Dragon Quest

The Stone Crown Series, Book 2

De: Ava Richardson

Narrado por: Amy Soakes

She can save her people—or doom the world.

Narissea and her dragon Yimma face an impossible choice. With a map unearthed from a hidden shrine, she is forced to lead Inyene’s heir, Abioye, across the treacherous Plains to claim the Stone Crown—an artifact of unimaginable power. Only the crown’s wearer can command all dragons and claim the High Throne, uniting the fractured kingdoms.

To place such power in Inyene’s hands would be a betrayal of everything Narissea holds dear. Yet refusing the mission would mean certain death for herself and those she fights to protect.

But dangers lurk at every turn. Ruthless mercenaries hunt the crown for a shadowy patron, striking when Narissea’s group is most vulnerable. Amid the chaos, the map is torn in two, leaving her to navigate the perilous Plains and the ghostly Sea of Mists using only the fragmented stories passed down by her village elders.

When suspicion drives Inyene to unleash her mechanical dragons, the sands ignite in a ferocious battle of fire and steel. As trust shatters and choices grow ever darker, Narissea must weigh the fate of the kingdoms against the price of her people’s survival.

The crown’s power could save the world—or destroy it.

This book has since been republished with updates. This audiobook is based on the original edition.

©2020 Relay Publishing (P)2020 Relay Publishing

Great fantasy with a hint of...steampunk? It works

This is a fun fantasy, that on the surface is about real dragons vs mechanical/magical dragons. So that almost sounds like steampunk, which I would think would not really fit, but in this case, everything fits together nicely.

This is also a good middle book of a trilogy...it builds up to a nice conclusion, but setting up a major conflict to come in the final book.

One of the challenges of reviewing an audiobook is that I have no idea how to spell the names of the main characters, so I will not try to do so here. I think all of the characters a fairly well developed, although, since I think the male lead goes through the greatest changes over the course of these books, I would like to hear more of what is going on in his mind. And I would also like to hear more from the mage...he seems like he could be a very interesting character, but actually plays a very minor role here.

I mostly like the narrator and the passion she shows for the characters, but I have the same reservations I had in the first book...the main character sounds haughty and egotistical, and this grates against my image of her, and the voice for the dragon also does not match my imagination (even though I realize it makes no sense to claim that the voice doesn't sound like a "real" dragon).

Overall, very enjoyable

very good

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! After listening to this story,. I totally enjoyed reading this book. It’s well written and the characters were uniquely fantastic. I would suggest this book to my friends that like this sort of genera. this was a good book. The narration was great.

good.

still dont care too much for the voice actor. VA has poor pacing/cadence, poor vocal range, off pronunciation of words. bit annoying.
still, despite the sub par narrator the story was enjoyable. good pacing, wonderful world building that was well displayed, good flow. to be honest I enjoyed this book far more than the initial book of this series. great story, cant wait to see more from this author

sequel

a great continuation of another well written story; an overall story that is worth reading and/or listening to.

Great sequel

Ava Richardson does it again! She is an amazing fantasy writer and really knows how to tell a dragon tale. The writing flows nicely, the characters are well thought out, the pacing is great, and the story never lulls. I’m excited to finish this series. I received this audiobook but chose to leave the review on my own.

Good book

Good story with plenty of action and characters who make you care what happens to them.

Worth a listen

Well written story, good narrator.
But, not together.
I found the narrator irritating at times. Which made the MC the same. Her other voices were spot on.
This audio was given to me free and I voluntarily gave this review.

Get past the haughty narration the story is good

This is the twenty-third book i have read/listened to by this author and I would listen to anything she writes. I’ve enjoyed every series and this one is no exception. This book brings in a different feel than the other books but still has the occasional reference to people that ties it to the other series.

This is the second book I have listened to by this narrator ( Amy Soakes ) and would have stopped listening during book one if it weren’t for the fact I’ve listened to so many books by Ava that I knew I wanted to hear this one. Now that I’ve listened to two books I’ve gotten better at ignoring the narrator’s style to focus on the words. I do not like her choice of narration style. The emphasis she places on words make every conversation sound haughty and whiny. I do not think this is appropriate for the characters or storyline.

There are no explicit sex scenes, excessive violence or swearing.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Please feel free to comment on whether you found my review helpful.