First let me say that Jeffrey L. Kohanek’s world building is amazing. I would love to see a RPG sourcebook of the world.

Now, lets talk about the books

PROS:

The story flows smoothly and at enjoyable pace. Jace and Adyn quickly became my favorite characters and Jace’s sense of humor really help balance the darker parts of the story. While many people may find the “princess and the rogue” trope used to much, I feel like it was perfectly well placed. (After all, tropes are a trope for a reason right?)

Travis Baldree does a great job of narrating the story. His choices for voices worked great and he kept them distinct to the point you can start telling who’s talking by his voice alone.

CONS:

Really I should call this a “mini-con” as it’s not major issue, and to many others it may not be an issue at. The issue being the feeling that JLK went to the George R.R. Martin school of character writing. Well more specifically, character killing. I’m not going to give any spoilers, so lets just say that more than once I felt like I was reading about Ned Stark all over again.

CONCLUSION:

Absolutely worth the listen. It feels like a LoTR type story where there are epic events happening around the the characters, yet their induvial stories are so compelling and contribute to the shape of those epic events.

If you are looking for a fun fantasy listen that scratches the RPG/LoTR itch, this series will do it!