A Warrior's Path

Great book and promising start to a new series.

Any additional comments?

A very engaging story with excellent character development. The author created an excellent blend of mystery, magic and action that kept me interested throughout the book. Nick Podehl is a master craftsman in the art of narration. I can't wait until the next book is available but I guess I will have to be patient.

"This audiobook was purchased by me, myself, and I at the cost of 1 audible credit so you can most certainly be assured that this review is completely unbiased."

25 of 29 people found this review helpful

Confounded and Confused

I lost the thread repeatedly in this story and had to rewind. I'm still not sure what happened when. The caste prejudices were belabored to the point where my teeth were grinding and I had to skip ahead. The magic is poorly defined and feels like it has been sprinkled through the story at random. I would not recommend this book at all. Even the excellent narration by Nick Podehl couldn't save the story.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Making wildest dreams come true

The subject line is mainly for the author. Can't help writing a review with the prompt at the end of this book.

As I've written before. I'm not a full fantasy reader. But I've dabbled here and there. I've listened to a bunch in between mysteries and thrillers. Son of the Black sword, Was my last review but not my latest fantasy book. I've been off on my reviews lately, Not writing very many. This was probably one of the better fantasy books I've listened to an a while, not counting Son of the Black Sword. Though I may have liked it almost as much. Nick Podehl is one of my favorite narrators so that didn't hurt.

The simple review would be that this is very likable book, with a great cast of characters. The worst fantasy books for me are ones that are filled with tedious ongoing stories and little action. This doesn't jump around all over the place with a million different names you have to try and remember that all sound the same. This book had a nice easy flow and I've already downloaded the second book. Hopefully it is very similar.

That's my while working - Quick review.

For what it's worth, J

25 of 31 people found this review helpful

A welcome surprise!

What did you love best about A Warrior's Path?

I listen to average of about two or three books a week primarily in the fantasy genre and I was beginning to get frustrated with the books I read recently. This book was a wonderful and welcome surprise. I was unsure about it initially but somewhere around the first quarter of the book I didn't want to stop listening and stayed up way too late because of my investment in the story. I finished the book the following day and I've immediately started the second book. I believe that most fans of fantasy will thoroughly enjoy this series as well. Last but definitely not least is Podehl's performance in the narration. In my opinion he is one of the most talented narrators out there. I hope you enjoy his performance as much as I did.

33 of 42 people found this review helpful

Very Bad... why all the good reviews?

I got this because it has around a 4.5 average review. For the life of me I can't understand why. The fantasy genre has some very good books in it, the Warriors Path is not one of those.

Ashura is not a good writer. I could not figure out if this was meant to be a young adult read (and thus I was missing the point because I'm an old codger), or if this was meant to be a serious fantasy read on par with Game of Thrones or Name of the Wind (its not).

The world imagined by Ashura is paltry. It has these clans that can work a sort of magic. The clans co-exist in isolated cities surrounded by a wasteland desert of goblin like creatures that want nothing other than to kill those in the cities. This has been going on for 1000's of years.

The story follows a few different youths that act naively. I wanted to thrash them because they were so annoying.

The plot is goofy. Mostly a coming of age story with sappy B romance thrown in.

The writing is bad. I could not care less about what was going on. Both in the prose and the story structure. Ashura is not a good writer.

So why was this book nominated for so many awards? Why the great reviews? I don't know. I must be missing something.

83 of 108 people found this review helpful

It didn't get any better

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Warning* contains some small spoilers, easy to include when you don't like the book.I felt like I was listening to a soap opera. Like many of the other reviews said there is a lot of action and something is always happening but the characters and their interaction is so unbelievable that It made the whole book a disaster. Only reason I stayed to the end was that previous reviews stated it would be better at the end and worthwhile. It didn't, and I don't understand how they could write that in the reviews. You only need to read the first chapters in this book, then you can put it to the side because nothing else story wise happens. It ends exactly the way it started.

Things that bothered me (there are a lot and I wont take all)

Love drama from the start to the end. If I wanted that, I could read the twilight books. Besides the fact that the dialoge between the "lovers" is a disaster and unbelievable the author includes not only 1 relationship, but 3 that we are forced to endure. This of course doesn't drive the story forward but backwards.

The human race is at the brink of extinction, but doesn't allow people from different cast to procreate and thus improve their powers. Unbelievable.

The imagination of the author is unimaginative. The city Ashoka could be any town in modern society, they have theaters, bars, restaurants, prostitutes, police. To make things more annoying, the author spend to much time on describing a society that really doesn't require any further explaining, as it is a copy of ours.

As the city is described in detail, we don't get any description of the world outside Ashoka, and yet the characters spend months outside Ashoka.

The people of Ashoka is given a great tool to fight evil, but no, they won't use it because their culture won't accept it. If any culture is at the brink of extinction they would use it no matter what and in the end, it was this fact that made me hate the book.

Has A Warrior's Path turned you off from other books in this genre?

It might have if this was the first book I read. Fortunately it isn't and I have read many great works that make me love the genre. I fail to see how this book could be liked by anyone over the age of 20.

Would you be willing to try another one of Nick Podehl’s performances?

This book was recommended to me because I have read books performed by Nick and thus I gave it a try. I don't think he is a bad narrator, but if he continues to perform for these shitty books I might avoid the books he has performed in the future.

What character would you cut from A Warrior's Path?

All

Any additional comments?

Do not read this book. I believed the other reviews, I shouldn't have. If you like me have read the great works available, this book will be a big disappointment.

60 of 78 people found this review helpful

Focused story, intense story line

First, Nick Podehl was bloody perfect for this book. Just, awesome. He brings the story to like in a brilliant, energetic way.

The story stands on its own. I love the progression of the characters and the conflicts they have to overcome. Right from the beginning the story sucked me in. There's no long build up where you have to "just stick with it". Nicely paced!

I'll stand ready to get the next volume.

34 of 44 people found this review helpful

Tedious start. But dont give up.

It started out in a tedious fashion. A lot of info is thrown in your face and its hard to absorb it cause its not easily relateable. I almost quit and the out of nowhere it sucked me in. I am glad I stuck it out.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

OUTSTANDING

The book, "A Warrior's Path: The Castes and the OutCastes Book 1" was far better than I expected.
The best aspect of this book are the characters and the character development. Too often in fantasy books characters are drowned out by the story. In this book, none of the characters are stagnant and by the end some of them have drastically changed. I have also listened to book two and it is better than the first one.

Nick Podehl as usual(I have listened to his performance of, "The Kingkiller Chronicles" by P. Rothfuss and, "The Moontide Quartet" by D. Hair) was awesome. He was the initial reason I started this book and he does not disappoint.

If you are looking for a book that is going to be hard to put down or in audiobook terms "turn off", than this is it.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

House politics and the brotherhood of all mankind.

I liked it throughout book 1 and the authors note is decidedly the author through and through. I'll be purchasing the rest of the series after leaving this review in gratitude for Davis Ashuras gift of written word to the world as well as in response to his authors note.

if you read or listen to the first one you'll not be able to keep from getting the second. i would also be a miss if i didnt applaud Nick Podehl as he gives a great performance in the the narration of this already epic novel.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful