• The Great Hearts

  • By: David Oliver
  • Narrated by: David Oliver
  • Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (33 ratings)

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The Great Hearts  By  cover art

The Great Hearts

By: David Oliver
Narrated by: David Oliver
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Publisher's summary

Calidan Darkheart is an Imperator. The voice of the Emperor in the wild. A secretive and dangerous job, hunting down those deemed a threat to the Emperor's rule...whether monster or man. Twisted and bitter, he heads down a dark path to hunt a nightmare from his youth. This is his story.

©2017 David Oliver (P)2018 David Oliver

What listeners say about The Great Hearts

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

I hate writing reviews like this.

I have never seen a book take a nosedive in the same way this one did. It started out as something absolutely fantastic. I was immediately drawn in by the plot, and I couldn't believe how great the narration was. And from the author, no less! I was already composing an overwhelmingly positive review in my head.

Then, out of nowhere, the whole thing just fell apart. The characters started floating around with no real goals. Rather than needing to work to overcome obstacles, they started having things simply handed to them. They are two poor orphans in a pre-industrial empire, and for some reason they are taken in and coddled by the highest members of society and trained by military weapons masters. Even the Emperor becomes their best friend, for no reason at all, on their first meeting! And there is something very self-indulgent about the way they win every fight and have every powerful adult stand up for them and tell off anyone who would get in their way.

On top of this, the book seems to have trouble deciding what kind of story it wants to be. In the beginning it is decidedly grimdark (a good thing, to my mind), but shortly thereafter becomes a young adult novel. 12 year olds are the center of attention and are treated like adults, running around fighting battles and agonizing over romantic 'love' for their adolescent crushes--who are actually referred to as their 'loves' in some passages, eg., 'she did such and such with her love.' I really could have done without that part.

Even the formerly wonderful narration took a jump off a cliff around the time the emperor showed up. The author has a lovely speaking voice and great instincts, but he should not attempt the ultra deep range, because it sounds horribly unnatural.

Still, as much as I found the above problems irritating, I do believe this author has talent and should keep writing--and narrating. It just leads me to the headline for my review, because I think every problem I've mentioned could have been easily solved with the help of a good editor. It's quite a shame that the failure to contract one has lead to the demise of a potentially great story.

I received this audiobook for free at my request from the author, publisher or narrator and have voluntarily left this review.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A great Start for Great Hearts!!

This isn't so much a debut novel as it is a breakout novel. This book really hits a lot of tones, tempos, and toothy subjects. It revolves around two friends, Calidan and Cassius, who train to become great fighters. The story starts out grimly, with their homes, and all their loved ones, getting wiped out. From there, they go forth and try to improve their lots in life together. They have some great adventures, and there is a cool/odd/exciting twist at the end. This book has a lot going for it, character development is there, there just could have been more. Other than that the story is great.

Oliver narrates his own tale, which is fun, because who knows their story better than the person who wrote it? You here him do the voices as he heard them in his head! He sets the pacing, the mood, the tone. He embodies it.

I cannot wait for part 2 to come out to see what happens next. I must come clean and admit that I did receive a promo code to review this book, but that had NO bearing on my opinions stated above.

Get it, read it, love it.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A must read gritty fantasy with a hint of sci-fi

Thank you to David for providing me with this book to review. You can find this review and others like it on jetpacksNdragons.

I think normally with any review I would usually try to put a book into a category as to let you know what kind of book I am reviewing. Trying to fit this book into any sub genre of fantasy would not entirely work because it fits into quite a few.

It starts off as a kind of grim-dark fantasy where the main character, Callidan, rescues his best friend Cassius from a bunch of crazed, shadow monster worshiping, cannibal lunatics… or something of the such. The beginning sequence is extremely dark and gruesome. The boys watch as their entire village, children and all are put through some truly horrible things. The mood of the story does lighten up quite a bit as you continue to read.

“I wasn’t always a killer. In fact, I didn’t kill until I was eleven years old. Cassius, though he may look and act like a hulking violent brute at times, managed to avoid killing until he was fourteen. He always was a slow learner.”

It is also a coming of age story in which you get to see the characters learn and grow more powerful as they realize their full potential. The title of the book, The Great Hearts, refers to large, intelligent animals that can bond with a person lending them strength and speed. Think Eregon but replace the dragon with a moose sized, highly intelligent panther. One of my absolute favorite parts of the book is told from the point of view of the giant cat, and the author captures a cats personality perfectly. There is no doubt in my mind that Mr. Oliver is a cat owner.

Eventually after escape from the horrors of their village they meet up with a tracker and continue their adventure until they end up getting taken in by a master general and taught a special form of martial arts.

I don’t want to spoil too much of the book, but this gives you a good idea of how this book fits into a bunch of different categories.

The book jumps to the present every once in a while and gives you a little taste of what the boys are up to in present day as Imperators for the Empire. Imperators are the elite group created to fight the things that most normal people don’t even want to know about.

“What the Emperor makes is monsters”

The book has a nice pace to it. the author does a great job breaking up some of the slower but nessesary training parts of the book. For the most part the book is very fast paced and action packed. The parts that aren’t leave you thinking about what is going to happen next before plunging you into more action.

I am not going to talk about the end of this book too much but I will say this… It gets weird, and I loved it! The end of this book wrapped up the story nicely, but I wanted more. The second book whenever it comes will be on the top of my reading list for sure.

The Audio Book

Just a quick bit about the audio book. I started listening to the book and got to the part where it said “The Great Hearts, by David Oliver. Narrated by David Oliver”. I have a HUGE library of audio books. I must have 200 plus. I don’t recall ever liking the narration of a book done by its author. I sometimes suffer through them because the book is good, more often than not I just don’t finish it. I know for sure that Mr. Oliver has a bright future as an author. The story he wrote in The Great Hearts is nothing short of fantastic. The story that he tells however was even more impressive. If for some reason he decides not to write anymore he would have a bright future as a voice actor as well. The narration was spot on. As a narrator I would put him in my top 5 favorites along side Michael Kramer, Kate Redding, Nick Pohdel, and Wil Wheaton.

Conclusion

The Great Hearts by David Oliver is a must read for any fan of fantasy especially if you enjoy darker fantasy, a good coming of age story, or if you are just interested what it would be like to have a moose sized cat for a companion.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Mixed bag

Is there anything you would change about this book?

This book was a mixed bag for me. I think some people will love this book while some wouldn't. It started off great. The initial dark setting sets the mood for the book. But a few chapters in, the mood changes significantly and I'm bewildered for some time, wondering whether this is trying to be a dark-fantasy or a YA-Fantasy. Even if I looked past that, I still couldn't fully enjoy this story since it is told in a "flashback" style and it is implied that the character has gone through something terrible. So, while listening to the flashback, I already knew that something terrible will happen but he will survive. Beyond these two, I felt the characters were slightly under-developed. The ease with which they moved on from a massacre was weird. I would've loved to see some glimpses of their damaged psyche or something. Instead, they just brush it off and go on.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

All 3 things I mentioned above. Now, those are the things I didn't like and it might even look like nitpicking. Those might not be of any concern to other listeners. Everyone has their own preferences.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Narration was alright. Characters were distinctly identifiable. And there was no audio issue.

Any additional comments?

I received this audiobook for free from the author / narrator / publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A very pleasant surprise

I picked this book up braced for a self-published trope-fest. Instead, I was very pleasantly surprised to discover a legit dark fantasy novel thick with skeptiscm, hard truths, and wry observations about the human condition. Good times! The comparison to Joe Abercrombie is obvious, but at several points I found that Oliver's tone and style reminded me of Brian Stavely's books as well. The prose is polished, witty, and is laced with enough light-hearted banter to help soften the darker aspects of the story. I listened to the book on audio, so cannot speak to typos, but the overall presentation, including the author's skillful self-narration seemed to me to be at a professional standard. Bravo, Mr. Oliver, and thanks for an excellent read.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

grimdark coming of age and hidden scifi???

The story is the beginning of a grimdark fantasy, but it isnt about the character as an adult until the end. It is told past tense first person of Calidan Darkheart, an imperator of the empire. It seems to be a coming of age story with a lull in the middle that is basically a wholw training saga.

The great heart references a beast companion that makes him OP, which is cool because Seiya is like a huge panther who is catty as all hell, pun intended.

I did not enjoy the middle of the story, but the end and beginning was good. I did think the use of a FF7 boss was a little cheap to use. It specifically used the first boss, the scorpion boss complete with laser tail, lol.

The ending was meh, I might look at the second book if there was another.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

Like It More Than I Probably Should

Reading the reviews, I can see where some of the criticisms are valid of the story, but somehow can't bring myself to like it any less. The opening is very dark and there are underlying threads of darker things to come woven throughout the story with the implications of the Emperor's intentions. There are some fun comedic elements woven in, especially in the interaction with the cat and what seems like coping with their experiences from Callidan. Overall while some parts come easy in their interactions with adults, the bigger struggle of their past and preparing the future combined with the unique relationships between them made it hard for me to stop listening.

The cat...I don't want to spoil this, but this is probably what endeared the book so much to me. I love books that have a well portrayed cat's perspective (like The Aeronaut's Windlass) and this is another one. It takes a good book and makes it great.

The author narrating their own work is a bold choice, but in this rare case it pays off. David Oliver has a wonderful quality of his voice that is perfect for fantasy narration and just allows you to fall into the story. He handles the individual voices well and the production quality is good.

This has definitely left me curious to check out other works by the author.

I was given a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an unbiased review.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

The Great Hearts

The Great Hearts is a solid fantasy novel with some very cool and intriguing characters. The story follows Calidan and his friend Cassius from the time they were children in a small remote mountain village. Their village is attacked by raiders who rape and murder many of the villagers and cage the remaining villagers. The only one not captured is young Calidan who hides himself as he tries to free his friend Cassius from a wooden cage. The raiders then raise a demon and proceed to feed the villagers to this abomination. Calidan frees Cassius and they escape in the nick of time in to the wilds but are soon pursued by some of the raiders. They end up surviving and Calidan soon meets and bonds with a gigantic black panther who happens to be a Great Heart. Calidan can communicate telepatically with the great heart and she helps train and makes him stronger.

Calidan and Cassius vow to kill the demon that was summoned on day and will do whatever they have too to get stronger to achieve this goal. They meet many different characters and figures on their journey and end up enrolling in a school to become an Imperator which are nearly mythical figures in the empire.

The book has a lot of different aspects to it and is done very well. It has tons of action and adventure, a lot of training and getting stronger is also involved. When an author also does narration and can be a bit hit and miss but David Oliver did quite well, there are some narrators that I would definitely prefer over him but he was quite good. The book takes a bit of an unexpected turn towards the end and gets a bit Sci-Fi but that leaves me quite interested in what will happen in future installments of the series.

"Please note I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

Interesting If Uneven Fantasy

This story was pretty entertaining, but the rest of the reviews that indicate a bit of a schism between the beginning and the end in terms of characters, tone, and story definitely have a point. It starts pretty dark and grim and does a good job of setting up a fairly brutal world, but then focuses on some younger characters whose concerns and actions perhaps seem a little too mild considering what's already been set up. But, since the author does a good job of each part it's not that big of a negative and stayed interesting through the end.

I received the review code for this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this honest review.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

Promising start to a new series

I really enjoyed this book, and hope to see a sequel for it in the near future. The world and cast is nicely done. If this review was just for the first half of the book, it would be an easy 5, but the story started to wander and fray at the edges past that point. I did find the ending was a little too abrupt.

I also felt the author did a great job with the narration. I look forward to see where this story is going.

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

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