Black Steel Brandy

De: Chad Crooke

Narrado por: Ralph Lister

One thousand years have passed since Ragnarök. New lands have been brought to Midgard with the collapse of Yggdrasil, and new magic has been discovered by the survivors. The old gods are dead, and have been replaced by those left standing after the last war.

Brand was born Jabari, a dark-skinned human that is seen to be monstrous or mysterious in the city in which he lives. For his entire life, he's had to fight off attackers, and deal with mistreatment. Worse, within two years, he will be forced from the comforts of his home to fend for himself on the streets of Vellia. Before he is forced to go, Brand intends on gaining as much wealth and power as possible in hopes of having the kind of freedom only the powerful have ever known.

Little does he know, an opportunity to learn magic at a school for nobility is nearby. He just has to survive long enough to reach it.

©2021 Chad Crooke (P)2022 Chad Crooke

Amazing world building

Amazing plot line with exciting twists. The main character is truly remarkable! Definitely does a great job weaving in various tales and gods into a bigger whole. I’m very excited to see where this story goes

STORY IS GOOD. DYNAMIC, DARK & FUNNY

STORY IS WELL WRITTEN AND EASY TO FOLLOW.

ACCEPTABLE FOR TEENS AND UP. NOT CLEAN
HAS DARK MAGIC, SEX INUEDO SOME SCENE.

NARRATOR WAS GREAT AND EASY TO FOLLOW.

Riveting Dark Fantasy

This was my first experience with Chad Crooke's work, and I was entertained. The story revolved around Brand, a Jabari, who had to fight for his survival and who had a desire to be more than what others thought he should be. I liked his grit and determination. I liked the creative magic system developed and described in this tale. The story was pretty intense. The plot was fast paced. There were some mature themes introduced, but not overtly described. Ralph Lister's narration was great, and his performance added to the story's entertainment. I was given a free copy of the audiobook, and I have voluntarily posted this review.

Congratulations.

My review is only about the things I didn’t like about the book so read at your own risk. The first three strikes are a matter of taste but the fourth hits a little on personal beliefs. You can blame the author for involving Christianity in a polytheistic book. Nonetheless, I tried to make it as objective as possible. But, I digress.

Strike one for me was jumping from character to character’s perspective. I prefer books that tell a story from a single character’s view. I don’t mind books that jump to another character briefly to add flavor or intrigue to the story, but dedicating large portions of multiple chapters to someone other than the defined main character annoys me.

Strike two was the lack of defined and explained growth in abilities. Almost every gain in abilities and growth was explained more as “after the fact” rather than a focus of the book. On top of that, I am beginning to loath the trope of the MC having a pitiful mana or magic or whatever reserve. All it does from a story perspective is it forces the character to travel down a very unconventional path to achieve power. Some books do it well, but others like this one feels like someone using a Rube Goldberg machine to drive in a nail where a hammer would do just fine. This isn’t helped by the book seeming to be quite magic focused, but then, the MC is made into more of an artificially created anti mage. It just didn’t match with what I thought the book’s description portrayed.

Strike three was the MC’s time being cut short from the educational system. This is kind of a newly acquired annoyance of mine, but I have read enough fantasy books to fill a shelf where the the MC goes to an academy where they are taught how to use their magical or supernatural abilities, only to be forced to leave the facility before graduating. Either because of unforeseen events or because some “richymcNoble” finds a way to force them to leave, as it was the case with this book.

Strike four (and an unexpected one at that) was involving Christianity into a book about norse mythology; literally in the epilogue. Regardless of your theological beliefs, the existence of multiple gods and goddess’s as being undeniably real in the book, straight up invalidates Christianity. To put it in a way that non Christians can understand, should the Biblical understanding of God (ALL Knowing, ALL Seeing, and ALL Powerful) be brought into a book with undeniably existing gods and goddess’s, one of two things would happen: Christianity would immediately fall apart as Christians would recognize they are being deceived about the nature of God amongst the book’s pantheon, OR the pantheon of god’s and goddess’s would be entirely wiped out for blasphemy.

To put it simply Christianity is either true or it’s not. There is no middle ground.

With four strikes this will be my first book out of the hundreds of books I’ve read, to receive a one star rating.

Congratulations