Grace Draven is a master at world building!!

I loved it! Of course I love all of her books and have recommended them to all of my friends who are avid readers and they've loved them too. This one will be no exception. I didn't want it to be over. I wanted more.

At the beginning I was so made at the hero. He was kind, gentle, and caring but was selfish. You understand his reasons but you just want the smack him!.

Minor spoiler - don't read if you don't want to know anything about the book - I loved that the author gave the heroine true emotions over being taken by force by the hero. I read so many books where she is kidnapped and just instantly fall for the hero and forgives him immediately. In my mind I'm going...really? She was mad and she let him know it. She tried to escape and made no promises that she wouldn't do it again. She was genuine with her emotions. As was the hero.

So worth the credit. The narrator was excellent! She was easy to listen to and didn't grate on my nerves with accents like others sometimes do.

18 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Taste of epic

If you’ve read Draven, you know this is an automatic Yes! It has the characters with gentle dignity, innate nobility, commitment and determination; who are called upon to live through, or bear witness to, events that are greater than anything they dreamed. I was satisfied at the end with a quietly happy HEA.
The book details on Amazon and Audible is descriptive and accurate enough to determine if you’re interested in the basic story.
From what I’ve read in the last ten years, this reminds me most of Jacqueline Carey’s Naamah series, or Lois McMaster Bujold’s Curse of Chalion/Paladin of Souls/World of the Five Gods -or- Sharing Knife series. I’ve read and enjoyed Draven’s Radiance and Eidolon; after this book, Master of Crows has just moved up on my reading wish list.
McEwan does a very good job with narration.
Happily recommend on all levels!

13 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Complete World and Strong Characters

The world created by Grace Draven was complete and amazing. I could hear the horses and smell the ashes. The story was also enveloping, although it took me a while to get into it. By the end I cared about these characters and wished I could stay in touch with them.

The ending felt abrupt. Yes, the story was over, but it needed an epilogue. I can't say more without spoilers, but this was disappointing.

I was also disappointed that there weren't any lighter moments. Yes, the plot overall was dark, but I bought this because one of my favorite books is Radiance. In that book the H/h often good-naturally teased each other, amusing each other and the reader.

The narration was not great. Acceptable, but her tone and cadence was similar throughout. I couldn't clearly distiguish voices of many of the characters, but didn't have an issue following the story.

4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Nothing special. Highly predictable

I didn't hate this book and I didn't love it. It was kind of boring. I didn't find the characters compelling. The first third was the best. Some character development but overall not enough to make me feel connected.

I hate the "man abuses/abducts/rapes the woman, they fall in love" thing. A trope that should die.

16 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Felt nothing for main characters

I wasn’t able to get through this book. First, I had to increase the narration speed to 1.5 because the narration dragged on and on. The narrator has a lovely voice, but the speed was too slow for a slowish story.
On that, I found the story dragged, but not in a good way. Descriptions of abuse over and over again do not make for excitement only depression. The female main character was just not likable. The character was brave but only when forced to be. She just seemed ambiguous at best. The male lead was a bit better. I jumped to the end and found the end to be as expected but also rushed, leaving a great many things unexplained. Also, there is very little humor in this book. I personally like my romance to at least have a spark of humor. Non to be found here.
I am returning the book, as I will never finish it.

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

So much language

I wish this had a warning! So many F words- the story started off awesome- but if you are at all sensitive to language- don’t waste your credits like I did!

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Hit & miss for me (some spoilers)

The reviews I read about this book varied, most of them kind of neutral in a way. I would have to agree with them. I thoroughly enjoyed Radiance and Eidolon, but was iffy on Master of Crows. Grace Draven's books are a hit or miss for me at this point like Tiffany Roberts' books. There was something about this book that seemed lacking and I didn't feel consumed by the events that occurred. The beginning of the book was good with a nice pace. The ending was a bit abrupt. It took Gilene almost a year to "find" Azarion and when they do finally see each other, it's the end. It's a happy ending, but it felt like "that's it."

Katharine Lee McEwan did an all right job, but I personally think she could have done better. She sounded somber and bland when speaking from Gilene's POV, especially when there were some scenes that could have been read as a little humorous. Draven usually has some humor in her books, so I was expecting some sassy tones. I think she voiced the men all right.

I wasn't particularly entertained, but I do like how women were written in this book. There was a hint of a love between Azarion's sister and a now-widowed woman and the individuals who have the highest rank were women. Azarion's people worships a female goddess and majority of the warriors are women. While Gilene was used to being treated as the lesser sex and was raped, she continued to stay strong much like how survivors of abuse are. The book wasn't entirely feminist and did mention some hardships men go through (men DO experience abuse and betrayal, too, you know).

Overall, I think this was an okay book. Not super entertaining, but the underlying themes were nice to see. Not sure if I want to read the next book, though. I do know the beginning of the book starts with part of the ending of this book, just told from a different perspective.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Between a rock and a hard place

Listening to this story made getting the work done fun. I spent a few days saying things like “I can’t watch that show with you. I need to do yard work... dishes... walk the dog (and listen to my book).” When the last word was spoken I loved the ending but hated that the story was over.
The protagonists are both caught between a rock and a hard place for much of the story. I’ve read this theme play out before but the shifts in pressure and character development made it feel new. The character’s backstories are fraught with terrible times but once they join forces willingly and not, their lives change for the better. Due to the hardships they persevered, I was emotionally invested in the first chapters so their adventures, battles, trials, happy moments and each success felt very satisfying. The love developed at a slow burn that got pretty hot. I also appreciated that if there was no adventure in the journey the reader didn’t have to travel with the characters over every hill and dale.
I enjoyed this story and definitely recommend it.

5 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

pretty good narration!

The narrator did a great job trying to bring the story to life.there are some parts in the book where there's over description, I feel. I thought the descriptions would lead to something but didn't. I just felt like it was kind of a filler moment like they do in movies...🤷🏻‍♀️

A pretty good read

The story had nothing to do with phoenixes but was a pretty good read despite that personal disappointment.