Schism: The Battle for Darracia

Book 1, Volume 1

By: Michael Phillip Cash

Narrated by: Dan McGowan

Length: 3 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's Summary

On the planet Darracia, an ever-widening social gap between its inhabitants is causing turmoil that is fracturing a once peaceful world. Struggling with his identity, 19-year-old Prince V'sair must harness the power of the elusive Fireblade, the secret to a warrior's heart, in order to overcome his uncle Staf Nuen's lust for supremacy.

Will the energy of the Elements guide the young prince to his true destiny or will Staf Nuen conquer Darracia? After the success of his first three books (Brood X, Stillwell, and The Hanging Tree) Michael is fulfilling a dream and creating his own epic fantasy world. Schism: The Battle for Darracia is the first book in a planned series.

©2013 Michael Phillip Cash (P)2014 Michael Phillip Cash

Great first book in the saga

Schism, the first book in the Darracia Saga, is an enjoyable, action filled story set in an interesting and diverse world. A mix of sci-fi and fantasy this story quickly captures your imagination with its appealing, unique characters and fast action plot. The range and clarity of the beings in the story is great, from tree dwellers, to flying horses, elemental gods and blue skinned princes; you are quickly intrigued by their variety and captured by their personalities. This battle of good vs evil has themes of racism, jealousy, greed and betrayal running through it, and some romance is thrown in there as well. As is often the case with Cash's books, there are some social messages imbedded in the story, but I will leaves those for you to figure out for yourselves. The narration on the audiobook is excellent, he creates individual voices for the characters and transports you on a journey to the world created by Cash. My only criticism is that some of the story was a bit rushed at the end and I would have liked to have seen V'Sair's romantic relationship be longer in its development. It is well written, entertaining and has enough action and plot twists to keep you turning the pages. I look forward to the next in the series. I received the audiobook & ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.