Audiobook Review – Son of the Black Sword (Saga of the Forgotten Warrior, Book 1) by Larry Correia, Narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds (2/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 16 hours and 26 minutes (544 pages)
Publisher: Audible Studios
Release Date: October 27, 2015
ASIN: B012BSGXOK
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Saga of the Forgotten Warrior
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 2/5 stars

“After the War of the Gods, the demons were cast out and fell to the world. Mankind was nearly eradicated by the seemingly unstoppable beasts until the gods sent the great hero, Ramrowan, to save them. He united the tribes, gave them magic, and drove the demons into the sea. Ever since, the land has belonged to man, and the oceans have remained an uncrossable hell, leaving the continent of Lok isolated. It was prophesized that someday the demons would return, and only the descendants of Ramrowan would be able to defeat them. They became the first kings, and all men served those who were their only hope for survival.

As centuries passed, the descendants of the great hero grew in number and power. They became tyrannical and cruel and their religion nothing but an excuse for greed. Gods and demons became myth and legend, and the people no longer believed. The castes created to serve the Sons of Ramrowan rose up and destroyed their rulers. All religion was banned and replaced by a code of unflinching law. The surviving royalty and their priests were made casteless, condemned to live as untouchables, and the Age of Law began.

Ashok Vadal has been chosen by a powerful ancient weapon to be its bearer. He is a Protector, the elite militant order of roving law enforcers. No one is more merciless in rooting out those who secretly practice the old ways. Everything is black or white, good or evil, until he discovers his entire life is a fraud. Ashok isn’t who he thinks he is, and when he finds himself on the wrong side of the law, the consequences lead to rebellion, war – and destruction.”

I am a huge fan of Correia’s Monster Hunter series and was excited to see a new series by him. I am just going to be blunt here…I did not like this book at all. The book is boring, full of politics, and doesn’t make much progress from the beginning to the end. Additionally it looks like this is the beginning of a series and I couldn’t find any information on when another book would be released in this series.

I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator was the best part of this whole experience for me. Reynolds is amazing and does a wonderful job narrating this lackluster story. I think the only reason I actually finished this book was because I loved the way his voice sounded as he read the story.

The book starts out promising. Our main hero, Ashok, is fighting an awesome battle with two demons from the sea. I was excited and drawn in. However things quickly degenerate as secrets about Ashok’s past are revealed.

After the truth of Ashok’s past is revealed the book degenerates into a story about the oppressed Nameless and the Inquisitor that pulls the strings to re-write the histories, ensuring that the history of the Nameless caste is unknown to the general populace. At this point the story starts to jump around between Ashok and a whole bunch of other people I didn’t care a lick about.

Really I kind of wanted someone to just die so that something exciting would happen. I didn’t need to read this long story about an oppressed race who finally found a hero to set them free. There were too many characters I didn’t care about and the story was incredibly and painfully boring.

I wanted this book to be over sooo bad, by the time I got halfway through I upped the speed on Audible to 1.5x so I could get through it faster. It still felt like fffoooorrreeevvveeerrr.

Overall I really really disliked this book. It started out promising but degenerated into a slog through boring and uninteresting politics and a billion boring and uninteresting characters. It was an incredibly forgettable book and I probably won’t remember a thing about it in a couple weeks. I would recommend steering clear of this one. It was awful.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– Audiobook Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge