Six Sacred Swords

Weapons and Wielders, Book 1

By: Andrew Rowe

Narrated by: Nick Podehl

Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

It doesn’t take a legendary sword to make a legendary swordsman, but it certainly helps.

Keras Selyrian is already well on the way to cutting his name into the annals of legend. He’s fought false divinities, thieving sorcerers, and corrupt demigods - and left them defeated in his wake.

But he’s a long way from home, and Kaldwyn offers a different brand of danger than he’s used to. He’s already got a sword of unfathomable power, but it’s damaged and leaking world-annihilating mana, so he’s in the market for a new one. Possibly six. The more the better, really.

The Six Sacred Swords are Kaldwyn’s most famous artifacts, forged as the only means to defeat the god beasts. Each sword must be earned by a worthy champion, and no single person has ever managed to collect them all.

Not yet, at least. Keras is just getting started.

Six Sacred Swords is a lighthearted fantasy adventure inspired by Japanese game series like The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Fire Emblem. It takes place in the same universe as the Arcane Ascension novels, but years earlier and with a different protagonist. While the books are interconnected, they can be listened to on their own in any order.

For appendices with further details on the magic and characters, please download the supplementary PDF.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2019 Andrew Rowe (P)2019 Podium Publishing

Different names, same characters. One trick pony?

I gave the first book of the Arcane Ascension series a rave review, although I did not rate the others in the series. As this is a spinoff of that series, I feel an obligation to offset that rave.

The lead character in Six Sacred Swords, Keras Selyrian, was introduced in book 1 of the Arcane Ascension series as a somewhat dark, mysterious, knowing and worldly man. (Spoiler ahead - skip to the next paragraph to avoid.) When he reappeared at the end of that series, his character had changed, although it is only in retrospect that it becomes glaring that his back-story and character had not been developed until then, and was likely due to Rowe's plotting out this book.

Now that Karas has his own series, it is evident that Karas has lost the mystery, several years, and much of the apparent knowledge and wisdom with which he had been introduced. The only mystery left is kept as an unanswered question. It is so blatantly stated that you even know what the question is - it is just not answered. I find that that question alone is not enough to be interested in Karas, and I almost did not finish the book.

Quite early in this book, I realized that the character, Karas, was the same in mannerisms, speech and thought patterns, as the lead character in the prior series, Corin Cadence. - In fact, I had to go back and double check that it was supposed to be a different person, and that I hadn't been confused about the names! - Corin was ok for one series, but there isn't enough meat in this plot to carry another him through it, no matter what his name is.

Nick Podehl does a great job with the narration, as always, and he clearly does what he can with the character. He can, however, only work with what he has been given by the author.

I will not be buying the next book.

Enjoyable but...

This was a perfectly acceptable off shoot to the Arcane Ascension series that the author has started. But like many offshoots it falls short of the original. It is an entertaining story but the complexity and character development is not as in depth as the original series.

Nick Podehl, as the narrator in both series, delivers a flawless performance as usual.

My God he can write a book

Seriously. Yes this is a lore fill book but at the same time it ties up the story and how characters come to meet and come to power. Can't wait for the next book in THE S. A. M series to see what happens next. This book runs along side the main series but it's own series as well. Keep them coming Rowe seriously keep it up. And nick keep up the narration!!!

Doesn't meet the standards of Rowe's other series

I know this book was to provide background on his other series, but I don't think it provided enough to make up for shallow characters and a weak story. I also think it was trying a little too hard to be humorous. If it wasn't for my love of Arcane Ascension series and my like of The War of Broken Mirrors series, I probably wouldn't have finished and gave it a 1 star.

Disappointing compared to his earlier works

This book was entertaining enough that I finished it and didn't return it (barely), but it was mostly just disappointing. It was a long series of fight scenes that felt a bit repetitive and were mostly solved via deus ex machina kind of endings. The characters made a point, instead of being clever, of solving all problems via cheating (by virtue of being from somewhere else so he didn't know how to do otherwise), and a perpetual talk about how excited the main character was to find a "worthy fight" was in stark contract to the fact that he perpetually got his ass kicked and has his injuries massively talked up, which then again perpetually contracted with the fact that he'd join yet another fight again five minutes later. The point being, nothing was really believable, the the "show don't tell" advice for authors seemed not only to be ignored but to be on conflict as what the characters actually "showed" was in stark contract to the courage, intelligence, or fighting ability that was perpetually attributed to them. So yeah, quite disappointing. I also had a minor complaint, which is that in the opening scenes a fight between two characters was perpetually described with one of the two characters being described as "they." I don't know what this was about, but all it did for me was make the scene very confusing as I kept having to rewind to check and see if someone else had joined the scene only to discover that the plural was in fact being used to apply to a single character, again. Not sure what that was about, but it made an already rather mediocre book start with a rather annoying writing dynamic that made one distrust the narrator in a way that also further detracted from the whole story. This then fed into the sense that what was described about the characters conflicted with the traits they exhibited, leaving one with a broad sense of inept characters and a dishonest narrator both. This made the book frustrating on top of being disappointing.

Awesome addition to the world!

Loved it. great companion series to the Sufficiently Advanced Magic series. I can't wait for more!
Nick Poedel is the best!!

An excellent blend of humor and swashbuckling fun

As usual, Nick podehl did an excellent job near Reading this Book. Andrew Rowe wrote an entertaining introduction to his new series and I look forward to reading the next book. this is the first book of his that I've read, and I'm very happy to have come across him. his blend of humor and heroism and swashbuckling fun was engaging and extremely entertaining.

Nick podehl is an amazing narrator

Nick podehl is an amazing narrator

favorite narrator I've found on all of audible. h

Amazing backstory

This is best listened to after the fist two books in the Arcane Ascension series. This will help explain who the narrator is talking to and why. I can be read on its own but you may be a bit confused at times.

That said, I laughed out load several times listening to this. I love the world that Andrew Rowe has built in these books. The author does a wonderful job ignoring the tired tropes of fantasy and putting a good twist on things that even catches his characters off guard. This is a great story with a dragon and a magic sword and a main character who has a flair for dramatic storytelling. I highly recommend it,

I want more!!!

I love Andrew’s work on Sufficiently Advanced Magic books! Light, interesting and not hard to follow. In this book, Dawn Bringer was hilarious and life of the party! Can’t wait for the next audiobook!

magic, might and #metoo

I could not get on with this book. I loved sufficiently advanced magic, and I was expecting might, magic and adventure... which Is sort of there... but this book seems like it's entirely about a skilled swordsman with great power and ancient god killing artifacts... who is only concerned with not hurting anybody's feelings, befriending and trying to free anything even remotely sentient, constantly worrying about consent or proprietary, and his bizarre three way flirty/therapy relationship with ancient biengs of teenage personality...

Fun, enjoyable, not his best work

I'm a big fan of Andrew Rowe, especially the Corrin Cadence books, but this book seemed to be lacking something the other books have. Perhaps it's the reduced threat because Kerris is so powerful, perhaps I'm just less of a fan of the writing style for this series.
Nick Podehl remains my favourite audiobook voice actor but I did notice him slipping out of character a couple of times, especially when the narrator starts sounding like his natural voice (sorry if you can't unhear that).
Overall, the quality isn't up to their normal standard but it is still fun and well worth it if you like Kerris or want to know more about the lore, history and connection between series.

loved it

such a good book best one he has written so far. have listened to all of them and can't wait for the next one.

Fantastic listen

Another wonderful book from Andrew Rowe.
Nick Podehls performance is a masterwork as usual. what a team.....

No stakes

This was an okay story, but not what I would've expected. Karis is the big mysterious, powerful stranger in the other books. Here, much of the mystique is lost. While he plans less than Corin, overall he still feels too similar. Not like someone who grew up in a completely different culture and therefore thinks differently. The humour is the same, Nick Podehl's voice is the same for Karis and Corin when younger Karis talks to someone (not his narrator voice), they're both young men that don't seem to know what they're doing. His abilities feel much more limited and he is more self conscious.

Plotwise, Karis appears to just randomly decide that he has nothing better to do than go for the magic sword - that it is actually tied to his mission isn't made clear until the very end of the book. And we still don't really know why his mission is so important. For me, there were no stakes in what he did. I knew he wasn't going to die, he wasn't going to lose a friend, and he didn't seem to pursue an important task.
Given that, the many action scenes didn't have the emotional impact they were intended to have.

His companions were two entities that had no experience. They were clueless, silly teenage girls - not very entertaining. I had hoped he'd meet up with more interesting people eventually, but no such luck.

A fantastic tong in cheek fantasy frolic

I love the way Nick Podehl narrates the characters, he really brings them to life and helps make the comedy moments even better! (And there are a lot of comedy moments in this book)

This spinoff from the Arcane Ascension series is fantastic, I really enjoy how great the characters are and how the banter between them feels so natural. I also enjoy the way the whole thing is set as Caras telling some of his back story during a train ride, it really gives a good insight to him as a character when we have only seen glimpses of him during Arcane Ascension.

Is It Wrong To Fall In Love With A Sentient Sword?

A compelling novel with a lot of fantastic worldbuilding!

Andrew's unique analytical style presents a world of puzzles and magic, but most importantly, characters who are interested in engaging with the world, even if that is often with bizarre shows of violence.

Genuinely relatable characters, LGBT+ rep and great depictions of neurodiversity in a high fantasy world that you just want to get Iseki'd into.

A departure from the other series, the charismatic if somewhat repressed swordsman from afar let's us see the world with new eyes. Brash and bold, but deeply respectful of life, our hero brings such a warm feeling to the world. The trope of himbo overpowered swordsman falls apart to a treatise on what it means to fight and take lives, in a genre that often has hero's display unimaginable violence and not lose sleep after it.

Well worth a listen

loved this title from start to finish can't wait to listen to the next one

Loved it!

In my opinion, Andrew Rowe is at his strongest when he’s writing a story around one character but including a wider support base into their story. I loved War of Broken Mirrors but it didn’t hit the same for me as Arcane Ascension, and I think that’s why.

In this book, we’re taken back to one of the most intriguing characters and I think Andrew did a wonderful job of explaining the past and bringing more depth to the story and it really shines through in this one.

This book has the same well paced story, great and at time funny dialogue and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to moving on to the second one next and getting the third one when it’s out on audible later this year.

As always, Nick did a fantastic job of narration and I couldn’t imagine it with a better suited narrator.

Enjoyable Characters, Excellent Narrator

First, I should stress/explain - this is connected to the Arcane Ascension series by the same author (which starts with Sufficiently Advanced Magic), but none of its contents spoil the AA series; they are instead focused on another character's past.

The characters and their interactions are, as seems usual for Andrew Rowe, happily enjoyable, and the story is relatively light. Nick Podehl is also an excellent narrator, giving each character distinct voices and helping bring the text to life.