Valor

By: John Gwynne

Narrated by: Damian Lynch

Length: 23 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

War has erupted in the Banished Lands as the race for power intensifies.

Corban flees his homeland searching for peace, but he soon discovers that there is no haven in the west as the agents of Rhin and roaming bands of giants hound his every step.

Veradis leaves the battleground and rushes to his King's side. But he has witnessed both combat and betrayal and his duty weighs heavily upon him.

Maquin seeks only revenge, but pirate slavers and the brutal world of pit-fighting stand in his way.

Nathair becomes embroiled in the wars of the west as Queen Rhin marches against King Owain. The need to find the cauldron of the giants drives him on.

Sides are chosen and oaths will be fulfilled or broken in a land where hell has broken loose.

©2014 John Gwynne (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Much better narration

This book is definitely worth listening to. As for my comment on narration... Something about how the first book was read didn't sit well with me (The one read by John Keating). I didn't mind it, but would have trouble endorsing it. The John Keating version seems to have been replaced by a Damian Lynch version so this review would likely be more for those who have listened to the first book before July 2019. The previous narrative felt over the top more often than not. Damian Lynch's voice wasn't as randomly dramatic for no particular reason. As to be expected, he changed a few of the voices to better suit some of the characters and held true to displaying the talents of accents that John Keating had in the first story.

yep this is awesome

on to the next one. this one was nonstop and did not let up. peddle to the meddle.

Enjoyable Medieval European Fantasy

If you were satisfied with ’Malice’ then you will love this edition. Action packed and this story tows the line between grounded and fantastical very well.

Freaking Awesome Book!!!

Better than the 1st Book in the series best book I’ve listened to in a long time. Looking forward to the next book in the series!!

Amazing going onto the next

The narration is great. The story is incredible truly a book and a series worth reading.

Fights!

First book was a little slow but picked up in book 2. Excited to finish the last 2

Narrator needed to listen to old narrators work!

Book 2 switched narrators and he changed the pronunciations of so many names and places!

A great EPIC

I enjoyed the story arcs and characters. Good fun. The narrarator was fantastic. I intend to continue with the series!

Damian Lynch

Gave a lower performance rating on the first book. I took a little while to adjust to him but he really does do a great job making every character an individual voice.

Better and Better

In my review of the first book, my primary gripe was the distracting way the narrator hit emotional notes and tone. Damian Lynch has an incredible ability to give unique voices to each character, but didn't seem to sync the tone to the dialog.

I chose to give the second audio book a try since I thought Damian Lynch had the potential to make it into my top narrator list, led by Steven Pacey reading the first law series. If the experience was the same as the first book (Malice), the story was good enough for me to continue reading the series and skip the Audible version.

I am so happy I gave Valor a chance in audiobook format. Damian Lynch was fantastic! such an improvement over book 1. I will really enjoy listening to the next one!

As far as John Gwynne and his series goes, if it stays this good, I am glad I came across him as an author. The story is rich in dialog, full of many different characters without just leaving any behind. Each of the characters gets enough development attention where you care what happens when they are involved in something. John Gwynne given so many characters the right amount of dialogue and attention and it just makes the story incredible.

Hachette Audio...I always know I will experience a good product, and have come to greatly appreciate your work.