
The Winter of Swords
A Grimdark Epic (Overthrown, Book 1)
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Narrated by:
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C.J. Grey
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By:
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Aaron Bunce
About this listen
An intelligent, six-limbed beast snatches a girl away from her family.
An orphan confronts the darkness in his past, while a menace stalks his small town.
A young woman cast into servitude tries to forge her own path in an unforgiving world.
And an inexperienced soldier following the path of honor and duty comes face to face with a foe born from his worst nightmares.
Seemingly unconnected, this small group of normal folk will fight to survive, for an ancient evil has awakened, and Denoril will need heroes if it is to endure The Winter of Swords.
©2019 Aaron Bunce (P)2019 Aaron BunceListeners also enjoyed...
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Listener received this title free
*I requested this book and am voluntarily leaving this review
Setting of the world
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Bunce can weave a story that makes you feel as if you're right there in the book, going through every single thing his characters go through. You can feel their pain, their anger, their love, their fear, you get the drift? Right?
The descriptions of the beasts are so visual, it's like bam, there they are, right in your face where you're hoping they don't come looking for you in the night.
The characters have such depth and personalities. You're bound to love some and hate others. You're going between three different stories and it brings so much to the book. So many plots and twists, you think you know what's happening and you've figured it out, bam, you've not a clue.
I could ramble on more about this book but I'll leave it up to you to listen to it. You can't go wrong. It's absolutely freaking amazing. Mind-blowing.
Awesome
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Listener received this title free
I thought the writing was very well done with great imagery. If you're looking for a story that requires zero thought and is served up complete and wrapped in a bow, this isn't it. I found the beginning of this tale intriguing and am hoping volume two comes out soon.
The narration was exceptional in my opinion. Clear with good flow and a ton of emotion.
I think four stars is appropriate for this book until I hear the rest of the story
Definitely anxious for book 2.
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Listener received this title free
Aaron does a great job in two areas: characters and setting. The setting is real and gritty, a low-magic world (there are divine healers, but not any powerful wizards and the like) where the great kingdoms of man and dwarves have vanished and the remnants of the human kingdom struggle for survival. Things have been peaceful, but as the novel starts you realize that the monsters that hide in the shadows are starting to stir.
The Winter of Swords is an epic fantasy, so we follow multiple character arcs in the story. What I like is that each of the characters are common, ordinary people thrown into unexpected situations. These are not mighty warriors, kings, and queens, but normal people struggling to get by in an unforgiving world. As the story progresses, we learn more about these characters, their own secrets, and the fates that await them.
I do have a few quibbles about the story. Aaron is very detailed and descriptive in his settings, characters, and the action. Good to a point, sometimes I felt that there was too much description that slowed the pace and action, especially in scenes that should have been fast-moving. The descriptions were good, and fit the character and scene, but it sometimes felt I was slogging through mud to get through the end of the scene because of them. The other quibble I have was the plethora of what seemed like ancillary characters to me. There were some characters who popped in midway through the book for a couple of chapters, then the disappeared again. They did not contribute to the story of the main characters we’d been following, and even if their story was important to a larger story arc, it was distracting and again, broke up the pacing of the story. (Also, I felt that the stories presented in these brief flashes were left unresolved, and that in itself was distracting and left me feeling unfulfilled.)
If you enjoy grim fantasy filled with violence and despair, in true grimdark style, and if you like a grand epic fantasy with complex characters and a storyline that weaves between them, then you will enjoy The Winter of Swords. I may not pick up other grimdark novels, but Aaron has done a wonderful job of weaving this story together that I will be interested to see what happens in the next novel.
The audiobook was narrated by C.J. Grey who did a fantastic job of bringing the characters and setting to life. He is a master storyteller who makes each character distinct, and his inflections and tone helped to heighten the tension in all the right places. There were no problems with the performance by Grey, or in the audio quality.
Gritty, realistic epic fantasy
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Listener received this title free
The land of Denoril has been created by the mind of author Aaron Bunce. Ruled by the Council of Lords, this epic fantasy based in the land of Denoril is mixed with horror and is the start of of planned six book series with three books currently published. As with most things of Epic proportions, this book does not shy away from introducing many characters into the mix. As such, it takes an organized mind to juggle all the balls Aaron throws our way. Much like the elegant weaving of single strands of yarn or thread required to present a full piece of tapestry, an Epic fantasy novel series must also weave the single characters and single story lines together. In the end, the hope is a finely crafted picture of a story that feels like it must be told. This is exactly what we are getting when diving into Denoril and the Overthrown world created by Aaron Bunce.
The audiobook version of The Winter of Swords is performed by the talented narrator C.J. Grey. C.J. does his job masterfully of presenting the unfolded tapestry Aaron has started for us. This tapestry, while unfinished, presents a beautifully told story that has us just beginning to see the images and layout that Aaron plans to send our way. C.J. has a vast array of character voices and breathes lives into the characters.
Fans of J.R. Tolkien, Robert Jordan, and George R.R. Martin are going to grasp on to the words of Aaron Bunce and usher in another Epic adventure series that can’t be missed! I am really looking forward to the release of the next audiobooks in the series: Before the Crow, and A March of Woe.
While the last three planned books of the series is not currently released, it doesn’t mean that we have to wait for more of the Overthrown world to come out. Thankfully, Aaron has started writing a companion series Overthrown: The Chronicles of Denoril which takes place ten winter thaws before the start of the The Winter of Swords and expands the Overthrown universe while introducing all of its fans to new characters and younger versions of some of the ones we have come to know. The first of this series is “The Delving” which you will definitely want to pick up and read or listen to once it releases in audiobook format.
Overall, a wonderful start to a world built to provide hours of entertainment and edge of the seat moments. Already an immediate fan of both author Aaron Bunce and Narrator C.J. Grey.
An Epic Adventure That Must Be Heard!
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Listener received this title free
wonderful narrative and writing
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Listener received this title free
A great fantasy read, even better on audio
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Definitely “grim” but maybe too much.
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Confused and unengaged.
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The book description is grim dark and the reviews are decent, so I went in with high expectations. Imagine my surprise when I found out that it's actually a young adult fantasy.
The characters are horribly written, the plot is horribly written, the dialogue is horribly written, the world description is horribly written. I got the feeling that not only is this book YA, but that it was written by a young adult. The average sentence structure ridiculous. To give you an idea of what to expect, a typical scene describing the environment would be something like "The moon shimmered on the shimmering water".
There are also some pretty big oversights, for example the monster that abducts the girl starts fires every night, but the author doesn't mention how it's starting fires. It's a naked monster, so we can assume it doesn't have a tinder box in it's possession. Is it carefully constructing a tinder bundle and starting friction fires?
On top of all that, the narrator's performance is a weird mix. Sometimes he is expressionless and the rest of the time, he over exaggerates everything as you would reading to a small child. Most of the characters come out sounding like anime characters.
I'm guessing that those problems are just the tip of the iceberg where this book is concerned.
Steer Clear!
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