An Awesome Book

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The story was very well written and very in depth with an entertaining twist. This is not a fast read. This is a book that you need to take in and savor. Its nice to read a book that you can not predict chapter to chapter.

What other book might you compare Children of Fire to and why?

It's like a cross between Star Wars and and Fantasy. In a good way. This is a slow developing story with good background and information. There are many characters to keep up with and if you speed read it, you will lose out on the best parts.

Which scene was your favorite?

I loved the character development. It's nice to get in on the ground floor. Lot of favorite scenes but dont wanna give anything away.

2 people found this helpful

Simple. Interesting. Okay.

This was a pretty unremarkable book, and I mean that in both good and bad ways. It was a simple story about magic in a fictional land. It had a number of the standard fantasy tropes (chosen one, wise wizard, orphan, etc), and didn't really do anything too new with it. I enjoyed the storyline, and some of the characters were very well developed, but the work as a whole was just simple.

The performance was awful. There are apparently only three voices in Gigante's repertoire: man, woman, and child. It was good that I was following along in the book, otherwise I would have been incredibly lost.

1 person found this helpful

awsome

Would you listen to Children of Fire again? Why?

Yes
This was a very intresting story
One of those that you know will just get better the second time around.

What other book might you compare Children of Fire to and why?

I would compare this book to old style fantasy sci fi writers from the 70s
It took me back to the wonder and joy of discovering new worlds and characters for the first time.

Any additional comments?

I would recomend this book to anybody who has an appreacition for a well written story,
intresting characters, an awe inspiring world and explosive situations.
I cant wait for the next book

1 person found this helpful

He's spoiled from writing Star Wars

I love this author's ability to push the Story forward. However, when using characters that no one is familiar with and magic systems that no one has seen before, more is required from an introduction.
I spent half the story not giving a care about more than half the characters.

2 people found this helpful

worst narrator ever

i found the narrator's voice extremely distracting which is such a shame because it's a great story.

3 people found this helpful

Worst Performance I've Ever Heard

What would have made Children of Fire better?

A new narrator or some better cue cards maybe.

What was most disappointing about Drew Karpyshyn’s story?

Didn't get to enjoy the story, performance was really poor.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Phil Gigante?

Anyone.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment

Any additional comments?

The performance is so bad that I had to stop listening to this book. I cannot rate the story properly as a result of not being able to finish... err really start this book. The narrator sounds like he is reading from cue cards and fumbling with them or flipping pages after every few sentences. The effect it has is that a normal pause between a sentence last three times as long. A few times I thought maybe my bluetooth was acting up, nope. I listened with headphones the narrator pauses for an abnormal long time and it ruins the pacing.

4 people found this helpful

good story

I decided to try it because of the series he did on Darth bane. i found it interesting though at times I found my mind wandering because of the narrator's bland performance. a good story regardless.

wonderful

book was done very well and audio was awesome enjoyed every minute of it recommended for any fantasy readers

Sufficient and Agreeable, a simple story.

To preface, I don't mean "simple" in a degrading way, sometimes simple is good. Not overly layered or complicated, easy to follow and not pretentious or overly ambitious.

Overall?

That's what this story (and this series as a whole) is: a good, simple story with a nice linear trajectory. A perfect relaxing read (listen) with a few intensity moments to keep your interest throughout. Fairly likeable characters that can be relatable at times, setting is familiar and welcoming while also being strange and hostile in its own way.

This book, Children of Fire, is by far the strongest of the series, and in many ways this mirrors what the Mass Effect videogame trilogy would have been if Drew had been allowed to write 3 as well.

Narration?

Phil Gigante does a good job with different male voices (naturally), but he does struggle with female voices. He can create one or two believable female voices but the rest are like Skyrim NPCs, different names but the same voice.

Performance?

Like the title suggests, I found the production (narration, music, editing, pacing) to be agreeable and simplistic. For those who are looking for more grandeur this will leave you wanting, but if you go into this fairly unassuming then you will be pleased with the outcome.

Better than I thought it would be

I think it could be a solid 4.5 stars with a better reading and some good background music for the mood of each scene. It's probably better when you read it than listen to it. The narrator isn't horrible but just doesn't have the experience and range of depth to pull off the reading with a voice that is so monotonal. Needs a better voice actor or multiple readers for the different characters. You can't help laugh at some of the derivative and cliché narratives in it but novel books that really break the mold are far and few between. Darth Bane as others have mentioned stands out as this authors magnum opus. Great trilogy that I would rate 5 out of 5. I do recommend the Chaos Born trilogy even though I have yet to listen to part two as of this review but I have already purchased part two...