The Harrowed Half-Breed: A Tarnished Lands Story

Forgotten Woods Series, Book 1

By: P. A. Wikoff

Narrated by: Crystal Wikoff

Length: 3 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Magic has been slowly fading from the enchanted forest ever since the greedy humans invaded. The native folk were kind in sharing their homeland, but peace couldn't last forever. Conflict stirs while Barne, half human/half native, is stuck in the middle. Trapped between two worlds he must try and find himself before choosing a side. In a world where he never really belongs, Barne searches to find his smile using all means necessary. But there's a dark secret that holds his happiness hostage...

In a world of swords and sorcery, darkness and despair, nothing comes without a price.

About The Tarnished Lands: In the aftermath of the utopian regime that ruled for over a millennium, famine, chaos, murder, and deceit reign in leu of balance. The pendulum now swings in favor of disorder. The fierce strong-arm the weak, cowards lurk in the shadows like rats, and the wicked take everything that's left over. This is no longer a place for good intentions, this is a place of survival.

P.A. Wikoff, the author that brought you Feylin Lore: Reflections and Anthology of Scrolls: Short Stories, Poetry & Prose, now brings you this new series full of unique characters and adventure.

©2018 P.A. Wikoff (P)2018 P.A. Wikoff

Intriguing premise, but lacks a great execution

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

I was drawn to this book by it's amazing cover and the quick synopsis read-up interested me immediately. I love stories that tackle the complex lives of characters that are are a product of two different species (in fantasy/sci-fi worlds obviously). It mirrors the lives of mixed race people in real life in many ways and it is very interesting to see that through a fantasy lens. However, I didn't find the book lived up to my expectations. The executions was a little lackluster and I never felt drawn in to the world until I was about 3/4th through. Given the short length of the book, I would have preferred the hook to be both stronger and faster. It wasn't bad though and I enjoyed the story once it grabbed me. I hope future books would flesh out the world a little more and give us more background on the characters.

WOW

I normally don’t enjoy books about orphans who become heroes. Actually, I avoid them.
But this half breed was so full of life, conflict, and morals I listened to it three or four times, just to make sure I WOULD REALLY follow a possible series. And honestly, I would eagerly pre-order it!
Not exactly for younger readers due to short torture scenes, it’s okay for older elementary school aged children.
I’m not ready to give other orphans who are learning of their heritage a try, but I’m completely satisfied with this one!
This is my voluntary review of an audiobook received for free.

A fantastically written and atmospheric story

*I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.*

4.7 rounded up.

This was a beautiful story from which many morals can be extracted.

The story, the narrator and how it was written made me smile through it, Bran's voice was the cutest thing ever and I certainly felt close to every single good character.

I would highly recommend this fantasy book if you want to get into a properly built world and even dream of meeting its well rounded characters!

I enjoyed it

Harrowed Half-Breed:

The Hallowed Half-Breed is it good short story. Without giving awake too much. I just want to say, you really feel sorry for Barn, from beginning to end. It's a perfect Greek tragedy.


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

Right in the feels

This is my second book with the Wikoffs and it left me wanting so much more of the story as any great book does. The characters were brought to life once again by Crystal's amazing narration. The complexities of the characters had me drawn in and immersed and almost got a few tears. I would definitely love to know more of Barnacles life and look forward to his further adventures!

Ooh, interesting

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

Good:
• The book started well, and I wanted more!
• The narrator was a good choice and aided in immersion
• The setting was interesting and the descriptions were on point. I did have to go back and listen, but it wasn’t because of bad writing, more because I got distracted or just forgot, and the setting was important enough to need a review.

Not so good:
• Audio quality wasn’t what I’m used to. Not bad, and not about the voice. There were just some sounds that I think should have been cleaned up or something.
• I think the short format worked against the book. This would have been a better book for maybe twice the length, or at least… more. But it's only book 1, so we'll see about the second one.

Strange and Orignal Fantasy

I love the fantasy genre so the description on this one intrigued me. It's definitely original but also very strange and at times a bit hard to follow if you weren't completely focused. This is geared toward an older teen to the adult crowd in the writing style. My 10 yr old wanted to listen with me and was only able to get about an hour into the book before he gave up and said he was too confused (he reads teen level books) I think the social structure lost him. The narration on it was very well done and made the listening more fun.

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

Original Fantasy.

I have not read or listened to anything by this author. The cover first attracted me to the book and the description sounded interesting so I thought I will give it ago and I am so glad that I did!
The book is fast paced from beginning to end. I must admit that I did not like one of the characters, however, as the story progressed I understood why they did the things they did.
I don't know about anybody else who listened or read the book but the author had me in tears a couple of times in the story. There were moments of heartbreak.
I felt sorry for the main character (mother) and I cried when she saw her son the last time. I think it is because I am a mother and I could put myself in her postion and understood what she was feeling.
I also felt sorry for the boy and I had this urge to cuddle him. I know he is not real but I found this book really emotional.
I read a lot of books and this is one of the few that grabbed me emotionally. I wanted to know what happens next and I listened to this audiobook in one sitting.
A review said that this is more a grisly fairy tale and I found this is true. It is gory and violent in parts, however, I found that it gives it some realism.
There is no profanity or sexual content. There is a rape scene but we don't see it.
I found it to be an original fantasy which has plenty of action/adventure, unique creatures, drama, and magic.
It is a story of self-discovery and a ‘coming of age’.
I would highly recommend this book! I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

Fast-Paced Gritty Tale

This was a story about a halfbreed as the title indicates, and as halfbreed stories are wont to do he suffers regardless of which half he's with. Even while not explicitly on either side. There's some interesting relationships and scenes of the title character growing up and the advantages that having blood from two races have given him, but I think things might've moved a little fast. It's a novella, but it's almost better served as a book of a couple short stories as that's similar to the structure that you end up getting from it. Despite that, it's still entertaining and the setting is unique enough amongst my reads and listens to be definitely worth experiencing and I'd be interested to see what the author can put together in a full novel length worth.

The story was definitely aided by pretty good narration. I never once lost my immersion by the sense that it was just someone reading to me. She definitely managed to play up the drama and also handle the lowered and presumption of lowered stakes at different times.

I received the review code for this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this honest review.

Fantastic grimm fairy tale

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

This was a rather short story, but wonderfully done. The story is put together really well written. The world building is some of the best I've experienced in such a short story. The story is a gritty, grimm fairy tale. The narration is also pretty good and really brings things to life in your mind. Well worth your time in my opinion.