Realm of Beasts

An Epic Fantasy Adventure with Mythical Beasts (Legend of the Nameless One, Book 1)

By: Angela J. Ford

Narrated by: Tucker McDougall

Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

An enchantress and a wizard get tangled in the grisly plans of an undead creature.

Tor Lir, the Nameless One, is unsure what he is. However, he knows he was born to bring balance to the powers of good and evil.

Forsaking his birthplace and fleeing from suggestions of a dark knowledge he’d rather not discover, he decides to take his fate into his own hands.

A chance encounter with a dead body, a dangerous beast, and a desirous creature lead him on the path to Paradise, where he senses imbalance.

Banished from her village and lost in a wicked forest, Citrine makes a deal with a dark creature, but that was before she found Paradise - the legendary land of a friendly giant.

Falling in love with the land, Citrine takes advantage of her time to study the lore of herbs and craft a spell of protection for her mythical beasts.

When darkness creeps into Paradise, bringing the mysterious Nameless One and an omen of death, Citrine realizes the consequences of her actions spell danger for herself, her beasts, and Paradise.

As time runs out, the undead come to life. Citrine faces the ultimate showdown as everything she holds dear is ripped away.

Will the Nameless One save Paradise or destroy it to welcome an era of peace?

Realm of Beasts is the first of six planned audiobooks in the epic fantasy series: Legend of the Nameless One.

©2018 Angela J. Ford (P)2018 Angela J. Ford

Enjoyed the world building

Realm of the Stars, is book 1 of the Legend of the Nameless series.
I listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by Tucker McDougall. I enjoyed the world building and learning about the other worldly beasts as this series is fantasy and sci-fi. The narrator was lacking for me. It was very easy to get confused as to which character he was portraying, Citrine or Tor Lir. I wish there was a bit more of character development. I felt like I couldn’t connect to either character and the narrating of the animals was a bit cheesy. I’m thinking the narrator really affected the story telling for me as I have listened to another audiobook by the author and her writing is fantastic.

enjoyed

I enjoyed getting lost in this adventure and look forward to more. Looking forward to listening to the next book.

Confusing in spots, picks up near the end

Realm of Beasts by Angela Ford and narrated by Tucker McDougall is an audible book I requested and the review is voluntary.
I am an avid reader and audible listener, fantasy and science fiction are my two favorite genres but this book has me confused for most of the first half. It started to make some sense by the last half of the book. I am giving the book a 3 star because it had all sorts of interesting characters. I had no bond with any character, there was no twists or turns I could make out, but there was some world building that was interesting, and unique creatures.
The narration was good but over the top when it was performing small animals. It just sounded silly.

Controlling the Beasts--

She can control the beasts, though, she chooses not to, but chooses to be their friend. This is a familiar concept that I've seen before, though played out a little differently. It revolves around a lord of the forest who wishes to bring back all the dead, and a woman and some of her allies who want to stop him. Instead of the typical decaying undead, think skeletons. It was a fun book, with plenty of action and intrigue.

Good and evil

A fun tale full of magic, prophecy, and the balance between what's right and wrong. I enjoyed the different points of view int he story, allowing the listener to really get to know the different characters and what drives them. The writing was very descriptive and had a lot of creativity. I would recommend. i was given this book for free, and chose to leave the review on my own accord.

Fun and different

I had no expectations going into this story, so it was a pleasant surprise to find a fun, interesting, well-narrated, adventure which - despite initial impressions - managed not to devolve into cheap romance and maintained its solid fantasy core throughout.

It has an aura of quality about it, and I get the feeling that this writer definitely has the potential to be something great.

Is this book great, though? Not quite. While I very much enjoyed what it is, I can't help but feel it's a little thin in places, descriptions and depth slightly lacking. It does what it does well, but I wish it had done more. I never got a strong feeling of place, the characters moving through scenes with the world rarely feeling more than facade-thick. Which is sad, because I get the feeling it *is* deeper, that the author knows more than is conveyed. The occasional glimpse of depth is just not quite enough.

But, as I said, it's a fun fantasy adventure. If it's not as deep as it could be, it's not as thin as many, and the characters never felt like flat archetypes. There is a lot of potential, a lot of good, and I would definitely put this author on a list to keep an eye on.

High Fantasy Adventure

This was a really good listen! The narration was very, very well done, with each character having their own unique voice. The story has all the flavor of High/Epic fantasy adventure. A couple questionable characters are thrown together to defeat a terrible evil that is invading paradise. There is magic aplenty, and the world building has roots in familiar mythologies, while managing to keep it's own kind of identity. I'm definitely interested in the next book, and I'll for sure want to listen to it, because the narration was great.

Good story

This was definitely a story full of fantastical creatures, otherworldly races, action and a hint of a budding romance. I’m not sure if the narrator is a bit dry or if it was the book itself. I enjoyed it and was happy to finish the book, but I wasn’t enraptured by it. For the majority of the book the chapters jump to diff POVs so it was hard to get really drawn in. Eventually all the characters meet up and it’s one story which was more interesting.

Realm of Beast

The author does a great job creating the characters and the world within this story. Everyone has their secrets, but will some secrets be the downfall of their world? Can she save the world she has grown to love and protect her beast? Ended on a cliffhanger! What does it mean to not have a shadow?

Slow beginning, but picks up halfway through

What first caught my eye about this book was the cover. It took me about 20 minutes to get into the "groove" of the story - I often find a slight adjustment period whenever I have to take in a detailed work's lore. And then I settled in for the ride. What I really liked at first is that most chapters were 10 minutes or less, with the longest being about 18 minutes - so it's a good book to listen to in parts while you're doing mindless chores.

The book tends to switch between our two protagonists, Tor Lir and Citrine, with an occasional glimpse into the doings of a side character. It's slow for about 40 percent of the book, as characters and lore are set up - but then close to the halfway point is where Tor Lir and Citrine finally meet, and the book really picks up steam from here. The two of them play well off each other, as Tor Lir's stoic and aloof to Citrine's passionate self-absorption.

We end with some things resolved and plenty still a mystery. The book includes good fantasy concepts like magical creatures and mortal/immortal conflicts, death, undead, the power of names, backstory, lore, lore, lore...

I want to know where Tor Lir and Citrine go from here. There's no more of the series on Audible, but Amazon has the next two books (of a planned six) and I want to check them out. There's still so much to unravel about Tor Lir, and while Citrine is more of a straightforward character by the end, I'm curious where her journey goes as well.