Elvish

By: S.G. Prince

Narrated by: Daniel Thomas May

Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's Summary

It's against the law for elves and humans to fall in love. But laws can be broken.  

When Venick is caught wandering the elflands, he knows the penalty is death. Desperate, he lies about his identity in hopes the elves will spare his life.  

Ellina doesn't trust the human, and not merely because he speaks the language of men. Men lie. In elvish, however, lying is impossible. In a moment of intuition, Ellina decides to give Venick a chance: learn elvish, reveal his truths, and she will set him free.  

That is not, of course, what happens.  

As Ellina and Venick come to know each other, their feelings start to shift. Then Venick uncovers a dark secret, and suddenly, the fate of the elflands seems to rest in his hands. But every choice comes with consequences, and Venick must decide if it's worth risking his life to protect a race that hates him, all to save an elf he's not allowed to love.  

Magic, love, and fate collide in this fantasy adventure from S. G. Prince.

©2018 Summerhold Publishing (P)2019 Tantor

A Novel of Facial Expressions

This story of a human encountering a brutal elvish people is average and a bit predicable. Many times, the motivations of the characters are questionable and have you scratching your head, hoping later chapters reveal something - but it doesn't. It may be worth the credit it if you're a big fan of stories about elves, but I'd discourage anyone looking for a more engaging fantasy romance. On a side note, the biggest negative for me was the constant, and I mean pervasive, descriptions of the characters' facial expressions (and the other character's interpretation of the expression) as they talk to one another. It got so bad, I began betting to myself how many times in one scene a grimace, scowl, blank stare, raised eyebrow, or combination of these and many others would be thrown in. Add on the thoughts and interpretation by the person that's watching the expression, and it all really detracted from the story telling. 2 stars.

Amazing narrator, subpar story.

First and foremost the narrator is fantastic. That said, even he can't save this book. I have 3 hours left and I don't think I'll finish. I can't get over the 'you mean so much to me I give you all of me' after such a short time and so little meaningful interactions. I feel like I barely know the characters and have little investment in them. I found myself rolling my eyes at the dialogue and like someone else mentioned, the weirdly frequent facial expression descriptions.

Has promising moments

The action and intrigue are there. The Romeo and Juliette story handicaps both the characters and the story. Hard to believe a good warrior can loose all self awareness by believing words not said or actions not taken by the female elf. For a Great War strategist He seems dim witted and governed most of the time by emotions. Still a good story and worth the credit.

Elves and humans take center stage

Good story about elves and humans in a magical world with Romeo and Juliet undertones. Interesting angle on the star crossed lovers angle in fantasy.

female perspective

Great writing and great backstory. I hope the next book however has more plots and less dealing with inner dialog

Great book

Loved to read and listen to this book from one of my new favorite authors.

Job well done

Good story. Narrator did excellent job of telling it. I recommend it for everyone.

Best Male Narrator Yet

First thing first. This is the best male narrator I've ever listened to. He does a fantastic job creating distinctive voices and is pleasant to listen too. And most importantly I can believe he is in his late 20s. The story is unique and imaginative. It is also very action heavy and not overly lovey dovey. Some things are very obvious and you wish the character would catch on, but that's how the story goes. Overall a great listen.

Liked it!

The narrator was good, the voices gave color to the characters. It's a good start and now I'm curious about the next book in the series.

Interesting take on elf and human relations

A good start. A good narrator. I like the different take on elven-human relationships- it’s close enough to the elves of all other storylines that the difference isn’t jarring but it’s fresh. Definitely like the female lead. The story is in no way finished and I will be getting book two.

Exactly what I needed

A fantastic story that is made even by its excellent narration. The pace of the story is just right and the balance between emotion, romance lore and action have clearly been well thought out.
It's early days yet but so far this is my favourite fantasy book of 2020. Can't wait for book 2!