Chris Kessel
- 7
- reviews
- 1
- helpful vote
- 70
- ratings
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Age of Empyre
- By: Michael J. Sullivan
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 16 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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After obtaining the secret to creating dragons, the leader of the Fhrey has turned the tide of war once more - but gaining the advantage has come at a terrible price. While Imaly plots to overthrow the fane for transgressions against his people, a mystic and a keeper are the only hope for the Rhunes. Time is short, and the future of both races hangs in the balance. In this exciting conclusion to the Legends of the First Empire series, the Great War finally comes to a climactic end, and with it dawns a new era in the Age of Empyre.
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This entire series is a failure
- By Aaron on 05-08-20
- Age of Empyre
- By: Michael J. Sullivan
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
A lot of philosophy and introspection
Reviewed: 01-20-21
Very average. This book and the one before it contain a lot of pontificating and self reflection. makes for a full story. The parts that weren't that way we're good.
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Child of a Mad God
- The Coven, Book 1
- By: R. A. Salvatore
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 18 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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From R. A. Salvatore, the legendary creator of Drizzt Do'Urden, comes the start of a brand new epic journey. When Aoleyn loses her parents, she is left to fend for herself among a tribe of vicious barbarians. Bound by rigid traditions, she dreams of escaping to the world beyond her mountain home. The only hope for achieving the kind of freedom she searches for is to learn how to wield the mysterious power used by the tribe's coven known as the Song of Usgar. Thankfully, Aoleyn may be the strongest witch to have ever lived, but magic comes at price.
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A lot of nothing happening over a long time
- By steven brachna on 02-08-18
- Child of a Mad God
- The Coven, Book 1
- By: R. A. Salvatore
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
Interesting world, but slow.
Reviewed: 10-17-19
I enjoyed the unusual fantasy setting, but the story was really slow. 80% of the way through I'd be hard pressed to list more than one or two important points that happened in the story.
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The Forgetting Moon
- By: Brian Lee Durfee
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 30 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Welcome to the Five Isles, where war has come in the name of the invading army of Sor Sevier, a merciless host driven by the prophetic fervor of the Angel Prince, Aeros, toward the last unconquered kingdom of Gul Kana. Yet Gault, one of the elite Knights Archaic of Sor Sevier, is growing disillusioned by the crusade he is at the vanguard of just as it embarks on his Lord Aeros' greatest triumph. While the eldest son of the fallen king of Gul Kana now reigns in ever increasing paranoid isolationism, his two sisters seek their own paths.
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alright-ish
- By Matthew on 05-10-19
- The Forgetting Moon
- By: Brian Lee Durfee
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
long gory desciptions of torture and death
Reviewed: 09-15-19
Epic fantansy, strong characters, should be right up my alley, but the author must have a fetish for gory death and dismemberment. Long drawn out descriptions of blood and entrails...so many descriptions of people's entrails. And it's a bit slow. After 1/3rd of the book and probably the 10th round of explicit descriptions of people getting hacked apart, I gave up.
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Red Rising
- By: Pierce Brown
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 16 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children. But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet.
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HUMANS ARE ALWAY NEGOTIATING,
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 01-30-15
- Red Rising
- By: Pierce Brown
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
Slow and depressing
Reviewed: 03-16-19
Disclaimer, I made it 50% of the way through the book. I struggle to understand the huge rating on this book. The protagonist is a very young man, but he has the beaten down behavior of an old man. Given the life he was born into, some of that is understandable, but it's hard to reconcile the story with his age.
And the story is just an endless series of depressing events. Oppression, death, situations where he's constantly forced to do evil things. Very few of the characters are anyone you can root for, there's nothing to cheer for. It's a long litany of the worst of humanity's behaviors: enslavement, narcissism, vengeance, selfishness.
The reader, Tim Gerald Reynolds is fantastic as always, he's why I made it as far into the book as I did, but even he couldn't salvage it for me.
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The Living God
- Part Four of A Handful of Men
- By: Dave Duncan
- Narrated by: Mil Nicholson
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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The sorcerer Zinixo had declared himself the Almighty. Now goblin hordes ravish the Impire. Dragons incinerate entire legions. And the slave-sorcerers of the Covin practice whatever barbarities Zinixo requires. It is only a matter of time before the mad Zinixo is almighty in fact as well as name - unless Rap of Krasnegar can conjure up a miracle.
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I love it when a plan comes together!
- By Ryan M. Kelley on 06-09-14
- The Living God
- Part Four of A Handful of Men
- By: Dave Duncan
- Narrated by: Mil Nicholson
Incredibly disappointing end to the series
Reviewed: 09-09-18
Great first 3.75 books and then the ending was astoundingly disappointing and really puts a pall on the entire series.
Spoilers: Three books of building up to this great climatic battle between the protagonist forces and the enemy and....the author has a god snap his fingers and it's all done. What a monumental let down. It truly ranks as one of the worst endings I've ever read. My mind just boggles that this was the end goal.
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Cephrael's Hand
- A Pattern of Shadow and Light, Book 1
- By: Melissa McPhail
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl
- Length: 32 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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In Alorin...300 years after the genocidal Adept Wars, the realm is dying, and the blessed Adept race dies with it. One man holds the secret to reverting this decline: Bjorn van Gelderan, a dangerous and enigmatic man whose shocking betrayal three centuries past earned him a traitor's brand. It is the Adept Vestal Raine D'Lacourte's mission to learn what Bjorn knows in the hope of salvaging his race. But first he'll have to find him....
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This is a great book!!!
- By Dason on 07-30-16
- Cephrael's Hand
- A Pattern of Shadow and Light, Book 1
- By: Melissa McPhail
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl
Reads like a teen's fantasy of a noble quest
Reviewed: 03-02-18
Shapechanger Woman: Oh, Trell, you're so handsome, I could use you as my bedtime plaything.
Trell is all demur and doesn't follow through
(Trell adventures off elsewhere)
Magic Sister A: Oh Trell, you're so noble and kind, I want to have sex with you!
Trell: My lady, I'm far too noble for that.
Magic Sister A: Ok then, I promise I won't try to seduce you.
Magic Sister B: Oh Trell, you're so noble, my sister promised, but I didn't, I must have sex with you!
Trell: My lady, I'm just too noble, now please stop trying to seduce me.
Magic Sister A: I know I promised, but you're so noble, I just must give myself to you as a gift.
Trell: Well, ok, if you must.
The other main character isn't much better, but with avenging a wrong rather than fending off stunningly beautiful women (and they're all stunningly beautiful).
I really wish I could have liked this book. The mythology is interesting, the cultures varied, there's much to like there. But I had a hard time reading after spraining my eyes rolling them so hard at the laughable teenager's fantasy of being so noble the beauties of the world must give themselves to him.
I made it halfway through the book, maybe it salvages itself later.
The only true upside of this book was finding the reader Nick Podehl. He's absolutely incredible!
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The Cutting Edge
- Part One of A Handful of Men
- By: Dave Duncan
- Narrated by: Mil Nicholson
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Beautiful Queen Inos married the loyal stableboy Rap and made him her king. They were very much in love, and they lived happily ever after. Fifteen years went by. Rap and Inos were comfortable, secure, and truly happy, raising their family in the little backwater kingdom of Krasnegar, well removed from the hurly-burly of great affairs.... But in far-off Hub, the old Imperor's health - and, some said, his sanity - deteriorated inexorably. The borderlands were seething....
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High expectations
- By Ryan M. Kelley on 04-08-14
- The Cutting Edge
- Part One of A Handful of Men
- By: Dave Duncan
- Narrated by: Mil Nicholson
Great story, narrator struggles with male voices
Reviewed: 03-07-17
The story is excellent, switching between multiple views. Each character is interesting and well fleshed out over time. There are very few pure shallow archetypes.
My only real complaint is the narrator. While her (Mil's) voice is nice on general narration and fine for female characters, with male voices she chooses a very nasal, whiny voice rather than pitching down. I often had a hard time distinguishing who was speaking and it gave me a mental image of everyone as small pinched faced looking people.
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