By: Kyle Alexander Romines
Publish Date: April 5, 2019, Audiobook Release April 30, 2019
Format: Audiobook - 7 hrs 28 mins
Narrated By: Matt Addis
Genre: Fantasy
Series: 1st in Warden of Fal series
Impression: An easy task that's more than it seems.
Synopsis:
The job sounded simple enough.
Rid the village of an ogre and rescue the girl. In return, the local lord would overlook that ugly business in the church.
It was nothing he hadn’t dealt with before.
That was before he heard the howls coming from the Bog of Móin Alúin. Before he crossed paths with the headless rider. Before he woke to find the witch’s crooked fingers on his face.
Now Berengar must unravel the labyrinth of secrets and lies surrounding the village before a deadly curse claims his life, all while a darker evil looms in the shadows…
First Sentence:
He killed the first man with his bare hands.
Purchase At:
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My Thoughts and Summary:
*I was given this free review copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
I found I enjoyed Matt Addis's narration from the beginning. He has a husky voice that fits for Berengar but also fits the feel of the story for Berengar and the fantasy world. He has subtle rise and falls in his voice to go with the story, like when Berengar "stuck to the shadows" his voice felt to have a slight lower to it as if quiet to go with the action, though it wasn't too quiet to hear on the words. It felt perfect for the moment. Matt feels like a natural born story teller here. I enjoy how he voices all the characters in the world with different sound, tone, and personality to fit them, even accents for different parts of the world.
Berengar is to do his job for the High Queen, find and kill a group of men that are terrorizing people. When he chases the leader, his main target, into a church and kills him, Berengar finds himself in trouble with the Lord of that land who's not a fan of the High Queen. Berengar is set on a task, to find the ogre that took and likely killed the Lord's niece. Berengar finds more than he expected on the mission that's to be an easy one. Berengar becomes involved in a village's events as they parallel with his plans.
Berengar is a bear of a man. He's huge and he wears a bear skin, so the description fits him well. But he's hardened on the inside too. He's the warden the High Queen keeps in her service that does what the other wardens won't. He's willing and able to kill the scum that threaten her people with slavery or murder or worse. However, as the story goes we get to see more to Berengar. He's not as heartless as his actions project his reputation to the people to think of him.
The story feels to have an external search for Berengar, yet it brings him to a village that he has an internal awakening. It's not the center of the story, but it's something that happens in a small way. I saw the differences in Berengar start to take hold as the stone curse grew. It's neat seeing how his goals align with that of the villagers, most of the time. But when it comes down to the ultimate goal, he'll have to make a choice; do what he was sent to do or face the consequences that he was trying to keep covered up in the first place.
I loved Kyle's writing style. He has created a fantasy with much of what we expect, but it feels as there's a little different approach to why the events happen. It's got a touch of mystery to the story while we have magic and many elements of the fantasy realm. I very much enjoyed this book and Berengar. I look forward to following him on many missions.
I found I enjoyed Matt Addis's narration from the beginning. He has a husky voice that fits for Berengar but also fits the feel of the story for Berengar and the fantasy world. He has subtle rise and falls in his voice to go with the story, like when Berengar "stuck to the shadows" his voice felt to have a slight lower to it as if quiet to go with the action, though it wasn't too quiet to hear on the words. It felt perfect for the moment. Matt feels like a natural born story teller here. I enjoy how he voices all the characters in the world with different sound, tone, and personality to fit them, even accents for different parts of the world.
Berengar is to do his job for the High Queen, find and kill a group of men that are terrorizing people. When he chases the leader, his main target, into a church and kills him, Berengar finds himself in trouble with the Lord of that land who's not a fan of the High Queen. Berengar is set on a task, to find the ogre that took and likely killed the Lord's niece. Berengar finds more than he expected on the mission that's to be an easy one. Berengar becomes involved in a village's events as they parallel with his plans.
Berengar is a bear of a man. He's huge and he wears a bear skin, so the description fits him well. But he's hardened on the inside too. He's the warden the High Queen keeps in her service that does what the other wardens won't. He's willing and able to kill the scum that threaten her people with slavery or murder or worse. However, as the story goes we get to see more to Berengar. He's not as heartless as his actions project his reputation to the people to think of him.
The story feels to have an external search for Berengar, yet it brings him to a village that he has an internal awakening. It's not the center of the story, but it's something that happens in a small way. I saw the differences in Berengar start to take hold as the stone curse grew. It's neat seeing how his goals align with that of the villagers, most of the time. But when it comes down to the ultimate goal, he'll have to make a choice; do what he was sent to do or face the consequences that he was trying to keep covered up in the first place.
I loved Kyle's writing style. He has created a fantasy with much of what we expect, but it feels as there's a little different approach to why the events happen. It's got a touch of mystery to the story while we have magic and many elements of the fantasy realm. I very much enjoyed this book and Berengar. I look forward to following him on many missions.
****If you found my thoughts helpful, please click Yes at Amazon and/or Audible. Thank you!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kyle Alexander Romines is a teller of tales from the hills of Kentucky. He enjoys good reads, thunderstorms, and anything edible. His writing interests include fantasy, science fiction, horror, and western.
Kyle's debut horror novel, The Keeper of the Crows, appeared on the Preliminary Ballot of the 2015 Bram Stoker Awards in the category of Superior Achievement in a First Novel. He obtained his M.D. from the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
You can contact Kyle at thekylealexander@hotmail.com. You can also subscribe to his author newsletter to receive email updates and FREE electronic copies of his Warden of Fál prequel short, The Path of Vengeance, AND his horror/science fiction novella, The Chrononaut, at http://eepurl.com/bsvhYP.
Matt works extensively on stage & screen, but has always had a driving passion for audio, and has enjoyed creating original work with some of the greatest talents and companies in the business - hundreds of audiobooks for the BBC, Audible Studios, Random House, Oxford University Press, Hachette, Little, Brown, WF Howes, London Wall, Big Finish and the Royal National Institute of Blind People. His voice is also familiar to BBC listeners around the globe in radio plays, comedies, documentary features, books and poetry readings.
Matt has a passion for working with authors to ensure that their titles are transformed into audiobooks that not only remain true to the text, but lift themselves off the page with a passion and intellect that allows stories and characters to blossom. His skills were recently recognised when bestselling sci-fi thriller THE STONE MAN was the only acx title to be nominated for the prestigious AUDIBLE AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR 2015, in a finalist pool that included work by JK Rowling, Sylvia Plath and Stephen King.
You can read listeners' reviews of The Stone Man and many others at http://www.mattaddis.com/chocolatefox/reviews.html and also learn more about the team that will produce, edit, proof and master your audiobook.
Matt read English and French at the University of Manchester, and worked around the globe in New Technologies before formally training as an actor at the prestigious Mountview Academy in London.
Oh I've been enjoying fantasy on audio too! Glad this one worked for you.
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