A Crown for Cold Silver

By: Alex Marshall

Narrated by: Angele Masters

"It was all going so nicely, right up until the massacre."

Twenty years ago feared general Cobalt Zosia led her five villainous captains and mercenary army into battle, wrestling monsters and toppling an empire. When there were no more titles to win and no more worlds to conquer, she retired and gave up her legend to history.

Now the peace she carved for herself has been shattered by the unprovoked slaughter of her village. Seeking bloody vengeance, Zosia heads for battle once more, but to find justice she must confront grudge-bearing enemies, once-loyal allies, and an unknown army that marches under a familiar banner.

Five villains. One legendary general. A final quest for vengeance.

©2015 Alex Marshall (P)2015 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Exceptional writing, middle-aged warrior heroine, and organically infused gender nonconformity make this fantasy epic a first-rate trailblazer...splendid storytelling, wry humor, and unresolved intrigue." ( Publishers Weekly)

"Brimming with imagination and invention.... Fabulous!" (John Gwynne)

"An epic fantasy that will surprise you. When was the last time you read one of those? Marshall deftly sets up and subverts expectations at every turn. If you think you know what's coming, think again." (Kameron Hurley)

Terrific narrator

Kept me engaged for a 10 hour drive and more. Hope there will be another.

Strange But Entertaining

A Crown for Cold Silver is a revenge story about a former queen, Cobalt Zosia, who is looking to avenge the death of her husband. In most fantasy books, the story would revolve around this main character, with other characters providing storylines revolving around the central figure. This book takes a bit of a different approach with different sets of characters seemingly following their own adventure, and intermingling in the events taking place. Zosia's story does not receive
any more time within the book than the other storylines. In fact, Queen Zosia turned out to be one of the characters I liked the least. For me it was Moroto and his band of fops, and the story of Sullen and his crotchety grandfather, that kept this book interesting.

There are some strange and sometimes plain weird moments in this book. I don't know if the author is just throwing these oddities in to try and make the world he is creating different, or if it's just an attempt at shock value. There are no real graphic scenes of debauchery though, so it wasn't difficult to ignore. The author also has an obsession with pipe smoking, and seems to spend more time on pipe descriptions and the characters enjoyment of smoking than on any other element of the story.

The narration from Angele Masters was excellent. It was my first time listening to her, and I think she was able to bring life to this story. I hope to find other books from her. Overall. I enjoyed this book and will move on to the next.

Best Narrator Ever! Fantastic Story!

If you could sum up A Crown for Cold Silver in three words, what would they be?

Clever writing. Fun, entertaining story. Witty dialogue. Loved every minute of it! For a little perspective on my favorite reads - because I really appreciate it when other reviewers do this:
JRR Tolkien is the best. Anthony Ryan's Raven Shadow series is Fantastic! Daniel Abraham's The Dagger and the Coin is excellent. I also like GRR Martins first three books until he lost it. Brandon Sanderson is also very good. Peter Clines is great, and I really enjoyed the Girl with all the Gifts by M.R. Carey.

outstanding ride!

An unusual setting with great characters. unremitting treachery and action! Can't wait to listen to the next one. Also superb audio talent reading the book!

satisfying series, the crimson empire

I'm here for the third read through, It's dark and funny and touching and ruthless. Good stuff!

Fun and quirky.

Any additional comments?

I love this book. Stick with it. May seem like a slow start, but I didn't want to turn it off. It's funny, dark and wonderful. It's different and it kept me guessing. Not the typical fantasy. Original characters and world. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

hard to put down.

three dimensional and well played , this book is well written and well plotted. there are many characters to love and some who are lost, and the store yet continues. take notice of this book. and I cannot describe how good the narrator Angele Masters is at describing the scenes and beauty and all and horror that are in this book. Don't miss it. I liked it very much and will probably download download the next book now.

Great book

I highly recommend this book. Great characters and storyline. I’ve been in a bit of a book slump the last few months and this was exactly what I needed. Hooked me right away.

Best I've read / listened to for a long time

A great book and the audio performance was excellent as well.
The narrator does a great job with all the voices and accents
Some nice twists, some moving moments.
I've read a ton of fantasy and this is one of the better ones.
Highly recommend.

Best Served Cold with Pipe-Smoking and Magic

A shameless facsimile of Abercrombie's Best Served Cold, the plot centers on an bitter mercenary heroine left for dead out to for revenge on those who wronged her. She starts off as a sympathetic character but evolves into more of a villain as events unfold. Sound familiar? There are several other glaring parallels to Best Served Cold, but mentioning them would be spoilers.

Despite the glaring similarities, the setting, tone and writing style keep the plot interesting enough that I want to know what happens next. There are unique facets to the magic system (ie "devils" providing wishes/power) that diverge enough from BSC to allow the series room to build and/or diverge from Abercrombie's work. The book is written as the first in a series, instead of more stand alone novel so there's definitely room to grow.

One thing I did find annoying was the author's obsession with his characters' fixation on repeatedly smoking weed and detailed descriptions of the pipes they use and strains they smoke. I don't mind having a little of that in there to add some color, but it's definitely overdone in this book and gets tiresome after reading yet another description of a different custom pipe and how it affects the flavor of whatever obscure fictional strain of weed they're smoking now.

So some good, some bad, but with room to improve in future books.