R. J. Hanson

I’ll start this off by making my bias’ known. I’m (newly) a beta reader for this series, I’m an admin on the official FaceBook group and I run the official wiki for the series. While I may be biased in favor of this series, I will say I wouldn’t be if It wasn’t good. Go read my review of Christopher Paolini’s The Fork, The Witch, and the Worm for proof that I hold no series sacred. If you’re curious about why I like this series so much, keep reading.

This is one of those sequels that’s more of the same. If you liked the previous books, then you’ll like this one. It continues on, right where the last book left off.

This series, this saga as a whole scratches an itch that I’ve had for over a decade. I’ve been reading Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle over and over since 2008, but I’ve been interested in it since 2004. But after a decade of empty promises about book 5 and a lack of interesting or compelling stories set in the universe, it’s difficult to care anymore. Either it happens or it doesn’t, I’m over getting excited about the news (or lack of).

Oftentimes, I find fantasy writers end up creating worlds for their characters that are more interesting than the protagonist and their problems. They then proceed to ignore all of that potential in favor of releasing a few books centered around their protagonist or abandoning the world entirely.

In August 2021, I signed up for StoryOrigin and just requested everything that was under the genres I like. Among those books was the trilogy audiobook for Heirs of Vanity and Fires that Forge.

When I finished reading Fires that Forge and read the summary, I spotted Heirs of Vanity. I recognized it from my review copy list and was immediately hooked. Fires that Forge had its claws in me with an interesting story, lore, characters, world, etc, etc. And then I find out that there’s already another series set in the same world I could dive into. It was everything I’ve wanted in a fantasy series for more than a decade.

Heirs of Vanity was everything I loved about Fires that Forge and was 3 books in 1, so I didn’t have to wait for the sequels. One thing that made it slightly difficult to get into the audiobooks was the lack of context on the lore. I went looking for a wiki for the series, only to find nobody had made one yet. Being a wiki editor, I made it myself.

I was inspired primarily by the wikis for fantasy series I love. After spending countless hours reading articles for the Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age, Risen, Two Worlds, Witcher, etc. I wanted to be a wiki editor. Now I can funnel my passion for this series into the wiki

I joined the FaceBook group and created the wiki because I wanted to nerd out on the lore for this series. I wanted to see it documented properly and I hope the OBRS Wiki will make it easier for possible other fans to get into this series as well. So as I’ve said, while I may be biased, I think it’s because this series is worth it. It’s worth my time and passion because R.J. Hanson is clearly just as passionate about writing this series as the fans are reading it.

As always, Terry F. Self does an absolutely fantastic job of bringing life and personality to the characters of Stratvs. He really is one of the best damn narrators I’ve heard and I primarily review audiobooks. I’ve listened to narrators of all kinds.

NOTE: This copy was provided to me free of charge as a digital review copy. The opinions stated in this review are mine and mine alone, I was not paid or requested to give this book a certain rating, suggestion, or approval.… (más)

First of all, I immediately fell in love with the main characters, Roland and Eldryn. In fact, every single character in the book had their own distinct personalities, but I especially liked the two contrasting personalities of Roland and Eldryn. The two worked well together despite Roland’s bluntness and how he’s prone to anger in relation to Eldryn’s more calmer attitude. The world was also beautifully created and very believable despite there being several mythical creatures and magical elements.

Altogether, the plot was great, and I could never guess what was going to happen next. There were several moments where I was on the edge of my seat, fearing for the characters’ lives.

Unfortunately, the battle scenes are the book’s major flaws. They were too drawn out, and every minor movement was described. Because of this, I found myself enjoying the scenes in between the battle scenes (such as the conversations between the characters) much more than the action scenes themselves.

All in all, the first half of the book was great, and I enjoyed it immensely. But after I reached the second half of the book, the battle scenes came more and more frequently, and it soon became exhausting. The battle scenes took away what would have otherwise been a great book.… (más)