A Prince's Errand

Tales of the Amulet, Book 1

By: Dan Zangari, Robert Zangari

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

Length: 40 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's Summary

The multi-award wining novel A Prince's Errand, book one of Tales of the Amulet, begins an exciting new epic fantasy saga.

Long ago, men harnessed the Channels of Power, creating tevisrals: devices capable of manifesting magic. But men weren't the only ones to accomplish such feats. Dragons crafted the most sophisticated tevisrals. These shaped the world, defining civilization of man and elf alike.

Over the centuries, the people of Kalda have fallen into a dark age, where elves are estranged from men and dragons have retreated into legend. Tevisrals are scarce, and men are willing to trade everything for them. But there are some who wish to bury the past, and in their lands, possessing tevisrals is tantamount to treason.

Still, daring men scour the world in search of Kalda's past. One such man, the scholar Krindal, seeks an ancient order known as the Keepers of Truth and Might. He yearns for their knowledge, long feared lost.

Prince Kaescis Midivar also searches for these Keepers. The assassination of his uncle, the emperor of Mindolarn, killed his hopes of peace with his empire's enemies. His empire's survival hinges upon unearthing the Keepers' secrets.

An aging warrior Cornar Dol'shir longs to be home with his wife. But his retirement must wait, as his band of adventurers is recruited to help find the Keepers' hidden temple on the Isle of Klindala.

Haunted by his tragic past, Iltar, the Son of Adrin, does not join in the search for the Keepers. Instead, he seeks to unravel the mysteries held within a volume of prophecy foretelling the advent of the Unspoken One and the return of the Crimson Eye. His search takes him to the Empire of Mindolarn, where all is not as it seems.

An ancient war was won by a simple amulet. It brought peace, but in the wrong hands, it could spell a doom, the likes of which no world has ever seen.

May the Crimson Eye remain hidden for all time!

©2018 LOK Publishing, LLC (P)2020 LOK Publishing, LLC

Slow start but wonderful finish

I read a few reviews before purchasing this audiobook and I almost didn’t buy it because of those reviews. I’m certainly glad I took a chance on this one! Some reviewers stated that this book couldn’t even be saved by the astounding Michael Kramer. They said the book was written badly. Those people were either 1- Wrong or 2- not familiar with epic fantasy novels or 3- didn’t listen to the entire book. I say this because the book was fantastic. Yes the background lore and world building took some time, but what do you expect from a 35+ hour long audiobook. If you want a story to unfold properly and for everyone to understand what the heck is going on in the book then these things need to be explained and take a little time.

What I’m getting at is if you like Robert Jordan books, Brandon Sanderson books and types of series like those that that have written then I would most definitely buy this audiobook and give it a try. Once you get through the initial world building and character backgrounds the story envelopes you and you will have a hard time pausing long enough to give your order to the drive thru attendant.

Give it a shot. It’s worth it.

The top review was pretty scathing on this book and it actually stopped me from downloading it for quite some time, until I ran out of other Michael Kramer read books. This book does not deserve this review. Yea there are some things that are a little amateurish and require you to suspend disbelief for a few moments but it really is an enthralling story with characters you become invested in. Add Kramer reading it and I thoroughly enjoyed this story and already checked to see what else is out there by this author. Don’t let that first review dissuade you, it is a fun story that was easy to lose myself in. 40 hours well spent. Looking forward to the next in the series.

Even Michael Kramer can't salvage this wreck

I'm conflicted between being more disappointed with the story or with the writing. Both are pretty bad. There's really nothing interesting or unique to find here. Everything about this story and world feels like something you've probably read somewhere else or encountered in a videogame. The silly, color-coded magic system had me rolling my eyes more often than not, and I'm not all that particular about how magic features in a fantasy book. Whether it's a meticulously defined, Brandon-Sanderson type magic, or presented as some vast enigma, I tend to enjoy it as a feature of the fantasy world I'm immersing in. But in this book, magic seemed like a hodge-podge mess of what ultimately amounted to an overly convenient, and heavily relied upon, plot device.

The combat was equally lame and poorly written. Everything seemed like a protracted encounter involving lunges, snarls, and flurries of blows. Clearly, the author has spent hours playing video games, farting around in a mcdojo, and watching poorly choreographed Kung Fu action movies. And I couldn't tell what any of the armor in this book was made of, or how it even functioned (or failed to, rather). Some varieties apparently covered the whole body, but could be donned and removed without assistance, and seemed to crack like plastic, but never dent like metal. Either way, it was largely superfluous stuff since there seemed to always be weapons that sliced through it like, you guessed it "parchment!"

And then there are the characters. I'm astounded that a book can be 40 hours long without even scratching the surface of developing the characters. Everything felt so superficial and lacking in dimension. Want an interesting backstory? I know! Let's make not one, but both of our main characters orphans! And female characters hardly feature without some accompanying commentary on their attractiveness and presence or absence of makeup. Don't even get me started on the dialogue.

I feel like I could go on and on, but I'm writing this on a smartphone and I'd wear out my thumbs. To sum up, it's a credit and 40 hours better spent elsewhere.

Solid story somewhat spoiled by poor writing

It's like someone spent a lot of time lovingly creating a solid story and world without actually writing much. Lots of amateurish writing mistakes and poorly written dialogue (I'm looking at you "partakers of the feast"). If I were to take a guess, Dan is an excellent storyteller who created the world and base of the tale, and Robert is unfortunately not up to the task of filling it in. Still, if you can get past issues with the writing, still worth a credit. Kramer does an excellent job as usual.

Epic Fantasy at its Best

If you love Epic Fantasy, this is a must read for you. This book has everything, battles, political intrigue, magical weapons, mystery and so much more! This is a series worth every second of your time and Michael Kramer is always on his game. Can't wait for the next book!

Great book

I was hesitant when the story first started but the story sucked me in pretty quickly.

Fantastic new series

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. The story is intricate and I loved that the characters weren’t your usual coming of age story. The main people are older, usually put in the role of guides. I was very entertained by the switch up. I look forward to the next book.

Michael Kramer’s performance is fantastic. I loved him in The Wheel of Time and Stormlight Archive. This performance doesn’t disappoint. Well worth my time.

really great!

there is alot of detail and information to gather at times, but over all it seems like a great start to a journey, I can't wait for more!

btw the short novella in this universe "a thief's way" is also a great little read!

great book

great book and well written. good job drawing everyone in. good dicriptors, well integrated.
good back ground

it's good

I really likes this book, I picked it because of the narrator was not disappointed.

Very enjoyable

An exciting story, lots of depth, great main characters. Slow at start but perceviere!

Great story

Laced with detail and some great character studies. Little confusing in parts but what epic isn’t

Great narration

The narrator did an excellent job but I couldn't engage with the story or any of the characters. For a book that's 40hrs long the beginning should've been engaging but it was confusing.