These books are genuine. They aren’t trying to be something they’re not. They’re self published and it shows, but I mean that in the best possible way. It’s obvious the author had a vision of what he wanted these books to be and for once we get to read those books. Instead of the ones we so often get, where you can sense there was an editor hovering over-shoulder muttering. “It needs to be darker! You need to make it more gritty, more realistic. Because that’s what readers want from fantasy these days, realism and grit!” It seems like these days every aspiring fantasy author or their publishers feel like they have to make their books dark and gritty or they won’t be taken seriously. While I enjoy that as much as the next person, it’s so refreshing to find a series that isn’t so packed full of grit, its like walking through damn sandstorm.
Don’t get me wrong these are not some watered down kids books either. There is dark stuff in them, it’s just not shoved in your face, or dragged on and on and made center focus of the books.
It still has all the action and adventure. The characters both protagonists and antagonists are well written and enjoyable.
The readers are good as well, Andrew Tell must have listened to voices the James Foster did for the characters because they sound so much the same that by about and hour in, I didn’t even notice anymore that it was a different reader.