Awakening

Redeemer Chronicles, Book 1

By: Julie C. Gilbert

Narrated by: Caitlin Jacques

Length: 4 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Being the Chosen One could kill her....

Victoria Saveron knows two things for certain. Dark forces want to kill her, and her friends have cooler powers than she does. Katrina can shapeshift and Tellen can tap into destructive magic currents.

Everything else is uncertain and rumors abound.

Victoria might be the Chosen One, whatever that means. Her father might be able to help them, but only if they can find him. Coldhaven's villagers might be able to offer them food and shelter. Some fool might be running around unlocking Darkland portals to raise an undead army.

The further Victoria and her companions get on their journey, the more dangers and betrayals they face. They must awaken Vic's true powers or forfeit the world.

©2016 Julie C. Gilbert (P)2017 Julie C. Gilbert

Awakening

Living in a world where the undead walk among you is quite scary. Living in a world knowing that only the silver magical bracelets on your wrist are keeping you from turning into one yourself is absolutely terrifying! Victoria is just trying to survive, not really understanding why the world works the way it does. Gilbert has an interesting take on a new world, one where a chosen will be testing to either fill the destined prophecy or ignore it. Victoria is the chosen. This quirky, young girl is funny, smart, witty, and courageous. She is also lost, but as the story unfolds, readers are able to come to their own conclusions along with the characters who have traveled on this journey with Victoria. This book is filled with adventure, mystery, action, and magic.


Victoria, Vic for short, is looking for her father. He left on a hunt and hasn't returned, so she is determined to search for him. That burden comes with knowing that not everyone she may come across will be an ally. Because her mother was a powerful witch, from the Saroth and her father, a guardian of the Bereft descended from the Arkonai, both groups frowned upon their union which makes them unfavorable toward Victoria. Some may even be willing to destroy her for fear of what she will become. With her two friends, Victoria holds her head high and barrels through, knowing that she has a pretty fair shot at finding the answers that she seeks. She knows not who or what she is, but things start to add up and little tidbits here and there start unraveling around her. Her mother, killed by zombie attack, visits her to warn of hardships and destiny along with the path that she has chosen. What is to become of her if she continues on her journey, knowing that death is sure to follow for the ones that she loves? What can she do other than follow her moral compass? Lines blur and what is right and what is wrong become difficult to identify. Will Victoria be able to make the best decision when she finally figures out who is behind the deceit?


Gilbert has a superb fantasy that is short and easy to listen to, as this is a review of the audio book. It sounds like it is very well written and flows really well. The characters development is on par and Jacques, the narrator, does a fantastic job at gripping the strengths and weaknesses of the author's characters. Since this is the first installment in the Redeemer Chronicles, readers are able to jump right in and test the waters. If you are a reader of young adult fantasy, this story may be a great read for you.


A copy of this book was provided to Turning Another Page by the Audiobookworm Promotions, but this in no way affects our honest opinion of the book or the review that has been written. We provide a five-star rating for Awakening by Julie C. Gilbert.

good beginning to the series

This was my first book by Julie C. Gilbert. So I was unsure what to expect fro her writing style. I was pleasantly surprised though. I Liked her writing style quite a bit. I liked how she gave you just enough background at any given time to keep the story flowing and not leave you scratching your head. Her characters were well defined and each had their own personality that came through very nicely. The book was written with alternating chapters featuring the point of view of the different main characters. This did get me confused a couple of times and I had to go back and see which character was speaking. I do not usually choose books featuring vampires and zombies, but when I read the blurb on the book it still sounded like a decent story. I am glad I chose the book, even with my aversion to vampires and zombies. The vampires and zombies did not really play a large roll in the book, yes they are the bad guys but they did not have large speaking parts.

Awakening is the first book in the Redeemer Chronicles series. The series is aimed toward Young Adult and is Fantasy. There was no colorful language or sexual situations in the book, so would be appropriate for even younger teens.

Victoria Saveron Vic to her friends, is the main character in the book. She is or at least everyone but herself believed to be the Chosen One. Vic doesn't believe she is the Chosen One considering all of her friends have more and better powers then she does.

Katrina and Tellen are her friends. They take off on a journey to find Vic's Father to help her recognize her true powers. If they survive the journey. Someone is unlocking Darkland portals to raise an undead army to take over the word, and Vic and her friends need to find out her true powers or loose the world as they know it.

This is a short book. If it were not part of a series I would not be happy with the ending at all, guess I will just have to wait for book 2. hopefully it won't be a long wait.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Julie C. Gilbert. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Little too much to follow and a bit too fast paced

I usually love books by Julie C Gilbert. I love her Heartfelt Case books and I love her Devya's Children books. Also her Golden City Captives was good and her Spirit's Bane was phenomenal. But this book didn't captive me as much. It's fast paced and there's a lot going on. It screams Urban Fantasy with zombies and all types of paranormal creatures, but the main character is a Mary Sue where everything comes a little too easily. I believe it would have been better if it was extended and the pace slowed a bit, however, I did enjoy it and listened to book 1 & 2 in audio. However, I think I like Julie's other series' a lot more. Good Audio performance.

Quick Captivating Read

Awakening is Book 1 in the Redeemer Chronicles and is a fast past captivating story told in multiple POV's. The narrator just a fantastc job at bringing the story to life.

This really is a great introduction to the series.

I really liked the main 3 characters within the story and the way that the story unfolds. The characters have very defined personalities and I really liked how they interacted with each other. Sarah, a brave, wise, villager is another character that I really liked.  The wolfs identity is a surprise and a welcome one. This is not your average zombie story. The Zombies are not the main focus in this book. Battles between the different factions are the focus of this first story. Victoria is not confident in her abilities however her strength and self-belief develop as the story unfolds. The finale is brilliant! The narrator was the perfect choice for this book Caitlin Jacques narration delivered the book in a way that drew you into the story.

There is a lot of information given in the first few chapters which was necessary to follow the story but it was delivered in a way that didn’t overwhelm the listener. The personalities of the characters are well developed and the multiple points of view make the story easier to follow. The introduction of new characters is done smoothly and adds a steady build to the books conclusion.

The narration by Caitlin Jacques flows seamlessly despite the multiple points of view, she delivers an exciting dialogue that draws the listener into the story and the different characters voices are distinct and well chosen based on their characteristics.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Julie C. Gilbert. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Great book.

This book has everything you would want in a book. Adventure, the undead, action and shape shifters.
Victoria is a young female who is the chosen one and she doesn't really understand what all that means.

But with the help of her friends she will learn more about herself and her chosen one powers. With the undead walking among everyone its up to Victoria and her friends to get rid of dark forces.
However she must do it before they kill her and she's not even sure why they want her dead.

With her parents she's mixed with blood that the town doesn't quite like her.
Because she's half human and half something else.
Then on the hunt to find her father, her friends join her. But can they find him and save themselves? But finding him leads to some more questions.
I love all of the characters in this book and the narrator did a great job with the different voices.
Makes me wish I had the next book already.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Julie C. Gilbert. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

A great start for a great series

Should she or should she not believe all this nonsense about being the chosen one? Well, she’s young, not powerful, with only 2 friends, actually with only a handful of people she’s talked to all her life. What’s so special about her? Well someone out there had different plans for her.

The Redeemer Chronicles start with a great story, while skipping all introductions. Bits and pieces of the history are explained throughout the book, by more than one character. That’s the most impressive thing about this book. We have our young main character, whose inexperience is visible from the start, but we get as well the other characters’ opinions. Be they Victoria’s friends or foes, they all have a contribution to her development.

She stars as an innocent teenage girl, on a mission to find her father, but in the process learns more about herself than she ever could imagine. Her idea of not having cool powers, or not being strong like her friends, or having a dull life (actually no social life at all) will soon prove to be wrong, as everything has its purpose.

The narration was not bad at all. I liked how Caitlin Jacques managed to transform her voice and perform each POV distinctively. When it comes to our main character’s voice, she kind of overdid it in the beginning, as she sounded a bit spoiled in my opinion. There are some effects here and there, for example when Vic hears a voice in her head, and were very welcomed.

Even if I had some issues with the many characters involved and with the multiple places the action jumps to, I liked the audiobook quite a lot and I think this is such a great start for a great series. 4 stars from my end.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Julie C. Gilbert. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Has all the parts but didn't do much for me

This tale had many of the elements that I really enjoy in a story and yet I didn’t fall in love with it. First, we have a Chosen One and while I have read and enjoyed many tales that have this element, it didn’t grab me here. Vic isn’t convinced she is a chosen one but she does think she’s a bit different from those around her. She pretty much grew up in this isolated cabin and sometimes her dad would go off for days leaving her to take care of everything. So she’s got some skills and yet I didn’t feel they were employed much.

The shape shifting element initially intrigued me. I like how Vic and her friends have multiple animals they can shift into. However, there were times when there was some info dumping about how this or that magic worked, including the shapeshifting snake and that bit about the berries.

Katrina was initially a worthy character being determined once she decided on something. She was the serious one of the three. Her character got a bit muddled as the story went on and sometimes I had trouble distinguishing her from Vic. Meanwhile, Tellen was the goof ball. He more than once pretended to be poisoned or such and considering that us and the main characters know that Vic is on someone’s hitlist, it didn’t come off as funny. Tellen didn’t make me laugh once.

So there’s a little political intrigue and that was pretty straight forward. It pretty much was just used to set us up for a big fight scene at the end. Now I really did like those last few scenes. The tension was there, the action, the drama. It was a good mix and I really did want Vic and her friends to make it through OK.

So while there’s all the elements I enjoy in a fantasy tale, it was still just meh for me. Oh, and there’s zombies but I didn’t feel their full potential was used in this story. 3.5/5 stars.

The Narration: Caitlin Jacques was OK for this story. She does have a good voice for Vic, however I felt that sometimes her character voices were a bit muddled. Her male character voices were sometimes masculine and sometimes not. She did do Tellen really well. The sound quality is not the best. The volume varies a bit and sometimes it sounds like it was recorded in a cavern. Jacques didn’t always put emotions into the narrations even during desperate moments. So this narration could have used some polishing. 3.5/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Julie C. Gilbert. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Passionate

Poor Sarah was having grow up fast wanting to or not. If you are looking for action this book is for you 😻😻😻

Redeemer bk 1

I tried,but could not finish this book.It just seemed too teenager oriented and I couodn't keep up.Narration was good.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.