Joseph Moore

Starts out slow, but worth it

Revisado: 12-15-19 El oyente recibió este título gratis

The split perspectives in the beginning make things start out glacially slow and lacking specific direction when combined with the need to introduce the entire complex steampunk world of Panagea. Despite starting out with such a pitfall, the world was unique enough to keep me curious until the characters start to come together then the story really picks up pace and finds itself a solid direction.
The magic system is an interesting one, tied to their world and the underlying message of the story at the same time. With lesser gods, immortal pirates, sword and gun fighting revolutions, the story is filled with action and a little of something for everyone. I appreciated the depth built for the main characters, especially Captain Hidataka and Nikolai who drive the overall story.
The narration was well done throughout most of the book, and Gerard Marquez does a great job of creating enjoyable and recognizable characters through his voices. However, I feel like the recording could use some post-production work and be perfect, as others have mentioned, there are some moments with awkward pacing or breathing sounds that momentarily pull you out of the moment.

I was given a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an unbiased review.

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Solid Continuation of Good Series

Revisado: 10-31-19 El oyente recibió este título gratis

The majority of the story I would have actually rated 5 stars, everything dealing with the new main threat through most of the book, the introduction of Hunter's home world and the situation and people there is great. I enjoyed the development of his team's characters and his relationships with them through this portion of the book. Minor spoiler: after this conflict is resolved, there is a secondary conflict and it just, well makes 0 sense, none. The characters randomly shooting one another would make more sense. I don't understand what the goal of that conflict was and it could be removed from the story and I would have easily rated the story part as 5 stars.

The narration I have mixed feelings about, I loved Christopher Boucher's narration of the first story, I did not find any real issue with his female voices, they were good for a male narrator. Since it is only the second book it is not as bad as doing it later, but I never care for narrator shifts, though I do usually prefer a dedicated female narrator when there are a lot of female characters as there are here, it makes sense as a choice....That choice however doesn't, Jessica Threet has a nice narration voice, but it creates a serious break in immersion here for me...all her voices are British, none of Christopher Boucher's voices either previously for female characters or now for male characters. So we are left with 2 entire worlds where all the women are British, but none of the men are...it just feels weird.

I will definitely be looking out to get more Icon stories :)

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Solid Introduction To A Fascinating World

Revisado: 10-31-19 El oyente recibió este título gratis

As a start, I have to say that if there was a separate category for world building, I would give this 6 stars in that and for that reason I gave a higher overall rating than I otherwise would.

I found the initial introductions a bit disjointed as it went between character perspectives, this is becoming more and more common but is hard to do truly well, Christian J. Gilliland does a better job of this than many new authors I have read and does a nice job in weaving the perspectives later in the book, but could use an editor or some revising to make the introduction a little less rocky.

One other reviewer compared the author's style to Joe Abercrombie and I absolutely agree with that assessment, the gritty style and perspective shifts definitely have some similarities. The world he created however, is something totally different, it is a combination of fantasy world and post-apocalypse, with elements of sci-fi thrown in as well. I don't want to spoil anything, but the way these are woven together, rather than messy or forced actually feels logical and fascinating, he mentions in the afterword that he spent years thinking about the world design and this part absolutely shows.

The performance and range of voices was a perfect fit for fantasy and a very pleasant surprise for an author-narrator. He really does quite a good job of bringing the characters to life and helping immerse you in the story.

I can't wait for the next book.

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Great Narration, Good Coming of Age Hero Story

Revisado: 10-10-19 El oyente recibió este título gratis

The main character, Hunter, struggles in a typical coming of age fashion with his identity, even if that identity is anything but typical, as his identity makes him unique even in a world full of superpowers and that is just the start for him. He always seems to lean to the heroic but struggles with what he sees in the heroes of his city and with who his father was. The twists were not too predictable and while I did find myself eye-rolling at Hunter occasionally, I still really enjoyed the journey and thought it set up a really interesting world of heroes and powers. I will be interested in finding out how things progress in the future books in the series for sure.

The narration is just fantastic and really brings the story to life. The main character voice is enjoyable to listen to and done well The final villain has a weird madman voice that is just awesome for his character. Really just made the story more enjoyable.

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Delivers What It Promises

Revisado: 10-10-19

If monster battles interest you and the description sounded interesting, then you will enjoy it. You get lots of cool monsters (djinn) and fun battles. The main character can be a bit dense at times in his focus on fulfilling his djinn tamer dream all on his own, but this helps to set up the typical kind of coming of age realizations that seem to help him improve his character and make me look forward to future novels in the series. I really enjoy his djinn and want to see what others he obtains and how they grow/evolve, a lot of potential for this series and I will definitely be coming back for more.

The performance is very well done and I enjoyed the voices. My one complaint is with the manner of reading the stat sheets; it may be just a pet peeve but the reading of both the abbreviation and the full words, i.e. HP: Health Points, became tedious over time. For a reader the consistent printing makes sense and you would skim past the heading after getting familiar with the format, but as a listener hearing it read repeatedly was not the best.

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Dark But Full of Intrigue

Revisado: 10-03-19 El oyente recibió este título gratis

This tale is pretty dark for much of Jes's experiences are thinks worse than she could have imagined before her adventure begins. There is no explicit or sexual content, just a bit of gore, it is more the tone and borderline suicidal state of Jes for many instances that create the dark feeling. Despite this there are the rays of hope that lead her to struggle and threads of the mystery woven throughout the story that has her and the reader trying to unravel things. This is all brought together well and her pursuit of it gives the reader a chance to see a coming of age of sorts for her as she works through her own part in all of this and how it has affected her life before she even knew. I was very impressed with the way the author pulled things together and left you wanting more at the same time in the ending.

The production was extremely well done and brought everything to life. I really enjoyed the dragon voice and I thought the female narrator brought all of her characters to life well, especially Jesaela. I thought the production effects were well done here in making the telepathic conversations clear, even though I don't usually care for these kind of effects.

I would definitely be interested in following the series and other works by the author based on this experience.

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Like It More Than I Probably Should

Revisado: 10-02-19 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Reading the reviews, I can see where some of the criticisms are valid of the story, but somehow can't bring myself to like it any less. The opening is very dark and there are underlying threads of darker things to come woven throughout the story with the implications of the Emperor's intentions. There are some fun comedic elements woven in, especially in the interaction with the cat and what seems like coping with their experiences from Callidan. Overall while some parts come easy in their interactions with adults, the bigger struggle of their past and preparing the future combined with the unique relationships between them made it hard for me to stop listening.

The cat...I don't want to spoil this, but this is probably what endeared the book so much to me. I love books that have a well portrayed cat's perspective (like The Aeronaut's Windlass) and this is another one. It takes a good book and makes it great.

The author narrating their own work is a bold choice, but in this rare case it pays off. David Oliver has a wonderful quality of his voice that is perfect for fantasy narration and just allows you to fall into the story. He handles the individual voices well and the production quality is good.

This has definitely left me curious to check out other works by the author.

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Somehow Better Than The Sum of Its Parts

Revisado: 10-02-19 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Somehow I feel like I enjoyed this more than I should have considering the issues that I will elaborate on later, but I think an overall fun quality that has lead some other reviewers to reference other familiar space romps helps to carry through some of the issues. I did not care for the shifting between the different times in the story, this works for some stories but is unnecessary and adds confusion here for me. I enjoyed the interactions with Wil as he puts his crew together and felt nostalgic for lots of old sci-fi fun during these scenes which I think is what saves the story.

The narration was okay, the voice for the main character was good, but the pacing for many spots was off with pausing in the wrong places and the female voices were not feminine.

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Unique, Surprising, Poetic

Revisado: 10-02-19

For the earlier half or so of the book, I was enjoying myself but had the feeling it was a solid 4. There was a bit of shakiness in how the opening set itself up and the first interactions with Ein and Itami. However, as the book progressed and the interactions between the other warriors in the group are collected and we see their internal struggles and hopes and how this impacts both the whole story and their individual dynamic with the group the depth of the story pulled me in. Finally, the surprise/twist that is hinted at throughout the story and the complexity it is woven with such that you realize it is there right as the plot reaches the climax comes to the reveal just pulls everything together so well that I could not think anything but "5 stars!"

The narration was fantastic, the female narrator being a great fit for both of the main characters (young boy and a woman) while still being able to do an above average job on the remaining male characters as well.

While this does not appear to be part of a series, I will certainly be encouraged to check out other works by both the author and narrator after listening to this work.

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Reminiscent of "Son of the Black Sword"

Revisado: 10-02-19

There are many elements of this story that remind me of Correia's "Son of the Black Sword", which I also enjoyed and I believe so will other fans of that series. The main character of this story, Septimus, starts much like Ashok, is driven by his perceptions of duty and honor to disregard all else in an almost mechanical way, sometimes even disregarding logic. There is also familiarity of the fallen great empire and main character being a famously powerful warrior with poor skills and politics and the existence of unique swords that can't be wielded or require special owners. Despite all of these similarities, the distinctions as well, with steampunk elements and the foundations of the mythological elements serving to keep me wondering about the mysteries to be uncovered.

The narration was okay, but there were some notable pacing issues with pausing that are common with newer narrators. The narration also has a monotone quality that does not reflect the scene's emotion in many cases. Overall better than a lot of self-narration, but probably would be better if done professionally in sequel.

I would like to see what happens next as the conspiracy is further uncovered, though hopefully narration improves.

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