Download Audio Books from Audible.

Customer reviews

5 star		51%
4 star		22%
3 star		13%
2 star		8%
1 star		6%

How are ratings calculated?

Review this product

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

icdbeez

Excellent Start to a Series - Fantastic Heroine

Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2013

Verified Purchase

T say that I was taken aback at the quality of the writing of the heroine (protagonist) would be an understatement. Many of the other characters fall into your stereotypical roles, but our blushing, warm, strong, magical, and independent heroine was characterized so well that it actually carries the story quite well. There are a number of story arcs that weave together to form the plot - one is a power play t take over the three kingdoms to make them one, another is to rescue the heroines father from his prison cell, another is to find out and control the power of the magic of the three stones. These three things are all inextricable, and our heroines potential marriage to Prince Ahlen could bring disaster, or the power to bring peace to everyone, but with everyone trying to kill her, she doesn't know which way to turn, and who is telling the truth and who is just out for their own greed or power.

If this book had more character development, had greater polish, removed the stereotypes, and improved the dialog, it could easily have lifted itself into the five star range. As I got it for free, this was a rare treat indeed, and I commend the author for providing such a wonderful level of writing for the entire world at no charge. The story is terribly exciting at a non-stop pace with characters that you care about in the middle of problems that you will want to see solved.

The biggest complaint I had about the book was the ending. It is what I call a MIT ending or Moment In Time. One minute the book is there, the next minute the book ends. Nothing is solved. Nothing is wrapped up. No story arcs are cleanly resolved. Typically, an event occurs at the end of the book that throws some type of monkey wrench into the main situation, or adds new light on the situation. Frankly, these types of endings make me want to scream. If my Kindle would not have broken, I would have thrown it - overhand into the corner with vim and vigor! Other than that, that book is really quite good. I am deciding if I am too insulted by the ending to buy the follow on book or not. I want to continue the story, but it was an underhanded was for me to continue. The story is definitely good enough to stand up on its own merits without the cheap tricks of MIT endings to get readers to buy follow on books.

Kindle Customer

Line of Families

Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2017

Verified Purchase

SENSUALITY RATING: NO profanity; NO Euphemistic "code words; NO sexual encounters

GENRE: Adventure fiction; YA; Romance; Travelogue

SETTING: Three Corners: Stone of Eltar representing 2 family lines; Stone of Sheas line; Stone of the Ahlen line;

CENTRAL MALE CHARACTER: Prince TORIAN AHLEN – Courageous; Warrior; Protective of his people;

CENTRAL FEMALE CHARACTER: EMARIYA – not a person expected to be ignored; not a proper young lady as expected of her as a Princess

SYNOPSIS: She is betrothed and her marriage to the Prince will bring prosperity to the people. Another seeks control of the Three Corners and will marry her even if he must force her to marry. As she travels to a kingdom that is unknown to her, the trip will become dangerous.

WHAT I LIKED: Prince Ahlen’s reason to marry.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE: Her travel seemed a little dragged out; not really exciting.

OVERALL RATING: (5) stars because great YA and older Adult read. Her life was just fine until she was promised in marriage by her brother; the little booger butt. You will find out what made the Three Corners. Hope in romance. Travel fraught with danger.

Her Royal Peepness Princess HoneyBunny BlayzeTop Contributor: Baking

Medieval "Kinda Awesome"?

Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2016

Verified Purchase

I am new to medieval paranormal books. So I wasn't entirely sure what to expect to find in a story from this time period. As a young adult fantasy book based loosely around a medieval time. I would say this book would appeal to girls as the main character is strong willed and independent, as well as a little naive at times like every 17 year old can be.

Adult readers will like it depending on how flexible they are with some modern phrasing the author chooses to use. For example when a new magical power is used during a Crisis a character says " That's kinda awesome."

As a reader who likes to read series I was disappointed to find this book ends so abruptly. In mid conversation in paragraph you are expecting the next line , but not a hasty the end As if a buzzer went off.

I'm uncertain if I will read the next book or not. As there are parts of the storyline that I like and parts that didn't really fit well.

MangoMagic

Extremely Slow, Slow Plot

Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2013

Verified Purchase

The Good:
This was a fairly well written novel. The author clearly put a great deal of time into concocting what I found to be a relatively fresh premise and vibrant, albeit unmemorable, world.

The Bad:
The plot is extremely slow. In fact, you don't even learn what the entire purpose of the story is until 75% of the way through. Initially, the story focuses on the heroine for this great conflict: leave and save her people or stay and doom them to death at the hands of blood thirsty, traitorous distant relatives. There are even hints of sabotage and political trickery here and there. The heroine, of course, embarks on this journey. This is where the plot comes to a grinding halt. Literally. The novel spends pages, upon pages, upon pages detailing this long, hazardous journey through terrain that's about as engaging as the desert. The heroine doesn't even meet the hero until well into the climax of the novel and by then, I had already lost interest. There was no basis for their instant attraction, which the book cleverly tries to point out from the very beginning as if acknowledgement is enough to sidestep this particular cliche. Except it's not. There are hints of magic but the magic is so lackluster and uninteresting that I didn't really care for when the heroine used her "mysterious" gifts. It's not even until the absolute very end that the plot starts to show some promise. At that point, it's more than obvious the author is merely dropping this "huge" reveal to rope people into returning for the sequel.

Overall
It was an OK read. I wouldn't recommend it. The premise was a bit interesting but the execution was quite stale; the romance was much of the same. I won't be reading the sequels. The first book didn't hook me the way it should've.

Top reviews from other countries

Sarah

Great YA Fantasy.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 2, 2013

Verified Purchase

(Source: Downloaded for free from amazon.co.uk.)
16-year-old Emariya has not been thinking about marriage, until her brother Reeve tells her that Prince Torian of the neighbouring land of Thalmas, has asked for her hand in marriage.

At first Emariya refuses, but when she then finds that her father is imprisoned somewhere in the land of Sheas, she travels to Thalmas to meet with Prince Torian, and request that he help her rescue her father in return for her hand in marriage.

There is more at stake that Emariya doesn't know about though. It seems that the three different lands each had a family who had a special gift - seeing the future, communing with spirits, and being able to harness the earth's energy. Emariya's mother had one gift and her father another, making her a second stone, and Price Torian has the third gift. There is a prophecy which says that if all three gifts merge there could be catastophy.
Who is holding Emariya's father though? Will Torian help her to free him? What of the prophecy surrounding the stones? And can Emariya bring herself to marry someone she doesn't love for the good of her people?

This was a good YA fantasy novel, and I loved Emariya and her Prince!

Firstly I have to say that I love the name Emariya! So pretty!
Emariya was a sweet girl, and she really felt that she had the power to change things, even if that idea was a little naïve. It was nice how she tried to stand up for what she believed in, and wanted to marry for love. She also wanted to do what was best for the kingdom though, and purposefully tried to find a way to help that didn't involve her marrying someone she had never even met.

Torian was a great character. Even though Emariya thought that it was his idea to bind the stones, she still found him charming and couldn't help but like him. I liked him too, and I was really hoping that the two of them would end up together.

My least favourite character was Emariya's brother Reeve, who seemed quite selfish, and didn't seem to care who he had to hurt to get what he wanted. He really was a spiteful character, and I really wanted him to get what he deserved.

I liked the storyline in this book, and unlike a lot of fantasy books I didn't find the plotline difficult to keep up with! I liked the way the three warring areas were described and their reasons for the strife seemed genuine. There wasn't a lot of romance, but it was obvious the way that Emariya and Torian were drawn to each other.
I liked the ending, although it was left very open for the next book in the series.
Overall; a great first instalment in this YA fantasy series.
7.5 out of 10.

Fleur

Good

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 11, 2014

Verified Purchase

I enjoyed reading this book although I was disappointed in the book's feminism. The conflicting views and actions of the heroine; In dialogue and narration she is portrayed as a strong woman and wilful and yet her actions of fainting, weeping, and seeking manly strength to override her weakness said otherwise. Not to mention her hand maiden also had a weak female persona. I'm hoping to see the women grow into stronger characters in the next book. Besides that, I enjoyed it.

P.S.
I bought what I thought was the next book in the series, which turned out it was not. It put me off trying to buy the next one. There should be a more practical way to see which book is supposed to be next. (Not even Wikipedia had a page on this series)I basically gave up trying to find it.

Emily R

Compelling

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 19, 2013

Verified Purchase

I've been reading this book in between work shifts over the last few days and found it really entertaining. It was fun to dip into and often left me wanting to continue it long after I should have put it down.

It was compelling writing and a good story, but I did find that the characters sometimes made odd leaps in logic or came to strange conclusions.

Regardless, I appreciated the author not including a love triangle and some of the plot twists were very unexpected. A good read.

Chillzilla

Interesting

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 5, 2014

Verified Purchase

This is a good and interesting book. The female lead is strong and independent. Her insistence on loving an individual for who they are and refusing to follow social restrictions is good for young girls to be inspired by. The plot twists were great, and thankfully included. Ended slightly abruptly for me, but overall the book was swell!

Sophie waters

.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 27, 2013

Verified Purchase

This book is about a girl named emariya or something. It is really good and would recommend it to anyone. It keeps twisting, and has a wonderful deal of betrayal.

Freya

See all reviews