Stormcaller

The Age of Dawn, Book 1

By: Everet Martins

Narrated by: Charlie Kevin

Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

New author Everet Martins introduces listeners to the fantastical world of Zoria, a land of volcanos and carnivorous plants. Ten thousand years have passed since Asebor was sealed during the first age of dawn. The power binding this malevolent god has finally waned, allowing him to once again beat the drums of war. Men worship the phoenix and dragon gods. Some are fortunate enough to touch their essences, transforming ordinary women into fearsome warriors and men into miraculous healers. The beginnings of the next scourge brushes the town of Breden, where Walter, son of elixir bean farmers, itches for adventure only to discover the harsh brutality of combat.

©2015 Everet Martins (P)2015 Ridiculous Marketing LLC

This was not good.

What disappointed you about Stormcaller?

The dialogue was awkward. Listening was painful. I can't blame the narrator, he obviously did his best the material. But I can't call his performance good. The story was cliche, but I can handle that. We all know the hero's journey by now. I won't be a snob. I know what to expect most of the time when I pick up fantasy adventure. But while the author obviously loves the genre, he has little talent for it's execution.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Into the Wild by Larry Correia. I can't wait. He is always a blast.

What aspect of Charlie Kevin’s performance would you have changed?

When the material is this bad tone it down. He tried to bring life to the bad dialogue which just made it sound even worse. Every time he spoke you couldn't help asking yourself if people would really say that, or react that way in a particular situation. If Kevin had better material he would have really shone.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I liked the authors attempt at originality. The weapons and magic system did sound cool.

Very promising with potential

Overall the story is good considering it is the first of the series. I believe there is a lot of potential for this to become a great series.

The narrator was great. My only complaint is that it was awkward to listen to some of the female voiceovers and difficult to take some of the characters seriously with the voice used for them. Overall, however, the narrator did a great narration

The story and characters are ngaging and unique and the book keeps your attention from beginning to end. Two things about the story that I did not like was that plot twists and learning about certain characters and their secrets seemed a little rushed. An example of this is when a character reveals a secret during combat and the only response from the revelation was a few words acknowledging it. I felt the rushed reaction and revelation took away from the character and who they are.

Secondly, the story and characters display some cliche lines and characteristics. While having cliche themes or lines is nit inherently bad and I do not view cliche as always bad, some cliche lines seem to take away from the characters vibrant and unique personalities and senses of humor that are portrayed very vibrantly and well in other scenes.

In the end, this book was a pleasure to read despite a few little things I personally think took away from making the story more or less perfect. I would highly recommend this book to any fans of fantasy and coming of age stories.

Not Complete

i am not a fan of books that do not have a complete story arc. Apparently the crisis of this book is getting the armor off. That was not a good enough climax to make wading through all the blood and gore worth the trip.