The Brand of the Warlock

Counterfeit Sorcerer, Book 1

By: Robert Kroese

Narrated by: Daniel Thomas May

A hooded man, his face marred by a mysterious black brand, walks the Plain of Savlos. Some say he has the power to summon demons. Others say he is the only one who can vanquish them. His name is Konrad, and he has a secret....

Once an ordinary soldier, his life was forever changed by a fateful meeting with a dying sorcerer. Now he is all that stands between civilization and the creeping evil of the shadow world.

©2019 Robert Kroese (P)2020 Tantor

Good fun fantasy

it was nice to read a fantasy with good characters and tension and stuff but no profanity or sex. The mark of a skilled storyteller.

Not his best, but good

It was pretty dry and humorless for what I have come to expect from Kroese. It was decent but I much prefer his novels that ooze with his excellent comedic voice.

serviceable, but confusing.

The writing is solid scene-to-scene, but the exposition goes on too long, and the characterization of the MC is confusing. The MC is initially framed as superhumanly smart and skilled with weapons, only for him to be made the fool and incapacitated when it might have helped him. Why spend so much time emphasizing his competence only to make him useless when it might help him? Am I supposed to be rooting for him or pitying him? I’m ambivalent about getting the next book. Maybe if i can’t find anything else to read?

Slow burn, but good.

So, this story is paced as a very slow burn. There is a lot of exposition, but it's very well delivered in both framework and excellent narration. While the narrator is kind of awful at pronouncing the Hungarian words used in place of fantasy words, his narration is still excellent, and unless you actually know Hungarian, it isn't relevant, as they all sound like typical fantasy words.

While I don't mind a slow burn, I sort of hoped there would be more "meat" in terms of payoff afterwards, and for things to speed up as the story races to the conclusion...but it keeps the same pace pretty well throughout. I can't give it a 5 star, as by the time the majority of the exposition was finished and we were "caught up" to present day for the MC, there was only about 3.5 hours left in the book, BUT it was still worth a listen, overall because the last hour was finally what I had been waiting for in a faster-paced thrilling conclusion.

Big props to the narrator. I hadn't heard his work before this, and I am glad just for the introduction to him as a good narrator.

Chasing the Damsel

This story is about a man and his adventures, but really it’s about a woman who we never really know at all. She was the reason for what he does and the inspiration behind his determination, but she’s more of a remote ideal than an actual character in the story. The main character blunders his way through life on the shoulders of bluffing, bluster, luck, and repeatedly being in the right -or wrong- place at the right time.