OYENTE

Derek B.

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Ashen Dawn
Midnight War, Book 2
De: Adam Fernandez
Narrado por: Eden Gabay

Empires, immortals, and God...

Total

4 out of 5 stars

Ejecución

5 out of 5 stars

Historia

4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 03-29-25 El oyente recibió este título gratis

I need to begin by thanking the author for sending me a free code for the audio edition of this book. It means a lot that the author entrusted his story to me in exchange for my thoughts, but for both his sake and for anyone might be reading this, I will be giving a fully honest review of this work.

Though this sequel to VERMILLION FLAMES initially seems like it will be a fairly predictable yet chaotic, space adventure, it ultimately culminates into something far more layered and engaging with elements of military space fantasy, holy wars, space opera, and rebellion.

NOTE: While I will aim to avoid spoilers for ASHEN DAWN, I will be mentioning characters and events from the prior book that could be considered spoilers for that story.

CHARACTERS
The prior book ended with Kaya and Silas's stories converging and many of the major side characters from each perspective coming together to form one big party of rebels. Things pick up pretty much where they left off, but our main heroes quickly split apart after a chaotic opening act. This time around, we not only follow the perspectives of Silas and Kaya, but Henry and Aaron as well. This expansion in the number of main characters results in an equally expanded view of the universe and scope of the story, but more on those later. Kaya, for her part, is still an annoying character, but she also grows up a little bit over the course of her arc. I continue to dislike the heavy-handed use of the petulant teenager trope when it comes to her, but I also found some of her interactions with the side characters in her chapters to be thoroughly entertaining. We find that there are even more twists to be revealed when it comes to her family history and how it is involved in a somewhat alarming conspiracy of sorts. I found it quite fun that she is in the center of it all and yet the broader plot doesn't really revolve around her. I'm very curious to see where her character and her story go from here, especially since she disappears rather abruptly after about two thirds of the book. Silas has some extremely interesting developments unfold on his side. Through his portion of the story, it is much clearer to see what Fernandez is aiming to do in terms of how the theme of religion comes into play for this universe. There's a degree of mysticism involved with his personal journey, but I liked that a lot of it is left up to the reader's interpretation to decide how much of it is real and how much might be imagined. The more militaristic elements of his character are also expanded upon as he becomes an even more powerful leader who is pivotal to the revolution that he and his fleet have joined. His relationship with Marcus also took some interesting turns and I just continue to appreciate what a complex and layered character he is.

Aaron end up going his own way and I think this was largely to the benefit of his character development. He's a rather nuanced individual as well, being simultaneously focused on his own agenda while still wanting to do what's right for those around him. I think this duality between balancing the one's own priorities with a desire to do right by others is something I found quite relatable in him and he had some of the strongest interactions with the other members of the cast. His relationship with Jimmy in particular was fascinating. I also appreciate that his skillset puts him squarely in the center of a lot of the action even though he's not really an accomplished fighter. Rounding out the main cast is Henry, who got a bit of a raw deal at the end of the last book. I wasn't really sure where his character was going or if I really even liked him at all in VERMILLION FLAMES, but he gets a shot at redemption in this story. The conflict between his upbringing, his duty to the chain of command, and his inherent sense for what's right made for a rather tense concoction of inner turmoil. Seeing how he dealt with one nasty situation after another had me fully hooked and I found myself quite pleased whenever one of his chapters rolled around. He gets comparatively less page time than our other main characters, but I think he might be getting set up to play an important role in things to come.

PLOT/TONE
I think I need to call out upfront that I ended up quite enjoying the story told here even though I was really not sure about where it was going at the end of the first book. With that said, it does take a little while to see the direction that the author is taking things. For probably about the first twenty to thirty percent of the book, I felt as though this was a fairly predictable military space action romp that was roughly on par with what I'd expected the first book to be like. Things get hectic pretty fast and I honestly found things a bit hard to follow when the fleet first arrives at Luna and violence ensues. Then things sort of branch out a bit as different characters end up in different places and I realized that this is actually a rather intricately crafted space opera that is on par with something like THE EXPANSE (the TV show at least, I haven't read the books). The secrets that Kaya discovers open up a whole host of burning questions and gives some new perspective to some of the prior book's twists. The more militaristic elements remained present throughout the book as well and I found that all quite fun. I'm not sure if some of the action in the latter three quarters of the book was more clearly written than in the earlier chapters or if I just followed it better because I was more invested in the goings-on, but I found it all quite easy to visualize for the vast majority of the book past a certain point. Aaron's side of the story sheds a little more light upon the different underworld factions while Silas's brings to light some of the politics of this universe which had remained somewhat ambiguous before, save for how much power the church and its ministers hold across the galaxy. The political intrigue that's present here is fairly light, but it's all reasonably compelling and I got the sense that this aspect of the story will continue to solidify and expand as the series goes on. I for one am quite curious to see where things will go from here. I do hope though that future books will strike a better balance across the different perspective characters though. I actually quite like it when we follow one character for multiple chapters at a time, but the way things were done made the plot feel kind of like it was being told in seemingly disconnected chunks where Silas, Kaya, or Aaron had their own little book within a book while Henry almost served as an interlude character. The way that Silas, Aaron, and Henry's plot threads all tied together at the end felt rather brilliant, but it was also a little awkward that Kaya is just completely absent during the entire final act. A lot of this comes down to preference, certainly, but I think in a multi-POV storyline, having a good flow across the different main characters is key.

SETTING/WORLD
Whereas the first book was primarily concerned with establishing how things are in this universe, ASHEN DAWN seeks to explore how they could be. We knew at the end of BOOK 1 that this is a setting that's on the verge of an upheaval. The defection of the Pandora Fleet serves as an appropriately impactful event to the landscape (or maybe spacescape) and I enjoyed how the theme of stepping away from what's established and known in search of a better way is explored for each of the main perspectives. In combination with these new ideas comes a bunch of new physical locations that the story explores as well. Luna was perhaps one of the most interesting because we get an early glimpse into the straightforward brutality of it early on, then get to see how Silas and his allies attempt to mold it into something better. The concept of change plays out in real time here which I think made it the strongest locale in terms of its thematic relevance. With that said, Earth is also explored. While that may not sound all that exciting, it is worth a reminder that Earth is supposed to be a barren and lifeless wasteland, but Kaya discovers that may not be entirely true. It was also interesting to get a different look at the military from Henry's point of view and also see the inherent tension between high ranking officers and the nobles that get privileged positions beneath them. In the end, it's clear that this is a universe with a lot more to be explored as it continues to evolve alongside these characters. I like that Fernandez doesn't dump all the answers upon us or break from the action to explain every little detail. I think there's a lot of potential here and so far these books have clocked in at a pretty manageable size, which will help this be a more approachable universe to enter into even as the number of books within the series expands.

AUDIOBOOK
My review of the audio rendition of this book can really be summed up by simply saying, "WOW!" I was extremely impressed with the handling of the first book in the series as well, even going so far as to say that I felt that the high quality of the narration elevated the entire story being told. Somehow, this performance is even better than the first. All of the prior audio effects like what's done for dialogue delivered over an intercom and high-quality voicework are still present here, but there are some new tricks that the narrator busts out for this story as well. I also found myself impressed with how effortlessly he is able to deliver lines in a broad range of accents and convincingly perform lines for characters that are in pain, laugh-talking, or have their mouth full of food without the dialogue coming through as muddled or unnatural. Honestly it's rare to have voice acting this good even in a videogame or animated show, so to get it in an audiobook was absolutely wild to me. There are additional flourishes mixed in as well such as the use of music at certain points to add an additional layer of drama and a more cinematic feel to some of the more pivotal chapter transitions as well as at the start and end of the story. I really don't think it's possible to have an audio performance that's better than this. I think I'd have enjoyed the story just as much if I read it visually this time, but the audio edition is truly something special.

CONCLUSION
If you enjoyed Fernandez's prior book or were even a little on the fence about it like I was, then I think you should absolutely give this sequel a shot. I found it markedly more enjoyable than its predecessor once it got going. The author is cooking up something really epic here which I think is only just beginning of what's to come.

(+) I enjoyed the broader scope and additional perspectives.
(+) Kaya, Silas, Aaron, and Marcus all served as compelling protagonists.
(+) There are a ton of important revelations interspersed throughout the story.
(+) The theme of forging a new path against the odds was executed quite well.
(+) Light political intrigue and military drama kept things feeling exciting.
(+) The role of faith and religion in the story was far more interesting to me this time around.
(+) We get to see some intriguing new corners of this world while also seeing how the broader universe might be changing.
(+) A spectacular audio production that is essentially flawless.
(-) I think the perspectives could probably have been shuffled up in a slightly more balanced way.
(-) The first act of the plot seemed somewhat straightforward and the action was a little hard to follow.

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The Blood Stones
Legends of the Bruhai, Book 1
De: Tori Tecken
Narrado por: Andrew D. Meredith

Who you were before does not matter...

Total

3 out of 5 stars

Ejecución

4 out of 5 stars

Historia

3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 03-17-25

This slow burn start to a new epic fantasy series was an intriguing introduction to the characters and world even if none of it engaged me to the extent I hoped it would.

CHARACTERS
As with most epic fantasies, there are an assortment of characters who we follow in each chapter. Even though there are a handful in total, Gehrin and Syndri are who I would argue are the main characters, mostly just due to their having the lion's share of the page time. Of the two, I definitely liked Gehrin a lot more. He's taken from his family as a young boy and slowly molded over time into sort of like a brainwashed elite guard. It's hard not to sympathize with him due to all the horrible tribulations he faces, but he's also a kind soul at heart and that helped me feel more invested in his perspective. Syndri on the other hand is a fascinating character, but not one that I necessarily ever found myself specifically rooting for. She comes from a very violent part of the world and in one of her first scenes she savagely kills people from her enemy tribe. Because she and her tribe are so brutal themselves, I just had a hard time really feeling at all bad for them when violent things happened to them in return. Maybe that says more about me than it does the book that I need a reason to empathize with a character, but I just kind of felt unbothered by anything that happened to her or her family. Again though, her chapters are still very interesting, I just didn't have an emotional investment in those events. For both Gehrin and Syndri though, I felt like these characters were lacking any sort of real agency in their stories. They mostly just react to their situation and we never really get a sense of what their goals are outside of their desire to react in a certain way to their circumstances. This left me feeling like their personal journeys were kind of aimless and that lack of a clear direction in either thread sort of hampered my investment in the story overall. It might be partly for this reason that I didn't really connect with the supporting characters in their sections either. Most of them felt fairly distinct, though a couple of them did blur together for me on Gehrin's side, possibly due to the fact that they're sometimes referenced by two different names.

The character I found most interesting was Gehrin's older brother, Xario. While you could probably make the argument that his motivations were also highly influenced by his surroundings, his arc still felt the strongest to me in that he seems to have a very clear sense of who he is and who he wants to be despite all the extraneous forces pushing and pulling him in different directions. We get so little time with him in comparison to other characters, but whenever his chapters rolled around, I was always very excited to see what would happen with him. The sections featuring Master Lohi were also quite interesting, though I found the reasoning behind his incredibly twisted actions to be rather thin or at least ambiguous. Some of this could be due to the fact that we don't really see his machinations come to full fruition, so perhaps future books will do more to show the method to his cold, calculating madness (or at least serve to justify the heartlessness of his actions in this book).

PLOT/TONE
As with Tecken's debut, PHASED, this book is very much more of a character piece as opposed to one that has a strong sense of narrative direction. Similar to her previous book, a lot of connections are made toward the end and there is certainly an easily identifiable climax. Because this is meant to function as the beginning of something much larger though, I found myself markedly less satisfied with the way things wrapped up. This story is on the shorter side of the epic fantasy, which at least made the open-endedness of the conclusion a little less frustrating than it would have been in a longer book. Even with that though, it was hard not to feel as though the story was only just beginning by the time the novel ended. I do feel like some of this probably circles back to my previous statements about the two main characters and the lack of agency or direction that they had. Both Gehrin and Syndri have experiences which are quite shocking, but a lot of that didn't have the emotional impact on me that I think must have been intended. For Syndri, this was simply due to my lack of investment in her as a character. For Gehrin, I think I kept getting hung up on the nature of his training and indoctrination. The whole situation that he ends up in is alarmingly sadistic and I definitely felt for him, but I kept thinking to myself how the end result would not be what Master Lohi and his peers intended. Maybe it's because I recently read THE ART OF WAR, which speaks a lot to inspiring loyalty while still commanding absolute obedience among troops, but I felt quite strongly that the method for creating Bruhai should not work. For a very long time during the story, it seemed like I was right, and in at least one case I was, but there are some twists at the end where it felt like Lohi's vision suddenly snapped into place even though there was no real indication of that being where the story was going. Perhaps the sudden change was a purposeful one, but my understanding of brainwashing is that it is a fairly slow process that doesn't involve a sudden change in thinking such that the victim's entire personality shifts in an instant (to be fair, there is a time skip near the end, so perhaps the change was less spontaneous than I perceived it to be). Obviously, I don't really know for sure since I've never been brainwashed or brainwashed someone, but I think this is all to say that I got extremely distracted on the plausibility and logistics of Gehrin's situation when perhaps I should have just gone with the flow and tried to enjoy the story more.

SETTING/WORLD
As far as fantasy settings go, this world is an interesting enough one. It seems fairly similar to our own in the sense that there aren't any alien creatures who dwell upon it or any exotic fauna that adorn the landscape. I got the sense that the northern and southern portions of the world (or at least this part of it) were vaguely inspired by different Asian cultures. I wouldn't say either was particularly evocative of any real-world destination in particular, but there were some small details here and there which seemed to point to parts of East Asia serving as a muse for the fictional societies which are crafted for this story. Along these lines, I do wish we'd gotten slightly more detail in terms of what this world is really like. The basic fundamentals of the law and the way that things work in each society are all clearly laid out for us and we even get little tidbits of information about the religious beliefs of the south, but I found myself wanting to know more about the "mundane" aspects of what it is really like to live here. What people eat, what the terrain and weather are like, what types of opportunities exist outside of politicking and war, and what people do for fun were all little details that I think would have made the characters and world feel that much more alive. In spite of the character-centric nature of the story, we mostly only see the characters in one stressful (and presumably unusual) situation after another. This left little time to get an understanding of what the world is like for normal people outside of a couple of scenes with Gehrin early on in the book. In terms of the terrain, I don't think I needed Tolkien-levels of detail on this aspect of the world, but I would have liked to have a clearer picture of what the architecture and layout of the imperial city looked like or what the landscape of the south consisted of. I think it also would have been helpful just to know how close or far all the different places were from one another.

Rounding things out were some light political intrigue elements. I found all of this to be perfectly believable even if a lot of the finer points were left undefined and I think I would have liked for this to be a somewhat larger focus of the story. We get most of this through Xario and Lohi early on, but Syndri's arc starts to show us a different side of world affairs toward the second half of the book as well. One thing I found particularly interesting was that there's this sort of juxtaposition between the very outward brutality of the various tribes and the far more "civilized" violence of the powers that exist within the empire. It's not a theme that's shoved in reader's faces or anything, but I thought that the ideas presented here were really fun to ponder. The Emperor himself is a fascinating individual and the way his political plotting comes to a head in the story's climax felt brilliantly executed. As the series continues, I hope it delves a little more into these aspects of the world and sort of centers the plot a bit more around these different points of conflict. It seems like things might be trending that way based on where this book leaves off, but we'll have to wait and see where the author takes the narrative from here whenever the next book is written.

AUDIOBOOK
The fact that this book is narrated by Andrew D. Meredith was a big draw for me as I have really enjoyed the narration work he's done for his own books and I was curious to see how he'd do with someone else's story. The results were mostly excellent as I'd hoped. I realized while listening that I have definitely come to associate certain narrators with specific series. I think I will be very thrown off if I ever hear Michael Kramer or Kate Reading perform on a book that isn't written by Sanderson because I found it slightly odd to hear Meredith's voice narrating character lines and prose in a similar way to his work on THE KALLATIAN SAGA, but for a book that is quite distinct from his own. Thankfully, the strangeness subsided quickly and I think he did a wonderful job of bringing the story to life. I will note that there were some occasional blips in the audio tracks where it seemed like things were maybe cut together a little strangely or where the voicework sounded sort of robotic for brief moment. Minor grievances aside, I really love the way that Meredith delivers stories to the listener and appreciate some of the little flourishes he adds like the music that starts and ends the book or the way he does voicework for lines delivered by a crowd. I certainly hope to see him return for the eventual sequels to this book if those are also given the audio treatment.

CONCLUSION
When all is said and done, I'm afraid I ended up enjoying this one a little less than others have and less than I'd hoped, but I still had a reasonably good time and I think there's a lot of potential in this series. I'm curious to see where the author goes with it now that it seems like a lot of the key pieces are in place for the story to take off in some truly interesting directions.

(+) Gehrin is easy to root for and I found Xario to be deeply compelling
(+) The shades of political intrigue that we got were tantalizing and quite fun
(+) I really enjoyed contemplating the different themes around each of the societies
(+) The ending sets up a lot of amazing potential for subsequent books to build off of
(+) A predominantly excellent audio experience (especially after I adjusted to things)
(-) I found myself not connecting with or understanding Syndri or Lohi as much as I'd have liked
(-) I had a hard time feeling invested in the major story arcs for different reasons
(-) The narrative elements surrounding the Bruhai felt like they snapped into place too quickly
(-) I felt as though the world could have been built up a little more so as to feel more "real"

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The Blood of the Spear
The Eye of Eternity, Book 1
De: Mark Timmony
Narrado por: Eric Bryan Moore

Classic-style fantasy that moves!

Total

4 out of 5 stars

Ejecución

4 out of 5 stars

Historia

3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 12-03-24

\\\\\ THE BLOOD OF THE SPEAR /////

I think that fans of classic-style fantasies are going to be obsessed with this more modern take on that style. For those who don't particularly get into the fantasy classics outside of maybe Tolkien's work, your experience might be a little mixed like mine was.

CHARACTERS
This is probably the aspect of the book where I am going to be the harshest as I did not personally connect much with this cast. The story focuses on four young people. Kaiel and Darien are half brothers who find themselves swept up in powers they do not understand and must face an inheritance that they were not prepared to receive. They are joined by their childhood friends and tenuous love interests, Meg and Sevani (whose names I might be misspelling) and these two ladies seem to have destinies of their own which put them down the same path as the brothers. They are also accompanied by an older mentor figure, but I'll leave the specifics about him vague since there are some twists and turns that lead to his joining the party. I will say that he also has some surprise reveals which shake things up a bit. So, what's wrong with them? Well, nothing really. They are each deeply flawed in their own way and each seemingly have their own destiny to fulfill, but tend to be very archetypal in their characterization. Kaiel is the impetuous young warrior with a good heart, Meg is the sassy witch girl, Sevani is the sweet, but determined girl next door (though she does turn out to be a bit more interesting than that), and they have a stern mentor figure watching over them. Within the side cast, there is also a cartoonishly evil bully, a sultry and mysterious sorceress, a sort of pirate queen, and a couple foul-mouthed urchins for good measure. I omitted Darien because I can't really think of a specific mold he'd fit into other than maybe a dark chosen one depending on where future books take him, but he is also the character I found the least likeable (I couldn't really tell if we are meant to like him or not). It's not that these paradigms are bad, they've worked quite well for me in other stories before and are sort of hallmarks of classical fantasies. I think the big sticking point for me here is that I didn't feel like these characters grew at all over the course of the story. They do discover things about themselves along the way, but those revelations didn't change them in ways that I found to be meaningful.

PLOT/TONE
I found myself feeling a bit warmer on the books core narrative than I did the cast though I still had some problems in this area as well. Things start off very slowly. This is fairly typical for this type of story and contains all the expected tropes of young peasant teens who dream of attaining a higher standing in their world, an irredeemably obnoxious bully, and some heavy handed worldbuilding to set the stage. Thankfully, the inciting incident happens quite early on and the pacing kicks off from there. I think this more modern take on the classic narrative pattern worked very well and the faster pacing that follows the initial twists which set the heroes on their journey will likely please readers who wish classic fantasies got to the point a little faster. Once the party is off, they move from one exotic location to the next with no place in particular ever growing stale. While the adventuring was fun, one thing that annoyed me somewhat is that the characters are mostly running away the entire time. Yes, some of the characters do have an intended destination in mind, but I didn't really feel a clear sense of purpose of the adventuring. The way things end seems to indicate that there might be a more concrete objective to fulfill in the next book, but the fact that nothing is really accomplished in this one left me with a hollowness upon finishing the book. It was kind of interesting to see how some characters who had clearer goals than the others ended up with those expectations being flipped on their head and I think I would have really appreciated these twists if there was something of greater consequence that they were successful in attaining. Instead, the plot feels a bit circular though I did enjoy that some characters I thought might have been left in the dust ended up showing up again. It's worth noting that this could all be building to something quite epic down the line, Ill just be hesitant to continue onward unless I hear from others that there is a stronger connective tissue driving the next story along. One other minor gripe I had is that the story uses modern curse words, including the f-word. This isn't in and of itself a bad thing, I read plenty of literature with foul language, but for some reason it felt really off-putting in the context of this story. Maybe it's because it had more of an old-timey feel to it (minus the old-timey ideas) and the swearing almost felt like it was there solely to remind me that this is a modern novel.

SETTING/WORLD
If I was a bit cold on the characters and perhaps a bit lukewarm on the plot, the setting is where things start to heat up for me. On a superficial level, we visit and traverse a diverse assortment of locales from an enchanted road enabling impossibly fast travel to a shady town filled with criminals, and a city that's steeped in arcane tradition. It all felt quite fresh to me and though I don't often like the travelling trope, I quite enjoyed exploring the different parts of this world. While the locations themselves are all compelling, what I found most engaging is the underlying lore that Timmony has begun building. Early on, we learn that this world has its roots in science fiction because the humans who dwell upon it came from the stars upon spacecraft. Somewhere along the line though, the discovery of magic led to things reverting to a more fantastical, medieval setting though it seems that traces of the old ways may still remain. I found this to be a fascinating concept and I hope it's one that the series really leans into. The magic itself is fairly mysterious which felt true to the classic sword and sorcery style of storytelling. Personally, I don't mind a softer magic system and I think that the ones presented here were well-defined enough where they served to add depth to the story instead of being used as crutches of convenience. There's some light political intrigue at play here as well and while it is all interesting, I suspect what we get here is just the tip of that iceberg. Ultimately, if I stick with this series, it'll be to see what is done with this enchanting setting because I think Timmony has crafted something really special here.

AUDIOBOOK
The narration for this book works quite well. It's not the most intricate or extravagant performance I've ever listened to, but I loved that the narrator was able to evoke the distinct impression that this is a cherished tale of old being recounted to us by a passionate storyteller. The voice work is competently handled and the prose is crisply delivered. There's really not much more I think I could have wanted from this. As a really nice bonus, the STARBINDER prequel novella is also included. I'll leave a review of that after this one and will mention that my overall rating is a sort of aggregate about how I felt about the two stories combined (I liked the novella a bit more than this novel).

CONCLUSION
If you're a fan of classical fantasies and/or sword and sorcery, then I think this debut in a new series is really going to knock your socks off in that it delivers those classic vibes with more modern pacing, prose, and perspective. If you're maybe more like me and don't always click with that style of storytelling, then I think there are still some things here for you to enjoy as much as I did, but your mileage will likely vary depending on taste.

(+) The story picks up very quickly after the characters and world are established.
(+) Modern pacing, prose, and sensibilities all made for a smooth reading experience.
(+) The world building is top notch with richly conceived lore.
(+) There are a ton of fun action sequences.
(+) A solidly produced audiobook with the prequel novella being included as a nice bonus.
( ) Though this is a modern novel, it is going to work best for people who already like the more classic style of fantasy replete with it's existing conventions and archetypes.
(-) I did not personally connect with any of the characters in the ways that I usually need to for different reasons.
(-) The lack of a clear goal or sense of accomplishment at the end left me feeling a bit underwhelmed after such a long adventure (though yes, I understand that this is really just the beginning of a bigger one).
(-) The swearing didn't really add much and sometimes distracted me from the scenes that featured coarse language.

**** STARBINDER *****
The prequel novella has a lot going on and it's not immediately evident where things are heading, but n the end it packs quite a bunch and adds a substantial amount to Timmony's series.

CONTENT
This story is set before the events of THE BLOOD OF THE SPEAR and follows a young teenage girl named Reiana who is part of a nomadic people. We're quickly introduced to her, a boy who she shares a mutual attraction to, her surly and cynical grandmother, and her younger cousin. The story very quickly escalates from some quiet family drama to a full blown battle for survival as the caravan is assaulted from enemies all around. From this point forward, borderline chaos ensues. More characters enter the fold, including some non-human ones and Reiana's grandmother's machinations are slowly revealed. In all honesty, it kind of felt like a lot to process in the heat of the moment and I wasn't initially sure if I was understanding anything properly and therefore had a relatively low enjoyment of the story being told. Fortunately, things clicked together pretty quickly for me and I ended up having a really good time with it. This story explores some of the non-human races that exist in the world as well as more of it's history. as the title implies, there is a big focus given on the Shaluay Starbinders and I ate these new lore drops right on up. Reiana quickly finds herself wrapped up in something much grander than herself as she gets mixed up with this group and has to make some hard decisions about how she will respond to the harsh realities which she is faced with. I found her reactions to different situations to be quite engaging such that she really grew on me over the course of the story which is still told from multiple perspectives despite it largely being focused on her. The other characters in the story all felt rather interesting and layered to me as well even though we don't get to spend enough time with them to know them too deeply. What really tied things together for me though was the way it all wrapped up and how the events of this story connected to those of THE BLOOD OF THE SPEAR. I think this novella could really be read either before or after the novel, but readers are likely going to get so much more out of it and have a better understanding of what's going on if they read it after the fact. This novella made me retroactively appreciate a character from the novel much more than I had previously and offers a much more enticing hook to continue onward in the series than I felt that the novel's ending provided.

AUDIOBOOK
It was a nice surprise to have this be secretly included in the Audiobook for THE BLOOD OF THE SPEAR. It is, of course, handled by the same narrator who again does a mostly excellent job of delivering the narrative to us. One sort of petty issue I had is that I felt as though some of the voices used for characters in the main novel were reused for different characters in this novella. That's not really a massive deal, but I do think it added to some of my confusion early on as it took me a little while to associate familiar voices with new character names. I still think this narrator was perfect for telling us these stories and if future books in the series receive the audio treatment, then I hope they are able to come back to do those as well.

CONCLUSION
This little novella is quite a heavy hitter when it comes to deepening the lore and characters of Timmony's fantasy world. Though I was a little bit mixed in my opinions on THE BLOOD OF THE SPEAR, this prequel to the series proper has me much more curious about where the series will go.

(+) Remarkably quick set up and call to action.
(+) Impressive lore drops which greatly expand the world.
(+) Fun insights into the fabled Starbinders and their motivations.
(+) Dynamic characters who each felt quite distinct and less obviously archetypal.
(+) A satisfying ending with some big moments and tantalizing glimpses at what the future of the series might hold.
(-) The frantic pacing can make it hard to settle into the story at first.
(-) Some voices recycled from the main novel threw me off slightly.

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In search of The Beyond...

Total

3 out of 5 stars

Ejecución

3 out of 5 stars

Historia

3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 08-17-24 El oyente recibió este título gratis

DISCLAIMER: I'd won a free Audible code for this book as part of a giveaway, but that has not impacted my opinion of the book.

This science fiction action romp is filled with fascinating planets and strange alien species. I wasn't really able to feel emotionally invested in anyone or anything in particular, but I still had a really good time just being taken along for this crazy ride.

CHARACTERS
Levort Aatra serves as our main protagonist. He's not the most unique hero, but he has an interesting enough backstory and his pure-hearted motivations make him easy to root for. Because I'm not really sure how to spell the names for anyone else (his was the only one listed in the book's description), I won't me mentioning them by name. I will say that it took me longer than it probably should have to memorize what everyone was called and even as I neared the story's end, there were still some characters that had me going, "wait, who was that again?" This wasn't necessarily because any of these characters are bad. I think instead, it had more to do with a combination of me just not feeling much of an emotional connection to any of them and there being a very large cast for such a quick adventure. Some of the ones that came through clearest for me were Levort's best friend turned enemy, one of the "Beyonders," a plant lady, a three eyed creature, and a big brutish fellow who I wasn't really sure I was able to clearly picture accurately. Even though I'm not sure this was the intent, I found myself picturing them all as animated characters like something from TREASURE PLANET or TITAN A.E. I don't think this is an inherently negative thing, but it did throw me off somewhat because the cover didn't really give me that type of expectation. They're all also quite quirky and charming in the way that a cartoon character might be. I'd argue that none of them are especially complex, though I wouldn't necessarily say they were one-dimensional either.

PLOT/TONE
There's a sort of lighthearted air to this novel that might feel reminiscent of adventure stories from one's childhood. On one hand, that can be a rather fun and perhaps even nostalgic trip to take. On the other, I think it really through me off as that is not at all what I thought this was going to be. Personally, I would have liked to have felt more invested in either the characters or the story being told. I loved the parts where the book took me to a new world and/or introduced a new alien species, but didn't feel especially hooked in the events playing out around all that. The conflict between Levort and his best friend was handled well enough, but I think there were some emotional moments between them that were supposed to hit me a lot harder than they did. I think this is partly due to how the story really prioritizes the adventure. I loved the forward momentum that drives the narrative forward, I just thought that we could have paused a little longer to more deeply explore a character's inner feelings, a more complex idea, or even the background for a specific world or people. There were some truly compelling topics that the novel touches upon like the distinction between a cult and a community or what it means to be party to a toxic friendship where someone always has to have the upper hand in order for the relationship to work. Instead, these concepts are mostly skimmed over at surface level and characters seem to bounce back quickly from the more traumatic moments. I felt like that was a little bit of a shame, but I think the main point of this story is really to be fun rather than to serve as something that hits readers with intense emotions. I definitely feel like this story succeeds in delivering ample amounts of fun. It's a sort of joyride and a relatively clean one at that, which is always nice. I could see this being perfect for someone who's looking for something quick and light after finishing something denser and/or more emotionally taxing. Yes, I was expecting something a little bit deeper and a little more gripping, but I think what I got out of this was perfectly worthwhile in it's own way too.

SETTING/WORLD
If I've been a little harsh on the book so far, this is one area that I want to make it clear that I was quite impressed with. Bruno has a real talent for imagining vibrant alien worlds and the exotic peoples that live within them. For such a relatively short book, I was amazed at how many of each we got to see. There's just a ton of creativity on display here and it's impossible not to appreciate the love and care that Bruno has put into developing this universe. The technologies used were also quite fun. From starships to little handheld portal devices, there's a ton of mobility that this sci-fi setting has to offer and that really opened things up when it came to the possibilities for exploration. I liked that there were still some limits around how characters could move around though and how those restrictions gave the tech almost the same feel as a magic system. Equally enjoyable is the subtle bits of lore that are sprinkled throughout the story. There are elements of a dystopia present which I usually enjoy and while they weren't particularly deep, I felt as though the politics of this universe were perfectly compelling and believable. I enjoyed the backstory of the Beyonders and I found myself wanting to know more about them. I also thought it was pretty interesting that humans aren't as common here as they typically are in other science fiction universes and I appreciated the book's commitment to delivering such a diverse array of alien species. I think Bruno has a real gift for crafting interesting settings, so I hope he continues to dream up more fantastical worlds and universes for readers to explore.

AUDIOBOOK
In terms of overall production quality, this is a perfectly solid eBook. The narrator does a fantastic job of giving funny, but fitting voices to all the different characters and is largely able to keep everyone consistent. There are one or two moments where I felt like Lavort and his best friend sounded too much alike, but they were typically distinct from one another and mostly only blended together during an argument. As colorful as the voicework was though, the recitation of the book's prose felt jarringly flat. It's not necessarily bad, just a little lacking in intonation changes, especially between action scenes and quiet moments which made the action a little tough to stay engaged with and sometimes hard to follow. I do think that this may have detracted from my overall enjoyment of the story somewhat and I have to wonder if my experience with the story itself would have been different had I read it visually. I also wonder if some of the scene changes would have felt less abrupt if I was seeing them split up by paragraph on a page. They all just kind of bled together in the audio version, which made me feel a little disoriented at times with what was going on.

My last gripe has to do with the book's cover. While I am a massive fan of both the cover art and the book title, I think the artwork actually set me off on the wrong foot with the story because it seemed to indicate a much more serious and intense story than what I felt we ultimately got. To me, something more whimsical and cartoonish would have been more fitting, but I understand that probably would not have been as eye catching to as many people.

CONCLUSION
If you're coming hot off the heels from a really dense or heavy read, then this might serve as the perfect pallet cleanser. It's not the most compelling book I've read all year, but I did ultimately have a good time just going along for this wild ride. I'm also curious to try more books by the author, especially because he has a whole trilogy that is set in this same universe, but is not specifically connected to this book.

(+) A cast of colorful characters who were each quite distinct from one another
(+) A lighthearted and generally clean romp across a science-fiction universe
(+) A fast paced, relatively quick read
(+) TONS of creativity that went into crafting these bizarre worlds and the equally alien creatures that live within them
(+/-) The narrator did a largely spectacular job with the voices, but the way he recited the prose came off as a bit flat to me
(+/-) The cover and title, though fantastic, sort of gave me a false impression of what this story would be like
(-) In spite of how much fun I had, I wasn't all that emotionally invested in the story or characters
(-) The more interesting concepts aren't really explored in all that much depth
(-) Some of the characters and alien species were hard to picture and/or keep track of
(-) Scene shifts that felt rather fast/abrupt (on audio at least)

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Defiant
Songs of Chaos, Book 3
De: Michael R. Miller
Narrado por: Peter Kenny

Sons of night...

Total

4 out of 5 stars

Ejecución

5 out of 5 stars

Historia

4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 02-27-24

In spite of my incorrect belief that this was the last book in a trilogy, I had a great deal of fun with the third entry into the SONGS OF CHAOS series.

NOTE: While this review does not contain major spoilers for DEFIANT, it does mention specific things about ASCENDANT and UNBOUND that could be considered as such.

CHARACTERS
As with the previous book, this adventure is told across multiple points of view. Holt, Talia, and Osric all return as key persons of interest and are now joined by others like the half-dragon Rake as well as Paragon Adaskar at different points. Even though each had their own mission, I felt like their stories were much more connected this time around. This might be because they were each trying to combat the Scourge in their own way. We essentially follow different battles within the same war, although Talia's story does take a bit of a detour at one point. I also liked that their arcs weren't completely separate in that each of them spend some time together within the same chapters. Each of them goes on their own journey of personal development that felt like it expanded upon who they are in meaningful ways. These still aren't going to be the most nuanced or complex characters to ever grace fantasy, but I found myself really enjoying them for what they are.

In addition to the main cast, I also enjoyed some of the side characters quite a bit. The fire dragons were an interesting lot, though I didn't fully understand why they are the way that they are. There is a new type of magical creature introduced and his backstory was rather interesting though I don't think we got the full picture of what was really going on with him. Amaranth was a fun character from the first book, but he really won my heart this time around. Where things faltered a bit for me was with the antagonists (other than Thrall who looms largely in the background of this story). I just didn't fully understand the motivations of the Paragons of the Rider order. It's not so much that their motives are all that complex, it's more like their plans were convoluted and their actions didn't always make sense to me. It was sort of like they were supposed to be bad guys who aren't actually all that bad, but then the end result is just a little messy. Maybe I just missed something important though, that's always possible, especially on audio. I also noticed that most of the characters from Talia's arc in the previous book were largely absent. The Riders who join her were interesting enough and it was fascinating to see her kind of manipulate them into things their code doesn't strictly allow, but I think not following up more on other members of the side cast was a bit of a miss. Fortunately, Fynn is still such a fabulous part of her story though he is really put through the ringer this time. Some members of Holt's party are also largely missing, but I frankly didn't miss them as much, so this was fine for me.

PLOT/TONE
Before saying anything else, I need to call out that this is NOT the end of a trilogy. I don't know where I got the idea that it was, but for some reason I was dead-set that this was the case when there are, in fact, at least two more entries coming in the series. Because of this incorrect expectation, I found myself getting rather anxious at the end of the book and while the ending would certainly have served as a deeply unsatisfying conclusion to a trilogy, it works quite well in the context of leading into the next installment. I knew coming in that this would not be going back to the tight party-based adventure that I enjoyed from the first book. There's not really any putting the cat back in the bag when a series expands in scope, if anything, things only tend to get more expansive and that was definitely the case here. While I still miss that tighter, more focused form of storytelling, I appreciated the multi-threaded narrative that is woven together here. Like I mentioned before, I think the different character arcs were tied together much better than they were in the previous book and that made the experience much more enjoyable for me. There are still a number of tropey bits that took things down a little for me though. Chief among these were rather obvious fake-out deaths or deaths that were real, but sort of unceremonious (too sudden). Sometimes characters would also just do things, seemingly for the sake of creating drama within the plot, especially when it came to the story's human antagonists. It all culminates into something that is deeply satisfying, it's just worth noting that the reliance on tired narrative traditions makes it as flawed as it is fun. Some of the action scenes were still a little hard to follow, but I found that they read much more clearly this time around for the most part. There is a recurring theme of consequence that's present throughout this adventure. Whereas in the prior two books, progress is regarded as a generally positive thing, this time the main characters are left to grapple with whether they really are "chaos bringers." I really liked this added layer of stakes to the storyline and it was satisfying to see how each character engaged with this theme in their own way.

SETTING/WORLD
Given the increased number of POV characters, we do also get an even broader look at the world. Rake, Holt, and Ash all go to some interesting places in particular. We also get some glimpses into the more mystical side of things thanks to Adaskar's perspective. The corner of the world that the fire dragons hail from was an interesting one to explore though I wasn't fully following certain aspects of how their magic worked. Osric also heads into some interesting places and joins up with some rather fascinating and sometimes unexpected characters. A particular standout for me was a sequence where one of the main characters journeys into a mountain region where some rather curious sorts dwell. We also get to see more of the cavernous lair of the Scourge though much still remains mysterious about that realm. I think this is the first book where we get to see members of different wild dragon clans interact with one another in the struggle against Sovereign. I found these moments to be rather rewarding and it was interesting to see how much resentment the fire elder has for his kin (not to mention basically everyone else). The schism within the Riders was another compelling aspect. In keeping with the theme of action and consequence, it was cool to watch the world develop and change alongside the characters facilitating these developments. I hope that we get to see some of these threads and ideas carry over into the sequels.

THE AUDIOBOOK
All I can say about the audio performance this time around is "WOW!" The narrator really outdid himself this time around. The prose is expertly delivered as it has been in the past, but some of the VOICES where just spectacular. We'd gotten a little bit of a taste for characters like the bug queen in the previous book, but we get even more of that here as well as some stunning depictions of characters under pain or duress. There are also more subtle examples like the nuanced inflections of Flynn's lines. This is the strongest outing for the narrator yet and I very much hope that he will continue to be the series' narrator for the next books.

CONCLUSION
If you enjoyed the first two books in this series, then you absolutely must continue. This is probably my favorite installment so far and I very much look forward to the release of the fourth book.

(+) The Main POV arcs were all well done and the character growth felt satisfying in each case.
(+) The side characters with more page time were quite enjoyable.
(+) The way the world grows alongside the characters was rewarding to see.
(+) The connections between different arcs wove a much more interconnected thread than in book two.
(+) Some great moments between different characters.
(+) I'm excited to see where this series goes and rather excited that this isn't a trilogy.
(+) An absolutely stunning audio rendition.
(-) Antagonists' actions didn't always make complete sense to me.
(-) Fake-out deaths and other annoying narrative devices can be found here.

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A Shade of Madness
The Ashes of Avarin, Book 2
De: Thiago Abdalla
Narrado por: Kevin Kemp

Magic and Madness

Total

4 out of 5 stars

Ejecución

5 out of 5 stars

Historia

4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 02-01-24

Although I enjoyed this a lot more than the first book in the series and found myself getting invested much more quickly, there are still a couple of key elements that hold this back from being a perfect fit for me.

NOTE: While this review does not contain spoilers for A SHADE OF MADNESS, it does mention specific things about A TOUCH OF LIGHT that could be considered as such.

CHARACTERS
Adrian, Nasha, and Lynn all return as main characters and their stories continue pretty much right from the moments that we last left them in A TOUCH OF LIGHT. A fourth POV character is added to the roster this time in the form of Kadmus. Initially, I was a bit thrown off by his sudden inclusion in the chapter rotation and I wasn't quite sure what to make of him given his rather cold and calculating demeanor. He quickly turned into one of my favorite characters to follow though and I think he played possibly the biggest role in the story's main source of conflict out of everyone (other than maybe Adrian). I also enjoyed the side characters that were a part of his narrative thread, which helped with making his chapters some of the more enjoyable ones for me. His arc also crosses over with Nasha's quite a bit in different capacities, with the two characters actually meeting near the book's end. I will say that it still bothers me somewhat that none of the other main characters meet each other, but I'll get to that more in a bit. Overall, Nasha is still my least favorite of the bunch. The voices that Kemp gives to her and her protege, Shy, are just kind of whiny and grating, though I will say that this sort of fits their personalities rather well. Nasha, like many of the other characters, is incredibly self-serving. What makes her so annoying to me is how indignant she gets whenever someone wrongs her. The world that Abdalla has constructed is a brutal one indeed, but for this character to bemoan that fact while she doesn't do much to be less awful than everyone else just comes off as hypocritical. She does kind of become a bit more heroic towards the end of this book though, so I'm curious to see if I will see her more favorably in the third installment. Adrian remains the most compelling character for me and his storyline feels the most pivotal. It was really interesting to see him come into his own power, but then also rather horrifying to watch him descend into the darkness of it all at such a rapid pace. I wouldn't say that I "like" him so much as I'm just engaged in his journey and very curious to see what will happen with him next. Lynn's story was a bit easier to get into this time around. There's also substantially more griffins than there was in the first book. There's a lot going on in her chapters from delving into some of her personal baggage, to further building out the religious structure of this world, to unraveling a political conspiracy. I felt like I got a much better read on her as a character this time, but it's still the stuff that's happening around her that I found most intriguing.

PLOT/TONE
If you thought that A TOUCH OF LIGHT was a touch too dark for your tastes, then you may want to be warned that A SHADE OF MADNESS really doubles down on the more twisted elements of this world. Adrian's plotline in particular is brimming with some super disturbing content and his character seems to be on a possibly tragic trajectory. Lynn contends with a brutality that lies buried beneath the pious veneer of her church while also having to confront the horrors that she's committed in her past, all in the name of her duty. She's faced with some very heavy choices and while I think she navigates those admirably, the story seems set on corralling her into a rather dark destiny as well. Surprisingly, most of the more hopeful notes come from Nasha and Kadmus with them both making some progress toward unraveling the mystery of the Madness in the hopes of finding a possible cure for it. There are a lot more battle scenes in this book than there were in the predecessor, at least in terms of larger-scale conflicts. While that might sound like a good thing, I actually found some of these a little hard to follow. Some of that could just be the nature of consuming this on audio, but I also think that the way some of Adrian's military campaign scenes were depicted were just genuinely missing a certain level of clarity and/or detail. It probably doesn't help that certain things like sky gates and airships aren't really described with much (if any) visual detail. I can certainly imagine what they might look like, but filling in some of these blanks may have distracted me from the action itself. As I mentioned before, I am still not a huge fan of how there are almost three different books that are spliced up into one, in the sense that the main characters are all just doing their own thing, almost entirely separate from one another. As with the first book, they are thematically tied, with book one exploring the theme of death from their different perspectives, while book two has them largely focused on the Madness that is sweeping across their realm. I can appreciate what the book is going for, but it still feels weird to me for there to not be some more tangible overlapping elements to tie things together. Another thing that doesn't fully work for me is how both books in this series don't really have an ending, they simply stop. There is certainly some sense of resolution in that all the characters typically have a big moment that fulfils a certain aspect of their arc, but the way things are cut, it still feels as though there should be another chapter that follows. I imagine this might be a really neat artistic choice once the series is complete because it seems like it will continue with one book just flowing right into the next, but that, frankly, has left me feeling somewhat unfulfilled. It doesn't bother me as much as a true cliffhanger, but I think this decision puts a ton of pressure on the conclusion to the final book in the series to really deliver something mind-blowing, otherwise there will almost certainly be some folks who feel cheated by the finale.

SETTING/WORLD
While much of this world feels defined by it's politics and it's people, I think there was some a solid expansion on the world itself this time around as well. For one, we get to learn a lot more about the famous griffins. I was a bit underwhelmed by their role in the first book, but thankfully I now understand what all the fuss is about when it comes to how much people rant and rave about them in this series. It was also nice to get a better understanding of how Lynn's bond with her griffin works exactly since we mostly had to piece those details together before. We get to spend a bit more time in the nation that Adrian travels to at the end of A TOUCH OF LIGHT which seems to be a sort of Middle-Eastern-inspired locale. The brutal politics of this domain were fascinating , though I did find myself feeling like it wasn't THAT much more cutthroat than the kingdoms of the Domain despite how Adrian paints it as being extra savage. Adrian is probably the character who covers the most ground with him travelling to different settlements and battlefronts over the course of his campaign. Nasha's story takes her to a new tribe of people and also delves a bit more into the magical mysticism that she attributes her volatile powers to. Magic in general is greatly expanded upon in some ways that I did not expect. Seeing Adrian develop as some sort of blood mage was both fascinating and grotesque. It was also interesting to see how much of it all seemed to somehow tie back to the source of the Madness. I have to wonder where that will all go in future books.

I've mentioned this before, but I'll state again that it would have been nice to have some more physicals descriptions of certain towns, artifacts, and technology. When left to imagine what certain towns/forts looked like, I typically defaulted to generic fantasy faire while imagining things like sky gates as some sort of stone Star Gate situation and airships as blimp-like contraptions (when perhaps they were meant to look more like actual boats). While I'm capable of filling in those details and perhaps I was meant to imagine these generic images, I would argue that this was a missed opportunity to make these things more unique and distinct through spending a little more time on what they actually look like. Kadmus's shop is one example of where the setting and atmosphere was handled a bit better. Consuming this on Audio also continued to make it hard for me to understand the geography of this world. I'm not sure if a map is included in the visual editions of these books, but since it's not really described where one location sits in relation to another, I feel like having that type of reference would really help keep track of where everyone is. One final gripe I have is that I don't always love the way that religion and faith are handled. I wouldn't say that it feels as though the book is necessarily attacking religion and I actually have no idea if Abdalla himself is religious, but the way that it is represented in the context of the story leans very heavily into the cliché that religions exist solely to control the masses. It also just ultimately reads like it is written by someone who doesn't really understand what it means to live a life of faith. Again, I have no idea whether the author is devout in a particular faith or as nihilistic as his characters, my points here are strictly about the role his made-up religion(s) plays within the story itself and how it ultimately doesn't speak to me in any real way.

THE AUDIOBOOK
This was, once again, masterfully narrated and voiced by Kevin Kemp. All of the characters sound distinct and the voices chosen for them really fit how I expected these characters to sound. As much as I found the voices for Nasha and Shy to be annoying, I think that still fit their characters well. I was particularly impressed when Kemp voiced a character who was being tortured. I felt like I was there in that scene as much as I would be if I was watching a film/TV adaptation of this. It was harrowing and raw and it really spoke to just how talented this guy is. Despite my complaints over how some of the bigger-scale fights were handled, I think the prose here is all masterfully recited. This is as crisp and engaging of a read as anyone could really ask for.

CONCLUSION
If you enjoyed the first book, then I think you should absolutely continue with A SHADE OF MADNESS. If you felt as though it was maybe a little darker than you would have liked, then I would pump the brakes on continuing as this only gets darker and more demented.

(+) Kadmus was a fantastic addition to the main roster that contributed in some surprising ways to the story overall.
(+) I liked that Kadmus and Nasha had crossover between their arcs.
(+) Adrien's story continues to be deeply engrossing.
(+) Another outstanding audio production by Kevin Kemp.
(+) Deeper expansion into the magic of this world as well as the dire consequences of using it
(+) Some expanded worldbuilding and lore.
(-) Keeping the main POVs so separate is still not my favorite thing.
(-) This book ended as abruptly and unceremoniously as the first.
(-) Some of the battles and visuals felt a little fuzzy to me, leaving me to fill in a lot of blanks instead of paying attention to the action.

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Unbound
A Dragon Rider Fantasy (Songs of Chaos, Book 2)
De: Michael R. Miller
Narrado por: Peter Kenny

A tale of three riders...

Total

3 out of 5 stars

Ejecución

4 out of 5 stars

Historia

3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 01-21-24

Even though I did not enjoy UNBOUND quite as much as I did ASCENDANT, I still think that this is a worthy follow up to the original story and one that sets up some interesting plot points for the final book in the trilogy.

NOTE: While this review does not contain spoilers for UNBOUND, it does mention specific things about ASCENDANT that could be considered as such.

CHARACTERS
The cast expands in this new adventure, both in terms of the POV and Non-POV characters. Whereas ASCENDANT was primarily told from Holt's perspective with some chapters following Talia towards the book's climax, UNBOUND's story is told across three points of view. Holt and Talia both return as main characters and since their separation at the end of the first book, their narratives remain fairly separate for most of the novel. Joining them is Talia's uncle Osrick who was an unexpected addition to say the least. Holt and his dragon, Ash journey across the realm in an effort to complete their mission given by the Life Elder. With Broad no longer around and Talia and Pyra remaining in their kingdom, the pair find themselves in a rather desperate position where they have to learn to make it on their own. It was really interesting to see them handle survival in the wilderness and altercations with other dragon riders, some of whom appear to be serving Sovereign. They also make some new allies along the way with Rake rejoining them and introducing them to some new dragon characters as well as a new rider. I really enjoyed the dynamic between Holt, Ash, and Rake, who becomes a different sort of mentor to the young dragon and rider. I also really liked the scientist dragon who offered some decent comic relief as well as some important advancements to Holt and Ash's growth. Other companions were much less distinct and memorable. Their motivations and personalities were unique enough, they just didn't really do a whole lot for me.

Whereas Holt and Ash continue with the sort of adventure-quest style of story that was established in the first book, Talia and Pyra find themselves in more of a political and military fantasy type of situation. Talia's acceptance of the crown may have forestalled certain doom for her homeland, but it also brought a host of brand new problems to their doorstep, not the least of which is a critical request from the Life Elder to make a move on The Scourge which could change the tide of the conflict. In between military campaigns against this threat, Talia reunites with her mother, establishes relationships with members of her council, and enters into marriage negotiations with a Viking-like nation of people. Although there are a lot of players in Talia's side of the story, I found myself enjoying them a lot more than I did members of Holt's adventuring party. Each felt really complex and nuanced despite their limited page time and I particularly enjoyed her relationship with her Master of War as well as that of a certain Bard whom she meets partway through the book. For reasons I can't really figure out, I will say that I liked Talia a little less than I did in ACENDANT. I don't know why, there was just something about her that didn't fully work for me, especially earlier on in the story.

Osrick's side of the story was not one that I expected we'd be getting, however it ended up being a welcome addition. Through his perspective, we get to see the inner workings of Sovereign's plans as well as the cult that follows him. The hateful relationship between Osrick and Sovereign was fascinating and their interactions with their allies were all rather unsettling. Osrick himself wasn't a character that made any particular impression upon me in the first book, so I was quite pleasantly surprised that he had as much depth here as he did. I'm also very curious to what the third book will have in store for him.

PLOT/TONE
While the various plot threads were all well done, I think the biggest drawback was that the sense of momentum I loved so much in the first book is essentially gone here. There are always pros and cons of juggling multiple POVs. While one obvious positive was that each of the main characters really get their time to shine and we get to see different parts/aspects of the world, the downside was that none of it moved along all too quickly. Fans of bigger character-driven fantasy stories will likely have the opposite reaction to me in that this may be much more in line with what they enjoy. For me though, I think that not having that more focused narrative really brought my overall enjoyment down a bit. While Holt and Ossrick's stories had quite a bit of overlap, Talia's arc felt like it almost could have been it's own book given how little crossover she has with the other characters (like a Book 2.5 novella or something). I will say that there wasn't anything in particular that felt like it should have been cut though. Every scene contains purposeful character development, plot advancements, or important world building moments that will likely have consequences in the final book. For me, it was really all an issue of pacing. One moment we're deep into world affairs with Talia, the next chapter, we're watching Holt and Ash learn to grow their bond and resolve internal conflicts, then we catch up with the evil schemes that Osrick is party to. There are also quite a lot of battle scenes throughout the book. Although I liked the action scenes in ASCENDANT, I found myself a lot less enthused with them here. It's possible that the larger scale of the conflicts is what made me feel less engaged with them. It can definitely be tougher to clearly depict big battles and I think it's possible that this is where the book struggled even though there were some individual moments within them that definitely hit the right notes for me.

SETTING/WORLD
Even though the narrative momentum suffered somewhat due to the head-hopping, one aspect of the book that was actually enhanced for me was the world building. Due to the nature of each of the main characters having mostly separate storylines, we get to see several different parts of the world at once. Holt is the character who probably covers the most ground still, given that he is on a journey whereas Talia and Osrick are mainly tied down to their respective locations, though both of them do make trips outside the confines of their kingdoms/forts as well. Holt sees some expansive forests, trains in a dark cave, meets the wild Mystic Dragons, and enters into various settlements/forts as him and Ash pursue their quest. Along the way, we also get some deeper exploration into the magic system as the pair train and get stronger. On Osrick's side of things, we are introduced to some brand new types of dragons as Sovereign's obsession with Ash has led him to try hatching eggs that would have otherwise been discarded. We also get a little more insight into the world of the wild dragons through Sovereign's backstory, though I suspect there's a lot more here to tell, especially since we only got to meet one more tribe of wild dragons. Things really expand when considering Talia's side of the story. Not only does she head north to meet this world's version of Norsemen, but we also get a ton of information about other neighboring countries as her and her advisors navigate the delicate political situations that Talia's queenship has caused. Even though all of this felt very separate from the conflict between Holt and Osrick's sides, I really did enjoy learning more about the inner workings of this world. One thing that didn't work quite as well for me was the heavy emphasis that was placed on a sort of magical sword smithing practice. I didn't dislike it or anything, but I think I was supposed to be much more invested in those scenes than I ended up being.

THE AUDIOBOOK
This is another high-quality audio performance from the same narrator who did the first book. I will say that I didn't find myself quite as impressed with the performance this time around though. There wasn't anything that was necessarily bad about it. The prose was still expertly recited and the dialogue was delivered with care, but I think my problems with some of the side characters and battle scenes made their way into the audio experience itself. Some of the side characters sounded sort of similar to me. I think they were just less distinct in terms of characterization in general, but that also led to them literally sounding the same in some cases (or perhaps it was just an issue that I forgot what they sounded like due to them not having all that much to say). I regularly found myself drifting off during the battle scenes, which may have been partly to do with the narration, but I really do think a lot of it just didn't translate well from the writing itself. Overall, I would still promote this edition as a great way to enjoy the story and will be finishing the trilogy in this format.

CONCLUSION
If you enjoyed the first book, then you definitely need to continue with this sequel. If you enjoyed the momentum of book one, then you may also find yourself enjoying this one a little bit less, but if you prefer slower, more expansive and character focused stories, then this may work even better for you than the original.

(+) Holt, Talia, and Osrick all had compelling individual arcs.
(+) The world building got some significant development this time around.
(+) There were some interesting additions to the magic system, even if the sword smithing wasn't as interesting to me as it was supposed to be.
(+) Learning more about Rake was great
(+) Some great moments between Holt and Ash
(+) I'm very interested to see how this trilogy will end
(-) Telling the story across several perspectives hurt the overall momentum
(-) Some of the side characters (particularly on Holt's side) didn't do much for me
(-) I didn't like Talia as much for some reason
(-) Certain aspects of the audio performance didn't impress me quite as much as that of the first book

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A child of winter...

Total

4 out of 5 stars

Ejecución

4 out of 5 stars

Historia

4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 12-16-23

The sophomore season for IMPACT WINTER didn't quite wow me the same way that the original did, but I still found myself really enjoying coming back to this vampire apocalypse and following Darcy and Hope as they try to find a way to overthrow the vampire queen.

CONTENT
Things pick up after a short time skip since the first season. Hope and Penelope are acting as the primary enforcers for their hideout while Darcy and Felix have made a home within an old blood harvesting colony. A lot has changed for these characters, but the story for this season follows an almost identical pattern to the first. There is some initial intrigue that sets the stage, but a lot of time early on is spent on relationship drama. This does end up paying off in the end, but it all felt a little more dragged out than it needed to be and kind of killed a bit of the momentum that was set by season one's finale. Fortunately, things do pick up and there are some shocking twists toward the end. While not entirely unanticipated, the biggest of them will need a lot more explanation if it is going to make any sense at all given how it feels contradictory to the timing of the comet's impact. I would say that this season ends off on a much bigger cliffhanger which also tends to affect my enjoyment of a story's ending in a negative way. The good news is that it's clear that the creators intend to do at least one more season, so I look forward to when that comes out. There were also some fascinating new tidbits of information on the world lore as well as some added wrinkles into how vampirism works that I hope get expanded upon later.

AUDIOBOOK QUALITY
The quality is mostly on par with the first season. I didn't massively love a couple of the new voices, but none of it was bad either. There is a ton of highly recognizable voice talent in this full cast and I just continue to be impressed by how much storytelling can be done with only sound. There are a few more bits with actual narration, mostly under the guise of journal entries and the like, but it's probably worth noting that this series is very much an audio drama and not an audio book. So, if you weren't a fan of the original release, then there isn't anything here that's likely to win you over. For my part, I still love the way that the story is structured and how it unfolds over the course of different 20-25 minute episodes. Due to all the sound effects, this isn't the best listen for driving, but I enjoyed playing it during my bus/train commutes in and out of the city for work. I think they may have calmed down a little bit on the steep volume increases. Things felt a little more equalized even though the action scenes definitely still felt hectic and gruesome.

CONCLUSION
I think IMPACT WINTER SEASON 2 is going to please fans of the original release. It's still a very distinct listening experience, but it's also one that has some impressive production value around it and a deeply interesting story to tell.

(+) Full cast of recognizable and (mostly) talented voice actors
(+) High production value with the sound effects and background music as well
(+) An epic story that's brimming with all sorts of fun drama
(+) Some very interesting developments in terms of the world lore and new twists on vampirism
(-) A slightly slower start
(-) An ending that didn't quite come out of left field, but also didn't fully make sense either

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Gloves of Eons
Kallattian Saga, Book 3
De: Andrew D. Meredith
Narrado por: Andrew D. Meredith

Relics of power...

Total

5 out of 5 stars

Ejecución

5 out of 5 stars

Historia

5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 12-12-23

I think that I still strongly prefer more narrative-driven action stories to big epic fantasies, but at this point I may just be too fully invested in this world and it's characters for that to detract from my enjoyment of the most recent installment in this saga.

CHARACTERS
Book two left our characters in some really interesting places. Jined's relationship with Grissone got even deeper, Hanen and Ralia found themselves in charge of the Black Sentinels (or what's left of them), Katiam is now the caretaker for a sentient, magical rose, and Seriah is still reeling from the part she played in unwittingly fulfilling a wicked prophesy. Right from the beginning, I found myself invested in each of these main arcs. I think the parts featuring Hanen and Ralia are still some of my favorite moments the series has to offer. I was a little surprised at how deep into darkness Hanen starts to wander as he comes upon different relics of immense power. He's still the Hanen that we know and it was interesting to see him use these twisted tools for good, but I do worry about what will become of him in the next book. I am also still enamored with the adorable, but brave, Whisper. I really enjoyed Jined's arch as well and was a little surprised that he had really no direct interactions with his god at all this time around. Given how active Grissone was in the previous book, his absence here definitely elevated the sense of mystery around these deities and left our characters to speculate at what his actions (or lack there of) might mean. Katiam remained somewhat static for much of the book, though the time she spent with her new botanical buddy did allow us to further explore the more magical side of this world a bit more. Her story doesn't get quite as mystical as it did before, but there are some serious implications that her chapters will likely have on the next entry in the series. We also get to see a bit more of characters like Astrid, Ophedia, Loic, and Cavian, providing us with more depth into these characters who have been mostly in the background up until now. We also get some representatives from the non-human qavle and hralgren races which was fun. I do wish that we would get a deeper dive into these more alien peoples and aspects of the world, but there's already so much going on, that I don't know how that would fit in. On that note, I will say that there are a TON of characters running around at this point. The cast is a lot more massive than I can personally keep track of sometimes and I occasionally felt like the appearance of a minor character should have been more impactful to me than it was. I am so invested in the primary and secondary members of the cast, that this didn't really bother me at all. It's also worth noting that there is a very detailed glossary included in the back of the book, so those reading visually may have an easier time than I did since you could easily flip back and forth to remember who certain people are.

PLOT/TONE
With the Moteans only just recently dispatched, a new form of religious fanaticism enters the fray. This militaristic faith reminded me a little of the Red Priests from Brandon Sanderson's ELANTRIS, and it was really interesting to see that kind of thing play out within this setting. Given the importance of Faith to so much of the main plot and some of the main characters, seeing it portrayed in a more negative light felt like it gave some really interesting contrast to how we've seen religious orders handled in the series thus far. One thing that may have helped me enjoy this one more than previous entries is that all of the characters are (sort of) brought together a bit earlier in the story. The conflict is a bit more central as the threat of this tyrannical movement impacts multiple parts of the world at once. That said, there is still this nice balance of giving each of the main character groups their own separate arcs that happen within or around the core narrative. Seeing all of these characters working toward similar ends gave the book a sense of cohesion that I usually don't feel until the end of these books. Even though there isn't necessarily a ton of interaction between the main characters, the way their stories intersected felt quite rewarding. It also seemed as though the stakes have continued to get higher. There appears to be something brewing among the more divine side of things. The full extent of "Little Rose's" powers and abilities remain a mystery. Hanen's collection of powerful items could do him more harm than good and a couple of villains from past books may not be fully dead after all which would certainly complicate things for everyone. Tonally, this book is largely consistent with those that came before, but there is this air of anticipation over what is yet to come. With so much of the main points of conflict left unresolved, it feels as though there might be a bit of a reckoning coming in the next book, so I am very excited to see how that all plays out.

SETTING/WORLD
Given the more centralized nature of the conflict, there isn't quite as much traveling around as there has been in past books. There are a number of different locations visited, but a lot of the action takes place within one main city. I didn't mind this personally, as Meredith has a knack for making somewhat typical fantasy towns/cities/settlements feel rather special in an almost-cozy sort of way that's really hard for me to articulate or put my finger on. I think it was interesting how the events in this place kind of served as a microcosm of the conflict brewing in other parts of the world, including the city that Hanen, Ralia, and company depart from early on. As I mentioned before, there also isn't a whole ton of magical elements outside of the Ratha's magic, but Seriah does have one rather mystical experience near the end of the story that I loved. Hanen also has an encounter with the darker side of the pantheon earlier in the book which I found to be absolutely fascinating. Where I think a lot of the intrigue comes from this time around is in following up on some concepts that were mentioned, but not explicitly shown in previous books. One example is the Black Sentinel Council whom we get to finally meet. What's even more interesting is that it's not necessarily Hanen nor Ralia that get the most amount of interaction with them. The Protectorate Wars also factor in as more than just historical context. Relics from the war start to turn up in the present day and many of them have rather dark natures. With so many races, factions, objects of power, mystical forces, and mysteries to uncover, I am very excited to see what will happen next in this world.

THE AUDIOBOOK
If you have liked Andrew D. Meredith's performance of his previous books, then you will not be disappointed here. There were a couple of new vocal tricks he used to simulate crowds that I thought were pretty clever, but the narration is otherwise comparable to the audio editions of the previous books. I do continue to be amazed by how well he does with this and it's really cool to hear things like the Forward and Afterward as well as the glossary all read in the author's own voice. There's this sense that the story is being read exactly as the author intended it and I think I'm a little addicted to the idea of authors narrating their own work now. I think Meredith also either is recording or already has done recordings for other indie authors' books, so I will have to check out his other work on Audible at some point as well.

CONCLUSION
If you've been a fan of THE KALLATIAN SAGA so far, then I think you will love this even more than the first two books. If you've been a little more middling on them, then I would say this one might just make you more excited since it does a nice job of pulling a lot of different things early on while still allowing space for the individual stories to be told. If you haven't been enjoying it, then you probably aren't reading this review anyway :-).

(+) Characters are all back and better than they ever have been before
(+) Minor characters got some amazing development in this installment
(+) The way faith is represented felt even more interesting as we see examples of religious orders that either want to do good or to dominate in the world
(+) Exciting action sequences help break up the quieter moments
(+) The magic and mythology of this world is expanded upon slightly, with some interesting hints being dropped for what the future may bring
(+) The story leaves off in a rather fascinating place that's not quite a cliffhanger, but definitely doesn't wrap things up in a neat bow either
(+) I continue to appreciate the uniqueness of this world and enjoy it's more alien elements
( ) The scope of the narrative and the cast is still a bit broader than I typically enjoy, but I found that mattering less this time (perhaps partly because I'm feeling pretty invested at this point)

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Family that was lost and family that was found...

Total

4 out of 5 stars

Ejecución

3 out of 5 stars

Historia

4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 11-25-23 El oyente recibió este título gratis

I found my personal enjoyment of this to be all over the place during my reading experience for a variety of reasons. Ultimately though, I've decided that this is a really worthwhile read for the right audience.

CHARACTERS
To the character-driven readers out there, this one is for you. In the absence of a clear narrative through-line, a lot of weight is placed upon the characters and while I don't love books that do that, I think the characters largely rose up to the challenge of carrying the book on their shoulders. The story is mostly told through the perspective of Teleo, a former soldier who now makes a living as a stone mason. His artistry brings him to work a project for the royal family of The Verdant Valley where he comes across a young princess who's been disguised as a prince her whole life and a young "Hill Boy" who serves as a captured slave. Events lead both of these youths to leave the palace with Teleo as they all flee for their lives. They meet up with Teleo's cousin Dinsmora who is an adept practitioner of magic and together they form a sort of found family as they uproot their lives in search of asylum from the dangers that follow them. Each of the four main protagonists brings a lot to the table. Teleo serves as a deeply compelling main characters. His warm disposition is juxtaposed by a much more brutal side that comes out whenever he is in combat. He also contends with a deeply tragic past filled with loss and heartbreak. Dinsmora, while perhaps not as traumatized, has chosen a life of relative solitude from others given the dangers of using magic. I found her motivations and goals to be really interesting and admired the love and care she shows towards Teleo and the children. Jessum and Kaspari are easily the most interesting members of the supporting cast. Jessum remains gentle and sincere despite years of cruelty, loss, and abuse at the hands of his captors while Kaspari was born into privilege and yet lived a life of captivity in her own way, especially given her disguised identity. I appreciated that these two quickly formed a bond instead of there being some kind of cliché princess and pauper antagonism between them that softened over time. I also enjoyed the dynamic they both shared with Teleo as well as Teleo's familial bond with Dinsmora. The role that Sigurd plays later in the story was also super interesting. The bonds that all of these characters shared were so wholesome and I think it was this aspect of the book that really kept me going even when I wasn't as jazzed about the plot's momentum.

The various people that the party meets along the way are a mix of authentic individuals though some are definitely more memorable than others, which is largely to be expected in this type of novel. I will say that the way Pickering handles animals felt so lifelike. I am no expert in horses or sheep, but it felt pretty clear to me that the author knows her stuff here. I wouldn't describe these as "animal companions" in the same way that a Disney hero will have an animal sidekick. These creatures don't talk, they're just regular animals, but in some ways they do take on unique character traits similar to how animals do in real life. Their personalities are subtle, yet the story would absolutely not have been the same without them.

PLOT/TONE
I think where I struggled the most with this story is that the narrative didn't really have a strong forward pull for most of the book. We begin with an introduction to Teleo and there is some initial intrigue as he witnesses the abhorrent treatment of the young Jessum. This initial subplot was really interesting to me and then things get even more intense when a coup rocks The Verdant Valley and our heroes find themselves on the run. Along the way, there's lots of worldbuilding expertly woven into the journey, but eventually the gang settles down and that's kind of where my interest wavered. It's not so much that the events were boring or anything, I think I just need a stronger sense of momentum and direction when it comes to a narrative. I think the point of Heliotrope isn't really to tell a high-energy, blockbuster-style story. It felt more like the value of this book is in spending time with the characters, watching them grow as a family, and face the various points of conflict that they confront along the way. There are still some moments of intense action though. The stunning battle imagery depicted on the cover isn't just for show, there are some pretty epic action scenes, it's just important to know that this isn't really the main focus of the story. It's also worth mentioning that a lot of these sequences are clustered in the first and final acts. I have never read a Robin Hobb book, but based on how her work has been described by fellow book lovers, I'd be willing to bet that fans of her work would really click with HELIOTROPE. In terms of my personal tastes, I strongly prefer when character development is more balanced with narrative focus, but I can still appreciate the story that we got here even if it takes a back seat to the character work. It is also worth noting that the prose is extremely descriptive. As someone who's really visual, I typically appreciate detailed depictions of characters and scenery, but I will say that the degree to which things are described in this book was a little much even for me at times and that may have contributed to my overall impression of the narrative moving slowly. Where the extreme descriptiveness actually made things feel more intense though were whenever a character was dealing with a wound or injury of some kind. This added a degree of realism and stakes that would not have been present otherwise and things felt believable enough where I had to wonder if maybe the author has some knowledge of first aid and/or military medicine.

SETTING/WORLD
In some ways, the world of HELIOTROPE is a fairly standard medieval fantasy setting. There aren't any magical beings, there's no alien races or fauna, and the way that the various kingdoms are set up will feel reasonably familiar. Where I think things start to get special is in the way that magic works in this world. There are layers of intrigue when it comes to the various forms of magic as well as where said magic comes from. The titular heliotropes scattered throughout the world are one important example, but I enjoyed that magic could come from things like precious gems, enchanted embroidery, and even enchanted wool. Things never get quite as crazy as say, a Sanderson novel, but it was all fascinating to learn about and the way that the magic factors into the story's final acts felt appropriately rewarding. Even though the politics aren't anything too terribly innovative, I think the fact that the characters were so interesting, made this aspect feel more compelling as well. Even some of the more hate-able characters were still fascinating in their own, twisted way. I think it would have been nice to learn a little bit more about some of them, but that probably would have contrasted a bit strangely with the wholesome bonds being formed among the protagonists. The landscape itself is also more interesting that it might initially seem. The hard-to-get-to location that the characters hide away in for a while, the prosperous Verdant Valley, the dystopian Sapphire Valley, and the rural home of the hill folk were all steeped in rich history. The lands felt alive in a way and the presence of magic in each realm added a layer of intrigue to the otherwise mundane geography.

AUDIOBOOK
The narrator for the audio edition of this book is clearly a seasoned audio professional. Everything is clean and crisp and the prose is expertly recited. All of that said, I think that for some reason, it also didn't fully work for me. I think the slow, almost-cozy style of the performance was probably a good fit for the story, but it also furthered my impression that things were moving too slowly. At the risk of sounding a bit ageist, I also just felt like the narrator's voices for some of the characters didn't sound quite right. While he did a great job with Teleo and other more mature characters, younger characters like Jessum all kind of sounded the same and the delivery of their lines felt far more weathered and weary than what someone so young would reasonably sound like even with the hard lives they've led. If this was a shorter book with a smaller cast, then I think I would have taken less issue with all of this. Those who love experiences where it feels like your grandfather is telling you a story will likely enjoy this much more than me. I again, don't have anything against the narrator. I could see myself really liking his work in a shorter, more intimate type of novel, but in this case, I did feel like the listening experience lessened my enjoyment of the story somewhat.

CONCLUSION
Overall, I probably enjoyed this one a little bit less than others that I've rated with 4 stars, but I definitely liked it more than those I've rated as a 3. I have done half stars in the past, but I just don't feel like those are super helpful and I think this was closer to a 4 than it was a 3. I do think that readers who like richly descriptive prose that focuses on getting to know characters in an intimate way and spending a lot of time with them as they live their lives and form relationships with each other will almost certainly love this wholeheartedly. If you're looking at the cover and thinking that this will be a non-stop action romp, then you will want to adjust their expectations, but I also think there's a good amount of value here for any type of reader as long as you can go in with an open mind.

(+) Teleo is a fantastic protagonist
(+) The secondary characters were all compelling and endearing
(+) Fascinating magic system(s)
(+) Some brutal and bloody action scenes
(-) The lack of forward momentum for much of the book resulted in my interest wavering at times
(-) The narration didn't fully work for me and probably made the middle sections of the story tougher for me to get through.

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