Egris and the Silence of the Storm

Temple of the Storm, Book 0

By: Robbie Ballew, Stephen Landry

Narrated by: Robbie Ballew

Length: 1 hr and 1 min

Publisher's summary

As the months go by with no sign of rain, Egris must find a way to provide for his family and his village without betraying the faun's ancient commitment to live in harmony with all living things.

©2019 Steven William Landry (P)2019 Robert Ballew

GOOD SHORT STORY. ENJOYED IT

THIS SHORT STORY IS A GOOD PRE-QUEL AND HELPS EXPLAIN THE STORY FROM THE PARENTS VIEW OF HOW THE TRAGITY STARTED.

STORYLINE IS WELL WRITTEN AND EASY TO FOLLOW.

ACCEPTABLE FOR ALL AGES.

NARRATOR IS GOOD AND EASY TO FOLLOW.

EXCELLENT SHORT STORY!

I absolutely loved this short story! The characters were interesting, had good morals, and the story moved along at a good pace. The interplay between the fawns and elves, as well as descriptions of other creatures was very well developed. Weaving in spiritual beliefs was also an intriguing angle. There was a lot packed into this short story. Robbie Ballew did an excellent job narrating. This definitely makes me want to listen to or read more by Robbie Ballew and Stephen Landry. I would highly recommend this to Narnia and LOTR fans, and fans of Michael J. Sullivan.

Baskerville Book Reviews

I’ve been reading and reviewing a lot of fantasy novels recently. After the last couple of fantasy books I reviewed, I’m grateful for the introductory prequel story.

Despite being a very short story, there’s a decent amount of world-building and setting of the stage. It introduces the man who will presumably be the main character for the series and his motivations.

If you’ve read any of my fantasy records, you’ll know I sound like a broken record when I say that fantasy authors have a way with words. This story is no exception, the world is described in a way I rarely see outside of fantasy novels.

I get the impression that this story is intended for a younger audience, or is at least friendly towards a younger age demographic. Despite that, I didn’t find the story any less enjoyable. I read (or listen) to different books for different reasons and if I want blood and gore, I have series’ I read for that. This is a well-done introduction and has left me wanting to know more.

The narration is excellent. The narrator speaks clean and clear and character voices are distinct.

NOTE: This copy was provided to me free of charge as a digital review copy. The opinions stated in this review are mine and mine alone, I was not paid or requested to give this book a certain rating, suggestion, or approval.

A great prequel!

This book is told from the point of view of Egris, the faun who joins Arianna on her journey to end the curse plaguing the lands in Arianna and the Spirit of the Storm, the first book of the series. In this prequel, we see the start of the curse and how it affects the faun.

Though a prequel, and taking place 15 years before the start of book 1, I would still recommend reading or listening to it after reading or listening to book 1. The worldbuilding in that book will help provide a wider picture of the events happening in the prequel.

Listening to the effects resulting from the absolute lack of rain is heartbreaking, especially when one considers the propaganda that will be coming from the elves to paint the fauns as monsters. Yet, the actions of the fauns are motivated by the hunger they are facing with no rain to provide a harvest. Still, the actions of the elves are clearly excessive and motivated by ignorance and bigotry. Seeing the effects of the curse from the faun's point of view after reading book 1, which is filled with the very negative views of the fauns (satyrs) resulting from the propaganda.

This audiobook is narrated by Robbie Ballew, one of the authors, and he did very well for not being a professional narrator. Though there were places where his pacing felt a little rushed to me, it was not enough to negatively affect my listening or my enjoyment of it.

loved it

love it, awesome narrative easy tone to keep your attention and follow story line, thanks.love it,

Short Intense Prequel

Parents- PG
Language- none
Violence- PG- normal to genre
Sexual Content- none

This gives a great background of the drought, the starvation and the events took place between the fawn and the elves. At just an hour in listening length it's a very quick and intense listen.

The narrator did a good job with the voices, differentiation, and acting. I listened to it at 1.15x speed.

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

What a great short story

I can't wait to see how they work together to stop the drought. I hope it will also have help with the looming trouble.

Fun short story

This is a short story that makes me wish it were longer. I feel like there is a lot of potential here for a full length novel. I find the characters and settings to be unique and well thought out. I don’t read enough fantasy to be familiar with relationships between fawns and elves and others so I felt there was something missing a few times, however they didn’t feel to be big pieces kissing, just pieces I didn’t understand due to lack of experience. The narration was really good, nice use of voice inflection for different characters. I did find it a little odd that the voice used for the elf was so high pitched. The character had been explained to be male, but I felt the voice leaned much more toward female, this is a very minor piece of the book though and really doesn’t change my overall impression of a fun and well read short story.

Drought, desperation, a fragile peace shattered

Received as an audio review copy from Story Origin, this as an honest review. Narrated wonderfully by the author Robbie Ballew, this poignant and harrowing story that begins this series as a strong drought begins to weigh down upon Egris and his fellow fauns and the surrounding kingdom, the struggle in what to do causes a rift within the fauns. Some want to plead to the elves for help, elders believe the loss of their faith is why they starve. In desperation, Egris and others raid what caravans they find, angering the elves to respond with violence- shattering what fragile had existed. It's one encounter with an elf that claims to have the answer to end the drought... Highly recommended.

A Good Prequel to the upcoming Series

This is a short story of a group of Fauns who have farmed, raised animals and did not take part in Wars as the other races did. This is a story about how things change once Drought ravages the land and other races do not wish to come together to help each other.