The Umbral Storm

Sharded Few, Book 1

By: Alec Hutson

Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins

Length: 23 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

A thousand years ago the Heart of the World was shattered, its fragments scattered across the lands.

In the chaos that followed, martial orders arose to gather these shards, for it was found that great powers were granted when these pieces were bonded to the flesh of the chosen. These are the Sharded Few, warriors imbued with the divine energies that once coursed through the Heart, and driven to absorb enough fragments to claim godhood.

Deryn has known nothing in his life except suffering. Orphaned at the edge of the realms, indentured to a cruel slaver, he can see little chance of escaping his circumstances. But elsewhere in the world ancient powers are stirring, new alliances threaten the peace of the old order, and in the cataclysms that are coming a slave will become a hero.

©2022 Alec Hutson (P)2023 Tantor

New magic system

Very engaging and it draws you in with a vast magic system. Unlimited possibilities for new talent.

loved it

I really loved this book and the only problem I have is that there aren't any sequels out yet. I'm hoping the next book comes out soon! 10/10 I'll probably listen to it again right away.

So good I almost Sharded

Good story, cool magic system, deep lore and interesting world.. but the MC is kind of a doofus, and while its very common for reviews to say that about every main character who makes a decision the reader doesn't agree with, THIS time we're talking straight up intelligence. Our boy clearly is not the sharpest tool, or playing with a full deck. Gives off occasional jar jar binks vibes, dumb luck is responsible for the majority of good outcomes he has, along with every character next to him telling him to do things like pick up a sword, try using your power, maybe close your mouth and breath through your nose. Another review described him as an idiot savant, and its comically accurate.

I can see this getting popular

A lot better than I expected. Kind of reminds me of cultivation stories but with a twist. It isn't much like his previous work but it's just as creative. Alec is pretty good at creating interesting worlds that are fun to learn about. I will be getting the next book for sure.

Not bad but not great either.

This book was sort of entertaining. The issues I had were the constant reference to the sting people as sharded. The author really should have picked a better name because the word is used about 10k times in this book and just ends up being grating and exhausting plus it starts sounding like sharted… so there’s that. Now for the deeper issues. The world has inconsistencies, some are small some are big but mainly they are annoying. The ton of the book flops from a childish theme to a serious bad guy vibe too much. Most of that is do to the main character who acts like a child most of the book except in rare circumstances. He’s something of an idiot savant and I wish he didn’t exist as the main character. Also the ending was bad and does that flips everything the entire book laid out as the rules of the universe thing on its head so there’s that to look forward to. If this were a novice author the book would make more sense but it isn’t and he should have had better proof reading or something.

Interesting Story but Not a lot of Representstion

So this was an interesting read. On the one hand, it was definitely a broader more Fantasy like story with progression fantasy elements. The characters were interesting and the world was expansive enough to leave you wanting to know more about it.


However, the female characters in this story left something to be desired. They tended to be background pieces there to drive the male characters forward. While the later parts of the story did introduce some stronger female leads, they still lacked a sense of depth.

I am hopeful that the next entries in the series built upon this foundation as there is a lot to like.