The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches

By: Robert Stanek

Narrated by: uncredited

After the Great War that divided the peoples, the kingdoms of men plunged into a Dark Age that lasted 500 years. To heal the lands and restore the light, the great kings decreed that magic and all that is magical, be it creature, man, or device, shall be cleansed to dust. The cleansing raged for so long that no human could recall a time without it and it is in this time that the Dark Lord Sathar returned from the dark beyond. The one hope of the peoples of Ruin Mist was Queen Mother, the elf queen of old. She saw a way out of everlasting darkness, a path that required the union of the divided peoples. And so it began.Listen to more books in The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches series.©2002 Robert Stanek (P)2005 Reagent Press

Critic reviews

"[A] complex tale...sure to attract fans of graphic novels and classic Tolkien alike....Stanek will likely draw a cult following....This cliffhanger guarantees fans, and those fans will be ready to wield their swords against the Dark Lord in Stanek's next installment." (Voice of Youth Advocates)

Not Impressed

I've just re-read all the reviews, now that I've finished the first two books for myself, and I am mystified by all the glowing reports. I am a long-time fantasy and sci-fi fan, but this just didn't grab me. I found the characters flat and unengaging. The events were hard to follow, and unfold more as after-the-fact "this is what's been going on" rather than taking you along to discover them for yourself. There was no sitting on edge of your seat awaiting the next revelation-- it was more like riding in the back seat asking "are we there yet?"

Maybe it is more appealing to young readers-- I am an adult, I listened to this as a possible title to hand down to my daughter. If you choose to ignore my minority opinion and listen anyway, I do recommend you go ahead and get the second at the same time, as this first one stops more than ends. You might as well subject yourself both and at least get some closure. I only happened to have both becuase they were part of the summer sale and had such wonderful reviews. I understand there are third and fourth books, but I won't be bothering with them.

An audiobook is supposed to be about the audio

I chose this audiobook based on the glowing reviews. It's hard to comment on the story itself--eight chapters into the book, I still have a hard time figuring out what is going on. This is some of the poorest narration I've ever heard in an audiobook. The narrator has little inflection, reads at a breakneck pace, and leaves no pauses between sentences, paragraphs, and whole sections. I often find myself trying to absorb one section, only to realize that the narrator has moved on to a different scene and different set of characters with no break in cadence.

Especially in a fantasy novel with unfamiliar character names and geography, this sloppy diction leaves the story in a confusing muddle. For that reason, I find the narrative and characters completely unengaging; perhaps I would feel differently reading the print version.

slow down

I was unable to finish this book do to the fast pace of the narrator. I felt like I was listening to a child read without pause.

Horrible Narration, detail missing

After coming off of writers like Jordan and Tolkien i guess i have high expectations. This book provides no detail, or not enough detail or background on any part or person of the story. The narration is equally terrible, the narrator either chooses not to recognize the punctuation or simply doesnt know how to speak it. There's no break between sentences. I cant figure out why others love this book and narration so much. I would skip this and find another fantasy novel to read.

I gave this 2 stars due to the fact that i bought all four books in the series at the same time based on the ratings, I have now suffered through 3 of them. By the third installment the story does begin to become a little more clear and some of the details that should have been in book 1 start to emerge, but the journey is not worth the reward in my opinion.

Not great

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

The story was very hard to follow. The accent and recording quality made it harder still. I am very disappointed I downloaded book 1 and 2 because we won't finish book 1 and there is no chance my kids will want to listen to book 2.