Toric's Dagger

By: Jamie Edmundson

Narrated by: Greg Patmore, Bridget Thomas

Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's Summary

A fast-paced and action-packed adventure, set in a detailed and compelling fantasy world.

Toric's Dagger is just another religious relic, until it's stolen. Belwynn and her twin brother, Soren, volunteer to lead a team tasked with its retrieval. Drawn into a world of danger and treachery, they must rely on Soren's magical abilities, and on the telepathic bond they share.

Now, as kingdoms and empires start to fall, the twins confront the dark forces that threaten them. They must not let the Dagger fall into the wrong hands. But when mercenaries, zealots, and sorcerers are all hunting for the same weapon, who should they trust?

Book one of the Weapon Takers saga, an epic fantasy series in the tradition of Tolkien, Tad Williams, & George R. R. Martin. The story is told from multiple points of view and is perfect for listeners who like their fantasy done on a grand scale.

Connect with the author at jamieedmundson.com.

"Outstanding...Quite simply, this is the most fun I've had reading since the Kingkiller Chronicles" (readper)

©2017 Jamie Edmundson (P)2018 Jamie Edmundson

Good Start to the Series

I listened to Toric’s Dagger as an audiobook. It has two narrators for each of the main characters, one male and one female, which provided a unique listening experience.

Toric’s Dagger was an interesting book, and I really loved the worldbuilding throughout the book. There are some very cool pieces of history around the dagger and the religious and historical importance of it. There are also introductions to very different cultures and how they work.

The two main characters, Belwynn and Soren, had a really interesting relationship with some awesome abilities. The magic system that Soren used had consequences which can be seen frequently when he overdoes himself, however, it is often the saving move which gets them out of a multitude of issues. The rest of the main cast is large, and as such a lot of their motivations aren’t developed as much as I’d like.

The plot flowed well for most of the book with a few red herrings and events linking back to things that happened earlier. I did have a bit of issue with where the book ended, however. In my opinion, it ended right in the middle of the climax without a real ending to wind the tension down. I wasn’t a massive fan of this because it detracts from the feeling of the novel being its own story, and makes it feel more like it’s just trying to wind up to the rest of the series.

Great start to an Epic Fantasy Series

Toric's Dagger is a great start to an epic fantasy series. It does well at world building and that might slow the book down for some but I can appreciate it and will help with future installments. The book mainly follows brother and sister, Soren and Belwynn who have a telepathic bond with eachother(which I think is handled quite well in the narration). Soren is a magic user but has his limits and some of the foes in the book are much more powerful. The story begins with a heist/caper which is quite interesting and moves forward from there with an epic quest which of course the future of the world depends on. The book is filled with interesting characters and history which kept me entertained throughout.

The narration by Greg Patmore and Bridget Thomas was done very well and I think the overall production was quite good and really added to my enjoyment of the story.

Overall I would definitely recommend this to any fan of fantasy and am can't wait for future installments in the series.

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

A good start to the series

This was a fun story and a good listen. Belwynn and Soren are brother and sister with some awesome abilities and an interesting relationship. A dagger has been stolen and Belwynn and Soren are leading the team tasked with its recovery. There are a lot of characters to follow in story. While main characters are well written, some of the other were not developed quite as much as I would have like. With this being said, it did not detract from the book as it moved at a good pace and kept you guessing till the end witha few very well placed twists and turns.

The dual narration of Greg Patmore and Bridget Thomas was well done and a nice touch. I enjoyed this book and I am on my way to the second installment.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Toric's Dagger

I enjoyed the two narrators and how this breathed more life into the two main characters since they definitely had very distinct and different voices. This is an epic fantasy joinery with these two siblings. For how much action there was the plot did move rather slowly though I did enjoy the quest. It opens up with a heist that was also very enjoyable. Over all this was a very good book and I look forward to the rest of the saga. It has a high fantasy feel to it and these two siblings bounce off each other a lot. They are a strong pair and that helped a lot. You don't find out much about the dagger until the end I wish we had gotten to learn more about it sooner but it was still good.

Interesting story

The story was quite interesting, the plot went quite well. I think some things could have went differently which would make this a great story.

The narration....I think it could be what made the book lower in my star rating. There was 2 people doing voices, the echo-ing voices were very weird, and having Greg read the whole book and then also read the male voices (which didnt really differ that well, while having Bridget jump in with the female voices didnt blend the book in very seamlessly, so I didn't enjoy the book as much as I might have hoped I would have with just one voice actor.

I received a free review copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Unfortunate narration holds this story back.

I regularly request and review audiobooks, and this is only the second one I've ever had to give up on. Unlike the other, which was an incohesive confusion, this one feels more competent story-wise, and I'm inclined to put much of the blame on the audio production itself.

Toric's Dagger seems like a fun story. Epic fantasy heist saga? Yes please. However, there are too many storylines and characters introduced to easily follow in audio form. You know the saying about how it's unwise to try listening to Malazan in audio? I feel like this is the same deal here. Too much going on; get the kindle or print version.

The narrator doesn't help matters. He's got a slow, sleepy voice that makes everything feel tedious and boring even when I know it really should be exciting.

I've resisted dropping this story, keep trying to get through it, but after only forcing my way through a third of it in several months I had to admit defeat. I will be giving it a try on kindle and see if that medium works better. But the audio, sadly, just doesn't work for me at all.

A Grand Adventure!

Toric's Dagger is a very adventuristic tale about a brother and sister team that is charged with regaining a dagger that has been stolen. The two siblings have a telepathic bond that allows them to speak to each other in their own heads. Good tale that has a lot of twists and turns. I received this Audio Book for free in exchange for an unbiased review. Very good Listen. Highly recommended!

Fun adventure / fantasy

I enjoyed listening to this story. The main narrator was a man, with a woman narrating just the voices of the women in the book - at first it was a surprise to hear, but I really enjoyed the format as both narrators used distinct voices for all the characters. The story was interesting and fast paced. There was a satisfying conclusion, although obviously the adventure continues in the next book.
I appreciated that there was minimal language, innuendo, and no "adult" scenes.

Perfect Point to Pause

This book stopped in the perfect point! I was surprised and wanted more! I was gifted this book in exchange for my honest thoughts and I must say I have enjoyed this story so far! The twins are awesome, and the imperfect party gives the believe-ability I need in my fantasy fiction! I will be reading this entire series!

Good story

I enjoyed this book good story a liltte slow at times

I received this audiobook free in exchange for an honest review.

Balance skewed towards series building

When an author is writing a series, it can often be difficult to get the balance between being a strong book in it's own right as well as setting the scene for the books to follow and this time I think the author didn't get the balance quite right with the ending in particular seeming too abrupt. Despite this complaint, I did enjoy this book overall with it having a varied and interesting cast and effective world-building that should continue to payoff in subsequent books.

The performances of the narrators were both enjoyable and obviously helps to make the characters more distinctive with the two of them sharing the duties which nicely enhanced the overall performance.

Overall, this book is a strong first part of this series and I will look out for future installments, but it could have been a bit stronger in it's own right.

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

Thoroughly enjoyable

This was a well-written quest style story. The characters were substantially developed and there was a good secondary cast with enjoyable plot and good world-building. What made it interesting for me was the dual narration, a pleasant change and added to the listening. The storyline is the first in a series so this is not a standalone book. I, however, enjoyed the tale enough to want to continue with the next in the series.
This audiobook was gifted to me and I have chosen to leave this review.

A really great listen!

A really good fantasy story with plenty of magic, adventure and intrigue to keep everyone happy! Really well written an really looking forward to starting the next one.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from dual narration, but Greg and Bridget both do a fantastic job and it feels very natural. Both have great character voices too! Highly recommend!
This is my honest opinion of a free review copy.

lost

sadly this has been a book I just couldn't seem to get into and follow. I'm not sure why this was so but I did start this book at least 4 times but every time it didn't get any better.