Along the Razor's Edge

The War Eternal, Book 1

By: Rob J. Hayes

Narrated by: Moira Quirk

Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

An empire in flames. A prisoner of war. An unbreakable will to escape.

At just 15, Eskara Helsene fought in the greatest war mankind has ever known - and lost. There is only one place her enemies would send a Sourcerer as powerful as her: the Pit, a prison sunk so deep into the earth the sun is a distant memory. Now, she finds herself stripped of her magic; a young girl surrounded by thieves, murderers, and worse. In order to survive she will need to make new allies, play the inmates against each other, and find a way out.

Her enemies will soon find out that Eskara is not so easily broken.

©2020 Rob J. Hayes (P)2020 Podium Audio

Old lady rolls her eyes at past self.

LOL Every YA book should have to be told through the eyes of the exasperated older version of the main character, it's hilarious. This story could have been a dark and gritty edge lord wonderland full of drama and angst, and at times it is. However, having Grandma Eskar tell the story adds a lot of brevity to what could have been a rather depressing story about a child soldier being forced into a extremely harsh POW camp. It does take away some of the tension in some scenes because obviously she survives, and Granny sometimes jumps ahead of herself. She also tends to be somewhat of a harsher critic of herself than what is warranted, hind sight being what it is, but i still wouldn't trade losing that perspective for all the rope and gross bread in all of the pit. As for the world itself, well it's a first book so you only get a few hints here and there about the greater landscape but what you do get seems fascinating. The magic system is simple to understand if broad in scope, reminds me somewhat of The Mistborne magic system. My only complaint is that i wish there was a list of all the 22 magics the sorcerers could use. There is a small nitpick i have that took me out of the story for a moment. I'm sure the author has probably gotten a ton of flack for this, But the myth about carrots was started by the Airforce during WWII to hide their new radar system. It doesn't really make sense to have a fairly modern myth based around planes and radar systems in a book with neither of those things.... also blood is red both inside the body and out, it just looks blue through skin. Moira Quirk did an absolutely fantastic job, she switches from world weary Queen to pissed off teen seamlessly. i think she hit all the inflections perfectly. She even followed the authors direction on the voice, which sadly is not something that every narrator does. GREAT JOB!! Now i must get to the next book, which i grabbed around chapter five of this book.

A great narrator wasted on a annoying MC

I will start by praising Moira Quirk's work: she has been great from start to finish:
She entepreters Eskara magnificently, truly encapsulate her stubborness, self assurance and pride. Moira never once pulled me out of the story. Her voice range is good, most characters felt different and unique (perhaps too many raspy people.).
I will check out more of her work.

*** Beware of spoilers ***

The story itself is ok. It's a prison break with a dash of magic. Not necessarely original but it was interesting.
I like the teasers of future events inserted here and there, made me want to read the next books (at first).
The world building is ok, explored between chapters in events before incarceration.
The magic system is original: Sources need to be ingested in order to wield them and even so, a Sourcerer ought to be attuned (most people can attune 3 sources) to them or the pain would litteraly kill them. Even so, it's only a matter of time before the Source has to be puked out of the magician's body.
The system's rules are very clear and there are no cheap ways to circumvent them. Much appreciated it.

Now... the worst part: the MC.
Eskara is insufferable, an egocentrical, arrogant, hypocrite.
I get you don't necessarely HAVE TO love the MC (and I look for shades of grey protagonists) but, when I start to, out lout, curse for her choices, something isn't right. A controversial MC is great (Jorg Ancrath I'm looking at you), an annoying one is hard to root for.

Eskara spends most of her time telling you how powerful she is-was-will be, how special she and Josef are, how relentless and tough she is. The first half of the book is not so bad.
Josef is described by her like a super competent sourcerer, the best (after her). He is her brother-friend-lover-soulbond. They are always together, watching each other's back. Until she leaves him in the Pit once he makes a decision she doesn't approve. After that is label at every occasion a TRAITOR.
Isen, the romantic interest, is a good fighter who battles in the ring to get more food and rewards. The tension is strong between them and, when finally they get it on... she not satisfied at all. Eskara pushes him away and labels him a COWARD and a XENOPHOBE from now on.
Why? Who knows.

More than once I was reminded of a Sith, who only deals in absolutes. Only One and Zeros. No middleground.

The secondo half of the book was full of her hypocrisy and it was hard to get trough. She never asks Josef or Isen or any other side char anything about their views or motivations. She just expects they come along.
After listening to Josef complete backstory, his decisions were sound and made absolute sense. Too bad Eskara didn't bother asking him anything, just expected to have a warm pillow at night. My boy Josef, stop Simping Eskara.

Eskara uses people until they are not needed or suit her plans. She'll find someone new quickly.
When, after leaving Josef behind in the Pit and after pushing Isen away for his poor performance, she longed for Josef's embrace and understanding, I got litterly mad.

Perhaps it's the type of person I cannot stand but I was physically annoyed by her.

Moira Quirk, you were so good I breezed through this tough read. I want a button with all her Tamura's quotes whenever I feel down.
This book was not for me.

boring

I've already listened to 2 and a 1/2 hours of this book and in that time nothing has happened. The author did go into detail about how the protagonist ended up in the prison. But after 2 and a 1/2 hours that's all that's happened. There have been a few things like talking to other characters in the main timeline but this book is boring and I've completely lost interest in it.

The description of this book it says she's being held as a prisoner of war. But the war was over when the Empire surrendered. There is no reason to keep these people prisoners in a pit digging for the rest of their life. Especially if you have someone who can be beneficial to your own organization.

Financially speaking there is absolutely no benefit for a country to lock people in a pit to make them dig and not receive any benefit out of it, like when they found a coal vein and the tunnel was collapsed instead of mining for that coal. The goal of the pet is not rehabilitating to reintroducing people back into society, rather its purpose is throwing them away and never letting them reenter society.

The main character and her friend are supposedly some of the most powerful magic users but the bad guys want to just throw them in a pit without trying to properly utilize them.

Fun Book And Series

I picked up Along The Razor's Edge a while ago thinking it might be a good listen when I had nothing else from current series available. I had not previously listened to any thing from the author. When I got around to the book it was pretty much what I expected, a fun but not overly detailed or complex fantasy story. Other than the main POV Eskara, most of the rest of the characters are likable, but pretty one dimensional. The entire novel is seen through the eyes of Eskara. Despite this, I found the book to be entertaining, and the dialogue Eskara has with herself in her head is sometimes hilarious. Although towards the end of the book her self dialogue begins to wear thin as she constantly reminds herself what a bad ass she is.

At the end of the book I was satisfied but unsure if I would continue on with the series. I just wasn't sure how the story would progress once the characters of the story left the prison. I eventually did, and I think the biggest reason was the narration of Moria Quirk. Her impassioned reading was able to transform a good book into a very good one. I'm glad I continued as the story blossomed as it left the confines of a single setting. I ended up finishing the series, and in the end became a big fan of Narrator Moria Quirk, and will consider future books from Rob J. Hayes.

Incredible, both the story and the performance.

absolutely loved this book. I started reading it, but after trying the audio version quickly switched over. one of the best narrator's I've ever heard.

Amazing Stuff

The story was phenomenal, with an allusion so so much more to come. the voice acting was terrific and I would definitely recommend it.

nice

a very good book solid narrator , eska is insane and fun there we're some twists

Good Story - Dark Content

Along The Razor’s Edge gets negative reviews because of the protagonist in Eskara. What can certainly get lost is the fact that she’s a teenager. The book captures her teen angst pretty well. Her hatred. Her desire for revenge. Her self belief that is only found in a teenager. All to say that everything encapsulated in the book is how a teen would think and act. But Eskara has hate in her. And that adds another layer that is dealt with a bloody hand. Or knife. Enjoyed the story. Narration by Moira Quirk was fantastic. DRmz 6-15-23

it was a decent story

The main character was hard to like, but I understood why she thought the way she did, which helped. Great narration by the way.

I really wanted to like this

I really wanted to like this book. I loved Never Die and didnt really get on with the following books. I think Rob has some really fantastic ideas but the execution of it seems to fall short for me. This book could honestly have been 50 pages long and would have been infinitely better. It is full of repetitive phrasing and cyclic writing that drove me up the wall. If I owned the ebook I could specifically highlight and count out how many times MULTIPLE phrases were written over and over again.

I read this book 1. because I wanted to find another RJH book i liked and 2. it was a challenge read from a friend. I would honestly have DNF'd the book if I didnt own it. I will say the last part of the book when the plot started going and more dialogue was used between the characters greatly improved the experience. overall, a generous 2 stars for the story. Not sure if I will continue forward if the same writing issues are present in boom 2.

In regards to narrative performance it was done really well. I would like to explore more with this narrator in the future!

Very enjoyable. Gritty and Raw

I listened to this on audiobook as it was included with my audible membership. The description interested me and I went into it not knowing what to expect, other than the blurb.

The story is very enjoyable. Extremely gritty and raw. This is a great escape story, with friendship being a main point and what people would do in a chance of escape.

The narrator was brilliant, really enjoyed listening to her read the story. 3.5 stars.

Come chat books with me @readsgavin

Good book

fast paced good story line am going to download the sequel to this book

Absolutely Fantastic

Before my review, note a trigger warning towards the end of this book for the only intimate scene. It may prove distressing for some listeners. Not so bad to affect everyone but, yeah, wish Audible would add these to the description. Anyway......

Finally a heroine that isn't soppy or preoccupied with who she should or shouldn't marry. Refreshing!

I found this fast paced, thrilling, emotional but with plenty of moments to make you shout "yeah" when a villain gets their just desserts.

I was completely surprised by this book and listened non stop. I've already purchased the second book.

I'm very picky about my fantasy books, finding a lot of them slow and tedious with the world building. This books throws you in and drags you through the plot without a moment to pause on such boring aspects as politics etc.

The narrator was the perfect choice for this series, she brings a little something to the reading which really brings it to life. I don't think I've ever been so enthralled.

Highly recommend

Great! A new favourite

Loved this book! The writing style had me hooked right from chapter one. The author writes with a charming frankness that makes the story feel more like a conversation than a reading.

The voice artist gave a great performance too. The narrator of the story is also the main character and Moira Quirk acted the part in a believable way, leaning into the emotion of the character and with a distinct range of voices for other characters.

The story itself was good too. Often these tales are full of cliches but this felt fresh and I look forward to the next instalment!

i like "grim dark" this one is grim grey and good

i was afraid it was a typical teenage protagonist, and i was wrong :)

Character driven in my opinion and they have the ability to reflect and make wrong choices.

Excellent story but little tension

Really enjoyed the narration (As expected from Moira Quirk). Primary story is really great, very gritty, good character interactions (although would have been good for main character to learn from experiences).
Biggest problem is the retrospective approach to storytelling. With the main character telling the story as an adult, and very often referring to events that happen after the current plot, its very obvious who lives and who dies in this book (and likely the main plot points of future books). This removed all the tension from the near death moments, really making the narrative highs fall a bit flat.
But if that kind of mild spoilers inherent on the style doesn't bother you, I would highly recommend the book.

Marmite!

The antagonist at first is compelling, A young girl stuck in the pits using her wits to survive. Yet she has no wits and faces down very dangerous people with stubborness and surliness. Yet she survives down there for six months. The amount of introspection and especially retrospection throws one out of the emersion with: "Really? Again? Just how stupid is she?"
However it is a compelling story.
With many more authors writing in similar genres and better antagonists. I'm not sure I'll invest in the sequel. Maybe if it ends up in the plus catalogue.

enjoyable listen

listened to this on plus. I will get the next in the series if I have a spare credit.

Dark and Delicious.

Damn, that was dark, grim, and a delicious coming of age story, Along The Razor's Edge is the first book in The War Eternal series, and I've got another four books to go, woohoo. Rob J.Hayes has put together a fantastic dark tale with a great protagonist, excellent morally grey characters with plenty of violence and action that keeps you hooked and wanting more, even if it's the stuff of nightmares, you just can't get enough. A vividly imagined world with a very interesting magic system, monsters, and pits of despair. I absolutely love Rob J.Hayes writing. His worldbuilding, settings, and plots are brilliant. In this first book, the Empire has fallen, Sixteen year old Eskara was a Sourcerer, a weapon used for killing. But she fought on the wrong side. Betrayal by her best friend, she now finds herself a prisoner in the mines of the pit, a hell where no prison ever sees daylight again. But Eskara is no ordinary girl, with vengeance in her heart. Can she escape and reek havoc on those who have caused her so much pain, or will she spend the rest of her days in darkness. Just brilliant, a tale every fantasy lover should read if you haven't checked out Rob J. Hayes books yet, I very highly recommend that you do...😁🔥🖤

Great Start

I have to say first that I found the performance excellent which probably lifted the over all score a star

That said good stoy, likeable unlikeable main POV character and interesting story line. I like the character interactions and the looking back with hindsight perspective.

Shades of Patrick Rothuss going on. Not quite the same level but atleast have 4 more books
to take us on. Looking forward to it.