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Annoyingly Repetitive

Revisado: 01-09-23

Nick Podehl is AMAZING, as always. The story is pretty good, but there are certain topics that are repeated over and over and over and over again. The series has also lost its awkward humor due to making Rez more “human.” Lastly, if this ends up turning into nothing but a big love story, then I’m never buying another Fantasy novel written by a woman again >:-[

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Great Addition to the Series

Revisado: 10-29-21

If you enjoyed the first two books in this series, you'll enjoy this one too. Lot's of action in this installment! There is, however, a rape scene, but the author warns you at the beginning of the book to skip X chapter if you're not comfortable listening to it. It is not graphic whatsoever, and I think the entire scene, as a whole, adds to the book in a profound way by becoming a catalyst for a significant character evolution. With that being said, I'm not a woman and have no idea how this scene will affect one of the fairer sex. Also, I have not read / listened to Fatemarked, and while it hasn't caused any issues with my reading experience, I feel like I'm missing some great references that could be understood for those who've read the previous series.

As far as the narration / performance go... TGR, 'nuff said!

On a separate note, I truly appreciate how quickly the author and TGR are pumping out these books! I despise waiting years for additional installments of books to come out (ahem, Kingkiller / Chaos / KDT). Once an author starts publishing and selling their work, they have a duty to their readers / listeners to complete that story in a timely manner.

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Not as good as the first one

Revisado: 07-16-21

Sorry, but this is simply no where near as good as the first one. Nick Podehl does an AMAZING job narrating, as usual! This book was lackluster at best. Some of the story line is just plain stupid, especially the ending. I’ll listen to it one more time in a couple weeks to see what I think, but there were about a dozen times I had to relisten to a specific part multiple times, usually the most important parts, because my mind was wandering. Hopefully the next one will be better. I do, 100% recommended the Stormweaver book that is previewed at the end… it’s one of the best books I’ve listened to in the last couple years!

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What Happened to Kate Reading's Voice!?

Revisado: 11-20-20

Disclaimer... I'm only half way through this book. However, after just having listened to the first 3 books in the two weeks leading up to the release of Rhythm of War, I can tell you with absolute certainty that there is something wrong with Kate Reading's voice! First of all, half the time she's talking she sounds like a 5-pack a day smoker whose got that gravelly mucus sound in their throat... its very annoying. Next, she keeps changing the accent she uses for various characters. In one chapter they sound one way and in the next they have a completely different accent. Finally, she has completely changed the way some of our established characters sound... Pattern in particular. He sounds absolutely nothing like he did in the other 3 books. I truly hope Kate is healthy, because she certainly doesn't sound so in the book thus far.

Also, as some other reviewers have mentioned, there is no accompanying PDF, which is a HUGE disappointment!!

Once I'm finished with the book I will add my review of the book itself. Thus far it has not impressed me... but Kate's voice issues are distracting and annoying so maybe with less of her performance and more of Kramer's, the annoyance will dissipate.

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Best Epic Fantasy Of All Time

Revisado: 11-10-20

If you haven’t read/listened to this yet, you are truly missing out on one of, if not the #1, best fantasy series ever written. This series has so many characters that you grow to love, especially as you hear their back stories and learn what makes them tick! The character development is truly amazing!! That is one thing, in my opinion, that Sanderson does better than any other writer out there. Add on to that the truly epic world building and magic systems in all his books and you end up with absolutely amazing books like this series.

After listening to the first Mistborn trilogy, which, to be honest, wasn’t among my favorite books (the 2nd set is much better imho), I decided to give this series a try. In the past year, I’ve listened to all three books released thus far, at least 4 times. I’m on my 5th right now, in preparation for 4th books’ release in a week.

If you haven’t already, give this series a try! You can always return for your credit back if you don’t enjoy it... but if you’re a fantasy / sci-fi person, odds are that you’ll thoroughly enjoy this series!

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FINALLY... The Story Progresses!

Revisado: 04-03-20

Let me start by saying... this book is one of the best in the series, if not THE best! We finally make progress in the story line and get back to our favorite High Mage, Minilan. I was close to giving up on the series after the last 2 books, which stray from our MC, and personally, I did not like. There was more story progress in this book than all 9 of the previous books. Many questions are answered, and even more questions arise, which is how a book in a series should be. If you've enjoyed the other books... this is a no brainer, get it!

With all that being said, this will probably be the last book in this series I'll read. The author plans on a 30-book series and that is just far too many credits to be wasted on a single "story." Plus, I'm not going to wait another 15-20 years for the story to be finished (10 books in 9 years thus far). The first 10 books could have easily been compressed into 3-5 books and much of the redundant (WE UNDERSTAND IRIONITE GIVES A MAGE NEAR LIMITLESS POWER... even in the 10th book, this is mentioned at least 100 times) and irrelevant scenes. In particular, most of the battle, political, and romantic scenes could have been removed with almost no effect on the series.

I find it difficult to imagine the battle scenes Mr. Mancour writes. He does such a magnificent job of world building and his magic system is extremely well thought-out... even the political portions are extremely well fleshed out. You can easily picture most of those facets of the books, but the war scenes are missing something that allows you to stand in the middle of the battle and see the horses charging, the men grunting, sweating, and bleeding and the goblins' howling, drooling, unorganized push towards the human lines. All while the dirt from the horses hooves flies up in the air and gets in your mouth and nose, and smell the copper of blood or the bowel smells from those with stomach wounds, or see those with missing limbs stumbling around attempting to find them, or feel the ever present bone rattling of the cavalry charge. I can't place my finger on what, exactly, is missing, but it is. And since about 20% of the series has been battles, that is a huge gap in my listening experience.

John Lee is the absolute perfect performer for this series... he IS Minilan. My ONLY complaint about the narration is, if we had to listen to a boring book about Pentandra, there should have been a woman narrator. However, that is nothing against John Lee, rather the producers.

Overall, an amazing book, and provides closure on many of the outstanding questions and issues. If you haven't read the rest of the series... do not buy this one first! Start with the first book, which is another of the best in the series. You can flat-out skip book 4, Knights Magi, as it is completely irrelevant. Books 8 and 9 are not completely necessary either, you will miss a few things by skipping those, but nothing you can't figure out by listening to the rest of the books. These are the 3 books without Minilan as the MC and overlap other books... just from a different viewpoint.

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Best Epic of all Time!

Revisado: 03-30-20

I’ve listened to this entire series 3 times (on my 4th now). There is just so much content that you catch things you miss on earlier reads. Things that might happen in book 1 and not make sense until book 10, for example. This is not a great standalone book, if you’re in for a penny you’re in for a pound. Highly recommended to those who enjoy fantasy and magic systems.

One recommendation, however... once you get in a few books, keep the characters wiki page pulled up to reference. The series has so many characters, lots with uncommon or similar names that are difficult to remember. You could go 5 books between seeing some characters, so having a reference guide to remind you who’s who will be extremely beneficial! Enjoy!!

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Good and Bad

Revisado: 02-13-20

The Good. The premise is great, and most of the other books in the series are even better... except the ones that deviate from the MC. The narrator does a decent job, but lacks the versatility of voices that the greats possess. I draw the line when goblins speak in an aristocratic voice! This is a great series, and encourage any Fantasy fan to give it a listen.

The Bad. The story bounces around timelines without even a pause in the reading. The narrator doesn’t even take a breath in between, so it can become very confusing. As mentioned above, the narrator more reads this, than performs it. He has a great voice, but severely lacks the versatility to distinguish different characters. 90% of the characters sound exactly the same as the MC. Also, I might scream if I hear how powerful the Mages are with ‘glass’ one more time!!

If the book had a good editor, and was performed by someone like Nick Pohdel, it would be perfect. Still, it’s a great listen, and many of the other books in the series are much better. Skip the ones that deviate from the MC, Minilan, they are not very good and run along the same timeline as the other books so you don’t miss much.

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Absolutely terrible!

Revisado: 01-22-20

Maybe others enjoyed this book, but I constantly found my self rewinding because my mind had wandered, and ended up not quite finishing the book. I have thoroughly enjoyed some of Wil Wheaton's other narrations, but this one just fell flat with me. Maybe it was the producer or the editors, or Mr. Wheaton just wasn't into his performance, but it just couldn't hold my interest. I don't believe he had great material to perform, however.

There was very little world building, and next to no character development. Don't you want to know what it was like to live on a space station, and what daily life looked like? Don't you want to know how difficult Cardenia's (Princess whose only sibling dies a couple months before the Emperor dies, making Cardenia Empress) childhood was, being a Princess who's father had nothing to do with her? All this book offered was a couple sentences about how other kids shunned her. Don't you want to know what it was like to live on an alien planet (End), and what it felt like to traverse the Stream? If you enjoy character development and/or world building, then this is NOT the book for you! There was nothing that invested me in the characters or the people, ultimately leaving me to not care about what happened to them.

I stopped listening after the Imperial Marine promoted Ghreni. The author dug this huge pit for the "bad guy" to get out of and he steps out of it with no consequences or difficulty. One minute (literally) is all it took for Ghreni to go from good as dead, to receiving a promotion. There's really no spoiler here, because it was the most predictable thing ever!

Rarely do I write reviews, less than 10 reviews out of the nearly two-hundred of books I've listened to, but felt this book needed a review. This is the complete opposite of a Sanderson or Jordan or Tolkien book, which are rich in detail and evoke strong emotional attachment to their characters. Don't get me wrong, the writting is decent, it just leaves a lot to be desired, and leaves you caring less about what happens to not only the characters, but the people as well.

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A New, Refreshing, Storyline

Revisado: 12-22-19

I’ve listened to this book twice in the first two weeks of owning it. Rarely do I listen to books multiple times in the same year, but this one was just that good. It’s a refreshingly new storyline, with magic system I’ve never seen before. I am wholly invested in the main character and wish I had his heart. The story drops on a perfect ending and sets up for a sequel... which I didn’t realize until after listening to the book.

If you love fantasy, you will love this book! Give it a chance... you will not regret it.

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