Call of the Herald

The Dawning of Power Trilogy, Book 1

De: Brian Rathbone

Narrado por: Chris Snelgrove

Echoes of the ancients' power are distant memories, tattered and faded by the passage of eons, but that is about to change. A new dawn has arrived. Latent abilities, harbored in mankind's deepest fibers, wait to be unleashed. Ancient evils awaken, and old fears ignite the fires of war.

Call of the Herald is book one of The Dawning of Power trilogy.

©2008 White Wolf Press, LLC (P)2013 White Wolf Press, LLC

Good Book, meh Narration

Any additional comments?

I've already read most of this series, wanted background noise that's better than just music, but less attention grabbing than tv/movies - if that makes any sense. So I like the books enough to want to read/listen to them again. I didn't like the narrator. He was so monotone that it wasn't as enjoyable as hoped. He did well with character voices, and added emotion and inflection there, but the rest of the reading was rather boring, kinda like listening to an automated voice reading. Really glad I didn't pay full price for that audiobook.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Technical stuff:

The good: great quality recording, no hisses, pops, etc.

The bad: the whole book is one track, so listening in multiple sessions can be tricky.

The story:

The good: this is an amazing and amazingly absorbing tale of how the lives of a group of young people become transformed by events totally beyond their imagining. Catrin Volker is a wonderful strong female lead who doesn't fall into the "male" pattern - she remains herself throughout. A great read that I highly recommend for adults and teens!

The bad:

Um, I can't think of anything bad to say about this book.

An enjoyable fantasy adventure

Caitrin, her cousin Chase, and their friends Osbourne and Strom are farmer's kids, living ordinary lives, until events start to close in on them. Their land is about to be invaded by a powerful and expanding empire, and a religious prophecy is about to come to fruition. Uncomfortably for her, Caitrin, it seems, is the Herald of the return of the Comet, which is the symbol or vehicle of a goddess.

With the Comet becoming visible in the sky, Caitrin now has power, and and this teenager who never expected this is quite convincingly inept and clumsy in her first (initially accidental) uses of it. This quickly gets her a reputation as a witch--the dangerous kind that no sensible person wants around.

And of course, no one believes the prophecy about the invasion until the empire's ships are on the horizon.

Caitrin and her friends' efforts to survive the initial invasion while Caitrin struggles to master her new power dominate this first volume, and we begin to get clues to an over-arching story with a longer history than the four friends suspect.

I like these characters. They're good-hearted and fallible. They have some really smart ideas, and they also screw up sometimes. They don't always do the right thing, but they do always try. Even with traumatic events for the kids, and disaster befalling their land, this is, as odd as this may sound, a very good-natured book, and I enjoyed my time with it. I could quibble endlessly on details. Societies with mediaeval-level technology are not going to have rough gender equality. It's just not going to happen because of the birthrate required to keep those societies viable. If the planet (note that there's some suggestion we may not be talking about Earth) really passes through a comet storm every thousand years or so, there are going to be some impacts that are really not good for life on that planet. Who cares? This is a fun book! Go with it!

At least, I had no difficulty doing so, and these are the kinds of things that often make me quite cranky.

Recommended.

Audiobook, so I almost certainly bought it rather than getting a review copy. In any case, I'm reviewing it voluntarily.

Engrossing tale that leaves you wanting more!

Would you listen to Call of the Herald again? Why?

Yes.

In fact, I plan on reading the entire series to date again now that I've been reintroduced in a new way.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Call of the Herald?

At one point, Catrin is chastised playfully by her companions. This literally brought a smile to my face and, believe it or not, a chuckle I could not adequately explain to my wife.

Which character – as performed by Chris Snelgrove – was your favorite?

Simply put, Kenward. I never thought to voice him with a British accent.

Worst? Catrin and Miss Marin... Can't blame him though!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Of this, I am not certain, though I do know that each trilogy in this series could very easily be made into a film. I would be more than happy to see it in theaters... I normally wait until movies are out for rental via Amazon.

Any additional comments?

Maybe consider another voice actor, if not 2. There are many females coming into the story soon as well as an ever growing cast of males. Snelgrove surely found it painfully difficult giving all of the characters in this opener a unique voice. It would be near impossible to do the same for the rest of the series.

great story

Great story and good storytelling I enjoyed the book from beginning to end I would recommend to anyone