The Alchemists of Loom Audiobook By Elise Kova cover art

The Alchemists of Loom

Loom Saga Series, Book 1

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The Alchemists of Loom

By: Elise Kova
Narrated by: Tim Campbell, Erin Moon
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Ari lost everything she once loved when the Five Guilds' resistance fell to the Dragon King. Now, she uses her unparalleled gift for clockwork machinery in tandem with notoriously unscrupulous morals to contribute to a thriving underground organ market. There isn't a place on Loom that is secure from the engineer-turned-thief, and her magical talents are sold to the highest bidder, as long as the job defies their Dragon oppressors.

Cvareh would do anything to see his sister usurp the Dragon King and sit on the throne. His family's house has endured the shame of being the lowest rung in the Dragons' society for far too long. The Alchemist Guild, down on Loom, may just hold the key to putting his kin in power, if Cvareh can get to them before the Dragon King's assassins.

When Ari stumbles upon a wounded Cvareh, she sees an opportunity to slaughter an enemy and make a profit off his corpse. But the Dragon sees an opportunity to navigate Loom with the best person to get him where he wants to go. He offers her the one thing Ari can't refuse: a wish of her greatest desire, if she brings him to the Alchemists of Loom.

©2016 Elise Kova (P)2017 Tantor Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Dragons

Critic reviews

"Kova crafts a fascinating divided world...The steampunk technology of the Fenthri and magic of the Dragons are nicely depicted." ( Publishers Weekly)
Fantastic Worldbuilding • Natural Character Development • Engaging Perspectives • Fluid Writing Style • Unique Setting
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the world is novel and interesting and the characters are well written. there is a bit more exposition than I'd prefer, but it's still compelling the whole way through: well worth the read. the narration is excellent and very enjoyable.

Cool world, great characters, good book

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I need book two now! I love this series and author! I am so relieved that Elise Kova releases her books so quickly.

omg I love everything this author writes!

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Good storyline. The protagonists were interesting characters. Aries, an engineer turned thief uses her talents to kill dragons and sell their organs to the highest bidder at an underground organ market. Cvareh, a dragon, wounded by the dragon king's man was found by Aris. He offered her a boon in exchange for her bringing him to the Alchemists of Loom. The narrators were alright but I would have preferred if there is only one narrator. Tim Campbell did quite well and should have continued the whole story by himself, IMO. Worth continuing the series.

GOOD PLOT. WELL WRITTEN.

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the story itself was great! pretty fast paced, and we skip days in a few minutes... my only gripe is with the main woman narrator. sometimes her British accents used for Cvareh were not British at all. they went from British to American accents every few chapters or so. and for the royal dragons, it was overemphasized British accents for them, which at least was consistent. the mans voice was great. the definition of dragons was downplayed by the fact that they are shaped more like humans. if you like fantasy and can handle that fact about the dragons and not the typical idea of them, then pick this up! its great!

inconsistent accents

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I adore the characters and the world Elise created. Her writing style is light and fluid and the story moves along without getting bogged down in unnecessary fluff. Elise had recommended this to me when I met her at a con and I'm glad she did. My only knock is that I don't like the narrator switch. Erin Moon's a wonderful voice to the characters with a lot more range than Tim offers. That's not to say Tim is bad, I just don't think he's the best fit for it.

Would have preferred a single narrator.

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this book and the series itself is in my opinion fantastic both the male and female voices in the book did a spectacular job the story itself it's a very fun and enjoyable experience there's almost never any down time between the action because you're swapping character perspectives every chapter which flushes out each character more along with the world that they live in especially because one of the characters is the bad guy so it's like you're reading this game of cat-and-mouse will you can see the bad guy's perspective which makes them even better because of it I can't say I particularly like the love dynamic between the 2 main characters (it's a young adult book I knew it was gunna have one) mainly because the female comes off as cold and abrasive at times (most times) and she becomes really annoying in that respect but this only lasts for so long she as a character gets more growth later on in the series which is another thing that I really enjoyed the character development itself goes through all three books which gives them time to grow into themselves and it doesn't feel forced or contrived it's very natural the fight scenes as well are very well written even if it wasn't being spoken to me I would have no problem imagining what's going on in my mind only problem is that some of the plot points we're a bit obvious to tell if you're paying even the slightest bit of tension but it doesn't take away from the solidity of the books.

A very strong foundation for a epic trilogy.

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the writing is fantastic it is building very nicely. a must read for the fantasy geeks.

fantastic 👏 story

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Overall great read, there were a few spots where I felt were just filler but I like the series so far.

Overall great read

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Not interesting or well-written or well-narrated. If you’re looking for a completely lukewarm, mediocre book to fall asleep to then this one’s for you.

Blah

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It’s not great and it’s not garbage.

Starting off the setting is unique and the author does a great job explaining it without going too overboard and hosing us with unnecessary info or not giving us enough info.

However there are issues with the story and characters I really don’t like. Spoiler alert. The MC is reputed to be a famous rogue/assassin like figure. However there’s little creditability. You can have characters praise her all you want but if she can’t act the part then she’s just a phony. With combat and especially with things like assassination and the other things she does, Murphy’s law should be a given and be accounted for. Nothing ever goes to plan. The most dangerous soldiers and the like are the ones that keep their cool in stressful situations, can take action while under duress and etc. The MC lost her cool every other page. I suggest that the author should research actual combat arms people and real world spies next time.

Second off, the contract between her and the dragon. It is flimsier than a tissue paper house. At any moment the two MCs can break the contract and leave or kill each other. They have no obligation to uphold the contract. The only thing keeping it together is the promise of a valuable mcguffin. That’s it. I think will wight did a great job with magical contracts in his cradle series. There the contracts and oaths bind your soul so if you don’t uphold the deal, you die. Therefore the decision has more weight and the characters have to think deeply about their choices. Ari and the dragon? No strings attached. It’s way too good to be true. Even in real life you can’t pull a lot of big money loan without some stipulations/downsides that isn’t just “you don’t get money”

As for narrators, they did alright. There should have either been one or the other one should have done a certain gender. As it stands now, one chapter is entirely the guy and the other the girl. It’s off putting and I’m sure there was a lot of paperwork involved for something that didn’t need to happen.

Tdlr: the setting is great but the story and characters lack credibility.

It’s okay

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