Kingdoms and Chaos

King's Dark Tidings, Book 4

By: Kel Kade

Narrated by: Nick Podehl

Length: 16 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's Summary

The future of the Ashaiian haven, the newly founded Kingdom of Cael, is anything but secured. Rezkin must seek recognition from the King of Gendishen if his people are to maintain possession of their island home and the enchanted secret it contains.

In an unexpected twist, events overtake Rezkin, and he is thrust into a frustrating adventure to seek a worthless prize. He finds that his carefully constructed reputation as an indomitable foe has consequences as others seek to use his strengths for their own gain. Meanwhile, friends are confronted with too many truths, power and strength might be more than some desire, loyalties and friendships are tested, and at least one of Rezkin’s friends might be headed for a miserable demise.

©2018 Kel Kade (P)2018 Podium Publishing

Great start poor finish

The first two books of the series were incredible fast pace great story great character development third and fourth books were a huge disappointment the introduction of too many characters too many levels of crazy just destroyed what he had going.

Really a shame...

This series started out so strong... but alas I have to punch out halfway through this book. All the characters do is bicker selfishly and the protagonist can’t seem to sort out up from down. Put to words it’s sounds like incessant whining. It reminds me to the unnecessarily drawn out and redundant stories in the later Farseer books. So bad it’s unfinish-able.

Unsatisfied

The world building is fantastic however, the first two books were better when there were no spirits or demons. Looking forward to the completion of the series simply so I can be done with it. Returning all the books.

Such s Shame

Clearly Kade had originally planned a trilogy but the first two were very popular and either through greed or reluctance to let his literary baby go, he decided to tack extra stuff on. He could have written a brilliant trilogy. He'll end up with 9 banal books.

Another princess
ANOTHER MAGIC SWORD
Tacked on side quests
WHINGING

As always, the Audible reviews VASTLY exaggerate the books merits.

Better than book 3. Not as good as 1 and 2

Pros:
- New interesting societies. Kel has a talent here!
- Main annoyances of book 3 are not continued here
- New challenges and Kel continues to find cool out of the box thinking to overcome them

Cons:
- Disappointed on how much time is spent on the few whiny characters whining with little personal development
- Little time spent on the relationships I hoped to read more about, while the new relationships were not that enjoyable

For me, I hope that book 5 completes the story. I want to find out what happens and read more about Rezkin, but I'm starting to not care about most of the other characters. Books 1 and 2 were flawless so it'll suck to stop mid-series.

What the heck just happened??

Not impressed by this book at all. 1st, where is Pride? Probably the best character in this book. 2nd why won’t Frisha just go away? 3rd why is everyone throwing their kingdoms at Rez? The end is abhorrent Tieren and Frisha fall madly in love in an instant??? What? Oh, sorry Rez, forgot about you old boy. And lastly, what was the crap at the end? Perplexed.

WHAT THE HELL!

What happened to this beautiful book, in book 1 and 2 Rezkin was like the perfect main character then in book 3 he started changing from 5 stars guy to 3, and in book 4 he became a train wreck. Rezkin eat and live by the rules for 19 year and in just 1 year he forgot it (JUST ONE YEAR) I can't believe this shit.
And for that piece of sh*t that they call frisha starb her to death she is selfish and ungrateful I really don't like her, all she thinks about is husband from Rezkin to his consin maybe next Will be his grandfather. poor Tam is in hell if he survive he will not call Rez kill anymore. well I hope book 5 bringing back the confidence and stable Rezkin back. I still enjoyed this book. Nick podehl his awesome as alway.

Not as good as first books but will continue...

Ugh. I hate to write a disappointing review, but not as much as listening to said audio. So this next book in series was (in my opinion) hard to get through. The storyline wasn’t absolutely terrible, I did finish, however it took so many obscure turns I found myself wandering in thought which is it not good thing with audio books. I finished book with feelings of apathy & disgust for many characters, almost depressed. Way too much pressure on Rez, repeatedly and over & over. Yes suspicions and righteousness abound in this world but come on! The judgement of those who never make the hard decisions is a trait all to familiar in these settings, however this narrative has just TOO much throughout. I absolutely hated the whiny and ungrateful Frisha, Malcious, and others. More than that I found myself skipping some of their conversations with a “ they’re too stupid too live” resolve. Now I’m in a weird place thinking the author should kill off all of Rez’s so called “friends” with exception to Tam, Kai and his horse Pride (maybe few others) Gah! The angst built in previous books went from my feeling “wow, they’ll soon find self discovery, realize what Rez has done for them etc etc” to ultimately “god these people are selfish, narcissistic A-holes and no redemption could have me interested in their plight” lol. I don’t condemn the book (the narration is top notch) and possibly the author will make it up in an amazing way with final book, he is very talented . I fear I may end my journey here though, this book made that “ansty good feeling” icky and left me frustrated & melancholy.

Don’t believe the negative comments

I don’t understand why the negative comments. It’s just as good as previous 3. Can’t wait for #5.

Wow that wasn't good

The first 2 books were so great and Rezkin is such an intriguing character. The 3rd book was OK but this just flew off the rails.

The creation of little drama after little drama combined with the ungodly rehashing of the characters' inner feelings that never seem to resolve is boring and tedious. I think about the Farson and every time he speaks it's snarkey criticism of this monster Rezkin. IT GETS OLD. WE GET IT. FARSON THINKS REZKIN IS A MONSTER THAT CAN'T BE TRUSTED.

It's just so disappointing that the flow and story of the first 2 were fantastic. This feels like Kade has to write a book. It doesn't resolve so much from the 3rd and just doesn't continue the fun and intrigue of the previous.

Nick Podehl is extraordinary though. How he manages all the voices and accents I'll never understand. His performance was outstanding.

Whiny 'friends'

*sigh*
the first two books in this series quickly became two of my favourite fantasy books of all time.

however, at this point, I suspect the books are now being dragged out because I'm certainly not seeing any normal and expected progression among the side characters.

As a result, I finished this book with mixed feelings. while I did enjoy reading about the main character, I could not shake the feeling of annoyance on how the main love interest has been portrayed.

A this point, she subtracts more from the story than she adds.

Nick Podhel has done his voice acting miracles once again.

No Point Reading

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the books, but the author has left the story incomplete, and has no interest in finishing it even now after 2 years the author has decided to write a new trilogy, and I'm not sure he has the capacity to even finish this new one, so not worth you time reading because there is no ending.

I still hate Frisha, other than that it's great.

Seriously Frisha is frankly awful, judgemental mean, fly's off the Handel and doesn't seem to appreciate the fact that Reskin has saved her, and others lives on multiple occasions. she has no compassion for the fact Res is emotionally stunted, her character expects purity of action from others but not from her self; whilst being irrational most of the time, with her character going through little development of her own skills, world view and maturity of action.

Other than that it's a pretty great book, various characters go on adventures and grow as people both in them selves and their responsibilities and actions. This book follows several characters not just Reskin as they spin off from main cast which for the most part is successful and allows the author to develop characters like Tam more fully and if he'd just been part of Reskins entourage.

Though I think the author does over rely a touch on conflict with others through characters not explaining things and being irrational and unable to relate due to the other person in the conversation. In some cases this makes sense for instance if Reskin threatens there position as king or they have a different belief system. But in other cases it's just conflict for its sake, aka Frisha.

The battles are great once again, as are the discriptions of the build up to some magic actions, along with the consequences, some being equally heavy for some of the characters, helping to challenge them and allow them to develop.

This book delves further into the fantasy side of things too. So I hope everyone's good with that, still it's done in a natural way.

Over all 4.5 to 5 out of 5. Trisha really pissed me off Malcius suffers from the same thing to, to some degree. But I'd say his character evolves & moves forward more during this book. I get that there prissy nobles but I thought they'd of changed more by now, Tieran certainly has and continues to do so in this book. Other wise it would be pure 5 stars from me.

Frisha, omfg....

Story was good and performance was flawless. Frisha however, is becoming my most hated character. She's whiny and annoying to the point that it doesn't suit the story. She's better off killed or sent away.

Kings dark tidings deep

I found the books to be really enjoyable, good characters and a story line that wasn’t overly complicated. What really annoys me is that it’s been over 2 years waiting for the next book. Although A writer had the freedom to write about what he pleases he also has a responsibility to his fans, when I found out the Kel Kade had released a new book to start a new series I felt he had let down every person who has bought this series.
I won’t be buying anymore books from this writer because I don’t trust him to finish off the new series.
I think it shows a total lack off respect to all the people who have spent there hard earned money on this series to just left hanging with no ending.

Lazy writing and more disappoint

More of a 2.5 stars. I really enjoyed the first two books, the third was awful in my opinion. The third felt like the characters were in a different world that had been set up previously, this book did feel like more of a blend which was a nice surprise. There were also some interesting sub plot developments although several character appear to of gone missing, which made me question why develope them at all in the first few books? See of the subplots were incredibly forced and didn't fit with the tone of the books at all. This includes one ridiculous romance that has appeared out of nowhere that makes no logical sense and quickly becomes annoying.

As for the main plot, it's very lazy and predictable. There is little to no advancement of the original story from the first two books, presumably majority of people are dead there by now as there is little mention of it? The lazy writing I'm reffering to is the task that leads to another task structure of the book. After the third task it's incredibly frustrating and predictable and doesn't appear to be any purpose except minor character development that doesn't serve much of a purpose. This series is feels like it's being stretched out for some reason, it's a shame as it had real potential. I won't be holding my breath for the next book.

Brilliant storytelling

There are only four authors that I wait longingly for, and Kel Kade's series is one of them. All four books have been great to listen to. The third title was a little slower and had less action, but I still really enjoyed the character developments. Whatever the lead character does, he tends to do it successfully. Some reviewers have complained about this in the past, though actually for me this is one of the big bonuses of the book, and provides a progressive feel good factor. How many books have I listened to where the tedium of everything going wrong for the lead character just grates? It goes without saying that there is a further book in the pipeline, and I just hope there will be a continuous endless stream of further books in this series, but I just hope he does not take too long writing each! Enjoy the read. Well done Kel Kade.

Can't wait until book 5 gets released!

I was being very close to skipping the first book and the series - I'm so glad I didn't! It was due to reviews saying how the overpowered character was too perfect and unrealistic to the point it was painful to listen. Yes, the main character is overpowered, and whole world around him also questions how is it even possible for a human like this to exist. As the series progresses more and more clues emerge and everything starts making more and more sense.

This is series is in my top 10 favorite audiobooks. I loved the plot, the narration, the magic system. It was a fun series to listen to. One of key strengths of the series was how awesome different cultures / customs / organisations / kingdoms were portrait. The world feels vast, interesting, detailed. I'm looking forward to reading more books from the series. Hopefully the author, Kel Kade won't make any more spin-off books and will continue the main plot. Nick Podehl - it was an amazing performance. Thanks for reading this book with all different voices for various characters.

book 4

brilliant story the audio voice really did a good job I would recommend this book to anyone

An awesome read overall

I have loved the series so far. The first three books I gave 5 star on everything. This one was still awesome. However, the last 6 hours of this book seemed a little rushed and it seemed to jump from one characters journey to another without always explaining what went on in the missing time. Am I looking forward to the rest of the book series...Yes....Would I listen to this series again....most definitely...I also want to mention that Nick Podehl is a great narrator and really brings the characters to life....