Altar of Influence: The Orsarian War

A Prelude to the Dying Lands Chronicle

By: Jacob Cooper

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

Altar of Influence is the anticipated prequel to the Amazon and Audible number one best seller Circle of Reign.

Sacrifice. The single act capable of bringing both death and life simultaneously.

Thannuel Kerr is handsome, young, and brash, fumbling through childhood toward his inevitable inheritance: the next Lord of the Western Province. He struggles to accept his arranged marriage and to grow into the man he must become. The journey toward that end, however, is fraught with more peril than he could possibly imagine.

In the remote reaches of the Realm, an unknown, silent threat is growing. The Thoulden-sha of Mari-shaden is gathering his disciples: those who have relinquished their bloodlines to the Ancients and embraced Those Not Remembered, a forgotten race that inhabited Våleira long before the Age of the Ancients. As Thannuel learns more about his heritage, he begins to understand why powers that seem greater than anything the world of Våleira has ever seen are targeting him. He is a young man, and he and his beloved intended, Moira, will face assassination attempts, civil war, and foreign invasions that could tear the Realm - and Våleira itself - apart.

Sacrifice. It is what the Thoulden-sha demands. It is what the world desperately needs. To save all he loves, Thannuel will be called upon to lay himself upon the Altar of Influence.

©2016 Jacob Cooper (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Wish I could give it 4.5...

Altar of influence is very much a book worth paying attention to, as is this new author. Cooper seems to have the knack to break into the fantasy world.
Why 4 stars? Because I couldn't give it 4.5. Seriously, this book could have been 50% longer, and I wish it was because I wanted more more more. I wanted more of the years that were skipped. Maybe we'll get more of that later, as it seems this author likes to do short stories from his blog. Anyway, not a real complaint because it's a great sweeping epic that drew me in from the start. Characters and war are Cooper's strengths. The worldbuilding was also good. There were also some characters that we only see a little of but were very good and I wanted to get to know more (like the girl surfer).
So I guess my complaint is that the story was awesome and I just wanted it to be a bit longer. Very worth the time.

Waiting for the next book in the series-

I really loved Circle of Reign - Cooper’s first book in this series- and have been anxiously awaiting Book 2. Altar of Influence is a pre-quel and I might have enjoyed it more if I had “re-listened” to Circle of Reign to get my head back into the story. Altar of Influence is a decent book but it didn’t engage me as deeply as Circle of Reign. The narrator is excellent but the story isn’t as strong as Circle of Reign.

A Compelling Read!

WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Sacrifice. The single act capable of bringing both death and life simultaneously.

Thannuel Kerr is handsome, young and brash, fumbling through childhood toward his inevitable inheritance: the next Lord of the Western Province. He struggles to accept his arranged marriage and to grow into the man he must become. The journey toward that end, however, is fraught with more peril than he could possibly imagine. In the remote reaches of the Realm, an unknown, silent threat is growing. The Thoulden-sha of Mari-shaden is gathering his disciples, those who have relinquished their bloodlines to the Ancients and embraced Those Not Remembered, a forgotten race that inhabited Våleira long before the Age of the Ancients.

As Thannuel learns more about his heritage, he begins to understand why powers that seem greater than anything the world of Våleira has ever seen are targeting him. As a young man, he and his beloved intended, Moira, will face assassination attempts, civil war, and foreign invasions that could tear the Realm—and Våleira itself—apart.

Sacrifice. It is what the Thoulden-sha demands. It is what the world desperately needs. To save all he loves, Thannuel will be called upon to lay himself upon the Altar of Influence.

MY TAKE
I first heard about this book at a book signing where the author did a reading. He's got a fabulous voice and could easily have done this book justice. However, the reader (Michael Kramer) is one of my favorites. As always, Kramer brings the story to life with wonderfull voice.

As for the story itself, the beautiful storytelling reminded me of two of my favorite epic fantasy authors: Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. Michael Kramer is the narrator for Jordan's Wheel of Time series and Sanderson's Mistborn series. With Kramer's voice in my ears and Cooper's writing style, I felt very much at home.

Cooper does a wonderful job with his worldbuilding, bringing it to life--both the cultures and the world itself. It's a satisfyingly complex but not too confusing place. The cultures were interesting and diverse.

I loved his characters. Authors can build appealing worlds but if they don't make me care about the people in it, they've lost me. I loved this tale of the forced (in the beginning) friendship of too unlikely people--the future lord and the "mop boy". Thannuel's lord father was a wise man in how he handled it. Growing up with power and prestige can be a tough way to develop character of any substance, and Thannuel's father made a great choice.

The action was interesting to read without being too much, and the villains were wonderfully vile. The way evil in the story consumed societies and their people just gave me shudders. Cooper does a great job in making it clear what terrible things are happening without wallowing in it.

This book is a prequel. I didn't realize that until I was listening and a comment was made by the author. He said he had assumed people would have read the first book, Circle of Reign. I've added that to my wish list for the audiobook. Kramer reads that one too.

Epic fantasy at it's very best!

I am usually not a big fan of prequels, but this one was needed. In my opinion, the story and world that started in the first book probably ballooned on the writer and in order accommodate the increase in scope, this book was born. I'm very glad in any case, as this is an amazing story and the series so far is very, very, good. To me the writing is very Sanderson-esque (probably the best compliment any fantasy writer could ever receive) and at about Warbreaker level in writer growth. For me, there is nothing more exciting than reading an excellent book knowing the writer is growing and evolving as you turn the page. I eagerly await the next installment. It's narrated by Michael Kramer.. enough said.

Captivating from beginning to end!

Jacob Cooper is a master! The character development is has depth and purpose. His magic system is unique and well planned. Michael Kramer is brilliant and brings the book to life only as he can. I hope you love it as I do.

By the living light!

I first started the Dying Lands Chronicles earlier this year when I bought Circle of Reign, I was taken aback by how much that book surprised me and drew me in. Now with this prelude added, my only wish is that I had read this first. I’m still very impressed by the initial first impression that CoR gave me, but I’m even now more so by the sheer scope the world of Valeira has to offer. I loved how this book sets the stage for the first book and really comforts you into the overall tone of the world. Would listen to again and definitely plan to, right after I go and relisten to CoR. This series manages to somewhat mix some GRRM and some Brandon Sanderson while maintaining something organically original. A must read for all adult fantasy fans.
Audible 20 review sweepstakes entry.

Rollercoaster

This story gets in you and refuses to let go. Starts out pretty carefree, other than the prologue, then becomes really dark pretty quick. But, that's not a bad thing. There are moments that just shine in this story that I'm sure will stay with me a long time. Will listen many times again. Very fulfilling.

Quite good yet at times a bit hectic

I really enjoyed listening to Circle of Reign, so i naturally jumped on the chance to listen to the prelude also performed by the marvelous Michael Kramer, and i didn't end up disappointed.

When i listened to Circle of Reign, i actually missed some more about Thannuel and how he became who he is, and this book promise to deliver exactly that!
And it does - the story is a tad more compressed (that is to be expected in a shorter prelude) and some parts are skipped where other parts might not have been hurt by being skipped over faster, but by the end i have had a really enjoyable time listening to this story.

Spoilers below this - be warned :)

I have a few reasons to not give the book 5 stars, and i will touch each one shortly. Firstly i think that the end of the book is simply to fantastic and up tempo - meaning that it feels like the author would like to have all the action and heroics you would normally put in a 1600 pages book into this 440 pages book, and at times it got just a bit too much. One extraordinary feat tries to top another just minutes after.

The other reason is the lack of emotional response or moral woes to any of the characters in the book to the destruction of an entire civilization - coming to destroy or not. I would have loved it if the main character, whom is portrayed as a caring and through and through good guy (hero) actually tried to ponder whether there were another way to repel the invasion than to just murder everyone.

That being said, i really liked the book, and I look forward to the next installments in the serie.

out f@#$%&*! standing

Love these books, Cooper has some of the most intriguing magic systems and plot twists in the fantasy world.

Genuine! Like a mini GOT

Telling my friends about this book and series. Really good, authentic story. Ya, it's fantasy, I know but it still felt very real.
Michael Kramer is perfect for this kind of material. My favorite for fantasy. It's so easy to get swallowed up in the story with him navigating the characters.
This is one is longer than the original. It now includes the remnants and shadows short story. Very good addition. The writing continues to improve as the author grows. Can't recommend it enough.