Dark Magical Fantasy

I was lost at the start with this audiobook. It begins very abruptly, with no backstory. It wasn’t until a couple hours in that I began to understand what was going on. That said, the characters kept me listening. Braden and Quin Reis are such heroic, yet tragic and flawed characters. My heart just ached for them. It seemed there were enemies at every turn, and few friends…and even those might or might not be trustworthy. In the end, they can only rely on themselves and each other. The book/audiobook is rife with drama, pain, angst, and betrayal. I would have preferred a different ending; I guess I was hoping for a miracle. Overall, it’s a worthwhile read/listen, just be prepared for the darkness.

The narration is excellent. It really sets the mood for the story and kept me enthralled. I felt an ever-present sense of danger and doom, and it had me on the edge of my seat.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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A fight to save the world as they know it.

*I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

I found Simon's accent attractive for the book. Very nice. He has great control of words and puts emotion with the words. One small thing I noticed is at times it sounds like a hard stop to the stillness around him. It's only happened once in a while, like maybe where recording ended and new started. Very minor thing. His cadence and emotion flowing with the words and events our characters live through.

We start with a prologue. It tells the situation that Braden Reis finds himself in, at this very moment. Then chapter one goes back three weeks prior, telling the story of events that got Braden in his predicament. We do get back to this moment close to the end of the book, and see a conclusion to where he's at. This prologue shows there are interesting things in this world and magic. These things we will learn about as the story is told. And it also makes me curious what Braden did to be brought to this sentencing.

The book is told through a few different point of views. Those POV's are Merris, Sephana, Braden, and Quin through book. These four people are very important in the actions to save the world as they know it.

When we first meet Merris, I found I got a feel for the world she lives in. Her actions and feelings give quick descriptions of things around her. This helps build the world from the beginning for us.

I was impressed with how fast we get to the troubles in the story along with getting to know the characters and world. M.L. weaved together the details, characters, and story line together in a way that it felt to be fast to get to the big troubles and what could be coming, I don't think I realized all I learned quickly because I was enjoying the details and characters along with the troubles that we saw and were learning were coming. Well done at drawing everything together in a great image!

With the story moving forward with events and details, you'll want to pay attention so you don't miss anything on the systems here. There is a lot of details given of the mage that I feel will come up later in the story, like what they can do and the magic system they have.

Aerysius is open to woman being strong and individuals. However, Caladorn has a different view on women. Women seem to be seen as a lower status and need to work hard to grow in status in Caladorn. But they can excel here as well. Caladorn does see sex more openly. This opens the story up to a touch of romance. We do not get the detailed scenes, but you know what is lead into.

I would have liked more of a time base in the sections, so I know how much time has passed. I think this would have helped with what felt like a quick relationship for Merris and Quin. I struggle with quick loves. This relationship escalated quick, though, I do think there is more than meets the eye with these two. It feels as Merris is drawn to Quin's power after she gets a taste of it. This brings me to wonder if Merris is using Quin. But seeing things through Quin's eyes at times through the book brings me to feeling for him as I think he's starting to really like Merris. When I came to a part of the book where I learned more about this, I was so proud of myself for catching it AND of M.L. for writing it! I TOTALLY got the right feel leading me to where the author went with it in the book. I love when this happens!

I know Braden thinks himself a bad person, but I found I really like him. He's more humble and learned to care for people. He seems to have a soul purpose and drive to stop a bad thing that's to correct another terrible event. Two bads do not make a right. But many others think it will. Braden has Sephana at his side to help. Sephana has a strong mind that works well with balancing Braden's strong power.

Throughout the book I found myself drawn into the world and the magic here. I enjoyed the characters. Even when I was getting a bad vibe from a character or two because this is a sign of them being written very well for me to get the right feel off their actions and emotions. The end happened fast because we were moved from one character to another to get the whole view as it was happening, which pulled me back some, but that's the movement of everything happening.

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Unique, fresh, and different fantasy!

Darkstorm
The Rhenwars Saga, Book 0
By: M. L. Spencer
Narrated by: Simon Wright
This is an audible book I requested and the review is voluntary.
I have to say that as soon as the book started I was drawn to the smooth and attractive voice coming from my tablet. I had not heard this narrator before and I was enticed right away. Loved his voice! This man could get away with murder! He delivered a flawless performance and and had me glued to his dreamy voice.
The book was wonderful also but different than what I am accustomed to. My heroes don't die normally! Sob, sob.... Great world building, interactions, characters, and plot. Loved the fantasy aspects too. Fresh and appealing, dark and aluring. I had bought all three books before I had the chance to review this book. Now I can't wait to read the other books. I may just wait and listen to them!
Enjoyed this book tremendously!

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An excellent start to a dark series

At this point, I have to wonder why I waited so long to read this! 


Okay, in fairness, it isn't the best indie book I've read this year, but it's definitely in the top four! 


About the narrator:

We have some generally skillful narration here. Although he does suffer from the oh-so-common problem of not being able to create convincing female voices, his male voices are awesome and he has a keen understanding of pacing and tempo. The one glaring flaw here, unfortunately, is his pronunciations. Let's just call them... Odd. Part of that, I'm sure, is his accent/dialect. But it did create some problems for me. 


I'm not reducing my rating for this, but there were numerous points where it seemed the text had moved into present tense. But about a third of the way through the book I realized it wasn't really changing, it was just the narrator's strange pronunciations confusing me. 


Now, story:

As the story opened, it actually took me a bit to realize there were two female leads. Not that their names or personalities are in any way similar, I just wasn't fully expecting a prequel to be a book I needed to pay close attention to in order to follow the story. 

Paying more attention, I quickly realized there was just something a little... Off, with Meriss's behavior. Especially when her recollection of her past seems to change from one scene to the next.

Later in the book, some things happen that showed me this was not an error on the author's part but rather some very deep, very clever character building.

Here we have the very epitome of an unreliable narrator. Once I realized that, Meriss became a while lot more fun to read!

In the span of a day we go from one man describing her as homely to another calling her beautiful. But then, in the first case we're dealing with someone who has clear cause to want to undervalue her beauty, so again, this is not truly an inconsistency but another case of clever character building.

So well done, ML Spencer!

In contrast, Sephana didn't really feel like a real person until around halfway through the book when she started to feel like more than just Braden's tag along.

In the end, I'm still not sure that I'm fond of her as a character, but she definitely improved.

Similarly, I'm not sure I completely buy Braden's motivations. Perhaps I just didn't get a keen grasp on his personality, but it seems to me that he should have been on board with the "big plan."

Quin, though. While not so much in the beginning, he quickly grew into my favorite character.

Seen through the lens of Meriss's perceptions, he seemed very much "off," but once we got to see things from his perspective a lot of things started making more sense.

All in all, Quin is the character who has the most depth and the widest arc of change. While the other characters in the book don't really change a whole lot, he has this huge range of growth between the opening and the end.

I don't know that I'd go so far as to call him heroic at the end, but he comes a lot closer to that than any other character does.

Here we definitely have a story and a world full of villains and antiheroes where there really isn't room for a true hero. This is a world that would chew up and spit out a real hero long before they came into enough power to do anything truly heroic.

And while I would have liked to see a protagonist start a little lower on the power scale and work their way up throughout the story, I realize that wasn't the point of this book.

All in all, this was a very well written story full of dark-souled, complex characters, crazy twists you'll kick yourself for not seeing coming, and a wild conclusion that will keep you breathlessly turning pages (or listening at faster-than-normal speeds!) all the way to the end!

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A Decent Story...

As With Most Fantasy Genre..The Story Has Unusual Names...This One Was Over The Top...So Much So The Story Was Hard To Follow...When Using New And Unrecognizable Words The Author Should Be Aware Readers Or Listeners Can Easily Be Disoriented... The Characters Were Likeable..The Plot Seem Interesting Enough To Start A Series Although This Was The First All Mage Story I've Came Across...Which Was...Different... A Wizard Never Came Into The Story...I Was Disappointed...

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Good Story, Great Narration

Decent story, a little dark with plenty of plot twist. The book does have a somewhat dark undertone, but is easy to listen to.

“I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.”

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Smashes fantasy tropes to bits!

I had this series recommended to me by several friends who told me that it takes one fantasy trope after another and smashes them to pieces on the alter of Grimdark. Well, being a huge fan of grimdark, I got excited by the idea of something original, not just another Prince of Thorns or Before They Are Hanged knockoff...err, homage. I am happy to report that not only was this true, but the author took those tropes and burned them to ashes. What is left is an original, swerve filled race to a conclusion you just will not see coming. On that note, we'll get into the review.

When apprentice mage Merris finds out she is going to be kicked out of the mages guild, she follows the head of her guild out one night to try and dig up some dirt on him that would allow her to use the information to fend off her removal. What she discovers instead of some midnight assignation or other such scandal puts her life, and the very fate of the world, in jeopardy. She comes across a group of mages not only from her city-state of Aerysius, but from the neighboring city-state of Bryn Calazar, which are a hairs breadth from war with each other, involved in a dark ritual with netherworld powers. After she escapes, she goes to see her mentor, Sephana, who she discovers is having an illicit romance with the ambassador from Bryn Calazar, Braden, who helps her escape to Bryn Calazar by sending her to his brother Quin. How much this helps is debatable, since Bryn Calazar is most definitely a patriarchy, unless you have status as a mage as a woman. The problem is, Quin is a drunken wreck.

After convincing Quin of her bonifides, Quin and Merris approach the head of his mage guild, and this is where everything goes pear shaped, as they are unexpectedly betrayed in the guild hall and end up on the run. Meanwhile, in Aerysius, Braden and Sephana are captured trying to spy on the cabal, and they are transported to a secret base in Calazar lands. The conspirators, all high ranking mages, explain to Braden what they are about. They are trying to head off the end of magic and civilization as they know it, as magic is going to have a polarity shift, killing all mages and destroying anything created with magic, like buildings in cities. The cabalists have decided the power of the dark god in his Netherworld will allow them to hold the polarity shift off for a thousand years. All it will cost them is their souls, and a bunch of human sacrifices...

This leads to a wild second half of the book, as Quin, Braden, Sephana and Merris try and work against the cabal, which has power throughout the highest levels of both kingdoms. There is epic magic battles, giant cavalry battles as there is an uprising against the cabal by Braden's people, which all leads to the final confrontation between the cabal and those trying to stop them. There is also a huge betrayal you don't see coming which costs those trying to stop the evil a member, and which definitely effected the outcome. Definitely a grimdark ending, although there may be a ray of hope, however slight, even with the sacrifices made.

The characters are the true strength of this book. While the setting was well described and gave you a feeling of being there and the plot is fast paced and never lagged in the slightest, what happens with the characters is really what hooks you. Whether it's Quin's self destructive behavior, Braden's quest to do right for his kingdom whether it wants it or not, or Merris trying to maintain the life she has, you really care about what happens to them. When you find out the details from their past's it really humanizes them. Even if some of it makes them less sympathetic, Their flaws just make them that much more believable. The villains, who are actually trying to do what they see as right, are well drawn out, and even somewhat sympathetic. They do evil for a greater good, which you don't see too often. There isn't a mustache twirl in the group. It really is a well thought out group of characters.

I had never heard Simon Wright narrate before this book, but I found him to be a compelling voice. He really put the effort in to bring the characters to life, whether male or female, no matter the voice or accent. His pacing on the narration is spot on, and he keeps you engaged in the story, waiting to see what happens next. Definitely a voice to check out.

All in all, this is a fantastic addition to the grimdark fantasy ranks, as good as anything put out by the big names like Cook, Martin, Abercrombie and Lawrence, and actually maybe a hair better than a couple of those! This is a prequel to a larger series, so it will be interesting to see what the decisions made in this one lead to in the future of the series

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Dark and Complex

This was a strange book. I enjoyed it, though it ended up turning a little darker than I expected. Some characters I loved, only to find out they weren't who they seemed to be. It caught me off guard. The world building was fun, and many of the characters interesting. It's a very dark tale by the end, and since this is a prequel, it seems like it's setting up a fallen world to begin the main series.

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solid

Original fantasy with minimal overused tropes. Characterization was lacking though. mum on recommendation. audio was nice

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Excellent Dark Fantasy novel

DARKSTORM is the prequel to the THE RHENWARS SAGA which was a series I enjoyed when I read it in Kindle format.

The premise of this novel is how the broken divided world of the original series came to pass with a conflict between the forces of evil who are trying to save the planet with the forces of "good" who are willing to lay down and accept destruction. It's an unusual reversal and one which M.L. Spencer exploits for all its worth.

The characters are morally ambiguous, the storytelling well done, and the twists multiplied before things finally come to their tragic but inevitable conclusion. I didn't dislike any of the characters in the novel and they were all realistically flawed. If I were to summarize this book, I'd go, "A ragtag bunch of misfits are recruited to save the world and fail miserably because they would have done better with people who weren't horribly broken."

Simon Wright does a decent job as the narrator and he's particularly good at playing the more salty Quin but I think he could have been a bit more posh in his accent for the higher class characters. Either way, I found the book working well and he reminded me a bit of Kit Harrington/Jon Snow when he was narrating.

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