The Brooding Crown: An Epic Sword & Sorcery Fantasy

The Second Book of Caledan

By: Meg Cowley

Narrated by: Jack Voraces

Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's Summary

Return to Caledan for the fast paced sequel to The Tainted Crown that fans of The Lord of the Rings, Inheritance Cycle and Books of Pellinor will love.

Where is the line between good and evil?

The semblance of peace has returned to Caledan, but surrounded by the 12 noble houses of Caledan, King Soren can trust few. In the shadows, treasonous thoughts grow. When news of Zaki’s presence in Roher reaches Soren, can he ally all of Caledan to his cause - and keep them?

Zaki has not given up on his plans to regain Caledan’s throne. First he must prove himself to Harad, the mighty king of Roher, but Zaki will stop at nothing to gain the support of Roher’s army, march on Caledan’s borders, and take back the throne of the dragon kings.

War returns to Caledan, but a greater threat looms. The pact is broken. The Eldarkind are fading. The dragons war amongst themselves. A power too terrible to name grows in the North, and He seeks revenge. Only Eve stands in His way - but can she stop magic as old as time?

Peace balances upon a knife edge. Can Soren and Eve save Caledan?

©2017 Meg Cowley (P)2019 Meg Cowley

A bit of a step up from the previous book

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

I hope the series continues this progression, I enjoyed the second book more than the first, and that almost never happens. We get some catastrophic happenings in this book, old gods are freed and long-standing allies/traditions are ended. I think the problem with these books so far is attaching to the characters. It's again one of those situations where there are great moments, Zaki's realizations at the end of the book are probably some of the best, and are standouts in the book, but before that it's hard to really attach any emotion to him as a character.

Jack Voraces is Amazing!

This book is an excellent follow up to the first book, It has characters that you become emotionally attached to. Jack Voraces does an excellent job portraying each character and makes this story really stand out. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite narrators.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Listened non-stop

I started listening immediately after Book 1. I’m not good at writing reviews without spoilers, so I’ll just say there were surprises in this book as the story that added a level of complexity that I was craving. I listened while I was doing dishes, laundry... non-stop and directly to book 3.

Very fun!

i loved to listen to this because it felt refreshing to me as it actually feels like a whole story! Thanks for this.

Can’t wait to hear the ending.

I like that Meg Cowley for the most part, closed this one book and part of the story without so much of a cliffhanger that you could put the book down and come back after a hiatus.

This said, I could put this book down. I listened to it every day on my way to work. Getting lost in her created world has become my escape.

Jack Voraces has done it again with his narration and effects. I enjoy his effects and different character voices. Well done.

Another fantastic book in the series!

Meg Cowley has done it again another amazing sequel I swear there was a few parts that I was on the edge of my seat screaming don't do it! All I'm going to say is screw you, Zaki, and Soren you're kind of a dummy. Over all this book is a must listen / read if you like fantasy Jack Voraces does an absolute fantastic job with his book just like the others so just do you self a favor and get this book.

Unpredictably Good

I received a free review copy.

I enjoyed the book. This was a good sequel. One thing I especially enjoyed about it were surprises when it didn't follow the standard path I expected from an epic fantasy book. Just when I thought I knew how this book would end along with what would happen in the next book, my theory was turned upside down. I also liked how it showed the situation nobel women and, to a lesser extent, men were in back when monarchies existed with arranged marriages.

The narration was good. I especially liked the voice of the dragons and elemental. He brings out humor well.

Loved it!

I rated the story side of the first book 4/5 as I found it little underwhelming here and there. I was happy to see (or hear) that the sequel not just corrected those flaws but also improved in all areas I already liked. Contrary to The Tainted Crown, the story is more dramatic and features a series of unexpected plot twists: some of them made me gasp or hold my breath for a moment. I liked how we get to know better each character, including antagonists. I don't know if there was anything I didn't like about this book - it was amazing and I strongly recommend to grab it if you like epic fantasy.

A Step Down

I received this book for free, but the review is left of my own accord.

My main criticism with the last book was that it was lacking in action. This book fixes it, and I feel like it makes up for the first one. But I just couldn't get myself to actually care about anything that was going on this time around.
Soren spends a lot of time debating on how to run his kingdom.
Zaki spends a lot of time arguing with his wife and father-in-law.
Eve, who graces the cover of this book, gets remarkably little time spent on her, though her bits of the story are the ones I enjoyed the most.
The dragons part of the story feels entirely disconnected to the people and unless the next book is going to tie the two storylines together more strongly, then I feel like this probably should have been left out and the events of it just summarized in exposition later on.

As far as the performance goes, Jack Voraces does a phenominal job. I dinged the performance a star though, not because of Jack, but because this book, near the end in particular, had the most errors and pauses of any Audible book Ive read so far. Too many to overlook. I don't know how much time and effort is put into polishing these once the narrator has recorded, but Audible isn't doing enough.

Give this book a shot if you the intrigue of Game of Thrones.
Give this book a shot if you like dragons fighting dragons.

Great characters and many surprises

Soren is growing into his role as king. He is learning that sometimes for the greater good, he has to bend his morals. His cousin Eve is having a rough time of things and is learning that many things are not always what they seem or what one expects. Luke is developing into a very interesting character. The lives of the Elves and Dragons are in turmoil. This book is great. The narrator did a good job. The characters are dynamic. The story flows well. I look forward to the next book in the series.

Excellent!

I loved this book even more than the first part, and yet again I listened to it in one go.

The story is well thought out, the characters feel alive and I really enjoyed the voice acting by Jack Voraces.

I can't wait for the next one.

A second start

This book feels like the true start of the story with the benefit that you are already familiair with the characters. The story itself focuses more heavily on politics and statecraft than on raw adventure and you can feel the weight behind the decisions being taken.

Fabulous storyline

Amazing storyline enjoyed this audio book very much
Love every minute for the storyline
Must buy

Solid follow-up

This book worked fairly well for me, the main baddie was a bit less of a caricature and the main female character continued to be interesting, but the main male character still doesn't interest me enough and his storyline feels like it occupies a larger proportion of the book than he merits.

The narrator puts in another strong performance that enhances the book with a varied and distinctive range of voices for all the main and supporting characters.

Overall, this is a solid second book in this series, but probably didn't increase my interest in the series beyond the level it already was after the enjoyable first book.

[Note - I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.]

My Honest Review

this book continues from directly after book one, It again is filled with action as it progresses the storylines of the characters, but it is in all a filler book, preparing everyone for the final installment, Zaki, Eve and Soren each have their own trials and hardships to deal with and little character development.

it is an enjoyable read and does leave me wanting to move straight onto book three to see how this will end, I recommend giving it a try ☺