Ascension

The Trysmoon Saga, Book 1

By: Brian K. Fuller

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Gen was a bard's apprentice, his nimble hands meant for the lute and his voice for a song. Then the half-mad and completely bored Shadan Khairn invaded Gen's village to winter there and start a war. He shoved a sword in Gen's hands and tormented his body, shaping a bard into a warrior to be killed for sport. As the days of torture pile up like the snow, Gen searches for death. But the day is at hand when the shattered shards of the world will knit together again, and the world's slain god will be reborn. The mighty Ha'Ulrich will be the father, the mysterious Chalaine the mother. In dangerous times the holy couple doesn't need a bard. They need a warrior. And Gen needs a reason to live.

©2014 Brian K. Fuller (P)2015 Podium Publishing

Wow. Just Wow.

I don’t pass out 5 stars on a whim, nor do I offer high praise lightly. This book, author, and narrator have earned it all.
The story is fresh, inventive, with strokes of originality, and surprisingly free of cliche (while acknowledging it is a good vs evil, orphan with no background must rise to meet his destiny and save the world Fantasy story).
I sought more from author Brian Fuller after enjoying another of his books, “Dread Uprising,” narrated by RC Bray. I am glad I did.
I confess to being a fan of the SciFi/Fantasy genre, with emphasis more on the SciFi. Good Fantasy stories are almost impossible to find. Too often, fantasy authors are compelled to try an “one-up” Tolkien. Mages and knights, lords and ladies, forced medieval dialogue weighed down with an over abundance of “methinks” and “I doths,” while never developing the characters.
Here you will find well developed, likable characters you can cheer for and brutes, scoundrels, and bores to “boo.” The dialogue does not get in the way of the story, or compete with it.
I was genuinely surprised the end of the book arrived so qu I don’t pass out 5 stars on a whim, nor do I offer high praise lightly. This book, author, and narrator have earned it all.
The story is fresh, inventive, with strokes of originality, and surprisingly free of cliche (while acknowledging it is a good vs evil, orphan with no The fastest eleven hours weurse, I have already purchased the next installment in the saga. I am hopeful it is equally well written.

My new favorite hero & story

This has become my new favorite fantasy series with my new favorite hero. I highly recommend the Author & Narrator as they are both at the top of their skills.

Well worth the listen

Simon Vance is a great narrator and does a masterful job relating Fuller's promising work. It was thoroughly enjoyable and I already preordered the next installment.

will go down as an alltime favorite

narrator is my absolute favorite.
really did this fantastic book justice.
the book is the real gem though.
this is my second time reading through it and it had me just as engaged as the first.

I LOVE the story & really like the books.

A few notes up front to those who might actually be interested in reading this review:
1) Despite a bit of criticism below, I think this is a GREAT story, it had me hooked, and I totally recommend it! …especially if they combine the 4 parts**
2) This review covers the saga as a whole & also differentiates the over-arching story/story concept from the books as end-products.
3) I am purposefully very vague in my examples below to avoid spoilers.
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Book 1: A-
Overall Trysmoon Saga: A-
I could basically give The Trysmoon Saga two different “grades”; one for the story idea/story line and one for the book. In general, this is a GREAT story for escaping into an engrossing tale (really what I was looking for—now I can go back to more detailed/slower books). If B.K. Fuller can keep imagining stuff like that, we’ll be hearing about him again for sure!! There are, of course, a few fantasy clichés (e.g. simple farm boy [bard] saves world), but that’s impossible to avoid in this genre. I can honestly say, there was no point at which I got bored or felt like it was more of the same. I think this is an A++ story idea, and a B to B+ execution. The reason I don’t give it an A is that, as a whole, it seems less like an complete epic fantasy and more like a great start to what will become a truly spectacular epic fantasy novel (rivaling other famous fantasy books)… as soon as the publisher* tells the author flesh out some parts more. The writing style is plenty fine for me, and I liked that words weren’t wasted on excessively florid environmental descriptions (good for people with a science background like me). On the flip side, there were many opportunities for much more extensive development of characters, story line, or magic systems—all without making the book drag. There are several characters that probably could’ve had an entire novel devoted solely to their backstory, explaining why they act the way they do (a particular mother and a couple of brothers come to mind). Without that, I think a lot of the secondary characters ended up being kind of flat, or at least FAR less dynamic than they could’ve been. There are some classic one dimensional characters, which really could've been rounded out better (especially minors in book 1). In another example of missed potential in a "minor primary" character, this character apparently does such a dramatic about-face that it doesn’t even make sense—nor does it add layers/complexity to the character. While this apparent reorientation is kind of, partially, sort of elucidated to some extent over the saga, there’s no significant further development or explanation as to WHY this apparent behavioral volte-face is actually in concordance with a personality that, as best as I can deduce from the information gleaned, basically just exemplifies a psychopath (in the true DSM-5 clinical sense)… period… end of character development. I mean, it’s still good, but it’s a MAJOR missed opportunity to create some more complex engrossing characters.
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The Audio (A-): Solid. No complaints about production quality. The narration/voice acting by Simon Vance is well done. Some character voices sounded fairly similar, leading me to think that Vance may not have (or utilize) the range of someone like George Newbern, who’s range and character diversity creates a TRULY immersive audiobook. That said, I think diction, pace, tone, etc. were excellent, and I would be totally happy to listen to more books narrated by Vance.
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Book 1 = Got me hooked! The best of the series (A-).
Nice stroll through the intro, then ramped up. Only complaint: the secondary characters were pretty 1-dimensional

Books 2 & 3 = good (B). In a multipart story, this is the section to fill in character development (and backstories where needed). That fell short. On the other hand, it’s hard to keep the pacing up in the middle, and books 2 & 3 did a fairly good job with that.
Book 4 = very enjoyable final installment. Bonus points for great idea for the story line, and nice dénouement. Honestly, the resolution and dénouement in this final book account for one of the finest conclusions I've encountered in a while. But, the book is a less than perfect final product because it seemed like it could have been fleshed out more. It kind of seemed a bit rushed to get to the initial climax… like all the nonessential details leading up to that part got jettisoned, which messed with the pace and my perception of time passing. I actually jumped back a bit to make sure I didn’t miss anything. (B+/A-)

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**This story is broken into 4 fairly short books. So, I can’t help but ask “being honest, how happy am I, really, about blowing 4 credits on this?” …definitely not disappointed, but it’s good book 1 hooked me first [those !@#$% marketers got me this time].
*Self-published text (an apparently well-done one at that) "complicates" that feedback a bit. I can't help but wonder, "If this were taken to a publisher, would those suggestions have been made?"

Very exciting!

Takes the typical world of a fantasy realm, breaks it, and then fills it with some of the most compelling characters before setting them on a track that runs from endearing to heart-pounding excitement!

Loved the first book!! Very interesting!

Loved the book, the beginning didn't grab me right away but after the first couple chapters I was all in!

An Unexpected Marvel

A fantastic and captivating story full of love, lust, chivalry, magic, suspense, action, swordplay, treachery, and deceit. Fuller is an excellent wordsmith and has created a world that is practically real with characters you love and dislike. Vance narrates this epic start of the Trysmoon saga with exhaulted ability. Book Two, here I come!

Loved every minute of it.

Hoping this will be another banger of a series, so far I really liked it. No politcal bs or strong wamen nonsense, just good story with a strong male lead.

Fantastic Epic Fantasy

Where does Ascension rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I think in the top 10 books.
My top two favorite Epic Fantasy genre books are:
Eye of the World
The Name of the Wind

More books I liked very much.
Eye of the Moonrat
The Way of Kings
The Warded Man
Harbinger
A Game of Thrones
Wizard's First Rule
A Crucible of Souls
The Way of Shadows
Jhereg: Vlad Taltos
Foundling: Monster Blood Tattoo
The Godling Chronicles: The Sword of Truth
Thief's Magic
Jaunten
Circle of Reign
Riddle in Stone
The Blacksmith's Son
Beguilement
The Shadow of the Torturer
Poison Study
Luck in the Shadows
Circle of Reign

Some of these books (above) are for younger ages some are more for adults...

What other book might you compare Ascension to and why?

"Ascension" is like "Eye of the World" in that we are cheering for the hero! A honest good guy. We want to see a romance develop (yet none in this book). Bad people, yet not that we hate them yet.

What does Simon Vance bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I am a fan of Simon Vance. He is a high quality performer.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Fell asleep listening then finished next day on a road trip. I listened to this on a road trip.