Kingdoms at War

An Epic Fantasy Adventure (Dragon Gate, Book 1)

By: Lindsay Buroker

Narrated by: Vivienne Leheny

Length: 16 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's Summary

As a cartography student, Jak has always dreamed of finding the lost dragon gate and exploring and mapping distant worlds.

Developing magical powers and becoming a powerful wizard? Not a chance.

Wizards are cruel and inhumane, warring with each other from their great sky cities and keeping most of humanity enslaved. Jak wants nothing to do with them.

But when he and his archaeologist mother unearth the gate, they attract the attention of the very wizards they sought to avoid. Even more troubling, Jak starts developing magical powers of his own, powers that could rival those of the great rulers.

Fate may have given him the opportunity to change the world.

But the wizard rulers don’t like change, and when they detect threats, they send their elite assassins to eliminate them.

If Jak can’t unlock the power of the gate, and the powers within himself, the world will remain enslaved forever.

©2021 Lindsay Buroker (P)2021 Lindsay Buroker

Dang.

So maybe I'm in the minority here but this book annoyed me. I could only make it half way before returning it so maybe this won't be the best review.

What killed this book for me we a 2 prong assault, 1) the pacing, which was so SLOW. It kept getting slowed down by extra details and inconsequential notes that took the action out of action scenes. 2) The dialog is king, and not in a good way. I don't know if it is just me, but this book felt like a screen play instead of a novel. More emphasis seemed to be put on the talking between characters than actually DOING something, which feels less and less interesting as the book went on.

###SPOILERS###

Also, the pet peeve that sunk this story from a 3 star review to a 2 star review is the DAMN BLAME GAME that goes on between 2 characters. Which after a certain point I just gave up on them because of how annoying it was coming across.

Spectacular

I was enthralled by the end of the first chapter! I love this new world & set of characters. I truly look forward to many more listening hours of being immersed in yet another Lindsay Series! Lindsay - you are an awesome writer! I’m glad that you’re so prolific & that you try to get your books on Audio ASAP! Thank you

Bleh

This could have been a lot better with the story arc. However, the characters are flat with feelings that they will contradict in the next paragraph. I think the author didn’t know how to handle the magic at all…it’s just too OP. Passive mind reading with no cost….then you have a mage killer that can slip by them with no effort. It’s just bad.

Great start

Another great universe from Lindsay Buroker, with all sorts of characters. I think it is going to a wild ride and I can’t wait for more. Vivienne is her usual awesome self and I am so happy she narrated this book. I hope she does all the books in this series. Will try to be patient waiting for the next one in the series.

Least fav Buroker audiobook

This could have been great. The storyline is good but gets bogged down by meaningless detail and character thoughts.

Story was good but not enough development

I really like the layout of the story. The flow of each event was smooth and didn’t feel too rushed or too slow. My one complaint is not enough power development for Jack. In the summary of the book, it is said that Jack has magic that can rival the rulers yet all he can pretty much do is barely manage to interact with the artifact and use its power.

Jack’s mother is smart and good at making weapons out of liquids in bikes. I was annoyed that in the entire story, they are running away from one enemy and they keep getting caught or the Zadar just mind reads them.

Spoilers!!!!!!
In the very end of the book, Jack and his mother escape with the artifact and are traveling many miles away the enemy that have kept them captive for the entire story. It seems as if they finally have some peace and quiet when Jack’s mother gets a dream. Malech, the Zadar that they have been running away from them visits her and just simple asks where they are going. I remind you that they are literally in a different continent yet they still can’t escape the grasp of this one magic user.

Vivienne did a great job narrating and the story had a good flow to it, yet not very much power development. By no means am I asking for Jack to become overpowered but let him be able to do more than manipulate the artifact when he needs protection or help.

Loved it.

Now hooked on the whole series! Vivienne Leheny is a real joy to listen to.

The story was top notch

Wish it spent more time on the back story describing the world and cast system and how it got there.

i just sucked up all 4 books+++

An amazeing series the story is captivateing and flows so well ... several time i didnt want to stop listening when i arived home and just sat in my car to listen . it has it all Dragons and Mages strange beasts with a bunch of quarkie personalitys ..well worth the time.

great read!

good read, only reason I don't give it a five is that characters motivations are simple and lack depth.

Wasn’t a fan of this

Really couldn’t get in to this I didn’t like the narration or the story. Not sure why as it’s the sort of story I usually like but this one just wasn’t for me.

A book for all excellently read

I really enjoy Lindsay Buroker's books. Especially that there are story lines for the 'older' generation not just the youngsters. I could not listen to any of her books read by anyone else. Vivienne Lehenry really gets you into the story with emphasis when needed and she develops the characters well.