Matthew

So Excited About This Series!

Revisado: 05-14-22

If you’re searching for a series like Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Chronicles/Last Kingdom series (this series takes place during the same period), or you share my taste for historical fiction authors like Conn Iggulden, Sharon Kay Penman, Christian Cameron, Griff Hosker, Philippa Gregory, Elizabeth Chadwick, Maurice Druon, David Gilman, etc., GET INTO THIS SERIES!

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HISTORICAL ROMANCE, NOT HISTORICAL FICTION!

Revisado: 05-14-22

If you’re searching for a series like Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Chronicles/Last Kingdom series (this series takes place during the same period), or you share my taste for historical fiction authors like Conn Iggulden, Sharon Kay Penman, Christian Cameron, Griff Hosker, Philippa Gregory, Elizabeth Chadwick, Maurice Druon, David Gilman, etc., DO NOT GET INTO THIS SERIES. YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED (as I was). This is more of a historical romance series, and is more about the characters and their relationships. The history, and historical figures, are way in the background, as are the battles, and all the other stuff you might expect as a fan of historical fiction or any of the other authors I’ve listed.

But if you’re into the historical romance thing, I’m sure you’ll like this series. Randolph is a fantastic writer and story teller. My review/rating isn’t a dig at her at all. It’s more of a dig at Amazon associating this series with the kind of historical novels I like. But luckily, Amazon is a fantastically fair company to it’s customers, and allows you to return books you dislike and retrieve your credit. I give Amazon 10 stars for that. With my retrieved credit, I purchased “A Time For Swords”, by Matthew Harffy, and oh boy, does it hit the spot (I highly recommend)!!!

To conclude, don’t purchase this if you like the kind of stuff I do. However, if you like historical romance, you will probably love this tale.

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Fantastic!

Revisado: 04-10-22

For those used to medieval historical fiction, this won’t disappoint! I mean both the author/story, and the narrator!

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Keeps Getting Better!

Revisado: 03-19-22

This last installment was Cameron’s strongest in this series. That’s saying quite a bit, because each book in this series has been strong. For anyone interested in the 100 years war period, this series is for you. My only critique: I would’ve loved if the series started around the time of Crecy (instead, the first big 100-years-war battle this series picks up on is Poitiers). However, I imagine Cameron knows what he’s doing, and started the action around Poitiers (timeline wise) because he wants to take us further into the future than a Crecy start would’ve allowed. In this book, it’s mentioned that the Crecy veterans are kinda old and bedraggled, so it may be too much to ask (suspension of disbelief wise), if William Gold, the Crecy veteran, was still fighting in whatever future battles Cameron has planned for him. So, it’s not really a criticism. Just me, for a minute, pretending I know better than the author. But after thing Kim it through, realizing Cameron has things we’ll in hand. Honestly, I can’t recommend this series enough. Enjoy!

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Another Home Run!

Revisado: 03-04-22

No disrespect to other authors who can’t seem to finish/continue their series (in fact, that just shows how difficult it is doing what these guys/gals do), but Steven Erikson continues to show everybody how to get things done (fans/authors, alike). The man is a MACHINE! And the quality of his work is never sacrificed to his freakish ability to churn out gold time and time again. Erickson dropped us right back into the Malazan world without missing a beat. The transition (from the main series, to this one) was utterly seamless. It feels the same. And that’s a good thing. And the new characters are just as compelling as the old. Rant, son of Karsa Orlong (from his blood-oil fueled rape of the poor woman at Silver Lake; this happened in “House of Chains”), is already becoming possibly my favorite character from the Malazan world.

The two Kharkanas-Trilogy books were great, and quite compelling as well (spawning another of my favorite characters, Arathan, who shares some similarities with Rant; I’m still curious about what becomes of Arathan), but I think Erikson made a good choice shifting his energy to this series (ascendant-like perspicacity, really). Kharkanas didn’t have the the same feel as the original series (probably bc it lacked Malazans, and most importantly, Malazan marines), BUT THIS BOOK DOES! All Erikson characters are great, but the Malazan characters are the secret sauce (again, Marines, primarily), and without their all-too human presence, the world doesn’t feel quite right. This book hit the sweet spot, and I can’t imagine Erikson not continuing to deliver, as he never missed.

P.S.

Concerning the narrator/performance: Malazan audiobook veterans might initially feel put off by yet another change of narrator (this time, a female narrator) because we like what we’re used to. Fear not! This narrator delivers the goods! As well as any of the other Malazan-series narrators. Trust me.

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Midstream Narrator Change (Annoying). Pronounced Lack of Continuity with Previous Narrator (Unacceptable, and Distracting)! SMH!

Revisado: 08-20-21

I just wanted to echo Nicholas Smith’s review (see above), and express my disappointment concerning the change of narrator (the first two books in the series has a different narrator). But the narrator change itself (while annoying) is not my main problem (I’m sure they had a good reason).

My problem is the sloppiness of the transition from one narrator to the next, and the lack of continuity. It’s obvious the new narrator made no effort to approximate the previous narrator’s tone and presentation of the characters. Id be surprised if he listened to any of the first two books. This seems like a lack of care on both the narrator’s part, and on the part of the audiobook producer. I’m sure the narrator is generally good, but his performance of this is so different from the previous narrator (especially tone) that it distracts from the story.

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