Storm Glass

Harbinger, Book 1

By: Jeff Wheeler

Narrated by: Kate Rudd

Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's Summary

From the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Kingfountain Series comes the first novel in a bold and richly imagined world.

Theirs is a world of opposites. The privileged live in sky manors held aloft by a secretive magic known only as the Mysteries. Below, the earthbound poor are forced into factory work to maintain the engine of commerce. Only the wealthy can afford to learn the Mysteries, and they use their knowledge to further lock their hold on society.

Cettie Pratt is a waif doomed to the world below, until an admiral attempts to adopt her. But in her new home in the clouds, not everyone treats her as one of the family.

Sera Fitzempress is a princess born into power. She yearns to meet the orphan girl she has heard so much about, but her father deems the girl unworthy of his daughter’s curiosity.

Neither girl feels that she belongs. Each seeks to break free of imposed rules. Now, as Cettie dreams of living above and as Sera is drawn to the world below, they will follow the paths of their own choosing.

But both girls will be needed for the coming storm that threatens to overturn both their worlds.

©2018 Jeff Wheeler (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Slow...very slow!

I was intrigued at first, but after the first 5 chapters I was bored...!
Characters never really developed for me.
In fact, the waif boy that showed up in the last few chapters seemed a “throw in” to finish the book.
I was very disappointed and felt like I wasted my time.

Beat a dead horse with a stick.

I was barely able to finish the book. It was a good book and good story with great characters and good narrator, but enough already. This book is over 11 hours long and these poor girls are beated on relentlessly until the last 20 minutes of the book. Needless to say that after 10.5+ hours of disappointment and frustration the ending was very anticlimactic and I walk away from this book with a bitter taste in my mouth.

Boring for me

This book is not very fantasy to me, it’s mostly about politics and the somewhat normal life of two 12 year old girls who have conflicts with their elders. A bit of magic in a way is within, but only like 5% of the book takes that on. The story itself could have mostly done without the fantasy aspect and been the same. Overall boring and disappointing.

Not worth it

The story covers two young girls living in opposite worlds. One world is dark and poor, the other is wealthy and beautiful. There are also Mysteries that are learned and control the worlds.

This was not a memorable fantasy book in my opinion. It was forgetful and didn't flow well. Some may enjoy it, but it was definitely not for me.

F this author

This book is 12 hours of two 12 year old girls being abused. Not anything else.

A new beginning for Wheeler, just familiar enough

Jeff Wheeler has written multiple fantastic series, which all tie together in a series of creative parallel worlds. Some of them have felt more similar than others, with magics and social structures that feel like historical periods in Europe. This one feels a bit more recent, a bit more Victorian. It has magic, social structures, and the beginnings of science. Wheeler opted for more of a slow burn for this series, keeping many of the mysteries unsolved for now. It’s a great read, and I look forward to the next entry. Also, Rudd is s fantastic voice actress and you’ll love her performance as always.

Not even fit for children

This author doesn't understand power, wealth, or motivation. It would be interesting how she figures a head maid could have more power than a vice admiral. I expected so much more after Amazon pushed this book on me for so long.

Perfect Book it would be a great movie

Great Book! This would make such a wonderful movie or series like GOT but more family friendly. The author made everything so alive that I could see all of it. The chapters and characters came alive brilliantly! Loved it so much I wish I had more stars to give.

very predictable and 1-dimensional..

It may be a fine option if you are looking for a night time book to fall asleep to. Expect the story to be 1-dimensional with no interesting twist. Very young kids may find it fun to read, to be fair.

couldn't wait for this one to be over...

I enjoyed maybe 30 minutes out of 11.5 hours of this book... it's a shame that it took until the end of the book for the two protagonists to "meet" book two might be better but I dont intend to find out...

I thought the narrator had a nice voice but the dialogue was so cringy I couldnt enjoy it.

Absolutely loved this!!

Such an enjoyable listen. I don't know what I was expecting, whatever it was it wasn't such a well executed story. I bought this with no expectations, and it was such a pleasant surprise. A thoroughly engaging tale, it really made my day. I loved the characters, BOTH main characters. Can you imagine!?! The side characters, it doesn't even feel fair to call them that, stole my heart. I wish I could just jump into the next the book in the series :(

Child abuse galore

This is a very simplistic book and it thoroughly disappointed me. Partially based on the good reviews I thought it would be a story with great female leads; two different girls who find their way in the -somewhat- magical world.
What I got was an insultingly simple story that is laced with people being evil for no good reason, who are lashing out at the two protagonists and beating them constantly, until literally the last half hour. It follows the tropes of women/girls having to endure abuse in order to become stronger, and being rescued by a strong paternal figure. One of the girls is the 'poor orphan with a heart of gold' trope, the other one the whiny, dumb, spoiled rich girl. Another main character is the stuck-up head maid, who instantly HATES the poor orphan and mistreats her terribly, because... of reasons? The entire reason for this older woman to exist in this narrative is to be a total B and to prove that 'old spinsters' are horrible people. I found this book incredibly unsophisticated and a clear example of a man writing about girls/women without having any idea of what they are actually like, plus giving the older man the wise father figure accolades.
After being so disappointed I hate-listened on 2.5 speed to the end, and afterwards looked up the author. He describes himself as a devout Christian (of the American Evangelist kind), the father of 5, and is a full on believer in all sorts of right wing conspiracies. If you believe that this is EXACTLY the type of author who should write a story about two young girls then this is your book, I guess. I got it on sale ages ago and did not return it partially because you cannot leave a review for a returned book. I am willing to take the small monetary hit in order to warn other people about this one. It really is very bad, and if you have any child abuse triggers this is not for you. The only positive is that the narrator is alright.

intriguing

Set in a different wold with Mysteries all around them, the main character is determined to change her lot in life. The Mysteries are not what we know to mean in the word.
Fast paced and full of action.

What a let down

I love fantasy but this is thee most boring storyline I have ever followed. This might be nice for a 10 year old to listen to but other than that I was bored to tears. Forced myself to hear the end of the book just because i hate giving up on something. Loss of time i wont get back.

Amazing - not your average.....

This series is so well written and read. The story was really interesting, had me gripped from the start. Jeff is a superb author in this field would highly recommend, all 5 books. This is a great start to what will be music to your ears.

great book

What a great book and Kate Rudd narrating which is the icing on the cake.

Brilliant!

I loved the book and look forward to the next in the series. An amazing author.

enjoyable

I found the story and concept of the world Jeff had created very interesting. enjoyed the book and looking forward to the next one.

Dull and pretentious

I really stuggled to get into this book. It was way too frilly for a really slow and dull storyline. The voice acting was perfectly fine but I found it a bit annoying and off-putting when she did the male voices.

It was distracting when there were clear mistakes in the story such as mixing up a parlement of owls with a murder of crows.

The story started to pick up towards the end but I was only able to finish it by listening to the last 6 hrs on double speed.


Edit:

I eventually decided I needed to know what happened next so I listened to the rest of the series. The story does get a lot better but still a lot of issues.

Male authours often make things needlessly uncomfortable when writing about female characters and this series was no exception. e.g. "she crossed her arms over her breasts" - totally unnecessary detail...

Relationships between characters are barely given any time "on screen" for the reader/listener to get invested in them which makes the motivations for characters behaviours feel a bit forced. Similarly we are often given context for a behaviour after the fact which again leaves the action/motivation feeling pretty artificial.

Lots of big gaps in the timeline make it hart to empathise with characters as they develop, especially when they undergo hardship.

YA

Not bad for Young Adult fiction, just a shame it wasn't labeled as such. A bit simplistic, with little character development or depth.