But soon his mission takes a deadly turn. Riding into a war that’s heating up on the border, Ward is sure he’s on the fast track to glory.

Now he must overcome the image he so carefully built and fight not simply for his birthright but to free the five Kingdoms from tyranny and the rising tide of darkest magic that threatens his world. Wardwick of Hurog played the role of a fool till he reached adulthood, just to keep his father from murdering him. I won't lister to this one a second time & I'll be double checking the main characters & narrator in the next book in the series to see if they change back to originals or something new entirely - if it appears to be more of these characters' story, I'm going to save my credit/money and wait for something different to buy & listen to.By Patricia Briggs Read by Joe Manganiello The narrator's performance was ok but I think there was a lot of room to make this listening experience much more enjoyable. This was very creative, as the author is extremely gifted, but I just was not able to build up much interest in its characters as I did listening to her other books. I only stuck it out because it said it was part of a series, so I didn't want to miss anything in case future books in the series got back to the characters I learned to like during the first two books. Just my personal opinion- This book was not one that held my interest, so it made listening to the entire story difficult. No dragons, except in a game and a memory.Ĭreative premise but overall result - not great😕 Contents include rape, murder, and torture. Overlapping characters are the spymaster (Wren) and the aeMagi. This is part of a series, but it can be read as a stand alone, no problem. Also, the whole cats plot thread went nowhere, really. Thus, the prophet's characterization went wonky, when Briggs tried to re-draw him as benign, just because he helped. His link with 'the night god' didn't make sense, since this god was known for providing refuge for the weak, by covering them in darkness, hiding them (not raping or enslaving). I couldn't see 'the prophet' as anything but a slave trader and rapist.

The final resolution didn't hold together well, because of a sudden character shift. That was nicely handled, even though Tris pulled a fast one, and should have had to grovel more. I liked the developing relationship between the healer Tristan (a sylvan, a green magic user) and the empath Riella (escaped slave turned horse whisperer and spy). As for the story itself, please excuse any misspelling of names, since I listened only. She differentiated the voices, and sounded not 'sexy' (as someone said) but mellifluous, with a smoothly modulated voice. Excellent narration by Jennifer James Bradshaw.

Dragon bones by patricia briggs