Court of Ravens and Ruin

A Brides of Mist and Fae Novel (The Shadow Bound Queen, Book 1)

By: Eliza Raine

Narrated by: Lia Holland

Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

A defiant human woman. A dark fae Prince. Two enemies bound to a marriage that could destroy their world.

Reyna was born a valuable slave to the Gold Court, imprisoned her whole life in a glittering palace by sadistic, greedy fae.

When the palace is raided, she takes her opportunity to escape. But the raid is led by her worst nightmare. The Prince of the most feared fae of all; the Shadow Court. And he wants one thing.

Her. The copper-haired, rune-marked human.

Reyna doesn’t know why the Prince has kidnapped her. But when he announces her as his betrothed, she knows that she must escape before she is eternally bound to the monster behind the mask.

Only, when he takes the mask off, he isn’t what she expects. He’s lethal, beautiful and exudes sin. And he needs her.

Drawn into a deadly world shrouded in secrets, and desperate to keep her own hidden, Reyna must find a way out. If she doesn’t, she risks more than just death. She risks giving everything to her intoxicating captor.

This is the first book in the Shadow Bound Queen series, and is inspired by Norse mythology and Vikings. Sexy fae Vikings. It has Hades and Persephone, Beauty and the Beast vibes, and is slow-burn enemies to lovers fantasy romance with a burn-the-world-down-for-her hero. The series builds in steam and is filled with magic, myth, and delicious tension.

Brides of Mist and Fae is a brand new world from Eliza Raine, unconnected to the Dark Gods of Olympus.

©2022 Eliza Raine (P)2022 Eliza Raine

Holy Annoying

Two things had me rating this so low. First, the narrator should find another line of work because she she seems to have trouble with inflection. Second, the protagonist is so amazingly obnoxious that it was hard to listen for more than 30 minutes at a time before getting so annoyed that I had to shut it off.

Blah

This had a great foundation for a really good story, it just dragged on. Nothing really exciting happening. Didn’t love the narration. The book also ended in the middle of a chase scene which was weird. Just really underwhelming. Not sure if I will get book 2. Don’t really want to audible it.

Interesting storyline killed by unimaginative VA

The voice acting killed this for me. I liked the world building and character development (though there wasn't a whole lot outside the main character). Some of the core characters felt superfluous to the story. I am intrigued by the plot so I an hoping for more in the next book.

The voice actor was just incredibly one note and didn't really have a lot of emotional inflection or emphasis. It felt off kilter. They did put effort into the character voice differences for distinction but it was just hard to listen to.

Great book, not my favorite narrator

I like the characters and the plot/world building the author gives us. I didn’t like how it just ended though, I’m a cliffhanger kinda girl!
The narrator isn’t so horrible that I couldn’t listen to her narrating the story she has a pleasant voice but her tone is the same though out the book, she didn’t give much of a performance which I would like to see if she narrates book 2. Overall, it is a great book and I will be on the lookout for book 2!

Great listen

I’ve been wanting to listen to this for a while and I’m thrilled I finally was able to! I really enjoyed both the storyline and the characters. A lot happened in the plot without being too overwhelming. It was a creative plot and a great listen. Hoping to start book two right away.

Interesting

I don’t think the narrator was that bad. The story is interesting. Getting book two :)

nope

Didn't learn anything about story. Not getting 2nd book hoping something to find out if anything happens.
to be a slave she is mouthy. act like a 10 year old.

Meh

The worldbuilding started off really cool and I enjoyed the beginning. That said, when 98% of your MCs’ dialogue is questions, especially questions that go unanswered, it feels extremely unnatural and gets irritating fast. There are numerous other ways to withhold information from your reader & between characters that could’ve been employed. The tension between the MCs wasn’t great and I didn’t feel much of a connection between them. The ending was extremely abrupt, as well. When it finished I literally said “that’s it?” I may have had a slightly better opinion of the novel if the narrator wasn’t so monotone and flat. There was practically zero inflection and it really dragged the characters down. I gave the second book a chance hoping the plot and characterization would really pick up and the endless questions would cease, and the plot has become a bit faster paced. Overall, average in my opinion.

Great story terrible narrator

Need another narrator for next book as her various voices were terrible and she didn’t put any life in her reading. Story was interesting, should just read the book

What a let down

This could have been a great story concept but literally nothing happened and then the book ended. I’m getting really annoyed by authors breaking up books into a series when it’s not called for. The FMC is also about as interesting as cardboard and bratty to boot.

The narrator was also super difficult to listen to. The inflection and tone were weird and almost robotic.