Morningside Fall

Legends of the Duskwalker

By: Jay Posey

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Second in the Tales of the Duskwalker series.

The lone gunman Three is gone. Wren is the new governor of the devastated settlement of Morningside, but there is turmoil in the city. When his life is put in danger, Wren is forced to flee Morningside until he and his retinue can determine who can be trusted.

They arrive at a border outpost to find it has been infested with Weir in greater numbers than anyone has ever seen. These lost, dangerous creatures are harbouring a terrible secret - one that will have consequences not just for Wren and his comrades but for the future of what remains of the world. New threats need new heroes....

©2014 Jay Posey (P)2015 Audible, Ltd

Critic reviews

“Gritty action-packed drama so hi-res and real you’ll believe you got something in your eye.” (Matt Forbeck, author of Amortals and Dangerous Games)

Ill read the third

Wasnt as good as book one. Love Luke and look for books that he has narrated but alot of the voices sounded the same for book two. Seems like all the men have a country accent or sound like the same voice for the character Three. But I will still buy the third book and hope the ending is better,

not as good a read as Three

drags some, some surprise twists various readers would put life into the story instead of one trying to change his voice.

Enjoy it

I was disappointed with the death of three... But this book seem to keep moving forward while still having a connection to the three character

Lots of action, but preachy

I enjoyed the character development. It wasn't religious, but the author used the story as a moral pulpit more than I cared for.

Entertaining but plotless

Would you listen to Morningside Fall again? Why?

Not likrly. There really isn't anything to go back for.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No.

Any additional comments?

It was entertaining mostly but I am not quite sure why. The action was fun to listen to and the obstacles built up proper tension but. But the story itself could probably be summed up in a few sentences. I guess because there wasn't a gradual unraveling of the story it was just four general plot threads in the entire book, they were brought up rarely and instead of the threads being slowly unraveled.each got a couple mentions, generally just long enough for the questions to be asked, then the questions got answered later. Instead the book focused mainly on traveling but not for setting exploration, the distances they went were very short. Instead the vast majority of the book was built around the core characters and their relationships with each other, and how their relationships were changing. So by the end of the book I felt I knew all the core characters very well. Which isn't good or bad, just not very engrossing but it managed to be somewhat entertaining nonetheless.

great follow up

great book. narrator was excellent. characters were good and story line interesting. highly recommend it

Amazing book!!

My god George RR Martin could learn a thing from this series on how to make you love a character, then kill them. I don't know how I'm going to stand the wait for book three.

whew!

whwe! that was one impressive story. i shed a tear at the end. became so wrapped up in the story and characters. whew!

Good Middle

If you could sum up Morningside Fall in three words, what would they be?

Darkest before [the] Dawn

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the addition of the security team and the awaken. This added some amazing characters and new heroes.

Which scene was your favorite?

The flee and the drama that followed.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I wished through this book Wren would start to find his strength. Jay kept him a weeping child for way to long...but he IS a child and so it was perfect writing. We always want the main character to be a hero and forget not all will be...at least not yet.

Any additional comments?

Easy to understand and keep moving forward with reputation to help remember the story before. I hate complicated books that you need a map, directions, ingredients list, and legend just to make it through the first chapter.

The middle book blues...

Morningside Fall, Book 2 of the Legends of the Duskwalker series, is like the second book of many other trilogies. It acts as a bridge from the first book to the last and resolves little on its own. In this case Jay Posey also chooses not to do much world building, which was also lacking in the first book, and instead chooses to introduce a bunch of new characters to the storyline. Most of these new characters have military training which results in there being a lot of tactical squad based combat throughout which makes this book feel more like a military Sci-Fi novel than anything else. Although these characters all start out with rather similar military-esque personalities, they do eventually differentiate themselves and grow on you thus rightfully earning their place in the story.

After the events at the end of the first book, Wren and Cass find themselves in leadership roles in the city of Morningside, where things go from bad to worse rather quickly. Wren is thrust into the role of Governor after the death of his father and his attempts to rule with compassion are rather misplaced in this apocalyptic future. As is common for such stories, doing the right thing isn't always the right thing to do and Wren's moral decisions cause all kinds of problems. Problems that fracture his power base and eventually put him and Cass back on the run.

The main issue with the story returning to Wren and Cass on the run is that Three was the titular character in the first book and it was his presence that really made 'being on the run' quite interesting. Instead, this story feels like a lesser version of the one presented in the first book and it doesn't come together until an antagonist of substance is eventually established. This sets up the finale nicely but it isn't enough to elevate this book to the same level as book one. Luckily, the final book manages to expertly combine the mystery offered by Three's persona in the first book with the military precision offered in this one to deliver a compelling conclusion to the series. So this book is worth it only if you plan to finish off the series by picking up Dawnbreaker.

Luke Daniels does an excellent job narrating military Sci-Fi novels so he is a great fit as the narrator of this one.