In Response to the Criticism from Other Reviewers

I greatly enjoyed the Cycle of Arawn and have continued to follow the sequel series the Cycle of Galand. The most important thing to know about the series is that the plot is secondary to the characters, specifically the two protagonists. The book is built on their relationship and upon their banter and while there is always some exciting crisis requiring their intervention (or caused by it) their interactions and dialog are the main focus. Tim Gerard Reynolds does a fantastic job of capturing their relationship and their banter, and his performance makes this audiobook worthwhile. That isn't to say that the plot is not interesting or engrossing, just that it is not what makes these books great.

The main criticisms I have seen while reading through the reviews fall into two categories. The first is that the readers did not like the main characters and felt that they were not good enough in the moral sense. While the book is entertaining and much of it has an almost lighthearted feel to it, readers should be warned that the protagonists are not heroes. They lie, cheat, steal and kill throughout the series and while there is development and growth, they not become knights in shining armor. The series follows recent trends towards making more interesting, flawed characters (which in my view is a positive.) But if you are looking for champions of good who fight back the dark forces of evil, look somewhere else. Blayse and Dante invariably try to do what they think is best for them and their allies, but a lot of people still end up dead.

The second category of criticism is that the two protagonists constantly find themselves needing to rush off and complete some quest, save some people, yada, yada, yada. This is true and inherent in the genre and eventually lampshaded in later books. But to reiterate, the plots, while fun, are a setting for the main characters to interact, quip and generally be entertaining as they try to "save the day" or at least muddle through without getting themselves or too many others killed. You could toss the two in any setting and still get a book worth listening too, and to some degree this is what the author does.

The book does start off a bit slowly, but if you stick with it, it quickly and obviously becomes well worth the wait.

286 people found this helpful

A weird mix of great and awful....

I picked this book up because it's the complete trilogy- basically 3 books in one; a total of 65 hours of listening. That's a pretty good deal for one credit. But this isn't exactly "solid fantasy gold" you're getting here either.

Let's start off with the good, because it does have it's moments. Robertson has a fair bit of depth to his characters as both individuals and the way they interact. In fact, that is probably the book's real strength- the character's relationships and their dynamics. Everything else is really just background to tell the story of the people involved in them- if you keep the objectives blurry and look at the plot from the corner of your eye, and focus on the people, then the story is intriguing.

The bad is the plot itself. At times it makes no sense whatsoever- like, Michael Bay "Transformers level" logic. An example:

One artifact is central to the 1st book as the reason behind everything, yet is dropped and never mentioned by the 2nd book- nor is it ever explained exactly why it was so important. The protagonists, who are trying to get it back from the "heroes", just decide to give up looking for it in the middle of the 1st book, until at the end of the 1st book, at the climax, when the lead hero says "oh, here it is, I've had it all along..." to the people he is trying to kill. Then they have a plot twit, and the "heroes" decide: "Let's just kill everybody", and you are just sitting there going "what was even the point of this story again?????".

Confused? Yeah, reading it doesn't really make things any clearer. It's horribly frustrating. I almost gave up at the beginning of book 2 because I really stopped caring about what the heroes were up to because, basically, they are stupid and their actions don't really make sense. Maybe it gets as good as the "Star Wars" prequels logic by the end- but it never really exceeds that level.

The main characters also have some real flaws with drawing the line between good and bad that I don't think the author really does a good job of sorting out. The The book starts off with the main character murdering someone in "self defense", but it was also because he (the hero) stole something. So, if someone is going to kill you because you stole something, then it's better to kill them 1st than return what you stole... I don't know how righteous that makes you as a person. And I'm fine with a story arc where the character evolves and learns to change from broken to whole, but that journey has to make some sense. He can't just be killing people in one scene, and then be ready lay his life down to save others in another scene, but then killing in another- it doesn't make sense where he is drawing his lines or why they are moving, except maybe on an elementary school level of reasoning.

The 2 main characters relationship, which is the real story here (and it's as "brothers" in every sense, in case that statement has weird connotations) also start out oddly. In the beginning they pretty much hate each other; yet it changes quickly and drastically to a very strong bond between the two. But it happens too quickly and without enough reasoning to really make sense.

So, if you are looking for a book that is about the people involved in the story and can ignore the story itself, then this will probably be interesting to you. But if watching movies like "Transformers" and the 3 "Star Wars" prequels drives you nuts because what is happening makes little sense, then this book will probably just be frustrating.

I struggled with the point system for rating this book. In a perfect world, we'd have 1/2 stars instead of full ones, in which case I'd give the overall 2 1/2 stars and the story 1 1/2. It really doesn't rate a 3 star for the overall, but it's not as bad as a 2 star either. Same for the story rating (except 1 point lower).

260 people found this helpful

65 hours of awsome for 1 credit

Would you consider the audio edition of The Cycle of Arawn to be better than the print version?

yes, Tim Gerard Reynolds voice will forever be Dante and Blaze

Have you listened to any of Tim Gerard Reynolds’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

he did as good on this as he did on The Riyria Chronicles, one of the best fantasy stories I've ever listened too on audible.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

dark fantasy with a side of snarky humor

Any additional comments?

if you've read The Riyria Chronicles, and loved it, you'll like this slightly darker world with two similar pals. Dante and Blaze are a lot of fun to listen too as they go back and fourth with each other and the others around them. your crazy not to spend one credit on 65 hours of fun entertainment.

173 people found this helpful

Entertaining and Fun

Would you listen to The Cycle of Arawn again? Why?

I might go back and listen to the first book again, this trilogy is so long I've forgotten some of the first book already!

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the fact that it never dragged over 65 hours!

Have you listened to any of Tim Gerard Reynolds’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Reynolds may have even improved since he narrated the Riyria Chronicles!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Ha ha. 65 hours is too long for any one sitting!

Any additional comments?

I don't agree with people complaining about so many of the characters being smart-alecks. I enjoyed every bit of the wise-cracking repartee and just accepted it as a cultural thing common to this fantasy world. This "Cycle" reminded me a lot of the Riyria Chronicles. I'd say it doesn't quite measure up to Riyria, but it was still quite enjoyable and I hope there's even more to come in this series.

136 people found this helpful

An amazing audio experience

This is a hidden gem. I'd never heard of this author before I saw this pop up in the new releases. I however love the narrator and the premise sounded great. It blew me away! Snappy witty dialogue, deep character development, interesting world and magic system. Very satisfying conclusion and with a new Trilogy in the works. Enjoy the ride and don't rush this experience.

134 people found this helpful

Worst Epic Fantasy of 2015

I pre-ordered this book at once after reading the Publisher's Summary, AND because the books were very long. I like long epic books. Anyway, understanding that this is a dark series, from the Publisher's Summary, I felt prepared for this series, and the First Book met my expectations for the first quarter, or half of the book, at which point I found out that I really didn't like protagonist. He's not the "bad guy you have to love" kind of guy, he's just a jerk, plane and simple.Then he meets his Body Guard and it becames a battle about who could be the biggest jerk. Towards the end of the Book One you find out that there is a Prophecy to fulfill, and it's one that sounded like it would be an interesting path for the story to go. Book Two is just one long sarcastic conversation amongst all of the characters. Not much more to add there and not much about the Prophecy either. In Book Three the protagonist is somewhat repentant, but he's still isn't likeable, and the other characters are still having their long sarcastic conversation. When I finished Book Three I kept thinking what happened to the Prophecy ?!?!? There was supposed to be a Prophecy to fulfill, but there wasn't. What's the author thinking? The magic system was kind of interesting, as far as blood magic. However, by the end of these books the guy has cut himself so much that his arms are one big scar, and that's just gross. These books are just bad. Don't bother with this series, it isn't worth a credit, AND you're certainly not going to miss out on anything.

119 people found this helpful

Prepare for an overwhelming sense of indifference

I never give reviews, so the simple fact that I'm writing this speaks volumes about how much I didn't like this book.

I thought that getting 3 epic fantasy books for 1 credit would be a steal. Sadly, it didn't take long to to understand why this is offered at only 1 credit, and even at that, it's not worth it. I'll admit that I didn't make it through this entire trilogy. I made it about 2 hours into the second book and decided I just couldn't take it any more. Therefore, most of my opinion is based on the first book.

Plot - The plot was incredibly shallow and lacked any real depth. I found myself not caring whether the main characters, Dante and Blays, succeeded or failed on their quest. There was never any real explanation or sense of urgency as to why their success was so important. Sure, it was explained that it was to "stop a war", but there was never a strong case developed as to whether or not their plan would do that, or what the consequences of their failure would be.

Characters - The characters were not particularly likable and they were never developed enough to know what made them do what they did. I couldn't relate to any of them and really had no emotional attachment to them whatsoever. As others have stated, the two protagonists especially were constantly whining and bickering with each other and everyone else they met along the way. I actually hated Dante, the main character, from the opening scene in the book where he needlessly killed another man in cold blood. In fact, his solution to almost every problem they faced seemed to be to kill someone. I honestly wasn't sure that the antagonist of the book was actually the evil villain or if the ones who sent our "heroes" on their journey would turn out to be the "bad guys". There just wasn't enough background or depth provided on any of them for me to commit either way, or therefore, care either way. During an "epic" battle near the climax of the book, I actually found that it really didn't matter to me what happened to Dante and Blays and I certainly wasn't on the edge of my seat to see if they made it through unscathed.

Magic system - I was actually a bit turned off by the dark nature of the magic system. Blood, shadows and reanimation of dead corpses are normally things reserved for evil wizards. Others may enjoy that sort of thing, but I would rather leave the dark magic to the evil forces and not root for it. Aside from the type of magic, it just wasn't defined very well. How it actually worked and any limitations it had were never satisfactorily explained.

Overall I just didn't enjoy listening to this as much as I wanted to. The narrator did a fine job, there just wasn't a good enough story behind it to make it worth the listen. You'll do better to skip this one and spend the credit on something else.

93 people found this helpful

Top rate fantasy series, nearly flawless in its development

After a sluggish start, couldn't put it down. Picked this up as a commute time filler and was not disappointed. Excellently crafted storyline surrounded by well developed characters compelling the reader for more!

54 people found this helpful

Flawless

Our protagonists start out as amoral dirtbags, but become better people as the story progresses. The banter amongst characters is hilarious, sometimes on the Monty Python level. The characters themselves are pretty sharply defined and have their own unique personalities. And it's nice to have a fantasy book where the bad guys aren't trying to destroy the entire fabric of reality.

The narrator is outstanding.

54 people found this helpful

Not worth even the discount price

Would you try another book from Edward W. Robertson and/or Tim Gerard Reynolds?

No. Imagine how horrible the result would be if you yourself had tried your to write your own version of Robert Jordan-esqe fantasy when you were 14 years old. That's what this feels like. The narrator was OK, but the character portraits in this book was so shallow and cliché that I almost thought it a parody. After a few chapters when I realised that simply throwing the main character into the adventure without any clue as to his motivations, his personality or indeed any of his inner workings except immediate fear of getting killed and an inexplicable drive to learn magic - I turned it of in bewildered disgust.

Has The Cycle of Arawn turned you off from other books in this genre?

I have listened to a hundred books via audible and this is the first time I have written a full review. I just felt that I had to try and warn people.

There is good fantasy, and nowadays with people like GRRM and Sanderson there is no excuse for lack of character

Did Tim Gerard Reynolds do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

The narrator was fine, its just that the characters were so two dimensional that he didn't have much to work with

46 people found this helpful