The Burning Land

The Talmont Trilogy, Book 1

By: David Hair

Narrated by: George Weightman

Brandon Sanderson meets Joe Abercrombie in this astounding novel of good, evil and magic

The Falcons are knights of the Vestal Order, pledged to use their powers to protect the Empire of Talmont from the cruel Vyr and the carnage they have unleashed upon the world.

When the Falcons take a Vyr alive, they go against the protocols of the Vestal Order and interrogate him. They are horrified to learn, if the Vyr speaks truly, that the Empire's worst enemy may not be the Vyr . . . but the Vestal Order itself.

Led by the charismatic Romara Challys, the Falcons go rogue, their quest for the truth taking them through burning forests, lost ruins and the uncanny traces of a dying race, desperate to find answers . . . before it's too late.

But the Vestal Order has no plans to let Challys and her knights succeed in their mission. With the greatest knight in history and an army of fanatics at their heels, the Falcons must evade capture and discover the truth as soon as possible. Because time is running out . . . for everyone.

©2024 David Hair (P)2024 Quercus Editions Limited

Pretty good, but de ja vu from last books.

I read the Moontide Quartet and this story will give you a lot of the same vibes. You'll even notice similar love triangles and story arcs that will remind you of characters from the previous books almost dead on. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as I loved the Moontide Quartet. The narrator was quite good and did a more than adequate job of discerning his voices and mannerisms to bring the characters to life. The world and magic systems are well thought out and the fight scenes are engaging and well written.

Great, and original, no de ja vu

The Burning Land is remarkably good, as is all of David Hair’s work. It’s crazy that the Sunsurge Quartet isn’t on audible, because Moontide is one of the best adventures on this platform. The only thing this book has in common with moontide is the style of using different character perspectives.

Moontide moves a million miles an hour right from the start. This series is far more complex in a good way. This is David Hair’s best book yet by far. It is his most recent, which means he’s a great writer who’s still getting better. The narration is great, a credit well spent.

Ham fisted

This book makes hamfisted attempts to tackle important issues like structural racism and misogyny in the military but fails to say anything more than, "They are bad." Also, talking about misogyny being bad but making your main female character LITERALLY too emotional to safely use her powers so she has to cede control of her military unit to her boyfriend is counterproductive.