Fantasy with light romance

Solid gold performance by narrator Derik Perkins. I enjoyed the entire series, both reading and listening to it. As for the quality of the storytelling, I'd give the stories in this omnibus an average of 3.5, but I'd give books 3 and 4 (not included) a slightly higher score. I'd give the series 3.9 stars max, as a whole.

Told in 3rd person, this series seems to be aimed at YA - adult. PG-13. No sex or cussing, but there is bloody violence.

HARBINGER is the first full-length novel in the Fate's Forsaken fantasy series, involving humans, dragons, mages, giants, mots (midget humans), pirates, whisperers, and shape-changer animals. I liked it more than SLIGHT AND SHADOW, but both books are fairly good (see quibbles below).

As for plot, the premise is logical, and even though it's nothing new, it's got the makings of a good fantasy. The plot is simple. This is not the kind of brain-taxing fantasy that has a complex magical system or convoluted socio-political arrangement. Some of the action scenes are excellent (especially the chapter called "The Tempest" in HARBINGER, and the final battle against Lord Gilderick and his fallows in Book 2, SLIGHT AND SHADOW.)

The genre is fantasy-with-light-romance, I'd say. By the fourth and final book, there's a bit too much romance for my taste, but I'd be happy with none at all. This series is fairly light in tone, with feel-good scenes of camaraderie and conviviality, interspersed with a few heartbreaking grim-dark scenes (murder, butchery, slavery, starvation). The writing style flows, making it easy to follow. There's a sprinkling of light humor throughout. I smiled and chuckled a few times.

Themes: Coming of age. Friendship, loyalty, faith. Abomination versus acceptance. Interspecies relations. A kingdom in peril. Destiny, Fate, and Death. A prophecy. An orphan child with no clue about his true nature. Shades of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.

CHARACTERS: Protagonists are plentiful: Kael, Amos, Roland, Kyleigh the dragon girl, Aerilyn, Captain Lysander the pirate, Jonathan, Jake the Mage, Elena, Nadine the mot, Blood Fang, Eveningwing, etc.

Villians: Bullies Marc and Laomoth. The treacherous King Craven is suitably evil, but he's not a one-dimensional prop. His warlord Titus is canny, ambitious, and vicious. His head magician Ulric delights in torture but is not as shrewd as he believes. His seer Argon is an enigma we don't resolve till book 4. Same with his Beastmaster.

Craven's cabal, The Sovereign Five, oversee the five regions of his kingdom:
Drunken Earl Hubert rules the Unforgivable Mountains, their Valley, and their foothills. Countess D'Mere rules the Grand Forest. She's a villain, but with texture, an enigma unresolved till later in the series. Duke Reginald of the High Seas is a fairly flat villain. Lord Gilderick rules the fertile plains. He's vile and emaciated, but shrewd, with some nasty tricks up his sleeve. Baron Suhar controls the desert, but he plays a very minor role.

Quibbles: Both novels in this package went on a bit too long, without enough momentum through the slow parts. The author needed to either shorten the story or insert some suspenseful scenes into the slow parts. And find a synonym for "rump" (overused, with connotations of rump roast and obesity).

I read the entire series. Books 3 and 4 are the best of the lot. Dragonsbane is available on Audible but Daybreak is not. It may be in production. Early days yet.

It is not necessary to read the prequel novella Poison to understand the series, but it's a decent tale. It is set before the Whispering War, beginning when Countess D'Mere was a child. It is her story. We also meet her lover, Garron, Aerillyn's father.

46 people found this helpful

A Good Series

This omnibus was very enjoyable. Can be enjoyed by adults and YA. There is violence and blood but no cussing or sex. I like to check out omnibus recordings as it gives me a chance to check out authors I otherwise would not take a chance on due to the minimal recording time. Anything less than 20 hours the author would have to be up there with Robert Jordan, etc.

26 people found this helpful

I wanted to like it.

The narrator was very good. It simply did not keep my interest. I could not really connect with either of the main characters and ultimately didn't care what happened to them.

7 people found this helpful

Must listen. Be ready to laugh.

Awesome series. Shae Ford mixes whit and swashbuckling with a decent love story. This is a must listen. Will recommend it to anyone.

7 people found this helpful

Loved the characters and story.

I loves the characters and the story. The relationships they built were fragile and felt real. The growth of the main character was filling and makes me look forward to the next book in the series.

6 people found this helpful

Book one = Fairly cliché. Book two = Semi-creative

Books one and two of "The Fate's Forsaken" are odd to listen to back to back in this Omnibus because of how different they seem from each other. It's a good thing because book one "Harbinger" is cliche to almost to the point of being completely uncreative while book two "Slight & Shadow" kicks things off into a more creative spin and the characters become more complex and varied using book one as a platform.

Book one is pretty basic territory for a fantasy adventure; A young grumpy orphaned boy in mountain village discovers an injured women in the woods and nursing her back to health sends him on a storybook like journey of evil kings, beautiful convenient love interests, wizards, pirates, witches, magic swords, dragons, shapeshifters, archery, curses, etc. While there is action and adventure, all of the characters feel a bit flat. They embark on a very vague journey filled in with forced and predictable "romantic" moments along with the lecturing of the naive and slightly whiney main character so the audience understands the magical setting better.  A listener will probably feel a bit of deja vu as long as they read or watched any fantasy at all growing up.

Thankfully, book two "Slight & Shadow" shakes things up enough to really grab attention. This book follows the two main characters from the last book after they go their separate ways for a while and their personal struggles start to hold tension and give them more depth as personalities. They encounter bizarre new challenges and allies they don't really understand in a way that tests them. It's a positive sequel to the first book that was in desperate need of some originality. It still carries some of the issues found within the first book, such as the ludicrous amount of soap opera like romance cheesiness and some of the flat characters from the first book decide to randomly show up at the end, but overall the experience was much improved by the second book.

There is also a prequel novella called "Poison" that features a very interesting character named Olivia who is a psychotic noble woman that enjoys poisoning people. It's a darker and more complex tone than either the first or second book but is monumentally better for it. Complex and unpredicable characters makes an audience curious for what is around the corner after all.

In the end, this mixed bag adds up to an average experience for a fantasy adventure audiobook. It's not bad, but not complex enough half of the time to hold a listener's focus throughout. Unless a listener has been starved of the genre for some time, it really doesn't feel very unique as a whole. This book is recommended to casual listeners of fantasy stories who are fine with books that follow a well worn formula as long as they are narrated well and are written with some skill.

5 people found this helpful

Omnibus awsome

This is an excellent series. I am glad I found out about omnibus. It is a good way to find out about new series of books. The main characters a well developed and have a good amount of detail for them. It is also narrated well. Save some coins and add this series to your collection.

8 people found this helpful

wow... just... wow

Bad guy is evil because he is EVIL!!! Really, the antagonist is evil for evil's sake. No reason behind it, he is just an evil person who claimed ultimate power and then is evil to everyone even his supporters and no one does anything to him because they are all so afraid because is just so evil.

Also everyone hates the main character for no good reason troupe. Everyone in his hometown where he grew up hates him for what seems to be just because they can.

The world is nonexistent. The place is called "The Kingdom" with five regions with really creative names like "Midland" or "Mountains."

The writing is pretty simple as well. A lot of "He did this" or "she had this kind of look on her face." A lot of telling not showing.

All in all this is a terrible book.

3 people found this helpful

The Prequel Novella at the end is the best . . . 😱

These two books need a good editor to clear out the deadwood and point out where the author allows verbosity to overcome clarity -- and the author's desire to have a "next book" using the same characters and story leads him to have his main characters act inconsistently -- even childishly -- so that he can keep certain plot tensions alive to carry on . . . and on . . . and on . . . and on
Despite what I say above, much of the book is quite enjoyable -- but you pay for those periods of enjoyment with an excessive commitment of time.
I took a two month break between book 1 and book 2. I was simply bored with the authors "bridges of continuation" when he should have "moved smartly and wrapped things up."
BTW the novella is the last 6 or 8 chapters of book two.
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5 stars is great (I rarely give this rating).
4 stars is good (given only to interesting and well-written books).
3 stars is OK (the usual listen I encounter on Audible).
2 stars is poor (and not worth the credit or the listen).
1 star is awful (and to be diss'ed and shunned and spread as thus through out the Audible Universe)!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 😱

7 people found this helpful

Outstanding

Would you listen to The Fate's Forsaken Omnibus again? Why?

Yes, its one of those stories that you want to read again and again

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Fate's Forsaken Omnibus?

The battle with the witch

Have you listened to any of Derek Perkins’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, its the first time, it will not be the last.

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

A small group of freedom fighters joined by Giants, Dragons and Small people fighting evil and injustice.

Any additional comments?

9 people found this helpful