The Initiate Brother

The Initiate Brother Series, Book 1

By: Sean Russell

Narrated by: Elijah Alexander

Length: 16 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Plague and warfare have swept across the Orient, ravaging the ancient kingdom of Wa, devastating the royal line, and leaving a new dynasty on the throne—a new emperor, Akantsu, filled with fear of all who might seek to wrest the empire from his grasp. Among those out of favor with the new liege is the Order of the Botahist Monks, whose mystical powers have enabled them to hold positions as spiritual advisors to the imperial court for nearly ten centuries. But Emperor Akantsu fears none so greatly as he does Lord Shonto, the brilliant leader of the most important of the old families, whose influence could rally the great houses against the throne and whose adopted daughter, the beautiful and talented Lady Nishima, is the last surviving member of the old royal family.

Sent to be military governor of a northern border province long threatened by barbarian invaders, Lord Shonto knows he is being lured to his death. But Akantsu has underestimated his foe, for not only is Lord Shonto the greatest military genius of the age but he has with him a spiritual advisor from the Botahist order—a young man gifted with extraordinary martial arts skills and magical abilities, Initiate Brother Shuyun. And even Lord Shonto does not realize the true potential of this young monk. Only time will reveal that Shuyun’s magical powers have not seen their equal in nearly a thousand years—not since the Perfect Master himself walked the paths of the empire.

©1991 Sean Russell (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Fantasy at its best.” ( Quantum)

Better than Lord of the Rings?

This book and the sequel, Gatherer of Clouds, form one of the best fantasy epics of all time. In fact, for my money, these two books are better than the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Initiate Brother Shuyun is one of the great characters to ever live. Yes I said "live" because Sean Russell makes Shuyun and the other characters live. The Empire of Wa is so real that you cannot help but inhabit that world long after you read the book. The poetry is exquisite, the language is beautiful, and the religious tension is perfect.

The narration is quite good. I have read these books in paperback 3 times (this is my first listen and my fourth "reading") and the narrator certainly enhanced the experience. In the future I will prefer to listen rather than to get out the paperback copies. I especially love the voice of Brother Shuyun. The narrator exudes "tranquility of purpose."

Buy this book and you will never regret it!

I cannot wait to have some more of Sean Russell's books recorded for audio! Such as the fabulous "Moontide and Magic Rise" and "River into Darkness" sagas. Come on audible, make it happen...

Fun, entertaining, and somewhat unconventional

This was a very good book. The world that Russell creates is beautiful and intriguing. He "paints" a magnificent landscape with gorgeous settings and characters. The writing is pretty good, although it does seem to slip at times, but not so often that it takes away from the overall story. Russell provides a great mix of action, tension, quiet meditation scenes, war, fighting, and court intrigue that keeps the story fresh and keeps the reader engaged.

One thing I did not like was a story line he introduces very early in the book, and to me seemed like it would be central to the book, but he leaves it behind and only touches on it briefly throughout the rest of the book. Maybe he'll spend more time on it in the second book. Other than that, it's a really good book.

Elijah Alexander does a pretty good job with the narration, however, there is something about his voice that took me quite a while to get used to. He is very breathy and often soft spoken which was very distracting for me at first. Most of his character voices are quite good and distinct, but some are just bad, such as the horrible Yoda type voice he uses for one of the minor characters.

Overall, I'd recommend this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Story is reasonably well delivered

The story at times is a little slow and the character arcs of these two books leaves something to be desired. There are some satisfying moments but overall it’s a bit anti-climactic.

A real gem

This book is unconventional in that there is not as much action and combat compared to a typical fantasy book. However, the story still kept me riveted, and I'm usually the lots-of-explosions-or-else-zzz kind of guy. The setting, storytelling and immersion in an interesting culture all add a wonderful depth.

The only bad thing is that the sequel isn't available on Audible at this time. Tsk!

Good duology starts here

I read both books back to back and would recommend them to readers who don't mind their adventures told at a slightly slower pace, interspersed with some philosophy and a little poetry.

I read and listened. Narration is fine, but not brilliant. It doesnt add value to the storytelling and possibly detracts at times.

A medieval Asian tale (Japanese-Chinese mix) with the slightest fantastical bent, set in a mythical land (see maps) with lords and ladies, peasants and emperors, warriors and monks, politics, lies, and conspiracies, murder, greed, and ambition.

The darkness is offset by several likable and honorable characters who feature across both books. Characterization and character development is a strength, esp for Jaku Tadamoto. Relationships among the allies are heartwarming, and the romance doesn't overwhelm. The plot is unpredictable and twisty, if slow at times. Most events and actions are seen thru the teachings of the Enlightened One, Lord Botahara, The Perfect Master, and a religion similar to Buddhism (but the book is not preachy).

The story rings almost of speculative history with names and places changed, but not quite.

Told in third-person -- the only way to travel!

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Main Characters:
(Last names go before first names in this culture, and the honorific suffix -sum may be attached to show friendship or endearment, sometimes replacing the final syllable, so Nishima becomes Nishi-sum)

House Shonto:
Lord Shonto Motoru /Motoro-sum/ Mito-sum
Shonto's adult son Shonto Shokan
Shinto's adult step-daughter Lady Nishima (her friends Lady Kitsura and artist Lady Okara)
Shonto's steward Kamu (one-armed, a famous swordsman in earlier days, meticulous with details)
Shonto's merchant-vassal Tanaka
Shonto's security: Rohku Saicha, Captain of the Guard, 47 years old. (His son Corporal Rohku is a member of Lord Shonto's personal guard.)
Shonto's ally General Hojo Masakado


House Yamaku (displaced the Hanama Dynasty):
Emperor Akantsu II, Son of Heaven
Emperor's consort Sonsa (dancer) Osha-sum
Emperor's men from House Jaku:
General Jaku Katta, advisor to Emperor and Captain of the Imperial Guard, aka The Black Tiger
The youngest of the three Jaku brothers, Yasata had neither the martial skill of Katta nor the intellectual brilliance of Tadamoto.

Jinjoh Monastery / Botahist Brothers:
Supreme Master Brother Nodaku (island monastery)
Brother Shuyun, young neophyte/ initiate
Brother Sotura, Chi Quan instructor
Brother Hutto, Primate of the Floating City of Yankura
Brother Satake, former spiritual advisor to Shonto
etc.


Priory Sisters:
Prioress, Sister Saeja (old nun, head of the Order)
Sister Sutso, Saeja's secretary
Senior Sister Morima
Junior Acolyte Tesseko
Senior Sister Gatsa
etc

Lord Komawara Samyamu from Seh province: Ah, yes, Lord Shonto thought, the same slim build and the long thin nose. If this youth is anything like his father, his apparent lack of muscle is deceptive. The old Komawara had been a strong swordsman and lightning fast.

Not bad, but not at all what I expected

When I bought this book I was looking forward to lots of action and mystic kung-fu goodness, maybe something like if the TV show Avatar got a novel. What I got was pretty much ancient Chinese Game of Thrones. It started out strong describing the mystic monk order who can slow down time and the training of a promising young apprentice then red flags started getting raised for me when the story veered hard into much more political intrigue and court ceremonies.

Overall I did enjoy this book and will pick up the second one to see how the story ends, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed.

Worth the 'credit'

I hesitated to purchase this book due to some of the mixed reviews and criticisms of the narrator. So glad I let the overwhelmingly positive reviews guide my choice! I agree with the description of the narrator's voice as "breathy", but I found it easy to listen to, somehow equally engaging and calming. The Yoda-like voice was a fail, but since I remembered it's description in the reviews I had read it gave me a chuckle. Like an inside joke. That character's part was mercifully short. Seriously, though, a book this long and complex? Big deal. I'm over it.
The story was admittedly daunting at first. Trying to remember who was who and understand the culture of this new world, but that's part of the fun of fantasy, right?
The app makes going back to hear something again easy, and I clipped/bookmarked parts I wanted to go back to or remember.
Only downside is now I have to buy the next one.
Worth it!

Too Much, Too Fast

I think I'm going to have to read this book in print before listening to it again. The narrator seems to read fairly quickly, which isn't a problem, per se, except that it gives everything a breathless urgency which doesn't quite seem to fit the first chapter that I listened to.

The other problem for me are the names. With as quickly as the narrator goes, it's difficult for me to keep the names straight, especially since, sadly, they run together, being unfamiliar.

The story itself seems interesting, but there was an odd jump from the first chapter to the second (which was as far as I listened), that left me confused.

I love this book, please don't listen to it.

I've loved this book forever, so I thought I'd have a comfort listen...but the narrator is awful. AWFUL!! His delivery descends further towards Saturday morning cartoons with each character that is introduced. He doesn't give any of them the subtlety and nuance Russell imbues in them. I'm going to have to dig out my old paperbacks of this series now, because it really is an excellent story that has been done a great disservice.

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One of the best books ever, a must have for cultivation junkies and progression addicts🐿