The Nightblade Epic

The Underrealm Volumes, Book 1

By: Garrett Robinson

Narrated by: Garrett Robinson

The Nightblade Epic is a fantasy story of iconic characters, intricate magic, and far-ranging adventure in an addictive fantasy world.

Loren did not ask for the dagger at her waist. She did not ask to be born to cruel parents. And she did not ask to be drawn into a conflict that threatens more harm than she can possibly imagine.

After 15 years of toil, when her dreams of adventure have very nearly died out, a spark arrives to rekindle them. A half-glimpsed coat of blue, dodging through the trees of the Birchwood. A wizard. A fugitive.

Escape.

Loren will seek her fortune across all the nine kingdoms. But if she dies trying to earn it, she will be only the first to burn in a war that threatens all of Underrealm.

©2017 Garrett Robinson (P)2019 Legacy Books

great story, poor narration.

the narration is dreadful. no difference in characters what so ever so often times it is hard to tell who is speaking. aside from that the story itself is great. brilliant world building, strong well defined characters, natural flow of dialogue.

also at chapter 115 approximately 3 minutes in the dialogue refers to a scene that should have occured previously but doesn't, specifically a characters death or double death as it would be, as I only have audio version of this I do not know if it is this way in the book regardless it needs to be fixed

Great story! Slight formatting error near the end

Chapters 29 and 28 of the last book are set in reverse order for some reason, so when you reach that point, you'll have to skip ahead a chapter, and then return again. The characters are entertaining and it's fun to see a protagonist who thinks themselves morally compelling, yet lies constantly for her own gain throughout much of the first book and a half.

mixed feelings 😕

To start off. I'd argue this is a decent trilogy following the story of our main protagonist. World building is quite pleasant and would recommend though I do have reserved feeling about the certain characteristics of the main character. It is a fantastical book and solid dynamic of characters.

I will unfortunately slap a star down due to unexpected audiobook issue where chapters near the last book mixed up in order twice and made me lose grasp of what was happening which is a technical issue and not the story fault but still worthy of noting.

Love audiobooks narrated by the author!

Robinson does a great job with Loren, his main heroine, whose adventures are daring and sometimes edgy. I love books that are narrated by the author, because you learn so much more about the characters from the voice of their creator! He puts feeling into the reading too, it’s obvious the author is a pro voice actor as well as a talented storyteller.

Welcome to Underrealm

It is fair to say that I am not an unbiased viewer when it comes to the works of Underrealm. I first discovered the series in early 2018, and I've gone on to devour every piece of content in the world and much more besides. It is easily my favorite book series, and I eagerly await each new entry. That said, I am perfectly capable of setting my own biases aside, and more than once I've called Garrett out on some parts of the series that didn't quite work.

The first volume contains the first three of (as of this writing) eleven books in the series, and for most readers/listeners, it will be their first foray in the world of Underrealm. Though the world is well-developed and complex, it is not immediately overwhelming, because the main character Loren is just as much a stranger to the larger world as we are, and Garrett takes care to slowly weave in the worldbuilding details. The characters are richly developed, with a depth that is rarely seen, particularly for a introductory novel in a larger series. Everyone from the constable Bern, to the cobbler Markus, and of course, Loren herself, are fully developed characters, with their own wants, needs, and lives outside of what we directly see.

As mentioned, this is just the first part of a larger series, and nearly every scene lays the groundwork for the future. Tiny, almost irrelevant details, can come into play in later books, and particularly sharp readers/listeners will be rewarded as they delve deeper into the series. I have read or listened to each of these books at least five times, and without fail I have found another detail that I had somehow missed before.

From a performance standpoint, I was genuinely surprised and impressed at Garrett's skill at narration. Characters had distinct and consistent voices, and he made excellent use of vocal inflection and pacing to bring the story to life in a completely different way for me. As the author of the series, there is nobody better to determine the correct mood a scene should carry, or just the right way a particular character should speak. Though I have read through the entirety of his works multiple times, I eagerly look forward to experiencing Underrealm again, through the voice of its author.