are inappropriate phrases which dont fit with the world being portrayed or the characters life experience .Language like that breaks the bubble of the fantasy and bring us back into our own world as readers . I wish you all the best with your writing career .

bro what about the 3rd book?

Sometimes a block. Is good . Back to some sound ..NIK NAK

Not gonna lie, bothers me that "only men contain the spark to become a wizard"

Is this book family friendly?

2 hours 5 mins

Good story too many commercials too often!!!

This was cute.

Um. I'm not joining the choir and singing praises along with all the fans. You have a good baseline here, but I found the story and its telling somewhat of a uniform thickness, if that makes any sense. If I were you, I would experiment with alternating pace, intensity and rhythm more. In practise that would mean things like stretching out some descriptive episodes (such as scenery, leisurely activity or the mood of a scene or a character) as build-up for more fast-paced scenes (such as action or even an internal realization of something) which use shorter sentences and more drama. And then cool down from the more fast-paced bits by letting the characters process what just happened and grow from it. Think of your writing as a river: When it's consistently wide and evenly flowing, the strongest currents can be almost invisible, and watching it can get boring after a while. When it's a mountain stream that plunges more down than forward, it can be tiring and too hectic to take in properly. It's better to alternate between these and many other modes of flow. I'll be interested to see if you've already stumbled upon this principle in your more recent work.

7 03 50

4 28

3 33

2 15

65r

narrator reads a bit fast for my taste. Interesting story.

48 34

I can't enjoy the book to many commercials 🤬

I found it quite hard to listen to. There is no difference in tone on the narrators side, but a bigger problem is that there is no difference in speech patterns between the characters. It is like listening to the same person talking to themselves. There is no sense of any difference in relationships between any of the characters. The descriptions of places and objects are non-existent. The only tunings described are the things that characters interact with directly. It's like watching a movie where there is only a white screen, all the characters are stick men that talk to each other in the same voice and the soundtrack is one note repeating over and over and over. I managed 2.5 hours, but the story did not become interesting enough to justify listening any further. I am not saying that the plot is bad. I am saying that everything else is bad enough to put me off the plot.

Kind of generic

The word "said"is extremely overused in this book. Gets annoying

Sounds like you'll be a good story. I don't like it narrated. I would rather have the people actually talking instead of a neurator. Thank you

How does anyone pay money to people with unpleasant voices to read audiobooks, what a stupid trend is this? This voice gives me a headache.