Within the Vale

Book One of the Vale Trilogy

By: Jen Becker

Narrated by: Elizabeth Phillips

Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

As an accomplished cutpurse, Eldin has used her Talents of escape often. She can compress herself under doors and jump from dizzying heights to land catlike on the ground. She can even render herself nearly invisible. But these abilities come at a steep price. Every Talent creates a ripple in the Vale, allowing the Brotherhood to feel her presence - to find her.

For thousands of years, the Brotherhood held the energy of the Vale over Visgaerd, for both the country’s protection and for their own power. Anyone capable of touching the Vale belongs to them. And, during that time, the Brotherhood has never found a woman with the ability to draw on its power. Or so they say. But Eldin is sure the Brothers mean to end her. Or they will when they meet her in the flesh and discover that she is not the "Brother" they expect. What is a girl to do, when cornered at long last?"

©2020 Jennifer Becker (P)2023 Jennifer Becker

EXCELLENT

Absolutely loved the story line. It's fresh and intriguing, kept me up late listening.

The book is very well written with a unique story line and character development that makes you feel like a proud mom.

Loved it, and can't wait to start the sequel.

Outstanding Paranormal

I very much enjoyed this book. It is lengthy so I am glad it was an audiobook. The book deals with those with magical abilities. It is a historical setting. Eldin is the solitary female brought to a secluded castle among hundreds of men who represent the Brotherhood of the Vale. She is the first female to seek training and education of her abilities. This book ends on a cliffhanger.
Elizabeth Phillips was outstanding in her performance.

A quite pleasant surprise

If I'm honest, I really didn't expect to like this. It's not really my usual genre, and I probably had some preconceived notions as to what I would expect (not to mention that I had my doubts that I was the target demographic for this book). I listened on the advice of several friends and after a bit of a stumbling start (there's a pretty big infodump early on that I had a hard time with), I found myself REALLY enjoying this one. The story wasn't the most unpredictable thing ever, but I'm not counting that against it - sometimes it's a very pleasant experience to expect something and get exactly that. The author has a remarkable ability to use a particularly wide array of named characters, and never leave me confused as to who is whom. I think if this production has a drawback, it'd be in the narrator. She's competent enough, and she has a pleasant voice, but I can't say I'm a fan of most male characters having basically the same vocal affect, and the same for female characters. All of that said, instead of listening to this so that I could tell friends, "Ok! I read it already", I'm actually eagerly anticipating the next in the series.

Great read!

I really enjoyed this book. it's done with creativity, fantastic story, and a great twist on a well used plot. I really like how there is so much positivity in the story. Great job of writing!

New Paranormal World!

Jen Becker is a new to me author. I very much enjoyed this new paranormal world she has built. This Vale is not like the vale you may have read about from some other authors.
The Vale is held by the Brotherhood. They expect only boys can enter it. Enter Eldin who throws everything into chaos.
I loved these new characters and I look forward to reading more in this series.

Elizabeth Phillips is a new to me narrator and I thought she did a great job with the narration.

This was a review copy and this is my honest review.

Within the Vale

This is an excellent start to a series.A society of 'Brothers' live a semi secluded life where women aren't involved.In the 'vale',a type of thinny the brothers can step into for a time,they sense new members and gather them as children.When a girl is discovered,many things change.This was predicted eons ago. Having a woman in their midst stirs up conflicts but also brings things to the brotherhood they never encountered...including an uprising. Elizabeth Phillips was a terrific narrator.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.