Fortune's Fool

Eterean Empire, Book 1

De: Angela Boord

Narrado por: Gabrielle Baker

A secret affair. A disfiguring punishment. A burning need for revenge.

Kyrra d'Aliente has a bad reputation and an arm made of metal.

Cast out of the safe and luxurious world of silk to which she was born, played as a pawn in a game of feuding Houses, Kyrra navigates a dangerous world of mercenaries, spies, and smugglers while disguising herself as a man.

War destroyed her family and the man she loved.

Vengeance is within her grasp.

But is she willing to pay its price?

©2019 Angela Boord (P)2020 Tantor

An interesting dark epic fantasy

I really enjoyed this book. A lot of twists and turns in Kyrra's life make for am interesting book.

Beautifully written epic fantasy!

Fortune's Fool is a beautifully written book. Noble literary style casts the story in elegant description, metaphor, and analogy. Boord balances world-building between the grand and the particular just how I like it - vast and sweeping passages alongside carefully detailed minutiae. An epic fantasy with a romantic thread that takes you on a journey through emotional, political, militaristic, and social struggles, triumphs, and defeats. Do you want twists? It's got them. Big books need to carry you steadily along and hold you gripped, Fortune's Fool never faltered with me - Kyrra's story is told in dual timelines (which I love) and serves the plot and pacing well while remaining reflective, tragic, and adding weight to her quest driven by vengeance. One of the best books I've read in the epic fantasy genre in the last few years!

surprised!

Did not expect this story to be so creative and unique. Recommend! It is great!

Draws you in

I am only half way through , but needed to stop and note how much I love this book. Foremost I am captivated by the storyline. This is basic great storytelling. If you are put off by a female point of view it isn't for you. The other fantasies I have liked as much are Tad Williams the Orson Ard series and Spark City if that gives you a frame of reference. Brilliant escapist fantasy.

This tale weaves together amazing characters...

This tale weaves together amazing characters and a deep world with an ambiguous magic system into a story of one woman’s attempt at vengeance.

Plot: 4/5
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The plot has two paths through it, one tells of Kyrra’s past and why she wants revenge, and the other is her trying to get it, and these two stories are weaved together perfectly to avoid either one dragging on, and both have enough content to avoid it seeming to spin in circles just to have something to say. Even knowing parts of how Kyrra’s history was doubtlessly going to end, I was as invested in the flashbacks as the current day events. Both storylines had several twists and reveals that tied into each other expertly, and combined into a beautifully told story.

There are a few moments within the plot where it feels as though things happen for plot convenience rather than feeling natural, but this is in the minority and the rest of this incredible tale dwarfs these moments. For the length of the book, it was not often that I felt there were unnecessary parts of the story, each moment felt like an important moment into Kyrra’s journey.

Characters: 5/5
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The array of characters were fantastic. Even beyond those central to the story, it felt like every character in the story was fleshed out. The interactions between the characters were great, and the various relationships between them were intricate and felt natural.

Worldbuilding: 5/5
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The world itself was intriguing, and its history was deep and well written. The magic system was ambiguous, its uses never really fully explained, which added great amount of mystery with its use. I loved the ideas she plays with when it comes to the gods and how it interacts with the magic. Overall, the worldbuilding was explored well, creating a rich atmosphere for the story to take place in, and tied into the plot so it never felt superfluous.

Writing: 4/5
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I read this as an audiobook, which makes it harder to comment on the prose, however, I still found Angela Boord’s prose to be fantastic. It was able to repeatedly pull me into the story and engage me as I listened. The pacing worked really well, which can definitely be a challenge for longer books. I never felt like the story dragged at parts or was too long or too short. There were a few moments where Kyrra would spend time overanalyzing situations trying to puzzle out the truth, but even in these I was just dragged into the analyzation and enjoyed the ride.

Enjoyability: 5/5
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I was invested in this story from early on. I enjoyed the two storylines and how they supplemented each other and came together at the end. The characters were fantastic, and the world was so well realized that I am excited to return to this world again. I look forward to the chance to reread this physically so I can pick up on all the details I missed when listening as an audiobook. (Due to the nature of how I listen to audiobooks, I am more easily distracted, this is to no fault of the narrator or Angela Boord’s writing).


OVERALL: 5/5 Magic Metal Arms


Narration: 4.5/5
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Gabrielle Baker was the narrator for this book, and she did an excellent job. There were a few moments early on where the voices were difficult to differentiate, but that issue disappeared as the story continued. Her narration gave life to this story in a whole new way and added so much to the various characters.

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