A Veil of Spears

The Song of Shattered Sands, Book 3

By: Bradley P. Beaulieu

Narrated by: Sarah Coomes

Length: 26 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

The third book in The Song of Shattered Sands series - an epic fantasy with a desert setting, filled with rich worldbuilding and pulse-pounding action.

Since the Night of Endless Swords, a bloody battle the Kings of Sharakhai narrowly won, the kings have been hounding the rebels known as the Moonless Host. Many have been forced to flee the city, including Çeda, who discovers that the King of Sloth is raising his army to challenge the other kings' rule.

When Çeda finds the remaining members of the Moonless Host, now known as the thirteenth tribe, she sees a tenuous existence. Çeda hatches a plan to return to Sharakhai and free the asirim, the kings' powerful, immortal slaves. The kings, however, have sent their greatest tactician, the King of Swords, to bring Çeda to justice for her crimes.

But the once-unified front of the kings is crumbling. The surviving kings vie quietly against one another, maneuvering for control over Sharakhai. Çeda hopes to use that to her advantage, but whom to trust? Any of them might betray her.

As Çeda works to lift the shackles from the asirim and save the thirteenth tribe, the kings of Sharakhai, the scheming queen of Qaimir, the ruthless blood mage, Hamzakiir, and King of Swords all prepare for a grand clash that may decide the fate of all.

©2018 Bradley P. Beaulieu (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Immersive and emotional

I freakin LOVE it when books make me cry. The story flows right along without a noticeable change in tone or storytelling mastery (as sometimes happens over the course of very long tales). Our heroine is inspiring, and nobody’s role is clear-cut or unchangeable. Twists abound.

Ms. Comes’ performance is stellar. She holds up not only the emotional weight of the storytelling, but flawlessly keeps track of and transitions between a host of distinct voices and accents. Amazing.

Minimal character growth, good world building.

The audio performance itself is great, but I got to the point where I *REALLY* wish I could just skip every single cheda segment (skipping thirty seconds a bunch doesn't scale well). She demonstrated *ZERO* growth as a character throughout the book and was so insanely naive I started tuning her out.

The world building is top notch, and the direction of the story itself seems OK (although I sort of wish that the MC loses the plot armour and tragically dies; that or actually stop being so insanely naive)

Can't wait for more!

Ooooh, Çeda and Emre I missed youuuuuu!

As this is the third in a series, I'm going to do my level best to not spoil any of the story so far for anyone who hasn't read or listened to them. I mean... you should though, if you haven't. :D

Once again, just like the previous installments in this series, this one caught my attention and engrossed me absolutely immediately. We picked up where With Blood Upon the Sand left us, and events move right along. There's even a connection in this book to the characters from a novella in the series that I read between this one and the novel previous to it. Fun times!

We follow a few more points of view in this one than we have previously. In the beginning of the series, it seemed like just Ramahd, Çeda, and Emre, but now we've got a few other characters that have made themselves more prominent as the series has progressed.

I absolutely loved this one. Possibly more than the two previous installments of the series. Things are slowly coming together more and more here, and I'm excited to see where it goes. Characters who were good are... maybe not as good as I thought. Other characters that I thought were bad are... not so bad after all. All kinds of shenanigans happen between everyone as the story ramps up to where its going. The last 4 or so hours of this audiobook were unputdownable, and, thankfully I ended up having plenty of things I could do to occupy my hands for 4 hours. Awesome ending was awesome.

Sarah Coomes once again totally nails the narration here. I ended up just putting my headphones on and drifting along the desert with her at the helm. Much work got done, many things were made, chores were chored, and everyone rejoiced.

This series is slated to be 6 books long, and so I'll have to wait a bit for the ending, but if the rest of these books are anything like the first three were, it'll be worth it. I'm definitely going to be saving my credits well in advance, because these are among the best audiobooks I've ever listened to.

I literally clapped at the end

In all honesty, I was a bit hesitant to read VoS. So many series I started a few years ago have disappointed one after the other with recent releases. And Ceda has become one of my all time favourite characters, so you know.. I just didn't want to go through it again. Anyway, I'm happy to report - NOT DISAPPOINTED! In fact, fell more deeply in love with the settings, characters, battles..

I got a little worried when there was some back and forthing, Ceda running around with her head cut off, with me wondering if she'd lost her mind a little.. But then, it came together and *kisses fingers*. Then it was on. And gave me some scenes to get weepy at, scenes to cheer at, scenes to yell at, and scenes to go "naaaaaaw" at.

And Sarah Coomes, the narrator, deserves an Audie. So so good! Expressive, clear characterisation, fantastic pacing.. Only a truly talented narrator can pull tears out of me. I literally clapped at the end. Then felt like a dork...

Beaulieu keeps nailing, and for once I am incredibly happy that the series has been stretched.

LOVE this series!

I haven't even got to the end of the series and I love it so much I had to write reviews for it right now! Narrator is sublime. I can't get over how good she is. This is a kind of game of Thrones in the desert. She's so excellent - and loving the story, in love with Ceda! Just eating this up...

Best Book Of The Series So Far

A Veil of Spears is my favorite book of the The Song of Shattered Sands series so far. After really enjoying the first book, the second seemed to drag a bit as more attention was given to secondary characters. A Veil of Spears returns the focus to Cheda, returning the series to the excitement of the first book. The other characters still have their storyline, and there were a few other added as well, but by keeping Ceda the center of attention sped the action along.

Narration from Sarah Coomes still remains hit and miss for me, but overall she continues to do a fairly good job. Overall, I am enjoying this series and am looking forward to the next book.