Edge of the Woods: An Epic Fantasy Adventure

The Lost Edge, Book 1

By: Andrew Rowe

Narrated by: Nick Podehl

A young swordsman must retrieve a magical blade—and learn the truth about his past—in this fantasy adventure set within the Arcane Ascension universe.

A young man lives among the trees of a primeval forest, raised by a wizened old sage and friend to the faeries and spirits of his home. He bears only half a name—Lien, an ancient word meaning "blade" or "edge"—and no knowledge of his heritage. As he grows, so too does his need for independence and answers. Thus, he begins his adventure, seeking a shattered sword and the truth behind the mysterious mark on his right hand.

To earn his freedom from his adoptive grandfather, Lien will seek to complete the trials of Anathema, a long-hidden weapon of devastating power. To succeed, he must master his own burgeoning power, learning swordplay and magic from fractured figments of ancient legends. Though his training will push him to the brink, failure comes at an even greater cost. For only with his talents fully forged will Lien stand a chance against his true foe: destiny itself.

Set within New York Times–bestselling author Andrew Rowe's Arcane Ascension universe, and inspired by Japanese manga and role-playing games, Edge of the Woods is the first volume of an epic new fantasy series perfect for fans of The Legend of Zelda.

©2023 Andrew Rowe (P)2023 Podium Audio

Wow fantastic!!!

So good! I absolutely loved how it tied into the previous books! It was wonderful hearing more info! Edge is also great! How the book ended was so amazing! That last line was so good! I can't wait to listen to the next book!

Blunt Info Dump

When there's plot? Not bad. otherwise excessive and poorly done info dumping throughout. Extraneous detail left and right that falls short of Rowe's best work.

I wouldn’t miss anything Andrew wrote

Okay … I’ll acknowledge that this isn’t my favorite, largely because the technical details about the magic system mostly went over my head and I could only hope that it isn’t so important that I eventually won’t be able to follow the story. But I dearly love the embrace of non binary characters. Our society has become so polarized that we need some non binary to hold it together - if we all became a bit less binary (I’m not just talking about gender) we might be able to make progress toward living together in peace. We can’t afford to continue to bifurcate and scapegoat - I consider it to be the greatest threat to humanity and I celebrate Andrew Rowe for doing something about it 🙏

A bit too much filler

The things I think Andrew Rowe does well is interesting characters and creative obstacles for the characters. The middle part of this book sort of avoids all that by just having the main character do a lot of solitary training with little actual stakes so it becomes a slog that should have been cut down. The beginning and end were interesting and sets up actual adventures so I have hopes for future books.

Three reasons to read this book

1. If you enjoy reading book series that continue to evolve and expand with each book. This one does an amazing job at pushing it forward.
2. Nick Podehl once again did an amazing job reading this book as he has in so many others
3. I think the way he portrayed the fey was fantastic!