Samurai

The Three Sons

By: Timothy Levester McCallum

Narrated by: Ross Pipkin

The Great Continent is at war. The nation of Shogun, home of the samurai; defends their lands from two invading forces. Eblan, a nation of ninjas and Kraken, the land of the knights. Together, they seek to conquer the Shoguns. Now three brothers, who are the sons of the legendary samurai known as the Great Black Bear, fight to defend their homeland and put a stop to this war once and for all. Welcome to the world Samurai.

©2021 Timothy McCallum (P)2021 Timothy McCallum

A fun samurai story

When their country of Shogun, home of the samurai, is invaded by two rival countries, Eblan, home of the ninjas, and Kraken, home of the Knights, three brothers are called upon to help defend it. These are not just any brothers, though. They are the sons of the fabled samurai Great Black Bear. Their goal is to end the war, once and for all.

This was a fun story to listen to. The world-building was done fairly well - I say fairly because I would have liked some more; however, for most people, it would be plenty. The characters were also well-developed. The narrator, Ross Pipkin, did a pretty good job. The only comment I have about his narration is the way he pronounced "mana." While there does not seem to be a definitive pronunciation, I have almost exclusively heard it pronounced as "man-uh." However, Ross Pipkin pronounced it "mah-nuh." Not only that, but he had a strange cadence around the word when it appeared, almost like an extra beat or emphasis on that word in particular. At first, it was disconcerting to hear but, after about the first half-hour, I found that it added an interesting rhythm to the narration that would not have been there otherwise.

The book ended with a "to be continued," so I look forward to reading/listening to the next book in the series, particularly with the way this book ended. But, since it's not out at the moment (at least that I can find), I do not know how long I will have to wait to find out what happens next.

Samurai World Meets the Battle Bros

This one was an odd story that sometimes didn't seem to know whether it wanted to be a Samurai sword and sorcery epic or an opening chapter in a "the boys go off to war" story. It's also a little long on action and short on plot hooks, but it was a fun read and the ending promises more stories in the series so maybe by then it'll have decided what it wants to be. I hope so, because this young writer shows a lot of promise.

Let the fighting begin!

This is an action-packed story of three brothers from America fighting as samurai to win an important battle in a larger war that was full of epic battles, duels, and fights. In fact, this tale consists mainly of fight scenes that are strung together by a pretty weak story. We know our main characters are fighting to win a war but not why they should win or their beliefs in their own efforts. Just that they have a strong sibling bond. All the other characters lacked any reason for me to care about them. Furthermore, it seems as if a lot of Samurai knowledge needs to already exists in the listener’s mind. While the addition of magic into the story makes for interesting duels it still felt shoe-horned in. I hope future books in this series will flesh out the world as much as they did for these brothers. If you are a big fan of Samurai, then this will be an entertaining experience. Otherwise, this might not be the listen for you. 

Ross Pipkin's narration starts off really rough. But as the book progresses, he finds his cadence. He performed his best work during the fighting scenes but felt lackluster the rest of the time. I hope in his next narration he won't hit the mic as much.

Editing and quality were on par with most books I have listened to.  The production on the other hand was not. The addition of random music from random genres (hip-hop, rock, Japanese) was unnecessary. Along with the chaotic insertion of Foley work I was taken out of the story every time.

Disclaimer: This Audiobook was provided free of charge by the author, narrator, and/or publisher in exchange for a non-bias, honest review.

very good

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! excellent overall

couldn't really get into it

The story shifted in world-type from to European to Asian to magical that never really hot a fill for the story it was abit to many diffrent aspects.