Great story on to book two

An interesting story. Reminiscent of GOT and the age of misrule by Mark Chadbourn.
I very much enjoyed it.

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couldn't stop listening

this appeared as a facebook advert and as I wasnt much in the mood for anything else I thought I would have a listen. the story is gripping and the narrator is among the best I have heard, I listened to it in 3 sittings. cant wair to listen to the next one.

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Excellent story & narration

Really enjoyed this book. I’ve had it a while in my library and finally got round to listening. The narrator is up there with the best of them and the story is very well written and enjoyable. I don’t write many reviews but felt this title deserves one.

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Great Narrator for a good book

I enjoyed this book, the narrator is amazing and the story was engaging but I definitely feel like the purpose of this book was to set the stage for the other books in the series.
I will definitely be looking for further titles from this author.

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2 people found this helpful

I admire Austin-King's worldbuilding

I have to admit, I’m really on the fence about Fae: The Wild Hunt. It’s been ages since I’ve read the blurb of it, so I went into the book pretty blindly. I didn’t know what to expect. But I also had certain expectations as I’ve read some of Austin-King‘s later books and loved them. I don’t know if it was the audiobook, the fact that I probably wasn’t in the right frame of mind, or that it’s quite different from his other books, but found myself not to enjoy it as much as I hoped to. Whatever the reason, I really can’t put my finger on it and I’m overall annoyed by this situation in general.

Fae: The Wild Hunt starts out pretty interestingly. Devin and his mom have to get on the road to get away from Devin’s abusive and violent alcoholic dad. But their caravan gets attacked and they are forced to hide in the forest, where strange things are lurking in the shadows. Devin’s introducing chapter sets the atmosphere quite nicely. You have this sense of foreboding right from the beginning. And you don’t have to wait too long for it to pay off.

The story is told from four POVs: Devin, Klöss (sorry if I misspell his name, that’s the downside of listening to the audiobook), Selena a duchess and a mysterious old man. The different plotlines come together slowly, and generally the whole book feels like a slow build up to the later books in the series. Kloss and Devin’s plotlines get about the same amount of time and we get a look into their lives and different backgrounds and lifestyles. The old man and Selena has supporting POVs to show us what is going on in the wilder world outside of Devin and Klöss’ quite narrow world. While Devin is confined to the village and the forest around it, and caught up in the affairs of its people, Klöss, against his father’s wishes joins the reavers and becomes an oarsman. He belongs to the people whom the islanders call Bjornmen. It’s quite intriguing to see the brewing conflict from the POV of both sides.

I might be wrong, but I had the feel that this story was partly inspired by the Vikings invading Britain, even if that explicitly wasn’t said out. Another interesting aspect was the clash of the new religion (New Days, which has the characteristics of Christianity) and the old religion which faded into superstitions and only a very few people still believes in the Fae, who are getting ever stronger and waiting in the shadows for the right time to claim their glory. And they are far from the joyful, friendly creatures you might know from the Disney movies.

I think I was hoping for something more folketale-y in regard to the setting and overall feel. While I admire Austin-King‘s worldbuilding and the way he waves the life of his characters together, Fae: The Wild Hunt lacked the charm to sway me off my feet. I really couldn’t get invested in any of the characters and eventually that affected my enjoyment. But if you are into some dark atmospheric epic fantasy which doesn’t shy away from some bloodletting, then you definitely should give Fae: The Wild Hunt a try.

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An All Round Winner

I really enjoyed this audiobook! a good story with unexpected plot turns. I really empathised with all the lead roles which were well portrayed. Best of all though was the narration! If I could give it a six I would have!

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2 people found this helpful

Unbelievable!

this is by all accounts a fantastically dark adult fairytale, and highly recommend subversive reading.

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Amazing narration - loved this!

Firstly, as per the title the narrator was awesome. He puts his own spin on all the characters from different lands and he does it with such enthusiasm. Frankly brilliant!

The story comes from two different lands. The barbarians struggling to survive on their bleak islands and how they raid the mainland to get by, eventually invading to settle permanently.

The mainlanders have their own story, fending off the raiders with increasingly tight defences. The main pov’s are a boy from each culture, and the duchess who rules on the mainland.

Folklore and myths aplenty, there is a third race, the Fae, waking up as a new religion sweeps amongst the townsfolk.

This is reminiscent of the celts invading the british isles and is clearly written to set the scene for what will come in the following books. But the prose is great, its really well structured and i devoured it in two days. Thoroughly enjoyed this and highly recommend it.

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Fabulous storytelling in a realistic fantasy world.

Loved the diverse and interesting characters that you really start to care about. Each is a mix of good and bad, reason and emotion, and you end up rooting for them all against the far. The world building for islanders, mainlanders and far is spot on, the rationale between the magic systems coherent. The writing is lyrical and flowing, great descriptions and details that brings everything alive. The narration is also very good, although some of the women’s voices came over as too whiney.

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Great listen!

This book reminded me of the Norman and Viking invasions of England in 1066, but in a fantasy setting.

It follows a number of different story arcs, which coverge in an exciting finale.

I found all of the POV characters interesting and am looking forward to seeing how the storylines continue in the next book.

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3 people found this helpful