Skyborn

By: Leia Stone

Narrated by: Vanessa Moyen

Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's Summary

Alone, on the run, and fighting for her life.

Sloane Murphy thought hiking the Grand Canyon alone after graduation would be an awesome adventure. Until she slips and starts to plummet to her death. Then the unthinkable happens.

She transforms into...a dragon.

After flying to safety and trying to convince herself she isn’t having a mental breakdown, the hunters come for her. She runs, somehow managing to stay one step ahead of them. Until her luck runs out. Now the hunters have her, and they intend to kill, not capture.

That’s when he comes for her.

Logan Sharp is the last dragon shifter alive. Or so he thinks, until he gets word that the druids are hunting a red-headed female. His team takes her in, sheltering her because there is a truth she must learn: if the Skyborn die out, then so does humanity.

But Sloane is hiding a dark secret that she doesn’t even know yet. A secret that could change everything.

Recommended age 16+ due to language.

©2017 Leia Stone (P)2017 Leia Stone

Dumb lead character but promising story

This book is a good example of why you should push through some books until the end. For first 1/3 of the book, I was planning to give it an extremely low rating. It comes across as very childish in the verbiage and the main characters inner thoughts. Stuff like, "having a half naked dragon shifter hold me while he made plans fir his pet kitten made my ovaries ache fir his babies..."

I mean REALLY?

At one point the main character is told not to lie because someone is a Truth Witch. Do you know what she asked???? She actually asks, "What does a Truth Witch do?"

OMG... I SNATCHED MY HEADPHONES OFF AT THAT LINE!

Seriously, if someone tells you not to lie because a Truth Witch is here ant reasonable person would conclude that they can tell if you are speaking the truth. I mean it's in their freaking name.

So with a Main Character who wasnt so bright... I lost hope for awhile but I pushed on.

And then there was the constant repeating of the sames lines:

"If I die. You die."
"I have to remember that if he dies then I die"
"Don't run! If they kill you then they kill me"

I heard that shit so much I knew when it was coming. I did audio but I bet it's there once on every page for the last chapter.

The concept of the main story is a good one but wasn't delivered/developed well. I felt like the author should have actually given us less. That sounds funny but let me explain: Less is more some times. This first book would have done well with just the Druid vs Dragons theme. But the author attempts to explain the Fae and Fairie land that didnt directly affect the story. That portion should have been left out and left for future books. For me all it did was make me think harder on all the other things that didn't make sense. Example. Why track someone with a spell without putting an actual tracker on their car since they keep driving it to get away from you?

There was also this strange section where Sloan gives the story of her friend being raped. It was sooooo not what was needed there. This book hadn't earned the right to be "deep" and this section felt forced. If you're gonna be a light hearted giggly book with teenage banter and child like responses to emergencies then stick with it. Rape is are dark topic and the character just didn't seem mature/deep enough to pull it off. It instantly went back to its light hearted Ness after the story. Leaving me like WTF?

The characters are what to be expected from a book with a Were-animal pack. There is an Alpha, a kick ass girls who are also sexy, a bitchy girl, a sensative wolf. I don't know any of their names and I literally just stopped listening. oh nevermind, I remember Sophie.

By the end of the book, I became so irritated with the main character that I held on just to see her get in trouble.

What really moved the book up from a 1 star to a three is the action and Seagrams. While I sipped my beverage I thought about the narrator. The book is read in a way that makes the charter seem young and goofy. But if I thought about those sane lines being read a different way, then I really believe the book with have a different feel.

Disappointed

Great premise, but it felt underdeveloped and was too easy to predict. Loved the mix of fae/druid/shifters, but the plot seemed abstract. Bad guy is mentioned a few times, but not much story behind him. Did not feel connected to the events, or seem to be relevant to protagonist's genealogy research-which takes up most of this book. Paired with her "mysterious" attraction to another shifter, which was explained long before anything happened to naturally explain their bond, and you have a frustratingly easy to foretell story about a bunch of magical creatures that don't get along and can't procreate across specific species. Narrator was not bad. Easy to understand, but not a great distinction between characters.

Wow

I dnf'd literally 5 minutes in. It's clear that the Author... started writing without a plan. I don't know if we see the time Sloan changes later in the book, but no. No. No. You can't just start with "Oh by the way I turned into a dragon 2 weeks ago." SHOW US.I don't want to hear it. SHOW US YOUR CHANGE. That would be 90x more interesting.

Predictable

It was a good book but predictable. I imagine the next books will be the same.

DNF

Horrible narration. I couldn’t get through chapter 3 the voice was so grating with the “s” sounds at the end of words combined with the whisper like voice. Not to mention the male voice is just a angry female whisper sound. Maybe I’ll just get the book and attempt to read it myself. Gave story 2 stars just the first 2 chapters.

fascinating take on the magic world.

The story was decent, despite being a little clichè.
The narrator could work a little on her male voices. They all sounded like one character and that one character didn't know how to talk in anything but a harsh growl.
On the other hand, the narrator does well with the array of women's voices.

I am certainly interested in the next book in the series.

Feel like my kid is reading to me

The story seems to have a lot of potential. I think I kept listen because I was curious about the main character’s history. But the voice sounds like a petulant teenager trying to act like an adult. Made it very hard to follow along with the story itself.

Great story but really horrible narration.

What would have made Skyborn better?

Skyborn is a great story and I am on my second book in the series. The narrator is really bad, she reads to fast and her character voices made me cringe whenever she does one. I honestly am embarrassed for her.

What didn’t you like about Vanessa Moyen’s performance?

Vanessa read way to fast and she seemed to never pause at the end of a sentence. Her character voice overs just did not allow you to picture that character in your head. I was embarrassed for her while listening.

Totally enjoyable listen.

I love escaping reality and traveling down a road of fantasy. This is a fun story.

Fun story

Magic, shape shifters, dragon's. Good story line, wonderful characters. The last female Dragon meets the last male dragon. They must destroy the mages before they find peace in the world.

mixed

I liked the slow burn of the romantic relationship but then it all unwind so fast and felt very rushed. Because of this I won't be buying the next volume
I thought the narrator was ok, despite what other reviewers said. Could have been better for sure but passable for such a short story.

loved it

loved it, narrator was great so with her and the storyline it kept me wanting to hear more, looking into more books by this author

Done and dusted in a day

Listening whilst gardening makes. Your gardening slower! You have been warned.
A really enjoyable listen from. Beginning to end. Sloane is in denial for quite a while but who wouldn't be!! Falling off the edge thinking your gonna die and turning into a dragon would make you a bit cookoo too.
Sloane ends up being a likeable character with a journey ahead that you ache to join.
It's not only dragons. We have shifters, fae and druids too. Oh, and logan. 😉