First things first, I received a free copy of this audiobook from the author and am voluntarily leaving my honest review.
As is my wont, let’s talk about the narrator first. He has a good assortment of voices and skillfully controls his tempo.
As often happens with deep-voiced male narrators, however, he struggles a bit with the feminine voices. And most of the narration is devoid of any emotional inflections.
Now, the story.
Let me start by saying I didn’t fully realize what I was getting into, and in many ways this story simply isn’t my cup of tea.
In hindsight, having now looked at the full Amazon description, I realize I should have read that before listening to the book.
I was expecting more Conan-influenced arena combat, sorcerers, and dark gods and just a little bit of science fiction. That’s the message I got from the cover as well as the short description I read.
However, for not being the sort of thing I would normally read, I found I enjoyed it more than I would have expected, had I known what to expect.
Talon is an interesting character, strongly reminiscent of the warrior of the same name from the old fantasy film, The Sword and the Sorcerer.
The other members of Talon’s team are well characterized, if not quite so fleshed out as Talon himself.
There is some really intriguing history and mythology in the universe the author has created, and apart from a few snags (a few clunky sentences, passive voice, and while not technically incorrect, using “grit” instead of “gritted” as a past tense word rankles me a bit), the prose is well written and error free.
And finally, in spite of being a little on the predictable side, the ending was exciting, well put together, and satisfying.
If you’re primarily a fantasy reader and looking to inject a touch of Sci-fi into it, this probably isn’t the book for you. However, if you genuinely enjoy science fiction and want to try some with a heroic fantasy flavor, this might be exactly the thing you’re looking for!