Mud and Horn, Sword and Sparrow

Runehammer, Book 1

By: Brandish Gilhelm

Narrated by: Mason Hunter

Length: 3 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

A dramatic, poetic fantasy adventure through time and danger. Are we all we dream ourselves to be? Can love outlast time? Will valor hold true in the darkest hour? Some dare to answer, they are called Mud and Horn, Sword and Sparrow.

©2018 Brandish Gilhelm (P)2019 Brandish Gilhelm

It's great, but could be amazing if it slowed down

Gilhelm's writing is excellent, with very nice use of language here. The characters are compelling - especially Mud - and I think this story could be one of my favorite fantasy novels if it slowed down to about one quarter of its current pacing. The story - and the characters - need downtime, room to breathe. I'm not sure where books 2 and 3 will go, but I've already bought them and slotted them into my reading list.

Superb

Everything about this book was great, narrator, story, characters and world. I do wish it were a bit longer but also can see why the author choose the pacing he did. despite the rapid introduction of characters, I still felt a strong connection to them and enjoyed every moment of listing.

Brandish Gilhelm weaves a masterful tale.

With striking imagery, and subtle humor, both eye and attention are drawn to the razor edge of the killing sword, the maddening isolation of endless murk, and a tale of epic heroism that plumbs the depths of ancient mystery.

Punchy action abounds

if you are the kind of reader that hates the Meandering Pros that is very common in the world of Epic length fantasy, then you need to get in here and read this book. It doesn't pull punches, it doesn't waste your time, and it's not trying to fill pages so that it can fit more artwork on the spine. It tells an action packed tale of Epic Adventure and it manages to do so without sacrificing too many twists and turns and surprises. We don't spend a lot of time dwelling on the innermost thoughts of the main characters, but they're not the sort of characters that have very complicated innermost thoughts. They're Heroes.

exceptionally awesome book.

I am a huge fan of the author, who also is the Indy RPG company, Runehammer.

love this book series before it was a audio book!

with an elegant direct to the point writing style. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a little fantasy to fill there time.

great story

runehammer focuses on the story and not every sword flash and every descriptive text you could try to throw in their leaves a lot for the imagination which is great, can't wait to listen to the other two

Needs an Editor

I couldn't make it past the first 10 minutes. the story is an attempt to write in the style of classic swords and sorcery, but it is awkwardly written and the pacing is jarring to say the least. It is very clear that this was not reviewed by any editor worth their salt. the story immediately identifies a weapon of great renown by its name, and then goes on to describe it as a legendary artifact but with no additional detail. Why mention that it is a legendary artifact at all at this time? It's not necessary. Simply indicating the sword has a name would imply that there is a story to it.
Then the protagonist is attacked by 20 goblins, at which point the narrator insists on holding the action and providing you a detailed back story as to what goblins are and how they were created. Why stop the action? Why is that necessary right now?

As much as I like Runehammer material, this book needs an editor.