The Bitter Crown

By: Justin Lee Anderson

Narrated by: Justin Lee Anderson

A war once held in the shadows now escalates into full-scale revolution in the second novel of Justin Lee Anderson’s epic Eidyn Saga.

The fog of war is lifted and the conspiracy at the heart of Eidyn finally exposed. Now that they know the truth, Aranok and his allies must find a way to free a country that doesn’t know it’s held captive. But with divided loyalties and his closest friendship shaken, can their alliance hold against overwhelming odds? The quest to retake the country begins here.

“An eclectic cast of characters traverse a war-ravaged kingdom as Anderson's cleverly constructed plot winds its way towards a truly unexpected denouement. Rich in action and intrigue, this fantasy adventure with a Scottish flavor is sure to please fans of David Gemmell.” – Anthony Ryan, New York Times bestselling author​

For more from Justin Lee Anderson, check out:

The Lost War

Critic reviews

"The uncertainties of a traumatized society provide the thematic underpinning for The Lost War by Justin Lee Anderson. An eclectic cast of characters traverse a war-ravaged kingdom as Anderson's cleverly constructed plot winds its way towards a truly unexpected denouement. Rich in action and intrigue, this fantasy adventure with a Scottish flavor is sure to please fans of David Gemmell."—Anthony Ryan, New York Times bestselling author on The Lost War

“Strikingly intense … immersive and thoroughly compelling.”—SFX on The Lost War

“Compelling and entertaining … inventive and fun.”—SciFiNow on The Lost War

"A blistering tale packed with action and adventure."—Evening News on The Lost War

Even better

That was a fantastic sophomore book by a debut author. An excellent character study set in a well thought out mid-level magical system. A constant low level tension leading to a nice little cliff hanger, thank you very much! The journey of discovery that the main characters go through is challenged by fluctuations in each characters relationship to each other, and Aranok is at the center of it. I really liked The Lost War, but I loved The Bitter Crown. Man! TBC just kept getting better and better as I read. In fighting, out fighting, betrayal, loyalty, stubbornness, suspicion, sacrifice…..the plot just gets deeper. I wasn’t sure there’d be enough “story” to span 4 books, let alone 2. But here it is at the entrance of the rabbit hole. Yet I don’t find it overly complicated either, while still having a lot of meat on its bones. I am very eager to get to The Damned King. Thank you Leandro Blasco for bringing this series to my attention. You have good taste brutha!

Narration: I love Euan Morton. He is one of my favorites. But he did not narrate this book, the author did. I was a bit leary of that, as few authors can pull it off. The author's narration was ok at first, but my head still went to wanting to hear Morton's voice. But I have to say, very quickly, I grew to like it a lot. Narration was better than average, less than seasoned veteran, but very enjoyable! I have come to find out that the author wanted Morton again, but he was not available. This by an interview with the author at the broken binding 6 months ago. It's a good little story how he can to narrate his own book. Bravo!

Finally!

So I picked up the Lost war shortly after it came out, I was sad to see it was the only book out in the series, now we get more. I should note I didn't notice The Author was the Narrator for a hot minute when I did though I was far from disappointed his performance was quite well done. I'm excited to see how the trilogy ends, and I'm interested to see how the magic system works more

Top tier fantasy with superb writing

I don't write many reviews and don't intend to write a long one here. There are lots of elements of the story you could focus on: plot, dialogue, character development, narration, etc.. but I want to focus on just one: the quality of the writing itself. It's simply better than most of what's out there, even when those stories have great characters, action, or plots, It's remarkable this series isn't more popular, given how good it is, and I hope more people will discover and appreciate this series.

Narrator change, but still good.

There's two things when listening to Audible books I really don't care for. One is when the narrator is switched in the middle of a series, the other is when the book's author reads the book instead of hiring a professional narrator. Both of these things happen here with this book. Having really enjoyed listening to The Lost War, I pre-ordered the book as soon as I saw it was available. Despite no narrator being listed, I assumed it would once again be read by Euan Morton, who did a fantastic job on the first book. Imagine my surprise when I sat to listen to The Bitter Crown and the first thing I notice is that the narrator had changed.

I have to say I was disappointed initially by the change, and it took me a portion of this book to adjust. The author, and now narrator, Justin Lee Anderson is no Euan Morton, but I have to admit he does a pretty good job here. There are times that his voices blend together a bit, and it takes some adjustment to get used to the new voices for the characters, but I eventually adapted and enjoyed the story.

As for the story itself, I was excited to get back to the world started in The Lost War. That book ended with a whopper of a surprise revelation, and I was anxious to see how things turned out. Quite a huge mess it turns out, and seemingly every attempt to right the world by our heroes only makes things worse. Anderson is turning out to be a top notch fantasy writer with the The Eidyn Saga series.

Overall, despite the change in narrator and initial adjustment period, I really did enjoy The Bitter Crown. Anderson has a way with flopping things on their head when you least expect it, and it keeps the you engaged. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

excellent second installment in the series.

This was a solid 2nd installment with a fleshing out of the main characters and great pacing that never felt slow or lacked momentum.