The Vengeance War

Blood for Blood, Book 1-3

By: K.L. Gee, Tom Wright

Narrated by: Hollie Jackson

Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

This is the complete trilogy collection of Blood for Blood.

In a world where men and women teleport using air, dirt, and water....

Kidnapped as an infant, Hakon is raised by the earth-empowered Terra people. Considered less than beasts, the clawed-hand warriors plot revenge against the air-empowered Alem that invaded their land centuries before.

Hakon grows up with the knowledge that he is an Alem prince, tempered by the love he feels for the family that raised him.

While Hakon tries to find peace between two warring peoples, his sister Kara rises from the hidden role of handmaid to the public role of princess. All she knows has changed, especially her relationships with those she once considered friends.

Both Kara and Hakon must find a way to bring peace to the violent struggles over the land before everything they've ever loved is burned to the ground in front of them.

©2014 Moonlight Crew Publishing (P)2015 Moonlight Crew Publishing

Interesting ideas let down a little by delivery

3.5 / 5

This book has a lot of interesting ideas in the story and it provided and interesting read, but the writing and the way it was delivered left a bit to be desired. Not sure if that was due to the multiple authors working together or what.

The world is is set in is broken down into three races - each with an elemental basis and power - air, earth and water. A fourth race, fire based, is mentioned as having been extinct for a while. The 'air race' the Alem are the ruling class, with the 'water race' being their servant class. The 'earth race', the Terra, are beastial and tribal, always warring with one another and the Alem. A peace is brokered between them until the Terra kidnap the Alem prince causing a decades long war.

The story follows this Alem prince, Hakon, as he returns to Alem torn between his race and the people he grew up knowing and loving. After Hakons kidnapping his sister, Kara, was raised in hiding as a servant so as to decrease the chance of another kidnapping. She is is similarly torn between the Alem and their servants.

The elemental magic, the intrigue etc are all interesting and a great foundation. The issue sits with the writing. The descriptions of the action and of how the magic works is often lacking. The timeline and the vastness of the world is vague. There are parts where Hakon is travelling to find his sister and in the space of a chapter or two he travels a long way, finds her and returns. But we get almost nothing of that travel. One paragraph he is finding her in a far away land and says "let's go home" and next paragraph is three weeks later and they are home. It is very jarring.

The other thing is that this book covers Parts 1 - 3, forming the full story. However there is no obvious points in which the parts would have broken.It doesn't rally have the midpoint climaxes that would have sustained interest across it being multiple books. So in that case I'm glad for the all-in-one.

Narration by Hollie Jackson is also 3.5 / 5

It is clear and easy to follow. Pacing is good. She reads the book well, but doesn't really perform the book in any way. There is minimal differentiation in character voices, minimal conveyance of emotion. Overall not bad in any way, just nothing standout.

What great action packed into a wonderful world!

If you like action, this is your book. The magic is intriguing and very well written. The characters are great, imperfect and believable.

Great characters with a lot of action in between.

What made the experience of listening to The Vengeance War the most enjoyable?

The setting of the world, races with different powers. The strengths and weaknesses of the different races in battle. I could see how crazy and fast paced the battles are.

Over All great, but

It has some points to work on. My main issue became the fact that much of the book is from a male characters perspective. But the female narrator had a hard time doing a male voice. It took me a while to get used to it.

Story wise I loved the world it took place in. But the plot felt a bit rushed at times. I primarily felt this with how frequently large chunks of time passed. A journey across the land feels over before it has begun. I often found myself second guessing if the characters journey/training/mission was actually over or not because it would just suddenly be at it's end.

Otherwise I really enjoyed the books. Despite using a well known theme of people controlling the elements as part of their race, the author really made this theme their own. I don't think I could accurately compare it to anything else that has used the theme before. .
I would actually really enjoy seeing a book that touches on some of the lesser seen parts of the series. The extinct fire porters. The unseen homeland of the air people. The original war that started the mess that is being resolved in this series. All would be great to see more of in a partner series.

Awesome story with great Magic system

Would you consider the audio edition of The Vengeance War to be better than the print version?

I didn't read the print version; I'm an exclusive audiobook listener

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Vengeance War?

The part where King Arden (forgive my spelling, audiobook guy here) punishes Azure for what Princes Kara did.... it was an amazing reminder that our actions affect others, and especially when we are in positions of power or authority.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Engaging and Intriguing Storyline

I really enjoyed these books. Interesting plot that surprised me and drove me forward, I looked forward to listening every night!

Not the most impressive, but still entertaining.

I had a few issues with this book. The first was the terminology for some of the magic, that they call zipping and vanishing. Some parts of the book seemed rushed as well, and the logic of some of the characters are confusing. This is a short book even though it is supposed to be three in one volume. You will most likely guess the ending well before the end of the book as well.

The narration is alright. The narrator does not use different tones of voices or anything, so it sounds off when someone "rasps" something or speaks with an accent. She has a pleasant voice to listen to so I still gave her four stars.

I will not listen to this again. Not that it was really bad, but it was really simple, and not complex enough to hold my attention.

Blood for Blood, great book, great narration

Interesting races and powers, good world building, Lots of good action and intrigue. Fun read!