Edge of the Woods: An Epic Fantasy Adventure

The Lost Edge, Book 1

De: Andrew Rowe

Narrado por: 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

Dania does not disappoint!!!

So first for the newbies in this wonderful book universe, this book is probably one of the best entry points to show off Andrew's style and love of swords.... and magic, the beautiful beautiful magic. It's awesome meeting new characters and seeing the world outside of human territory. The Fae are interesting and I can't wait to see more of them moving forward. Edge is amazing and his struggles to reach for his freedom are wonderful to see.

And now for all you guys who have been here for a while........ We finally get to see essence sorcery! And we get to see how things are going in the wider world! (can't wait to get more of the history of this place XD ) Oh and we get to see more than a few old faces, I can't wait to see how these play out in the long run.

writing is becoming sloppy

I am a fan of Andrew Rowe's work. I have read/listened to every book he has released so far. As he has progressed in his writing career I've noticed a trend that has made his written work become more sub-par when compared to his earlier writings. This has been done by allowing his political beliefs to be sprinkled into the story in some of the most odd places. This makes the story become very jarring. I am fine with these things in a story. The issue is where they are placed in the story.

An example not in his books: there is a big gun fight, and they stop the fight to talk about gender identity.

Another example not in his books: there is a discussion of how a combustible engine works, and the character in the middle of the discussion had an internal monolog of how they feel about there self identity.

Andrew does a better job incorporating these discussions in his earlier books and should go back and examine any future writings he has.

Good but very learning heavy

A pretty good story has kept me interested throughout, lots of this books is explaining the nuts and bolts of magic in this world, personally I love this, my favorite parts of all rowes books are his wonderfully intriguing magic systems, but about 1/2 of the negative reviews are because of this, now the other half seems reallllly uppity about “woke” content for some reason but I mean Rowe has always had that kinda mindset in his books so if you haven’t minded it up to now you still probably won’t. Don’t let the haters get to you Rowe

Another good job by Rowe, but getting a little out of hand.

I have listened to Rowe’s other connect series numerous times. I really enjoy the world building, magic systems, and characters. Though with these new spins offs I need to stop listening until he progresses and answers some of the countless questions and cliff hangers that have been around for years. It’s getting overwhelming and I don’t want to listen to the older series a 5th to try and make ends meet.
Great story and seemed a little more linear than A.A., W&W and Broken Mirrors. Which helps with the cluster of information I’m trying to remember without going on WIKI or Reddit for hours.
This would be a great starting book for people who haven’t read any of his other work and are interested to see if they enjoy a smaller branch of his world(s).
Amazing narration like always. 5/5

More please

Great news, potential reader. You found a great audiobook. Download it and enjoy. That's the entire review

Good story, too technical.

Rhe characters and lore are interesting but I'd say even compared to the other arcane ascension books, this book has a lot of dense technical details that makes the story feel stagnant at times. I hope the next book finds a better balance between story progression and mechanics explanation.

I strange occurrence

I loved so many aspects of this book except one specific thing, the trans politics. And in this case specifically encouraging it in youth, that was a big surprise for me, and on top of that this is the only book the the whole written universe so far that specifically talked about sexuality at all, in every other book it was like an unspoken thing that some people were into guys and some girls but it was never talked about, which I liked a lot. But in this book someone for the first time specifically said “I prefer girls” overall the story felt much more political in that sense, I absolutely love everything written by this author but those parts are becoming more frequent and more uncomfortable with the introduction of young children to it.

Awesome story

This is a really well crafted story, excellently narrated. Well worth a listen. Looking forward to the next one!

Mostly Filler, but Still Tasty

This book could easily have been one half to one quarter as long as it was. The plot that is there is great and fits in with the world. It unveils additional details and leaves the reader wanting to learn more about the characters and how they all weave together in their plots.

Unfortunately, a substantial portion of the writing is magic theory. Yet another theory/system in the same universe. While great if you're LARPing, it seems less appropriate to spend so much time on technical content in a novel. The author goes into a technical level of detail that is unnecessary and unexciting, especially after already having characters from other novels droning in to lesser degrees.

I will read the next book, and I hope the author manages to convey 80% of the technical detail with 20% of the words.

Great fairytale in a familiar world

This feels like a great start to a new series in an wonderful interconnected world. My little conspiracy is brain is already running around with red yarn and a cork board to incorporate new information into old theories.
On a more technical/writing note, Andrew Rowe continues to hone (sword edge pun intended) his skills with the unreliable first person retrospective narrator. He has always done it well but I can see the improvement on an already solid base. It's employed perfectly. It's deeply impressive given how hit-and-miss first person narration can be.
Performance-wise Nick Poedel deserves all the praise. He continues to be a phenomenal voice actor with each character having a distinct, recognizable voice (so much so it feels like there's a whole cast involved). Definitely one of my favourite narrators on here.