Trial of Stone

By: Andy Peloquin

Narrated by: Tristan Morris

Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

A kingdom of death. A war for power and profit. Young heroes caught in the crossfire.

Kodyn expected hardships along his journey to return a kidnapped girl to her father. Yet harsh deserts and cutthroat bandits prove far less lethal than the foes that await him in Shalandra, the City of the Dead.

In the shadows of golden spires carved from mountain stone, currents of corruption and vice run deep. Priests of the god of death rule with an iron fist, imposing a rigid caste system that elevates some to a life of privilege and condemns others to miserable squalor.

Together with Aisha, a fierce warrior from the north with the mystical ability to speak to the dead, Kodyn must survive the cesspool of high society deceit and betrayal.

Polite smiles hide sharp knives. Killers, criminals, and bloodthirsty cultists lurk around every corner. Can these youths overcome impossible odds to save the realm?

If you love action, intrigue, and heroic deeds that will set your heart racing, you'll love the Heirs of Destiny series! For fans of A.C. Cobble, Jeff Wheeler, and Robin Hobb, Heirs of Destiny is a thrill ride on epic fantasy’s darker side.

©2019 Andy Peloquin (P)2019 Podium Publishing

Okay story, bad narration, I tried to like it.

I generally enjoy these types of fantasy books and even the YA ones, but this was too much. The main characters were very unbelievable.
I really disliked the narration. I put up with it for as long as I could but eventually had to stop listening. Didn’t like the style of reading, and the accents of the various characters seemed to get mixed up with each other.
Sorry, I tried hard to ignore it but ultimately the combination of both got to me and I stopped halfway.

FANTASTIC!!

this book was by far the best read to date. I can't wait to start the second book. it immediately captured my attention. the story was great and the narrator was awesome with the ability of steady flow and different voices of characters....

Good story but

The story is interesting but it's jumpy. You don't get a chance to invest in a character or story line before it jumps to the next set of characters. It makes the beginning difficult to follow as well as figuring out who the characters are. Some names are similar which also adds to the confusion. If you can hold on long enough to get it all straight then the story line is pretty good. It would be helpful if the author or editor added a few more chapters before jumping to help you get acquainted with his world and characters before throwing in the next set. That being said, this entire book is a set up for the story (introduces characters, world building, set up for a major conflict but that's about it). Nothing major happens and once it finally gets really good the book ends.

A Fantastic Beginning

Everything is here; action, intrigue and an interesting population to bring life to the tale. Truly worth while in every way.

Narration killed it for me

I generally like Andy Pelaquin’s books, but not this or this series. The characters were good and the plot OK but the narration killed it. I don’t know where this pseudo Russian accent came from, but was used for multiple characters, and was grading and hard to listen to.

Great book but I feel like I'm missing something.

I really like this book and it reading but I felt like I was listening to book 2 in the series. I kept looking to see if the was another book that I missed. The book kept referring to people and events from a time between this book and the prequel. They never go back and cover the back story, they just drop little pieces like I should already know that part of the story . Other than that it's a good book with an interesting story and the narrator is great. I am looking forward to the rest of the series.

Attention grabbing story line!

This book has several different story lines that will eventually come together that keep you entertained and waiting for what comes next. Great for long car rides...

very good storyline.

the sword- fighting hero, the low-class underdog saving the day- this plot has been a staple for as long as I can remember but..,.this storyline is just different enough to make it a great read. I only hate that it gets slow in between the hero's missions.

Good beginning

The story is good but I don’t care for the narrator. Maybe after listening to Mark narrate for 7 Darkblade books not many compare but I find it hard to listen at normal speed, it’s a little easier when I slow it down to .09 anyway I like how the story is coming together, it’s a little predictable but enjoyable. I don’t care for every step being described in long detail I mean some things need explaining but not everything. I find myself fast forwarding half of most chapters to get to the point, but the story is still interesting and maybe it’s just me but when I see some stuff coming an hour away I’d rather fast forward a little to get to it. You’ll understand what I mean after listening to this guys narration style and voice. Also it took me a while to get used to the accent of the voices he does until I realized that he does the Hindi type voices better than his normal voice. So for me there were a lot of distractions from the story but I stuck with it and it paid of because I’m hooked and focused on the story which is very good and recommend this book. It’s definitely a 4 star story.

Really tried

I really liked the ‘sample’ clip of the story and the good rated reviews spoke of a title worth a purchase. Four or five times I went back to this book trying to get into it. I couldn’t get past the narrator’s characterization of each of the main players. I listened carefully but got lost on the ‘who’ he was describing. Book would be a good read just not an Audible story.