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Midwinter

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About this listen

Winter only comes to the land once in a hundred years. But the snow covers ancient secrets: secrets that could topple a kingdom.

Mauritaine was a war hero, a Captain in the Seelie Army. Then he was accused of treason and sentenced to life without parole at Crere Sulace, a dark and ancient prison in the mountains, far from the City Emerald. But now the Seelie Queen - Regina Titania herself - has offered him one last chance to redeem himself, an opportunity to regain his freedom and his honor.

Unfortunately, it's a suicide mission, which is why only Mauritaine and the few prisoners he trusts enough to accompany him, would even dare attempt it. Raieve, beautiful and harsh, an emissary from a foreign land caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Perrin Alt, Lord Silverdun, a nobleman imprisoned as a result of political intrigues so Byzantine that not even he understands them. Brian Satterly, a human physicist, apprehended searching for the human victims of the faery changeling trade.

Meanwhile, dark forces are at work at home and abroad. In the Seelie kingdom, the reluctant soldier Purane-Es burns with hatred for Mauritaine, and plots to steal from him the one thing that remains to him: his wife. Across the border, the black artist Hy Pezho courts the whim of Mab, offering a deadly weapon that could allow the Unseelie in their flying cities to crush Titania and her army once and for all.

With time running out, Mauritaine and his companions must cross the deadly Contested Lands filled with dire magical fallout from wars past. They will confront mounted patrols, brigands, and a traitor in their midst. And before they reach their destination, as the Unseelie Armies led by Queen Mab approach the border, Mauritaine must decide between his own freedom and the fate of the very land that has forsaken him.

BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction written and read by author Matthew Sturges.

©2009 Matthew Sturges (P)2009 Audible, Inc.
Epic Fantasy Fiction Royalty Epic Fantasy War
All stars
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I enjoyed listening to this book, once I got used to the narrator's style. It has all the elements of a good fantasy novel. It's not the most original fantasy ever written, but the characters are good, the story moves along well and it's quite compelling, difficult to turn off! The author has clearly left room for a sequel, but this can be taken as a stand-alone novel. Well worth a listen.

Enjoyable listen overall

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I really like this book it is a good story and some intriging if somewhat stereotyped characters. Nice unfolding of the plot, that is to say not all at once and some good quality lyrical descriptive stuff.

The narrator is a bit uneven in his delivery and for the English he mispronounces words, for Canadians I guess he doesn't. Minor irritations though. Many narrators do this.

If you want a story that doesn't let all the plot out at once, you get the same info as the characters do at the same time they do, then this is worth a listen. They do seem to have nice set of get of jail free talents or "gifts" as they are called which help with escaping and what not!

Still a good bedtime listen. Enjoy.

Midwinter

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This is not a great book. It's not exactly terrible either, but the story is weak, the characters pretty flat and it just doesn't feel a rich or well constructed as, for example, Robert Jordan's 'Wheel of Time' novels.

Don't bother unless you get it for free and you really have nothing better to do.

Very Average

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