Kings of Ruin

Kingdoms of Sand, Book 1

By: Daniel Arenson

Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly

Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

In an ancient world of sand and splendor, an empire awakens.

Aelar, a mighty nation, spreads its tentacles. Its oared galleys storm the seas, and the waters run red with blood. Its legionaries swarm desert ruins, smiting barbarian hordes. Its crosses line the roadsides, displaying the dying flesh of heroes.

The Aelarian Empire rises. The old world falls.

The powerful Sela family has avoided the empire until now. The family has carved out an idyllic life between sea and desert, ruling a bustling port, a thriving city, and lush vineyards. Yet when an imperial fleet arrives in their harbor, everything the Sela family has built threatens to collapse.

Sweeping from snowy forests to cruel deserts, from bazaars of wonder to fields of war, here is a tale of legionaries and lepers, priests and paupers, kings and crows. Here a girl travels across endless dunes, seeking magic; a cruel prince struggles to claim a bloodstained throne; and a young soldier fights to hold back an overwhelming host. As the empire spreads, the fate of the Sela family - and of all civilization - stands upon a knife's edge, for under the storm of war, even the greatest nations are but kingdoms of sand.

©2017 Daniel Arenson (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Very violent!

The story is realy captivating, but the violence and cruelty was too much for me.

game of thrones?

this book has big white lights hearts getting smashed by ruthless soulless spoiled idiots. all the bad guys win and the good guys get nothing but death. not sure I want to read the next book

It's very flawed but has potential

I'll start with the narration. He does great voice work for the characters, but he mispronounces words so often that it becomes distracting. He also has a habit of reading lines like he's throwing random question marks in the middle of sentences.

The writing: It's nothing all that original, it's pseudo Rome vs the pseudo middle east and it borrows heavily from Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings. That I'm ok with, as well as some of the characters and their development. However, the sex scenes are so far beyond gratuitous that I can't help but think the author wrote this just to satisfy some dark fetishes he possesses. Another thing that had me puzzled was that there is a point where there is a large battle, which is mostly depicted really well. But the math doesn't add up. It's not possible for there to be as many soldiers on one particular side and it's too the point where it makes it all feel pointless to read. SPOILER: When I'm reading about a prolonged siege and the tactics used, and one army trying to hold out and buy time for aid etc, it's nice to know that the fight is having a toll on both sides. Like even if they lose they've made a dent in the enemy army, like it cost the enemy something as well. That is NOT the case here at all, and it's not done in a way that makes you in awe of their power, it's done in a way that defies logic and is actually a pretty major plot hole. It made what could have been a heart wrenching conclusion that felt natural and twisted it into something that just felt forced by the author. I will continue in hopes that both the writing and performance improves as the series progresses because there is potential here on both parts.

Too much sex

Feels like an obsession, every chapter expect to hear about it. More story less sex please

I'll have to read this too see if I like it

Everything I know about the story, this should be a book I fall into, but I'm struggling to retain anything that's going on. I'm not sure if it's the pacing of the author or narrator, but I find myself zoning out and having to listen to parts over and over again just to have a vague idea of what's going on.

It's a set up book

Kings of Ruin is defiantly a set up book. I'm glad it's part of the series because it does set up the world and conflict for the next books well.

Ophier (that may not be the right spelling) is my least favorite character and I really wanted to DNF in the beginning because of her. I'm glad I pushed through but yeah I don't care what revolations she has at the end she's a whiney little baby who needs a good whipping.

so so

The book wasn't bad. It was essentially a middle eastern version of Game Of Thorns, only without the compelling characters. There wasn't much to the story that made me want to continue the series.

Imperial Rome Relive in Another Universe

If the performance by Kevin Kennedy were not so noteworthy I probably would have stopped listening after the third chapter.

Flawed plot characters

ridiculous story. the legion and empire obviously based on the Romans. why would trebuchets be on ships hurling flaming munitions. they would set their own ships on fire. seige towers build in a day? even worse tunneling under walls or building a seige ramp in a couple of days. that could not even be done in weeks with modern machinery. imperial troops emerging from tunnels with their tower shields. the shields wouldn't fit. author makes a great deal about the discipline of the troops but the first thing they do coming through the tunnels is run around and pillage instead of seizing and opening the gates? the author tried to make the hero honorable and give him the moral high ground. he was nothing but weak and stupid and deserved to die. the whole concept of bringing thousands of slaves seized 20 years ago back to attack their homeland is also completely ridiculous. the whole family just needs to die.

Took a bit to get into, but.....

after about two hours of listening, the plot finally takes off and became enjoyable. The pseudo Romans were detestable and the faux Israelites were relatable. all in all I'm interested in picking up the next installment.