Cursed Bones

Publisher's Summary

Isabel reaches Karth, tormented by the influence of the Wraith Queen, and quickly becomes embroiled in the conflict between the House of Karth and the Reishi Army Regency. Before she can form any meaningful alliance with the Karth family, she must first challenge a dark and sinister power that has kept the Isle of Karth in thrall for millennia. The harsh snows of winter have arrived, stalling open warfare in Fellenden, but Zuhl presses the attack, relying on the power of his dragons to carry the day and dealing a blow to Alexander that is as devastating as it is personal. Abandoned by the love of his life, Alexander wakes among the dragons of Tyr. Bedridden by a grievous injury, he struggles with the limitations of his magic in a desperate effort to help the two people he loves most survive the winter, while also preparing his allies for the coming spring. What he discovers about the true nature of his calling might change everything.

©2012 David A. Wells (P)2014 Podium Publishing

Nothing Original, But Enjoyable None The Less

I’ve been meaning to write a review of each of the book in the Seven Isles series, but just haven’t seemed to get around to it. Now that I completed it, I have decided to write a review of the entire series instead. I guess as a whole I would best describe The Seven Isles as The Wheel Of Time Lite. With much of the same concepts, evil returns to the world, as a young hero and his friends take up the unwanted duties to save mankind, the Seven Isles doesn’t have quite the depth of Robert Jordan’s novels.

Books one and two are much the same, and center around the young hero Alexander. After his brother is murdered, he returns home to find that an evil Arch Mage has arisen from the dead, and Alexander is the long lost ancestor of an ancient king, the only person who can defeat the mage. Predictably, our young hero wants nothing to do with saving the world, but the Arch Mageforces his hand by sending evil forces to kill him. The story stays exclusively with Alexander’s character in the first two books as he and his friends run for their lives. The story almost becomes comical as they are repeatedly attacked by both men and creatures. It seems that our band of heroes can only walk mere steps before another attack comes from soldiers, wizards, demons, dragons, and wild animals. At one point they are attacked by a swarming hive of bees. Each time they barely survive and must heal themselves with magic or potions. It really became a bit ridiculous the amount of times characters should have died only to healed just in time. Despite these things, for some reason I still found myself enjoying the books enough to continue.

Books three and four of the series mark a vast improvement. After two books of following only Alexander, the book suddenly opens up to include the view points of other characters. The best of these are Alexander’s new wife Isabel, and his sister Abigail. The story improves greatly from this point as plots begin to take form, and the group does less running and hiding. Alexander begins to strengthen his magic, and his friends find they have some powers as well.

Books five and six form a bit of a lull in the series as Alexander is either injured or in the custody of one enemy or another for much of the two books. He learns to project his image to anywhere in the world, and spends much of these two books helping the others from afar. The other character blossom more in this book, which was a good thing, but waiting for Alexander to return to the action got a little old. Secondary plots are given more time as Alexander is away.

The seventh and final book is by far the best of the series as our heroes prepare for and execute the final battle with evil. The final battle is drawn out nicely, and most plots are put to rest nicely so the the world may live happily ever after.

Overall, despite this story not being the most complex or original, it redeemed itself with likable characters and an overall enjoyable feel to it. Yes the good characters were good beyond the point of saints, and the evil were predictably wicked, but I found myself enjoying the series more and more as I went along. I almost gave up on this series after book two, but for some reason I found myself wanting to continue on. By the end I found the Seven Isles to be very rewarding listen.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Amazing!

absolutely lo e this series. only downside to this particular book is all the waiting around for characters to heal. other then that absolutely no complaints.

some extremely late flaws.....

why does a blade coated three times with a crazy fast acting poison have to hit thane's heart.... getting stranded in the gut and opened from balls to belly doesn't spread a poison that kills another guy does from in 5 seconds from cut to the leg with 1/3 the poison?,,,,,,

and time and time and time and time and time again... Alexander COMPLETELY FAILS to talk people that the shades can inhabit your body, and - not only does that TINY detail slip his mind a half dozen times, including when they send afucki b g DRAGON directly to the shade, but he bases MAJOR plans around sending people to battle a shade ....


and to the VERY point of the shades... impossible to kil..l can inhabit ANYONE... inhabit all of the people in the war council room... Kill... over.

instead of waiting for the maid who's was possessed by the shade to ohh ..idk get down on her knees to blow him - THEN snap the collar around her.. he does it with NOONE around and while there is a door between them and doesn't put himself between the balcony that leads to 10000 foot drop?

these are all way too idootic if you ask me. if it was a guy avoiding parking tickets I could understand the absentmindedness. it's a fucking demon from hell that's killed hundreds of his friends and soldiers.... a demonnnnnn a FUCKING DEMON... YOU DONT MAKE A MISTAKE that can ONLY BE EXCUSED B Y SAYIG, "WOOPSIE! TEHEHE I'm a SILLY LITTLE SEVENTH SOVERIGN! OHHHHH SSSNNEAPPPDREAGONSSS! WE'LL just hafta let him kill of another dozen closer family members and friends and try again!!"

and finally... little one little one little one little one little one little one little one little one little one little one little one little one little one little one little one ...


her FUH-KING NAME IS C.L.O.I.E!!!!!!!

CLOIE!!!!!!!!!!

the narrator kicks ass though :)

Awesome!

I started off reading a set of books 1-3 and I didn't want the story to end! I was really glad to see that there were many other books in the store to keep the story going. just finished book 5 and I think this is the first book that ends keeping the reader on their toes so now I'm really ready for the next book! This book continues where the last book left off and the plot is only getting thicker. This is a great book to read, especially of you love magic, adventure and DRAGONS!

great story line. and very entertaining

the storyline is great it's very interesting has great plot twist never thought some of the things were coming that came I would recommend this book for anybody who enjoys things of days gone by with hints of fantasy and Magic

captivating series.

great storyline, and great narrator. I finish one book in this series and can't wait to buy the next to continue the story.

Good series, Idiot main character.

I have enjoyed this series tremendously but after 5 books you would think the main character and sovereign would be a bit smarter. It is typical fantasy where joe average man inherits or discovers a great power or unexpectedly becomes king or lord. Alex is that man. All the other characters have learned rapidly to become wizards or witches and are carrying Alex along waiting for him to mature. He has two of the most powerful swords in existence and can barely use them. He gets shot or stabbed every other chapter and nearly dies. He has to enter another dimension to ask the previous Sovereigns what to do all the time. He went cry baby and got possessed by a demon and cant kick a spiders bunz. All in all it is a good series but patience is required with the main character.

great overall

seemed rushed in the wrighting almost whent mad by the HE enter name said she said

great series everything a epic fantasy should be.

all books move at good speed amazing voice actor. he brings it to life and does a good job of separating the different voices

Great narration

This book was the slowest for me of the series. The plot doesn't flow as smoothly as the rest of the books but still a great performance by Derek Perkins.

Good story, but filled with repetitive and basic padding

The relationships and conversations between characters are so basic and child like sometimes I feel like I'm reading a book aimed at young teenagers.

Fights seem to consist of people constantly rolling to the side miraculously and dealing killing blows. With characters besting the default experienced enemy that seems to be over 6ft, weighing over 250lbs and is barrel chester, even though they only started training with weapons at the age of 14.

The world of magic was interesting at first, but very little of the mechanics behind it have been explained and this is the 5th book!

The performance has some interesting voices, but the female parts are dreadful and bring me straight out of the story. I swear some of the voices were just impressions of Gollum in this volume. In fact, in the Witches section I could have counted over 100 "voice said" in the space of 5 minutes.

The only reason I keep buying books in this series is because I just want to find out what happens.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Brilliantly captivating story line

Would you listen to Cursed Bones again? Why?

Would definitely listen to again because there is always something that you'll miss first time. Never boring.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Too many good characters. I have images of them all and i love their idiosyncrasies.

What about Derek Perkins’s performance did you like?

Derek Perkins.....one of the best!

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes! I found myself commenting out loud often and it made me smile

Any additional comments?

Read the series!!

Excellent books

The writing gets better as the book goes on! I cannot wait to read the next one.