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    Discord's Apple
    Discord's Apple
    Discord's Apple
    Audiobook9 hours

    Discord's Apple

    Written by Carrie Vaughn

    Narrated by Luke Daniels and Angela Dawe

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    When Evie Walker goes home to spend time with her dying father, she discovers that his creaky old house in Hope's Fort, Colorado, is not the only legacy she stands to inherit. Hidden behind the old basement door is a secret and magical storeroom, a place where wondrous treasures from myth and legend are kept safe until they are needed again. The magic of the storeroom prevents access to any who are not intended to use the items. But just because it has never been done does not mean it cannot be done.

    And there are certainly those who will give anything to find a way in.

    Evie must guard the storeroom against ancient and malicious forces, protecting the past and the future even as the present unravels around them. Old heroes and notorious villains alike will rise to fight on her side or to undermine her most desperate gambits. At stake is the fate of the world, and the prevention of nothing less than the apocalypse.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJul 6, 2010
    ISBN9781441876041
    Author

    Carrie Vaughn

    Carrie Vaughn's work includes the Philip K. Dick Award winning novel Bannerless, the New York Times Bestselling Kitty Norville urban fantasy series, over twenty novels and upwards of 100 short stories, two of which have been finalists for the Hugo Award. An Air Force brat, she survived her nomadic childhood and managed to put down roots in Boulder, Colorado. Visit her at www.carrievaughn.com.  

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    Reviews for Discord's Apple

    3.5/5

    233 ratings48 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      Started reading (& ended up skimming) DISCORD'S APPLE by C Vaughn. Good premise, didn't like the execution. Her style isn't for me, I think. I wasn't fond of KITTY either.

      I love the idea. Some of the execution works well. I wanted to like it. But the only character I really felt much for was Sinon, and even then it wasn't enough to keep my interest.
    • 4/5
      Really well-told story. I think that this may be my favorite by this author. Loved the way that she worked in historic and mythological work with local stuff too (though it could be that reaction to hearing town names that I know well).
    • 5/5
      If you like supsence,romance,and a little history you will love Discords Apple. you start to get a understanding what the author ws trying to do in this story. Old world meets new world. I what I really liked was there was a story in a story. If you like the The Nariera stories this book is for you. I hope the author is going to contune because I would like to see what other things are in the storage room ...
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this mix of ancient mythology and dystopian future. The storeroom really captured my imagination, all those magical items. The world-building wasn't as strong as I would've liked; there so much ground to cover and interesting characters, this easily could've become a series instead of a standalone. Despite that, I very much enjoyed thsi tale.
    • 3/5
      This book is kinda hard to categorize - pretty intensively greek myth focused, good spins on that, interesting family history of main character, interesting romance that slowly develops -- altogether, a pretty nice package. There's even an interesting side plot of the story that the main character is writing expertly woven throughout the whole. Weirdly, though, I didn't find it as totally satisfying as that collection of descriptions would lead me to expect. I also don't particularly like that Hera totally gets her way in the end -- the whole book is set up for some kind of clever trick to force her to back off, and instead they just cave and do what she wants and deal with the ramifications after. Still pretty interesting, but it just didn't knock my socks off.
    • 5/5
      I discovered Carrie Vaughn's writing in Unfettered, a recent fantasy anthology edited by Shawn Speakman, and I really wanted to read more of her work, so I bought this book. DISCORD'S APPLE was a very interesting (and good!) book, and I want to read even more of Vaughn's work now, despite not being the biggest fan of urban fantasy.Evie Walker is a comic book writer in a near future Earth that's heading straight towards an apocalypse. She has just received news that her father has cancer and heads back to her hometown in the middle of nowhere, where she finds out that there is much more to her family than she realises. Their storeroom contains, among other things, the Golden Fleece and Cinderella's glass slippers - and Evie is the storeroom's new guardian.DISCORD'S APPLE is a pretty slim book, but it covers an epic scale of time and perspectives. It's mainly told from three points of view - Evie's, her ancestors' and a certain ancient Achaean's, spanning the travels of Odysseus to the future and managing to incorporate every magical legend in between. And it never feels overwhelming - in fact, it's a pretty compelling tale.Evie is a pretty generic protagonist in the beginning, but grows tremendously in a short time. I loved the use of her comic book story to illustrate her thought process, it worked very well. The rest of the characters are pretty great too, from the villains to the figures of mythology to the Hopes Fort residents.I don't want to spoil the ending, but I'll just say this: I expected it to be a lot more predictable/formulaic (which I would've been fine with), but the way everything was resolved made a good book into a great book. I'm looking forward to reading more of Vaughn's work!Comment Comment | Permalink
    • 3/5
      Its a good read, too bad its a stand alone novel. It would've been nice to have a sequel.
    • 4/5
      Evie Walker is a comic book writer living in a Los Angeles we wouldn't recognize. Countries are at war, cities are ruled by militias, and Evie makes her living penning a military adventure comic series, until she gets a call from her father. She drives back home to Hope's Fort, Colorado and learns that he has a terminal disease. Furthermore, strangers keep knocking on her father's door with specific requests for items in his basement. The storeroom has always been off limits to Evie until now, and she learns that her family serves as custodians of magical objects. One man in particular, named Alex, seems to be stalking Evie and her father, but the real threat is a long-disposed queen who wants to sow chaos across the world.

      I thought the structure of the story was well done, with the action shifting between three parties: Evie in the present, Alex in the past, and Evie's ancestors. It takes a good writer to pull that off, and Carrie Vaughn made it look easy. Unfortunately I don't feel like I got to know Evie, or see her evolve. She was surprisingly passive throughout the story, and I expect more from the lead in a fantasy novel.
    • 3/5
      3.5 This urban fantasy was one of the most original story lines I've read. It had a touch of fantasy, adventure, mystery, and myths and they come alive. It was interesting the people of myth and history that the author chose to write into this book. It is a tale of time, and the effects of magic and magical items on the timeline of humanity. it is also about following your heart even when it hurts. Ms. Vaughn never takes the tried, over used path with her characters, they walk a different path.
      Very enjoyable, it made me chuckle, sigh and think of what if.
    • 5/5
      It is the near future and the world is in the midst of great strife. Evie Walker, a comic book writer, is going home to Hope's Fort, CO. Her father is gravely ill, and little does she know what is in store for her. Her family home contains a "storeroom", not any storeroom, but one filled with magical items: glass slippers, winged sandals, lyres, swords, boxes, a golden fleece, and apples, including one very special golden apple.

      While her father is out a strange woman comes to the door asking for a pair of slippers, and Evie, guided by the voices, goes into the storeroom and pulls out a pair of dainty glass slippers....which are the exact pair the woman came for.... Then comes the young man, Alex, who, the voices tell Evie should not be allowed in the house. Later a woman of strong presence comes to the door and asks to be allowed in so she may take from the storeroom... The voices again warn Evie against allowing this woman in the house.

      So then we go to the Trojan war, and we learn about Sinon (the Liar) who was sent ahead to Troy by Odysseus to convince Troy to accept the gift of the Trojan Horse..... From the Trojan debacle, we follow Sinon to the Temple of Apollo, where he becomes the slave of Apollo.... and we learn of the Gods & Goddesses and their destruction by their Father Zeus..... Only Hera and Sinon escape with their lives, which brings them both to Hope's Fort, CO. seeking out Evie Walker and one of the treasures she (unknowingly) guards in the storeroom.

      OMG! I ?'d this book.... I have had it since before it was published, it was a gift of the author. I kept it because after hearing her booktalk it, I knew that eventually I'd read it. I learned more about the Trojan Horse than I previously knew, I learned about the Gods & Goddesses of the Greeks. The story captivated me and certainly held my interest.... It is well written but it alternates between stories with each chapter in order to give you the history of the characters. At first, I didn't understand the part about Evie being a comic book author, but it all came into a nice conclusion...
    • 4/5
      This book brought together several genres that I didn't necessarily think would come together nicely. The world is ending, every country is at war with each other but Evie is more concerned with going home to see her father who is dying. Once she arrives she starts learning about the store room in her father's house. It's filled with magical items from every world mythology and fairy tale. It is now Evie's turn to become the caretaker. Meanwhile Hera is trying to take advantage and get Discord's apple so that she can use the world's strife to make the world the way she wants it. Weaved into this story there are short tales of how Evie's family acquired some of the items in the store room and Alex's story. Alex has been alive since the Trojan war and the reader learns how he became immortal and what his time was like after the war. There is also another story being told. Evie is a graphic novel writer and you also get the story that she is writing about a military team.

      All of the stories, including the stories within the stories are beautifully written. Normally I'm not a big fan of the story within a story because it can be difficult to keep them straight but it was always very clear which story was being told. The world building in this book is wonderful and I really loved all of the characters. I felt invested in how things were going to end with them. My favorite character was probably Alex, at first his story annoyed me because I wanted to know what was going on with Evie. However as she got more and more wrapped up in her sadness and panic about dealing with the store room his story became the more interesting one. I was especially intrigued by his meeting with Oddyseus after forty years. I also liked the fact that Alex was tied to the storerooms beginnings, and I liked how parts of the end were tied to Evie's graphic novel and the beginning of the Trojan war (won't explain how cause that would be a big spoiler).

      The part where the world actually ends is skipped. I appreciated that because it would have made the book drag on too long, but I kind of wonder if it would be interesting to learn how Hera was able to reshape the world with the apple. I think it might have been a good topic for another book, except then Hera would have to be the heroine and I'm not sure that she is likable enough to be a main character.
    • 2/5
      I picked this out of my to-read pile because I wanted a fast, fun read. It was fast and the setting was fascinating, but it didn't have the oomph I really wanted. There were a lot of really great elements that didn't feel fully developed to me. The setting was the biggest. It felt apocalyptic verging on more apocalyptic, but the facts were teased. I wanted to know more! A few perspective asides to another character didn't end up going anywhere. The main character of Evie likewise didn't feel fully developed, nor did I feel she had chemistry with the character of Alex. The book didn't really need the romance.What did work within the book? The fascinating background of Evie's family, the nature of her house, and the appearance of a few important mythological characters. Alex's back story was intriguing, too. I just wish that other elements had come together.
    • 4/5
      Evie Walker has a surprise when she goes home. The history of her family is not what she thinks. The past wraps around to the present and magic is returning to the world.
    • 4/5
      I'm torn between 3.5 and 4 stars on this one, there were things that didn't work as well as they might but overall I liked it. A little dissatisfied by the ending, but overall I liked this tale of the guardians of the mythic paraphenalia who ends up having to deal with a group of immortals and magicians who want the power for themselves.Set in a world too close for comfort in terms of politics, this one is set in an americal paranoid about terrorism, where people have blown up many places around the US and Evie Walker deals with her dying father and the fact that there are family secrets that are coming to her and these secrets involve a cache of items with mythic power, quite literally. She's also writing a military graphic novel whose twists and turns occasionally explain a lot about the world she's in and the political situation. And then there's the mysterious Alex... who is stranger than he seems, what is in it for him?I liked it, it stands well alone and leaves some space for futher books in the universe, but the story, I think, has been told.
    • 3/5
      I loved the concept of the Storeroom, liked the main character and her companions, and was annoyed at a few things. The world-building was rich enough to have this extend over a few novels--why rush the ending? spoiler: Why add a POV character only to have him die in the world's end? I couldn't figure out why, after all this time and effort, Alex's slave-chain could just *pop!* be done away with. Bah.
    • 3/5
      A neat idea, but I had a hard time getting into it. Imagine that when your parents die, you inherit a basement of relics that come from "fantasy" or history. Excalibur, Pandora's box, etc... Once in while, someone may show up and need something from your basement. Sounds cool, right? Except when it seems like the world is ending and a goddess has come to take by force an item that she thinks is hers. Pretty good, but something was just off. I don't know if it was characters, or too many subplots or backstories, or the whole world in chaos aspect. Just wasn't as good as I really wanted it to be.
    • 4/5
      I liked Discord's Apple. The premise was great, and the world was fascinating. I also liked the fact that there were lots of stories interweaving, and that there were meta-levels of the same story -- the comic book plot echoing Evie's story, for example. I wish there had been a bit more development to back up the action, but that's just me -- I like details. Alex's experiences are pretty well fleshed out, and he's a great character, but everyone else, even Evie, is almost a sketch. This story might have worked really well as a graphic novel, because the images would have filled in in details that the text leaves out. But of course, that's Evie's dilemma when she writes, too, so maybe Carrie Vaughn meant to do that. This is the first book I've read of hers, and I will look for others.
    • 4/5
      Charming story telling. Very unique and original. Interesting characters. Although the beginning was a little slow, once I got into the meat of the story I was sucked in and wanted to keep on reading. I haven't read any of Vaughan's Kitty Norville books because I'm not into werewolf stories, but this book was good enough that I'm tempted to sample one.
    • 4/5
      A very interesting world. It's a little bit confusing, with stories from all over time popping up into...a pre-apocalypse story? Is that a genre? The world is falling apart in war and terrorism, and, much more importantly, Evie's father is dying. The fact that Evie is the heir to, and slowly coming to understand, a powerful magical Storeroom that her family has guarded for literally millennia, is the trigger and the base for the story. Hera (yes, the goddess) wants the Apple of Discord out of the Storeroom. Her allies include Robin Goodfellow (though I really don't like this portrayal of him) and several other powerful magical people. Evie gathers allies of her own, including Sinon of Ithaca, who was at the siege of Troy. Evie, Sinon, to some extent Evie's father, and to some extent Evie's writing partner Bruce (who isn't there, but serves as a window on how the world's going to hell in a handbasket) are fully-realized characters. Most of the rest of them, including Hera, are sketches at most - not cardboard, but we're given little to no idea of their real motivations. The interwoven stories have among them Sinon's time as Apollo's slave, snippets of the history of the Storeroom and the family that guards it, and the military comic that Evie writes and Bruce draws. Eagle Eye Commandos is also a window on current events, as they try to keep it realistic, and a view of Evie's motivations and feelings as she writes the adventures of her alter ego and role model Tracker.It's a complicated story (though not as confused as this sketch sounds), and a very interesting universe. I think the story is closed - that is, by the end there's no room for a sequel. Prequels, maybe, describing other times the Storeroom was called upon - but I don't think so. The circle is closed and a new world is being built; perhaps it's time for the Storeroom to begin gathering things in again. I do like Carrie Vaughn.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this book. It took a significantly different path than what I expected it would and could have been dark and depressing were it not for Vaughn's beautiful story craft. It's very engrossing right through the end.
    • 4/5
      Summary: Evie Walker is a comic book author, and her current series, about a group of military commandos, is a bestseller in a world that's increasingly dominated by government checkpoints and curfews, gasoline rationing, and multinational terrorist threats. She's not exactly looking forward to going home to care for her ailing father, but she finds that the old farmhouse contains more than she remembered from childhood. In its basement - territory that was forbidden to her when she was growing up - is a storeroom of magical objects of all descriptions, and Evie is shocked to learn that she's the latest in a familial line of keepers of the storeroom that stretches back centuries. She's not ready for the responsibility, particularly when the goddess Hera comes to call, looking for a golden apple: an apple inscribed with "for the fairest," the apple that started the Trojan War. Hera has plans to remake the world, and she will stop at nothing to get the apple. But Evie won't have to face her alone; among other allies is a Greek soldier that sailed with Odysseus, and was made immortal by Apollo.Review: This book has a fantastic premise. Fantastic. I knew from the title that it was going to involve Greek mythology, which is what got me on board in the first place; I love fantasy that uses mythology as its base. But what I wasn't expecting was this wonderful premise of a storeroom that contains all of the magical artifacts from all of the stories, that have been gathered together as magic has fallen out of the world. Not just the apple, but the golden fleece, and a pair of winged sandals, and flying carpets, and glass slippers; just a huge wonderful mishmash that spans centuries and cultures.I think it's that conglomeration of myths and legends and stories, each familiar to us today, and each with their own power, even after all these years, that was what really spoke to me. True to its title, the story is pretty heavily Greek-focused, and I was perfectly content with that. But then Merlin shows up all cranky demanding that the Walkers get Excaliber out of the storeroom, and I was in love. (Vaughn also managed to ping my inner Shakespeare nerd; Puck's a major player in the story too.) There's a definite Gaiman-esque air to things... American Gods is the obvious comparison, but the way that the flotsam of various stories winds up in storeroom put me in mind of the Dreaming from Sandman as well. The story's fast paced, for sure; Vaughn manages to pack a lot into the nine and a half hours of audiobook. But there are also a lot of deeper issues lurking under the surface. Questions about the power of stories; about the presence of magic in the world, and whether its presence or absence is better for humanity; about war and power and control and desire, and how they've changed - or not - over time. She also raises a very interesting point, and one that I don't think I've ever encountered before, at least not in this depth, despite the amount of Arthuriana I read: The legend of King Arthur says that the great king only sleeps, and he will wake and return in the hour of his country's need. But if he hasn't come back yet, how bad do things have to get before he will? Heady stuff, and great fodder for a fantasy novel.My only real complaint about this book is that there wasn't more of it. The fast-paced story actually works against it in some places; there are a lot of subplots and themes that could have used more development and complexity than Vaughn gave them. The ending, likewise, is satisfying enough, but could easily have been expanded upon. And in general, the storeroom seems like such rich ground to grow stories, I would have been thrilled with a little more time to explore, instead of getting right down to the business of the main plot. But what there was completely captured my imagination, and made for a fun, fascinating read. 4 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: Highly recommended for those who like their stories infused with a heavy dose of mythology and magic (and who also have a decent grounding in the Trojan War and the Greek Pantheon).
    • 3/5
      Discord's Apples is a story about a young woman, Evie, who suddenly learns a family secret that alters her view of the world around her introducing her to magical items and beings from mythological stories. The story switches from Evie's current world crisis, to her thoughts as she writes her comic book commando series, and the voice of a Trojan soldier and his involvement with the Greek gods. This is a great summer reading, self contained with a little bit of everything; action, humor, love story, and magic.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. Great interweaving of several plots/storylines. I would love to see Evie's story continue.
    • 3/5
      S'okay. This fantasy novel has a Greek mythology, maybe it's the end of the world theme going on. Provided an afternoon's entertainment a couple months ago, but it didn't stick with me.
    • 5/5
      Wow. This fantasy novel goes above and beyond. Really enjoyed it. Weel done, Carrie. Hats off.
    • 4/5
      This book has a little bit of everything in it: Greek mythology, near future national security concerns, military comic books, Merlin and the end of the world. Evie finds out the basement of her home contains a storeroom full of treasures from old myths and she stands to inherit the mission of protecting that storeroom when her father, sick with cancer, dies. With the world crumbling around her (attacks in Russia, India and Pakistan), someone wants to get into the storeroom to get a particular object. This was a crazy book with flashbacks to the Trojan War and then a long section where Evie is writing her military comic book (which didn't really seem to add much to the story). I wanted to like it more but the ending fell flat. There was all of this great tension and then...disappointment. It wasn't a bad book but I would have liked to hear more about the events that led to the ending.
    • 3/5
      The premise: ganked from BN.com: When Evie Walker goes home to spend time with her dying father, she discovers that his creaky old house in Hope’s Fort, Colorado is not the only legacy she will inherit. Hidden behind the basement door is a secret and magical storeroom, a place where wondrous treasures from myth and legend are kept safe until they are needed again.Of course, this legacy is not without its costs: there are those who will give anything to find a way in.With the help of her father, a mysterious stranger named Alex, and some unexpected heroes, Evie must guard the storeroom against ancient and malicious forces and protect both the past and the future even as the present unravels. My Rating: Worth Reading, with Reservations: Mind you, this rating is me talking as a Vaughn fan, who's now read everything she's published to date and one book that's not even released yet. I don't have any qualms in saying that this is absolutely her weakest novel, and I'm comforted to know that she wrote this REALLY early in her career, it was just published late. And my saying it's her weakest book doesn't mean there isn't something here to recommend. It's a super-fast read that I finished in a day, the premise is rocking, and there's some interesting takes on what it means to be a hero as well as a villain, which don't become totally obvious until the end. It's a creatively fun work, but yet for those of you who've read American Gods, it falls flat, despite what it has to offer. If you're new to Vaughn's fiction, don't start here: try Voices of Dragons or After the Golden Age instead; for those of you who are fans with Vaughn's work, you'll be able to appreciate it more, even if you're like me and find that it just does measure up to everything else she's done.Spoilers, yay or nay?: Yay! Vaughn's packed so much into this book and there's so much I want to discuss that I have a feeling I won't be able to help BUT spoil the poor thing, so spoil I will! If you want to avoid such nasty things as spoilers, just skip to "My Rating" and you'll be fine. Oh, WAIT: I also spoil a plot point for Voices of Dragons and After the Golden Age: it's a tiny thing, but if you haven't read either one of those books and you want to, you may want to hold off on this review. Especially since, yanno, After the Golden Age isn't even out yet. HOWEVER, said SUPER SPOILER is at the end of the "Thumbs Down" section and marked clearly, so once you see the SUPER SPOILER section, you can skip to "My Rating" and not miss anything.The full review is in my LJ and always, comments and discussion are most welcome. :)REVIEW: Carrie Vaughn's DISCORD'S APPLEHappy Reading!
    • 4/5
      Young woman reluctantly discovers she is inheriting her familial role as guardian of magical items, including the golden apple that started the Trojan war, which somebody is trying to get from the safe.
    • 4/5
      A sharp mix of thriller and high fantasy, besides being a paean to place and family, Vaughn gives us a world where magic is returning (as ours teeters on collapse) and a family charged through time with protecting the magic items of legend has to decide who should receive the proverbial Golden Apple of Discord. There's not much that I'd complain about with this story, except that I'm not sure the Arthurian touches were the right avenue to explore.
    • 4/5
      I don't usually read urban fantasy. So this was a refreshing change of pace for me. Evie Walker is about to inherit a magical storeroom filled with mythological treasures from her dying father. It's the end of the world, and the goddess Hera is doing her best to create and stir up discord. This novel blends an apocalyptic near-future with ancient Greece quite well. The plot at the beginning and the middle chugs along nicely, but starts to unravel a bit at the end. I think this is supposed to be a stand-alone novel, but it felt rather open-ended, like there should be a sequel. But overall, it was an enjoyable read, and I'd recommend it.