Six Celestial Swords

Celestial Empire, Book 1

De: T. A. Miles

Narrado por: Steve Barnes

Inspired by the rising chaos in Sheng Fan, Xu Liang, mystic and officer of the Imperial Court, leaves his homeland for the barbarian outer lands in search of four magical blades to unite with two sacred weapons already in the possession of the Empire.

His plan is to bring all of the blades together and return them to Sheng Fan's Empress as a symbol of unity that will bolster the people’s faith in the Imperial family and assist against the surge of dark forces. Complicating his plan is not the finding of the blades, but finding them with bearers - foreigners who have no intention of parting with them and less intention of serving an Empire they’ve scarcely heard of.

It becomes Xu Liang’s task to ally himself with these barbarians of the outer realms and unite them with his cause, as well as with one another.

Only the complete reunion of all six blades and their fated bearers can stand against chaos, rising like a dragon from slumber beneath the foundation of a nation unprepared.

©2012, 2016 T.A. Miles (P)2018 T.A. Miles

Finding the swords isn't the hard part

This is one of those books that has a llot going on, action, intrigue, romance, etc. It is a little hard to follow what with all the Asian names; it takes a while, but you can do it. The book is a quest to find and unite six swords that are needed to stop the rise of chaos.

What it is really about is the meaning of friendship, loyalty, and that unity may not just begiin at home.This is a nice expansive story that covers some serious (physical and metaphrical) ground. Questions arise, how obligated are you to help someone just because they claim that you have a weapon that they believe can help save their land? Would you leave them be if they refused, or would you try to take it? How would you deal with the situation if you were in that position? There is a lot more going on here than just someone seeking six swords to save their home.

Barnes does a killer job doing the narration. I honestly do not know how he pronounced some of those names so flawlessly. I couldn't, but then, I have that issue with fantasy names too. This book has a lot going on with it, for it, and in it. To not check this book out you are severely hurting your literary experience.

Even though I did receive a promo code for this review it in no way influenced my considerations of the material, and in fact, inspired me to be more honest. In fact, getting a code generally makes me harsher as a reviewer as I am more often concerned what someone like Me will decide based on my review.

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Definitely original

It was a bit difficult for me in the beginning to keep up with. The narrator has a kind of whisper to his story telling. Combine that with the names it was tough for a Midwesterner to keep up with. Eventually it planned out and I was back on track.
The story itself is a complicated one. Full of legend, gods, and warriors all portrayed in pretty original ways. This might be a spoiler so look away now if you haven’t read.......... I did think the homosexual angle was completely unnecessary. Like I said the characters and plot were complicated enough without throwing in not only one but three gay hero’s. It felt like the writer was pandering to a particular audience and it really didn’t have anything to add to the story.
Overall I though it was a good listen although it was overly complex with the added sexuality aspect.

Pretty solid start to a new series

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily
left this review.

This was a pretty good book, all things considered. The story is complex and there is plenty of world/character building. I genuinely enjoyed the East Asian influences in the book as there are not as many fantasy stories in that lane. The narration was pretty good, for the most part. From time to time, there were some odd pauses in the middle of a sentence, and he had a "breathy" voice that was sometimes a little sharp. That being said, he is FAR from the worst I've ever heard. He did a fabulous job pronouncing Asian-based words and he was easy to understand once I grew accustomed to his reading style. All in all, a good book. I would definitely be open to the next book in the series.

Gender confusing

Poor recording quality. Narrator has good annunciation, but did not show good editing skills. Use of a good wind mask on microphone would help. A 15-20 % reduction of high frequency with a 5% increase in low frequency would help a lot.
Recommended for audiences 21 and older
I was given this audiobook for free, and I freely give my rating and opinion

so much happens in one book

this book was freaking awesome I know it sounds like a child speaking and I'm not and this book is not childish at all but the book was really awesome I loved the story I loved the names... loved every thing about it so much.. .
a perfect book to listen to
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."