
Crucible of Chaos
Court of Shadows, Book 0.5
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Narrated by:
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Joe Jameson
About this listen
A mortally wounded magistrate faces his deadliest trial inside an ancient abbey where the monks are going mad and the gods themselves may be to blame!
Estevar Borros, one of the legendary sword-fighting magistrates known as the Greatcoats and the king's personal investigator of the supernatural, is no stranger to tales of ghosts and demons. When the fractious monks of the abbey rumoured to be the birthplace of the gods begin warring over claims of a new pantheon arising, the frantic abbot summons him to settle the dispute.
But Estevar has his own problems: a near-fatal sword wound from his last judicial duel, a sworn knight who claims he has proof the monks are consorting with demons, a diabolical inquisitor with no love for the Greatcoats, and a mysterious young woman claiming to be Estevar's ally but who may well be his deadliest enemy.
Armed only with his famed investigative talents, his faltering skill with a blade and Imperious, his ornery mule, Estevar must root out the source of the madness lurking inside the once-sacred walls of Isola Sombra before its chaos spreads to the country he's sworn to protect.
Investigate alongside Estevar and the most heroic mule ever to appear in literature in this thrilling swashbuckling fantasy mystery by Sebastien de Castell, author of the Internationally acclaimed Greatcoats and Spellslinger series!
Crucible of Chaos may be enjoyed as a stand-alone fantasy novel and as a prelude to Play of Shadows, the first official novel in the Court of Shadows series!
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Masterful and dark
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This one feels like it brings all of the elements of his unique fantasy and political worldview together in a way that is both tremendously satisfying and helps to elaborate some of the unintended holes in his previous works.
I wholeheartedly endorse this work, and it fills me within an anticipation for the sequence that seems likely to follow in its footsteps.. Furthermore, it is a good length, for de Castel.. Not too much nor too little for him to cover in a single tone.
My singular dissatisfaction… Or perhaps, accurately… Frustration in the early books in which the rapier – armed magistrates constantly found themselves painted against the more traditionally, armed and armored knights felt more organically woven in this book, perhaps, as there was less direct sword play between the two incompatible types of weapons, and perhaps as well, because the book was less about the inherent violence of the world of Tridtia, and more about its… Historical and… Spiritual (for lack of a better adjective). But it does seem to me that there is more room now on the other side of this work to integrate the martial choices that lend the stories of the great cloaks their necessary, and fun, swashbuckling elements.
In some: I highly recommend this work, and if you’ve not read the first several in his series, I recommend them as well. In fact, I intend to go back and read them again to see if I can find a more comfortable blend between the joy that I have found in this work and the joyful but discordant aspects of his initial books. I hardly recommend them all, though this most recent one is far away, the deepest and best written of them.
Enjoy and I look forward to what is to come.
Easily the very best of de Castell’s great coat books.
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Although there is almost constant action, the discussion of splintering of faith into factions and the chaos that erupts when this happens and the felt need to quickly create new gods even when this causes pain and disaster makes for thoughtful reflection.
Regardless, theology and philosophy aside, the best part of the book is the mule.
Imperious rules!
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im my Top 5 fantasy series on audible
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More Greatcoats!!
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one of the best narrators out there
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Overall, another great addition to the Greatcoats world. Well worth the credit.
Fun Story In The World Of The Greatcoats
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Imperious isn't just a beast of burden, but a noble and grandiose steed.
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Chaos
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Not my cup of tea, but writing was good otherwise and narrator was excellent.
Good narrator, strange story
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