The Least Favorite Child

The Black Guard, Book 1

By: C. R. Daems

Narrated by: Sarah L. Colton

Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

As the least favored child, it was no surprise when Rivka's father selects her, at age six, to comply with the country's conscript law. Sent away to the military to be raised and trained, she struggles to keep from falling into an abyss of despair. Only when she adopts a new friend's dream of becoming a member of the elite Black Guard does she find a new reason to live.

Few make it into the Black Guard, but Rivka is determined. Yet when she makes it and is sent on her first mission, to protect a ruling family during a revolution, she discovers to her dismay that the Black Guard may not be as perfect as she had believed.

Thus, Rivka begins a journey that will change her and the Black Guard forever.

©2014 C. R. Daems (P)2019 C. R. Daems

Fast pace cation

C.R. Daems runs you through tactical advantages and action. To be unwanted and then discovering a place you feel is family. Driven to do your best and taking every action to keep your team safe is one thing the MC strives to do.
To discover peace and control during intense battles is a huge growing point. This book gives you so many levels of how to do hard things deal with loss and grow stronger. I enjoy the power the writer gives to the MC and the people around her. He gives you the energy to cheer and feel sad. You know how hard it can be to be a woman doing the job that is traditionally mans job. I love how Black Gard does not discriminate but how the people who higher them find they have to change there views or risk there lives.
I enjoyed the first book looking forward to reading book 2.

great listen

am doing the three books for a 3 rd time and am enjoying it as if it was the first time .

Unexpectedly Thought Provoking

Best book by this author so far. Story evolves into a tutorial on duty and tradition, and the inherent conflicts. I was not expecting such a philosophical gem. The narrator was engaged and handled the story with vigor. Sometimes I wonder if the narrator appreciates what she is narrating, but the bottom line is I believe she materially contributed to my comprehension of what the author was writing. Kudos!

Not usual genre but very good

This book was really well written. Well fleshed out characters and story. Highly Recommend.

couldn't finish this

one of the very few audiobooks I've started that I decided I couldn't spend any more time on waiting for it to get good.

Good but

I liked the way that the series Red Angle and Tasmanian SFG written better. I don’t know if with this book it was the pace of the book, or just the whole story it self that I didn’t like. What I liked about the other two series is you really see the characters grow and the humor in them great. It also could be that this book was just not for me.

fell short of expectations

loved this author's book devils to me and it's following. disappointed that he made no effort to describe the characters appearance, the main character kept repeating the same dialogue, and made no effort to add any femininity to the main female. I would like to see more men authors create strong women that can still be women.

It's a tautology, redundancy, a reiterative motif!

This is a man who is not afraid to repeat himself. About a third of the way through the book, the main character found her statement to the world, and repeated it over and over and over and over.........

Pleasant book

This a series of short stories that relate to other basically due to the main character. It is a good read that the listener will enjoy hearing.

decent

I liked the book. I think the writing is decent. I do find the basic premises that are employed often ignore issues that I would logically expect to come up. this causes me to frequently pause and think, "but what about X?" because there are big gaps. Also, the constant repetition of shock that she's female is pretty silly. If she's so infamous, I'd expect at least some people would know. I do like use of a single, genderless title for officers, but Sir is not that. I like addressing misogynistic attitudes, and I like the story overall, but it is for a niche audience and won't appeal to some.