• Thinblade

  • Sovereign of the Seven Isles, Book 1
  • By: David A. Wells
  • Narrated by: Derek Perkins
  • Length: 18 hrs and 14 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,432 ratings)

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Thinblade  By  cover art

Thinblade

By: David A. Wells
Narrated by: Derek Perkins
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Publisher's summary

When second son Alexander Valentine loses his brother to an assassin's arrow, he discovers that his family protects an ancient secret and reluctantly finds himself at the center of the final battle of a war that was supposed to have ended 2,000 years ago.

Pursued by the dark minions of an ancient enemy, Alexander flees to the mountain city of Glen Morillian where he discovers that he is the heir to the throne of Ruatha, one of the Seven Isles, but before he can claim the throne he must recover the ancient Thinblade. Seven were forged by the first Sovereign of the Seven Isles and bound to the bloodline of each of the seven Island Kings in exchange for their loyalty to the Old Law. Each sword is as long as a man's arm, as wide as a man’s thumb and so thin it can’t be seen when viewed from the edge.

Thinblade is the story of Alexander's quest to find the ancient sword, claim the throne of Ruatha, and raise an army to stand against the enemy that has awoken to claim dominion over all of the Seven Isles.

©2011 David A. Wells (P)2014 Podium Publishing

What listeners say about Thinblade

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Worst Book I've Ever Listened To or Read

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

I was highly disappointed by the book (and the series) in general. This review is going to cover the first three books.

The main character is a Gary-Sue (male version of a Mary-Sue). The fact that he can miraculously solve problems and can do no wrong wouldn't have bothered me if it wasn't so over the top and combined with other horrible narrative choices.

What's wrong with the book and series? (There will be minor spoilers...which I'm fine with because the book isn't worth a listen at all...not even if it was the last audiobook on earth).

-The dude learns all kinds of skills (magic and sword fighting) without any type of time investment or struggle.

-Other characters in the series have similar experiences where they miraculously against all reason learn difficult skills too easily.

-Magical rights that are supposed to be potentially fatal and take years of study, are performed with ease.

-The relationship building of love interests is skipped entirely. There's no build up. Which makes the Legends of Tomorrow Hawk Girl/Hawk Man-esque relationship ridiculous. It takes a lot more build up to create a good "I could save the world, but I'd prefer to save my honey bunches of oats instead" sentiment.

-Hero is ridiculously whinny and prone to tears...I would have sympathy, but the emotions aren't earned. Thus it feels like a diva throwing an over-the-top temper tantrum. The dude cries three times in one day once! Three times.

-The moralistic message is blatant and bludgeons you over the head repeatedly. Not even that head trauma could improve the series.

-There are moments of sexist tendencies (especially in the creation of how males and females interact with the magic system). Did you really need to create a system where the females needed to cause themselves minor pain to learn how to deal with their powers and the males don't? It's even more ludicrous when you consider how easily the author makes exceptions to the rules of magic for his main characters all the time.

-Occasionally there is ridiculous dialogue. At one point in the 3rd book, a side characters says something along the lines of "I hope Mary-Sue survived the magical ceremony" when we know the side character had seen Mary-Sue in the room with her. Clearly, if she's still alive in the room with you, you didn't need to hope or ask someone else if she had survived. She survived!

Do yourself a favor and skip this series altogether. You'd be better served reading Terry Goodkind, Brandon Sanderson or Garth Nix.

Run. Run far away. And don't look back.

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27 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Great potential, lacks polish and nuance.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Some serious editing. The prose is loaded with clichés, and often weighed down by superfluous words. Tighten up!

The characters need personality. Alexander seems to have no flaws; he's perfectly good and perfectly capable. I find this kind of paragon boring... how can a character experience growth if there's nothing to improve?

Any additional comments?

I downloaded this book on the basis of its reviews, and I should have looked more closely. I have the feeling some of the positive reviews are the author's friends and family.

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

a great classical adventure epic fantasy, not GRRM

Where does Thinblade rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Silly question, I do not rate book linearly at the time of writing this review I have completed the first 5 books. Or all that are currently out on audible. The full series is coming out rather quickly. One complaint is that in several of the books,the stopping points are very abrupt. It is clear that this series is one big huge story. It is great fun and while in many ways it adheres to. The classical dungeons and Dragons universe, it does so only in the same way that hobbit seems very much like it. Also unlike many wizards,of the coast books, this story in no way is serving the actual game of dungeons and dragons it is simply in the vein of those kind of world and beastie tropes. For all that there is much that is very original and much that has some thought to it, I found the book and all the other books only get progressively better and the plot and character had more depth. For cynics or young amature shrinks, it is true that many of these character are very vanilla in that they are idealized and really are committed to do the right thing. but as an older reader who has been on a battlefield. While there broken or odd ball characters there are more straight forward heroes just ready to do their best that one might think. So I might not see this collection of loyal and moral folk as far fetched as others. That said this is not George R R Martin, not that there are no villains or heart breaking character kills, the flavor of this book is definitely more, for those who want a fun intricate large world that is full of very clearly a good side and a dark side. There is just enough subterfuge between our protagonists to keep the characters from seeming one dimensional. For the person who wants a fun escapist fantasy that is intelligent and issue filled,to be engaging but also clean and clear enough on plot that it serves as am escape for those who do not find the focus on grit and grime by say an Abercrombie all that great. I am a former marine. I know all about bush wounds and bush grit but the truth is if you do it for a living you get thick enough callouses that in my case, I Was able to step on a tack and not know it is was in the center of my heal till I heard the tile make noise when I walked. In other words, you do not focus on that stuff, And if you are constantly it's miserable, things I do not need in my adventure prose. But for a young buck who is really trying to I imagine there stories as real I can see how it might be alluring. This is for those who want a fun intelligent, coherent complex but straightforward fantasy story with a lot of cool fighting and cool Magic and it all works. I highly. Reccomend this book. If I could I would have giving this book a 4 and a half stars I would because for what it is. A great fantasy escape with depths to explore without any pretense of trying to be gritty "speculative fiction". It's just a da,n entertaining book that is part of a damn entertaining series. Book one The thin blade is all about setting up the social and metaphysical aspects of the world and obtaining the thin blade which is quite the cool weapon. If you want innovative fantasy that avoids the usual tropes of magic and fighters and wizards a and Dragons, This is not for you but if you can,enjoy such tropes if they are part of an intricately built and yet gigantic world then you might give it a try. I really enjoyed it but I was looking for a long epic escapist story while I healed and I found this series superb for an alternate place to put my mind for a while

Which character – as performed by Derek Perkins – was your favorite?

The dragons in general were credible

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

Yes a fairly intelligent discourse between Alexander and Lucky on human nature and power. Fairly insightful reasoning,

Any additional comments?

The narrator. Was good but not astonishing. It is worth noting all of these books are long audio books and I never got sick of the narrators voice so that cannot be overlooked.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Just the beginning...the series gets better!

Would you listen to Thinblade again? Why?

I will freely admit I did not love the beginning of this book. I kept thinking the author seemed like an amateur. I tired quickly of the seemingly copied and pasted over-long and unnecessary descriptions of food ("rich creamy butter" anyone?). But as the book went on it got a little bit better...enough to make me listen to book 2, and not just because of the abrupt anti-climactic ending that leaves you thinking where the heck is the rest of the story. Now that I have completed book 7 and can look back on the entire series, I'm very glad I stuck with it. I really enjoyed the ride.There are many twists and turns and unexpected surprises along the way. There is a lot more to this story than you would expect after finishing this first book. It was nice to see the author's writing skill grow with the story, each book better than the one before it.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Jattaan P'Tal

Any additional comments?

Happy to report that "rich creamy butter" is probably only mentioned 1 or 2 times for the entire rest of the series!

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Lacks Believability

What did you like best about Thinblade? What did you like least?

Best part was the narrator Mr. Perkins is very consistent. The worst part was the story itself the writing was unimaginative and the story was tough to believe (I know that is a weird thing to say for a Fantasy book).

What was most disappointing about David A. Wells’s story?

The writing is not descriptive at all never using descriptive language to set the scene for the reader. The characters were also disappointing the good guys were "perfect" the bad guys too bad. It makes for a lack of connection with the protagonist and doesn't help development a sense of believability in the antagonists. The abilities of the main character were also unbelievable. He goes from having a vague sense of if a person is good or bad based on color to be able to tell very abstract traits this also plays into the descriptive language as I struggle to see what color would describe some of the personal traits described. The entire concept of a magical signal that notified the entire world of the arrival of the main villain was subsequently invalidated at every turn by the rest of the story. First, why would the only person capable of stopping this evil be hiding on an obscure farm when there was an entire army mountain valley dedicated to protecting and serving him? Second, the legend of the return of this villain was supposed to be common knowledge to the entire world yet the arrival of the hero is doubted by everyone he encountered. The world is also not well thought out. This is all supposed to be taking place on island nations. What type of island nation has a 70000 man army and no navy? These examples and many more really killed the story for me Fantasy is supposed to be just that but the story needs to have a sensible flow. This book lacks that at every turn.

Which scene was your favorite?

The scene where the main character receives gifts from the guild mage. Not because it was a good scene but for its total ridiculousness. " Here you go hero I have a gift specific for every one of your entourage specific to their skills." The main character never had to go through any real trial in order to earn all the power he was given.

Was Thinblade worth the listening time?

Not really. Maybe for a young child.

Any additional comments?

This book had great potential and up till the end I was planning on reading book two in the hope that Mr. Wells would grow as a writer through the process. Unfortunately after reading reviews of the second book it is clear that's not the case. I would not recommend reading this series.

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Classic / entertaining fantasy for young adults

Story is about a young man, Alexander, who is asked to take on the responsibility of being a savior for a nation against an enemy that woke up after centuries of slumber. Story verge on being classic fantasy where lines for good and evil are well drawn. I am a fan of GRRM and Joe Abercrombie, and this book seemed to be for young adults even though there is enough violence to argue otherwise.

The book has shades of LOTR and Belgariad in it. References such as 'line has been remade', and 'sword' that is the evidence of succession ideas which were abit close to LOTR. Where protagonist asking himself 'why me' reminded me a lot of Belgariad. As I said book is on the classic fantasy side; therefore, these type of comparison are inevitable.

World created in this book has high utilization of 'magic'. Magic is well known, there are various type of mages / wizards / arch-mages .. etc. Still, I had a to cringe a bit at times when the word magic was utilized a bit casually. My second gripe with book was that everything fit a bit too neatly that messages that were meant to be delivered to 'chosen or cursed' one were delivered even after centuries / magical gifts were provided and guidance was available readily.

Regardless of minor gripes, story is fast paced, and delivers entertaining story. Characters are well developed and reader gets a good sense of their motivations and reasons for their actions. Story develops in such a way that reader feels the urgency on various aspect of the story.

Narrator did a fantastic job, and it was a very enjoyable listen.

Again, if you are expecting ASOIF type book then look else where; otherwise, it is an entertaining book.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A great read

Would you listen to Thinblade again? Why?

I am not much for writing reviews, but when I find a book that really takes me into their world, then I do. For me, this is one of those books where I am present with the characters. It is magical when that happens.Looking forward to book two.Magic fascinates me. Within these pages, magic is not felt through the story. Magic is told. I really do enjoy feeling the magic, the body, texture and the difficulty in mastering. The author fails to bring magic alive. Instead Alex (the main character) learns from a book and a statue that comes to life. That said, perhaps in book two the connection will be better made.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome Read!

I was so enthralled with this book I finished it in 2 days!
I haven't run into this type of fantasy in a very long time.
Narration was excellent. The plot was believable.
The magic rules were very interesting and I loved the world
Wells designed.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

WOT and SOT are one.

This was a very good book. If you enjoy The Wheel of Time series or the Sword of Truth series this book will not disappoint. Although it seems more like the Sword of Truth then the Wheel of Time (before Terry Goodkind lost his touch). I would even say this would be a good start to a series if your looking to break away from the downward slope of bad writting that Goodkind has been putting out lately.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

GREAT STORY LINE

What made the experience of listening to Thinblade the most enjoyable?

THIS IS A GREAT STORY LINE EQUAL TO ANY DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS LIKE BOOKS I'VE READ, ESPECIALLY THE WHEEL OF TIME SERIES BY ROBERT JORDAN. GREAT CHARACTERS, VERY HARD TO PUT DOWN. MAKES ME WANT TO CONTINUE LISTENING.

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9 people found this helpful