Into the Storm

Book One of The Malcontents

By: Larry Correia

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

A knight of Cygnar follows a strict moral code. His integrity is beyond reproach. He holds himself to the highest standards whether dealing with friend or foe. And he values honor above all.

The year is 606 AR, and Cygnar has been sorely pressed by its enemies both at home and abroad. In Caspia, the conflict with the Protectorate is about to erupt into full war with the looming invasion of Sul. The Cygnaran military is desperate for soldiers with the skill, strength, and bravery to take up the devastating galvanic weaponry of the new Storm Division. In this climate, every soldier is valuable, even those fallen from the honor expected of a Storm Knight. A group of such men - thieves, drunkards, and worse - comprise the Sixth Platoon. All they need is someone to lead them.

Lieutenant Hugh Madigan, a peerless warrior knighted during the reign of deposed King Vinter IV, has spent years in obscurity, punished for his loyalty to the former king. Now he has been ordered back to the front and given command of the Sixth, his task to turn a platoon of miscreants into elite soldiers fit to be called Storm Knights. Time is short, and war is coming. One way or another, Lieutenant Madigan must lead his men into the storm....

©2013 Privateer Press (P)2014 Audible Inc.

After 150 titles, first review of a fantasy story.

What made the experience of listening to Into the Storm the most enjoyable?

So far, since I signed up to Audible I have listened to ~150 titles.I usually listen to "self help" books and wrote a few reviews for the best of them.
In between I listen to real good fantasy stories like: "The name of the wind", "Ender's game", "old mans war" and "the way of kings" all of which I found fascinating.

Still, it is my first time to come across a great story like this one:
The book is so short, yet, the plot so complicated with many unexpected turns.
I loved the characters and their evolution.
and I must admit I shed a few tears in the end.

Overall it is certainly one of the best books I ever read (if not the best).

Warmly recommended.
Niv.

A Great Adventure

What did you love best about Into the Storm?

The world, the lore, the story, the characters

What was one of the most memorable moments of Into the Storm?

There are a lot of memorable moments

What does Ray Porter bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Ray is perfect for this book!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Yes

Any additional comments?

Larry Correia is a New York Times bestselling and award winning author. He writes Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror and Thrillers. I reviewed one of his books a few months back, Son of the Black Sword and loving it so much I decided to try more of his works. He is famous for the Monster Hunter series, which I intend to start listening to in the near future, but until that time I will review Into the Storm and Into the Wild, books 1 and 2 in the Malcontens series, both adventures being performed by the amazing Ray Porter.

The story in Into the Storm follows Lieutenant Hugh Madigan, a fallen knight of Cygnar, as he is recalled to active duty in order to find and train a squad of misfits with the end result of getting them ready for the upcoming war between Caspia and Sul. The clock is ticking, the men are a mixed bag of thieves, zealots, drunkards and criminals, but the Lieutenant has to find a way to scrounge them into a regiment able to use the powerful galvanic weaponry invented for the Storm Company.

Larry Correia delivers another great adventure, with a compelling story, set in a world where men fight alongside machines and where magic is present, but not yet fully exploitable by everyone. Filled with memorable characters, driven by a well written plot and peppered with funny events and retorts, Into the Storm moves along at a fast pace and becomes unputdownable in just a few minutes…

I loved the world in which the action takes place and the lore surrounding it, I got attached to the different characters despite their flaws and shortcomings, I enjoy very much the writing style of Mr. Correia and the stellar performance delivered with talent by Ray Porter. This book has it all, action, plot, acts of valour, war, friendship, betrayal, drama and camaraderie…

As you probably already know, Ray Porter is a multiple times AudioFile Earphones Award-Winning actor and narrator. He is perfect for Into the Storm, bringing to life all the main characters with different voices and accents, making it easy for the listener to differentiate between them. His sure and steady delivery is very pleasing for the ears and mind alike. Ray follows the events on the page with strictness, fueling the action when needed, dialing down at the dramatic moments or making you laugh or at least smile at the funny exchanges between the characters…

Both the author and the narrator deserve the highest possible rating for Into the Storm: The Malcontents book 1, one for the story, the other for the performance and together for the excellent entertainment!


Please find more audiobook reviews at theAudiobookBlog dot com and if you found this review helpful vote Yes below.
Thank you,

Victor

More Madigan's Malcontents!

If you could sum up Into the Storm in three words, what would they be?

Bloody good time!

What did you like best about this story?

The comradarie between the men. The mix of fantasy, technology, and history.

What does Ray Porter bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Ray Porter is an Audio God. Said it before, and I will say it again. He doesn't read the story, he tells it to you. It's easy to get swept up in the action because of his pacing and intensity. Honestly, he is amazing,

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. Sadly real life forced it into two helpings. There needs to be a sequel, I'm not done with Crispin, Raines, Pangborn, Thornie, and Headhunter yet. They are all interesting characters with much more to be revealed about their pasts.

Any additional comments?

What a fast, furious and fun story. And moving too, in a couple of places. For a shortish story, the characters were very multifaceted and I would definitely buy any books featuring more of the Malcontents.

Not bad, but...

This book has both good and bad things going for it. Some parts were good, others not so much; but then again, no parts were great, nor were any parts really terrible.

The best thing this audiobook has going for it is Ray Porter, the narrator. This is the seventh audiobook of his that I've listened to, and he does his usual amazing job. He's definitely a favorite.

The story itself doesn't compare so well to its narrator. The book is set in a specific RPG world, and it shows. It reads like an extended "flavor story" that you sometimes get included in rule books. It commits countless errors that one would expect only out of a much less experienced author: heavy use of cliche, too much telling and not enough showing, and overuse of stand-out words (example: the author loves the word "intricate") among them. There's not a single thing here that you haven't seen before a hundred times over. And no real in-depth character development is done until about 5 hours into the book.

Yet, the story is competent enough to enjoy. The fight scenes are fun, and a few of the lesser characters (like Madigan's old superior officer) really shine. While depth is sometimes sacrificed, you also aren't subjected to hours of navel-gazing. It's almost as if Correia took a longer work and edited it down to its more interesting and fun moments.

This is like the kind of TV show you might find on at 3 AM, and watch all the way through because it's fun enough and there's nothing better on. You won't regret your time spent on it, but you won't necessarily remember (or care) later.

I Like!! But More Please!!!

This book is a bit different than Larry's other books. But i liked it!!! Its better that you have a listen to it, its a different work, and cool weapons.

Why am i giving it 4 stars? because it was short!!!! This book could have been 5 hours longer or more... it felt like a short story somehow.. Things happened a bit fast in it and i didn't have the time to enjoy it much.... it finished way to fast.

But for anyone who wants a good shortish story, then this is your pick.

Dungeons and Dragons meets the Dirty Dozen

This is basically a novel about a Dungeons and dragons version of the Dirty Dozen.So, don't expect it to be like any of his other books. It takes place in the Iron Kingdoms universe. Larry Corriea does an excellent job with the writing. The guy knows how to right action packed fiction. The narrarator has a very deep rich voice which works for the type of characters the novel is about. The only issue I had was his range was a bit limitied. Still he did a good job. This one is worth a credit.

Entertaining

Excellent narration. Entertaining story, easy enough to follow but not totally predictable. Likable characters, some who die. Funny at times. Bloody at times. Fast paced.

Told in third person, the contents are unexceptional. No sex, no cursing, or not that I can recall.

Themes include redemption, sacrifice, friendship, and duty. Also holy wars, religious intolerance, religious fanatics, theocracies.

I will look into the sequel. First I will read the free chapters provided at Baen (dot com) and see if it has the same foundation characters.

Really great stuff.

Would you consider the audio edition of Into the Storm to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the print version yet. However, it will be tough work topping Ray Porter's performance. Top notch.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Pangborn, probably. He is a character that will sneak up on you. You don't much about him, then boom...characterization.

What does Ray Porter bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Ray Porter is easily my favorite narrator. He always delivers a great performance, and this is no exception. It is on par with his Joe Ledger work. If you're not familiar with it, do yourself the favor. Worth it just for the performance alone.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When Wilkins and Rains have chat.

Any additional comments?

The story caught me off gaurd. The setting of the story is something like, if the industrial revolution took place in the medieval era. Swords wielding lighting, and Steam powered robots. Really caught me by surprise, and a lot of fun.

Hoping for more

If you could sum up Into the Storm in three words, what would they be?

Awesome, exciting, action-packed (the hyphen makes it count as one).

Which scene was your favorite?

I won't tell you my favorite scene because I hate spoilers.

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

As far as extreme reactions to the story go, does trying to duck in sympathy with the characters count? Yeah, ducking is a good idea.

Any additional comments?

As usual Larry Correia gives you enough information about the characters to get you involved in their story but doesn't bog you down. I'm not familiar with the game world that this story was built off of, but that's not really a requirement in my opinion. If you're leary thinking that you need to know the ins and outs of the game to appreciate the book, don't be.

Not enough meat on these bones

The Dirty Dozen goes medieval steampunk? Sounded right up my alley, especially with Correia writing. Sadly, after a promising start, this was a forgettable, shallow listen. Madigan gets a great introduction, but then we get barely fleshed out stock characters for the D squad, with barely explained “magical” lightning swords and never explained robot knights called War Jacks, and a war against a faceless army until the final hour when a single bad guy finally makes an appearance.

The lack of detail for the unique parts of this book combined with a lack of originality in the stock parts that can be found in numerous other books and movies. In this short 8hr book, you’ll get introduced to stock disreputable military characters (the crusty mechanic, the guy who just likes to kill, the religious zealot, the A-Team Faceman con-man, the optimistic newbie, etc.), training/bonding scenes (squad fighting each other, squad getting arrested, etc), and battles where half the cast will die (especially with a lot of heroic sacrifice). This was okay as a sale book and a pulpy matinee listen, but unlike his Hard Magic series (which I highly recommend), I would not spend a credit on this.

Enjoyable Fantasy if you like lots of battles

Took a star off because my brain started switching off with all the battle descriptions, it was a bit too much for me. That said it was an enjoyable fantasy and I don't think I would have managed to get through the written version once it turned into a big battle narrative, but the narration was excellent and pulled me in. I think the author does superb characterisations and these were really brought to life by the narrator. I was saddened by the ending as I had hoped for a better redemption for the main character. so I'm not sure it's a book I'd listen to again.

Not as good as Dead Six and Grimnoir

I have all Larry’s books but a little disappointed on this one.

I won’t bother getting the second book.

Another great read

I understand from reading reviews that this is not the most popular series of books from Larry Correia, but I loved this one and have moved straight on to the next in the series. I liked the balance between getting to know the characters and the action and was caught up in the story. I would recommend. What a great performance by Ray Porter too.