Harbinger

Fate's Forsaken, Book 1

By: Shae Ford

Narrated by: Derek Perkins

Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Seventeen years ago, a long and bloody rebellion wracked the six united regions of the Kingdom. Now the new King wields the vast and unvanquished army of Midlan with his right hand, and with his left has granted a small group of thugs, the nobles he calls his Sovereign Five, unbridled rule over the other regions. As if this weren't bad enough, the King has also outlawed the practice of whispering - which is a problem for Kael.

It's not like he asked to be born a whisperer: He didn't ask for his strange healing powers any more than he asked to be the village runt. And when he rescues a wounded girl from the perils of the Unforgivable Mountains, his luck only gets worse. She couldn't have been just any girl: She had to be Kyleigh - the sword-wielding renegade knight with all of Midlan on her trail. Then one miserable, snowy evening, things go from bad to worse, and Kael is left with no choice but to follow Kyleigh down the mountains and into the tumultuous lowlands. She leads him on one mad quest after the next - eventually pulling off an act of such mischievous proportions that it threatens to change the Kingdom as they know it.

©2012 Shae Ford (P)2014 Podium Publishing

Good series

A great series so far and the narration is excellent. I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the series.

Target audience: 8-15

From the language used and the behaviour of various characters in the story, it is clear that the target audience is between 8-15. If this is you, I would recommend the series. If not, there are more adult fantasy books to enjoy.

Perfect mix of action and storyline development.

First book I have read in a while that storyline wasn't best in a feudal Japanlike setting. Though protagonist is a bit ridiculous, can't figure obvious lines of thought, but able to make wide leaps of understanding with obscure lines of thought. But enjoyed it greatly. I wished I had purchased the omnibus to get 2 books and Novela for the 1 credit. Now have to pay an extra credits for the 2nd book.

Flawless!

absolutely the best written, best narrated story I've listened to over the past year! Engaging story brought to life by flawless reading.

Overall it's good

The story was a lil boring & could have been spiced up more. Spoiler*** The issue w romance between 2 of the characters should have been more clear to make it believable why neither made a move when they clearly r interested in each other. There r some good surprises but mostly just normal day-to-daylife stuff.

Great Books

Liked very much, grabbed me rite off. Have read all 3, on the 4th now, has not let me down.
Narrator was great.
Love books as this, have read many different ones, not many have I not liked so far.

take a bit to get into but worth it

it was slow going at first but I truly enjoyed the book. great fantasy and details.

Not a Trilogy

One of my biggest pet peeves is to start a series and realize at some point that there's no way the plot will wrap up by the end of the what you thought was the last book. I've gotten in the habit of checking a series on an author's site or wikipedia before ever using a credit on Audible. Despite previously reading this was a trilogy, it became apparent half way through book three, it's not a trilogy. The next book won't be released until late this year.

Now on to the review... I initially liked the setup of the mythology/world and each book does have great moments. Unfortunately, 2 things ruin the series overall: characters that are written with bad personality traits taking precedence in nearly every situation or interaction and a consistent use of "the hero must be stupid now" plot device.

Nearly every character in the series would have no actual relationships or friends in real life - persistently bad moods, nasty comments, or insulting nicknames form most of the character development. Even though the hero has abilities and learns at various points how to use them, he conveniently "forgets" to use them for most of the 3 books... even in life or death situations, he doesn't logically use the ability he just learned a few chapters earlier. There's a half-hearted nonsensical attempt of an explanation, but the reality is the plot is built on the hero's need to be stupid at various points. Otherwise, there would be no need for books 4, 5, etc etc.

excellent story with lots of adventure

really enjoyed the story, the characters, locations, adventures and threading. looking forward to the next book.

good

it was good, not great. but very nice to listen to. better than other books.