Six Moons, Seven Gods

The Legends of Baelon, Book 1

De: Robert A. Walker

Narrado por: Robert A. Walker

“One must be careful practicing deception. The easiest to deceive will always be one’s self.”

The skilled thieves of the Takers Guild plot to overthrow the kingdoms of Baelon, but when their plans are thwarted by a prescient woman and her brooding daughter, they must turn to the League of Assassins for assistance.

Meanwhile, retired royal guard Rolft Aerns returns to the palace of King Axil with an old score to settle. When they all cross paths–and swords–in the dark shadows of Fostead’s south end, nothing is as it seems, and the murder count rises quickly.

The long fingers of the Guild reach everywhere, and one overly ambitious thief is all it takes to spark a chain of events that will haunt the world of Baelon for many years to come.

Six Moons, Seven Gods is book one in The Legends of Baelon.

©2023 Robert A. Walker (P)2025 Robert A. Walker

Six Moons, Seven Gods

Robert Walker’s Six Moons, Seven Gods is a rich fantasy in a medieval style setting filled with royal intrigue, ruthless ambition, and a vast array of characters from shady thieves to knights and kings. A moderately slow-burning story but one that kept me hooked all the way through. It’s a story of vengeance, of revenge, of honour and of loyalty.

Honour amongst thieves and loyalty to their guild of thieves, and honour and loyalty to the crown and those they were sworn to protect. The Takers Guild has its sights set on a quiet conquering of the land by getting rid of the monarchy and replacing it with a democracy of sorts. This is to let them get away with even more thievery and the sort of underhanded dealings a guild like the Takers Guild would get up to.

We get a rather dark look at the harsh life the guild has on offer as overseer Reynard Rascall (great name for a thief!) and his enforcer, Spiro, hand out brutal justice to those who fail to meet their obligations. Someone is skimming off the top, and Reynard needs to put a stop to that lest he too be on the receiving end of the guild’s ire. When they go to investigate, this kicks off a series of events that intersect with the guild’s master plan.

Meanwhile, former Kings guard Rolft is hunting down those responsible for the death of a princess he was sworn to protect, and the death of her mother shortly thereafter. This throws a metaphorical spanner into the Machiavellian plans of the guild, in particular after he saves the life of a young woman, Sibble, a friend of the late princess whose mother may be the key to saving the kingdom and thwarting the guild.

The story itself doesn’t follow a single viewpoint, instead we follow multiple perspectives throughout. This took a little getting used to for me as there were quite a few to follow, but it meant we got depth through the characters instead of exposition or info-dumps. The dialogue between characters was something I made a particular note of, particularly between Reynard and Spiro. Their back-and-forth banter and sharp-tongued jibes made these two bad guys hard not to like, and I could feel the history they shared ran deep.

The crossover of all the plans and counterplans makes for a complex storyline that is intricate and woven together yet not one I had any trouble following. So many different schemes all intersecting send the body count rocketing up. The story is well paced so even the action scenes seem deliberately measured but not so that it drags but instead weighted to capture the mood behind the scenes perfectly.

The audiobook is narrated by the author, Robert Walker, and he did a surprisingly good job. So often author-narrated books can suffer as narration is an artform in itself, so I am often wary of these, but the characterisation and the voices Walker lends to the various players was excellent. I noted a few minor issues with the production with background sounds creeping in occasionally, but nothing major or any that pulled me of out of enjoying the story.

Overall, a complex and character-driven fantasy in a richly detailed world. A cast of interesting characters and plenty of scheming, murder and intrigue in a medieval-style kingdom that kept me listening late into the night. Highly recommended for a listen that won’t disappoint.