A Darkness Forged in Fire

Book One of the Iron Elves

By: Chris Evans

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

Length: 15 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Konowa Swift Dragon, former commander of the Empire's elite Iron Elves, is looked upon as anything but ordinary. He has murdered a Viceroy, been court-martialed, seen his beloved regiment disbanded, and been banished in disgrace to the one place he despises the most---the forest.

Now all Konowa wants is to be left alone with his misery. But for him, nothing is ever that simple. The mysterious and alluring Visyna Tekoy, the highborn daughter of an elfkynan governor, seeks him out in the dangerous wild with a royal decree that he resume his commission as an officer in Her Majesty's Imperial Army, effective immediately. For in the east, a falling Red Star heralds the return of a magic long vanished from the earth. Rebellion grows within the Empire as a frantic race to reach the Star unfolds. It is a chance for Konowa to redeem himself---even if the entire affair appears doomed to be a suicide mission. And the soldiers recruited for the task are not at all what he expects. Worse, his key adversary in the perilous race for the Star is the dreaded Shadow Monarch---a legendary elf-witch whose machinations for absolute domination spread deeper than Konowa could ever imagine.

©2008 Chris Evans (P)2008 Tantor

Fantastic!

A great beginning to a new epic.

Classic fantasy.

Not a reinvention of the wheel by all means, but of course there are better wheels then others. This is a tale spun with classic strings and leaves you wanting, but wondering why there couldn't be more at the end.
Narration parts were great, as always from this Narrator, but some select character voices seemed a bit off and threw me out of the story a bit. Overall, good for any looking for a sometimes comedic, but classic storytelling.

Way to much of a reactive main character.

Struggled to finish it. The main character never makes his own opinion or action counts. He never disagrees with people or fights to make his own actions be his own... gets old listening to people rip him to shreds and he takes it like a little bitch. Seriously, can't be a heroic leader if you bow your head, say your wrong and ask for forgiveness. Then walk around depressed cus he can never be right. Then the bloody mixed race thing is bloody retarded. What's the point of having mixed races of they all are obviously less than humans, with the point of being a different race not at all important. Wouldn't different races be different? Like lions and tigers? Hell when they breed aren't the results less than optimal? As in sterile? So what's the point?

A Story Without a Hook

I went back and forth over whether this was a 2 or a 3 but in the end I decided 3 stars is reserved for books I at least finished. This book is right on the borderline.

The concept for the world is a good one but the story is told in such a boring and cliche way that there's just no in. For all the long physical description of meaningless objects and settings the author fails to sell the world or give it the least believability. It's especially amusing when he wants to make sure that you understand that a character is evil, he lays it on so thick he must have used a trowel.

I can't help thinking that a slight adjustment in the narrative might have made this book tolerable. Perhaps if the narration were less overwrought or if the story had focused on the main character earlier and at greater length. Except the more I heard about the main the less sympathy I felt for him. The idea of an elf who can't connect with nature is interesting for about 5 minutes but then he manages to be so distasteful that I ceased to care about his problems at all.

The narrator reads this story like he is either bored and falling asleep in mid-sentence or having trouble with all the big words. I can't help thinking he shares my opinions.

sadly, low quality writing...

not worth it by far. the narrator is awesome but the author needs some more practice.

Slow start and it never gets better.

I'm not sure what it was about this book, I just couldn't get into it. I'm one of those people that no matter what I have to finish a book I start, no matter how bad it is. I just can't leave it undone. Well, this book is one of the few that I set down about halfway through it and never picked it up again, and it hasen't itched at me once.

The story starts very slow, and was so boring. There was nothing about the characters that connected with me. I found myself not caring about them, I didn't care about the story at all. There was a few characters that had some humor to them, and were kinda fun to read about, but it wasn't enough to keep me going.

Remember I didn't finish the book so and give an complete review. All I know is based on the first half I have no desired to finish.