Disciple of War

Art of the Adept, Book 4

By: Michael G. Manning

Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds

Length: 21 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's Summary

War looms on the horizon, but Selene’s training as a wizard must begin...even though her age makes success nearly unattainable.

Will searches for a solution, but their only hope may be a dangerous bargain with the king. The fate of two nations lies on his shoulders, and the future is paved with violence. With few options, he needs the aid of uncertain allies and dubious friends. Traitors lurk among them, and soon he will be forced to choose who to trust - and who to sacrifice. For a terrible power has arrived in Darrow, and the price of victory will be paid in blood.

©2020 Michael G. Manning (P)2021 Podium Audio

Pre Review for Audible here

(I haven't finished this book yet so this only applies to the first 12 hours or so.) There is nothing wrong with Tim's performance it is excellent as always, However there are severe quality problems with the audio itself. There are sections of audio that go in and out. One of high quality and warmth, the second only lasts for a few words or sentence's but it sounds like it was recorded on my phones memo app its tinny, muddy and distant. It was infrequent for the first 6-7 hours of the book and then it started to happen more and more often, the audio just phases back and forth from high to low quality. I don't know if production was rushed on this but it sounds like edits to the audio were poorly sliced in. Its not enough ruin the experience of the story but it breaks the flow and its something that Podium and Audible should defiantly fix, its not even close to their normal standards.

EDIT: Now that I've finished the book I can report that the audio issues get worse and more frequent in the last quarter of the book. There are points where the transition happens multiple times in the same sentence. Where as before it was infrequent and a minor annoyance; towards the last 6 hours of the book it was a near constant and jarring interruption to the performance. With about 2.5 hours left in the book, I bought the kindle version and finished it off the old fashioned way.

It is an excellent addition to the "Art of the Adept" series, the Story and Tim's performance deserve five stars. However the QC department needs to be suspended without pay, I would have rather waited another week or two for them to sort out this issue then for it to be rushed with such glaring problems.

Jarring recording EQ differences.

There appears to be two different EQ settings for the narration being used. The majority of the book is great, but then there are "patch" sections of audio that has less mid-range and the difference is rather jarring to listen to.

All of those patch sections really need to be re-recorded using the same mic and EQ settings so it sounds like a cohesive audiobook.

Love the book, great performance but...

This needs an additional pass through the QC department. Just some choppy audio. I downloaded it the day it came out so it may be fixed already

Audio needs to be redone

Story is as great as usual. The audio however is full of issues. The performance is fine, but it sounds like random sections were recorded with a different microphone so audio randomly shifts pitch /tone.

A different direction, so much its forced

This book goes in a different direction than the rest of the series, to the point that it runs counter to everything else in the series. In the first hour it basically negates any character devlopment the protagonist has had in the series, reverse his morals, and ignores any convictions he had.

It doesn't feel like the fourth book in a series, it feels like the series finished with book 3, and someone wrote a bad fanfic because they didn't want the story to end there, and made it dark because why not.

And I will treat it as such. As far as I'm concerned, this series ended with book 3.

great book, awful audio

audio needs to be either recorded or go through some major editing as half of the lines are recorded with high quality microphones and the other half sounds like a cell phone

Terrible

I loved the first two books in this series. The third book was not as good. This fourth book just plain sucked.

Will made one utterly stupid choice after another. He had to be saved by his friends again and again. Also, his moral compass apparently no longer works. He was a dislikable, stupid, and impotent protagonist.

I hated this book from start to finish. It was as if a different writer wrote the prose. I definitely won't pick up another book by this author.

I feel guilty for forcing myself through this

One again, Tom Gerard Reynolds is great. This story though...it's so... not good. It's saccharine fantasy. The main character is a Gary Stu. His wife is a Mary Sue. They are the most politically correct, open minded couple in their world. They are beautiful and brilliant. The boy scout sentimentality the main character has gets super old. He has no real character flaws., so there can be no real charades growth. His only flaw might be that his wife is more perfect and brilliant than he is. The main character is a military tactics genius with zero formal training. He is a gifted orator and natural leader. He is so much wiser than all those old fools with the experience and training. Goodness, the characters annoyed me so much! I really punished myself by forcing my way through this story.

Good idea, but bad execution.

Dull, to say the least. Voices were miss used many times. Other than about 5 of the 65ish chapters the story was flat. The concept however is good, and I look forward to the next book but if it is written as this one, I won't be continuing to follow the story arc.
Comparing this to the previous 3 books is almost impossible, it's as if someone just forgot how characters reacted in the previous books and how they just out of the blue acted in a convenient was for the story line. "I say someone because anyone who reviewed, wrote or listened this book before publishing it would be able to see that in chapter one and on to the final chapter the charictors are not realistic in regards to their thoughts and actions."

love them all! will there be more?

this was such a good book, though I had hoped it would be longer with greater battle at the end. I felt like the end was rushed a little. these are fantastic books, and I hope there are many more to come, with the students becoming greater, the friends he does have gaining ability to live longer, and all of them standing side by side with Will and Selene in future battles! it would be epic to see this through...
if you haven't read these, start with the first and read/listen to them all!
Timothy Gerard Reynolds is one of the all-time narrators, he's definitely talented and elite, & everything he narrates turns out amazing! I follow his work, as much as (if not more than) I follow my favorite authors, whose work I also thoroughly enjoy! he actually narrates for 3-4 of my favorite authors. the guy has style, class, and knows winners.

Another great addition.

Fantastic continuation, performance was great there are occasional dips in audio quality throughout but they are nowhere near as bad as some of the other trolls reviewing it are making it out to be, at no point is it impossible to make out the vocals it is only slight changes in treble and base, highly recommend the series as a whole.

Not the best in the series

Parts of the story were really boring. The reason is that in this book there is little evolution of the main characters. Lots of fighting, magic spells, but little content. Liked the previous books in the series more.

Took a while to get going....

I found the story took a while to get going...the start of the book irritated me...Silene's cooked breakfast etc.... so boring. thank goodness it finally got going once Will went to war. The rest of the book was very good, I enjoyed the battles etc but still found Will's relationship with his wife irritating at times. Tim's performance excellent as usual.

Brilliant

The whole series is addictive, the writing is witty and clever and the narration brings it to life

excellent series

Excellent series, can't wait for the next book. Only criticism is the raw edits in the book, jumping between takes and volumes is a little jarring but it's only minor. Glad to have stumbled on this series.

incredible really

this trilogy was insane. one of my favourited. the characters plot narrator. it just flowed. I loved the developer of the magic and its laws. the take on Elves and trolls and the complicated nature of the hero and villains

Loved these books..... So well written

The characters are so believable I find myself gripped at the exciting times, laughing out loud at other parts... Eagerly looking forward to the next release.... Great books... With superb narration.

Epic

I found this not as enjoyable as the previous books in the series, however it is still an amazing read/listen. Will is a well fleshed out character but I did find that we could get more ground out of Aragan. Is it just me or is his name supposed to sound like arrogant. I look forward to the next installment. I've read some of the reviews noting the change in the volume and treble and bass of the track, while noticeable it doesn't interfere with the story in the least. I find the narrator excellent. I particularly like the complete change in his voice for the god damned cat. Exceptional work

Absolutely incredible series

As a lover of fantasy and all things magic, I had high expectations for this series about a young wizard, and I was not disappointed in the slightest. The story is amazing, and Tim's narration was flawless.

A series I love

Such easy listen to immerse myself in escaping into this world where I like seeing the development of character, I just wish he had taken the black demon sword. Beyond that it was great