The Swordmaster

The Krosann Saga, Book 2

By: Sam Feuerbach

Narrated by: Daniel Wisniewski

She is abandoned by all evil spirits.

Instead of cutting the prince's throat, she simply let him go. Now she is supposed to bend the knee before King Tedore in the throne room. Not with her. Never. Better to kill standing than to live kneeling.

The swordmaster is in the late autumn of his life, far from home, fleeing from his guilt. A deceased son, a lost daughter, a forfeited title. What remains is to sit on the beach and count the waves. Then the old swordmaster rises and sets out on his last great journey.

Terrible events lead to terrible losses. The war between Prince Schohtar and King Tedore Marein divides the realm. In a world whose deep shadows leave little room for light, the struggle for survival begins for Karek and his comrades.

©2023 Sam Feuerbach (P)2023 Podium Audio

Love the story, Hate the sound production

I'm really enjoying this series! I really liked this book's story, but issues with the narration were distracting. The narrator frequently alternates between yelling and then speaking very softly. Made it difficult/impossible to find a good volume for listening. Even with that though, I'd still recommend the book as I found the story to be quite entertaining, I hope the rest of the books in the series do not have the same issues with the volume!

This Series—and This Book in Particular—Is One of the Most Impressive Achievements in Modern Fantasy

This Series, and This Book in Particular, Is One of the Most Impressive Pieces of Modern Fantasy I've Encountered

Not because of the battles.

Not because of the rebellion.

Not because of the prophecy.

Those are all excellent, and they kept me eagerly turning pages and listening to chapters long after I should have gone to sleep.

What makes these books special is that Sam Feuerbach understands people.

Fantasy is full of impressive worlds, intricate magic systems, ancient prophecies, and continent-spanning conflicts. Many authors can create those things. Far fewer can create characters who feel genuinely alive.

That is where this series shines.

We watch a prince grow from a bored, directionless layabout into the kind of leader people willingly follow. Not because he is destined to become one, but because he learns what leadership costs and chooses to bear that burden anyway.

We watch the Crow slowly reclaim pieces of the humanity that were stolen from her. Her story is tragic, fascinating, and deeply moving because every step of that journey feels earned.

Even the side characters are given room to grow. The prince's bunkmates are not interchangeable members of "the squad." They each have distinct personalities, strengths, flaws, and voices. Brawl, in particular, is a character I actively disliked early in the first book and came to genuinely care about by the second. That kind of transformation only happens when an author understands that people are more than the role they serve in a story.

Even the antagonists are treated with respect. The traitor duke is not simply a villain. He is a man whose motivations remain fascinating. Does he truly believe in the prophecy? Does he believe in magic? Is he a zealot, a manipulator, or both? Those questions made him far more interesting than many fantasy antagonists I have encountered.

The humor deserves special mention as well.

It never feels forced. It never exists simply to break tension. Instead, it feels like the dark humor of soldiers, emergency workers, and others who have seen too much and need laughter to survive it. Because of that, the funny moments make the painful moments hit harder rather than undermining them.

What impressed me most, however, is that the series consistently asks a question many fantasy novels overlook:

What does this experience do to the people who survive it?

The rebellion matters because of the people caught within it.

The prophecy matters because of the people forced to live under its shadow.

The mysteries surrounding the Crow's past matter because of what they reveal about who she has become.

I found myself less interested in the mechanics of the rebellion than in the people navigating it. Less interested in who would win than in who these characters would become.

The narration is phenomenal. The pacing is excellent. The mysteries surrounding the prophecy and the Crow's first ten years kept me completely invested.

But years from now, I suspect what I will remember most are the people.

I finished the first book and immediately started the second. I finished the second and immediately went looking for the third.

That is perhaps the strongest recommendation I can give.

If you are looking for fantasy that understands character, growth, loyalty, sacrifice, grief, humor, and the complicated ways hardship changes people, then this series deserves your attention.

Some books tell us what happened.

The best books show us what it did to the people who lived through it.

This series does exactly that.

good story and narrator

I gave narrator only 4 stars this time since he shouted into the mic. I know there must be ways to demonstrate shouting that doesn't burst my eardrums. If I turn the volume down to avoid the intensely loud shouts then the conversational volume is too low.

Horrid sound production

Story - excellent. Audio presentation horribly out of whack. The narrator proceeded in low register ranging to a whisper. The dialog was shouted at much higher range. The experience was ruinous to an otherwise excellent story.