The Words of Kings and Prophets

Gael Song, Book 2

De: Shauna Lawless

Narrado por: Aoife MacMahon, Aidan Kelly, Clara Harte

The sequel to the critically acclaimed The Children of Gods and Fighting Men, The Words of Kings and Prophets is the powerful historical fantasy audiobook by Shauna Lawless.

Ireland, 1000 AD. Gormflaith is unhappily married to Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, and although a queen she struggles with her limited position. As an immortal Fomorian with the secret gift of magic, Gormflaith has a burning desire: to find and destroy the hidden fortress of her sworn enemies, the Descendants, who seek to kill her kind at all costs. She begins to use her magical powers, and discovers she is more skilled than she ever realised... but can she control what she will become?

Meanwhile Fódla, the Descendants' healer, mourns her banished sister but clings to life as the guardian of her young nephew. She seeks a place of safety for them both, but he has secrets of his own that could threaten everything—and Fódla must do all in her power to keep him hidden away from those who would use him for evil.

When a mysterious man comes to King Brian's court, his presence could spell disaster or deliverance for both Gormflaith and Fódla—and for Ireland herself. For he is Tomas, an ambitious immortal with few scruples—and he will do anything to see his plans become reality.

Soon, mortals and immortals alike are drawn towards a bitter conflict that could decide the future of Ireland and all her people.

©2023 Shauna Lawless (P)2023 W. F. Howes Ltd

Even better than book one!

The story continues to follow Fodla and Gormlaigh with the addition of a third perspective Colmon. It has the great character interactions but adds more magic and more interesting politics and drama. Like the first book there is some battles but mostly plot. I really enjoyed the even more fantastical and magical story.

The audiobook has three voices. Aoife continues to be Folda. She does great. There is a new female voice for Gormlaigh. She is so-so. Seems new to voice recording and her equipment had static and didn’t match the voice levels of the other two speakers. Also a lot of mistakes that weren’t edited out. The third narrator is a male for Colmon and he did great. Two out of three ain’t bad.

amazing storyline

I loved the character depth and the writing style. the narration was amazing. highly recommend

Well Done!

I didn’t this was possible, but the sequel was actually better than the first. New and fascinating viewpoint characters, AND masterful development of existing characters. This series is rich and deliciously complex . I am completely obsessed.

That new female narrator. 👎

If I didn't LOVE this story so much, I would have stopped listening very early on. The "Gormflaith" narrator is really, really... not good. But I powered through the strong dislike and am glad I did. I can't wait for the next one!

Obsessed! Waiting for the next will be so hard!

This sequel was everything I hoped for and more. The slow progression of tension throughout the story was so satisfying. I can't wait to read what happens next!

characters

I think Senna was male and changed to female at the end, I'll need to go back to be sure.

Historical fantasy at its BEST

This book had me in a chokehold. I really need to move on to a book I have on loan from Libby, but I’m wondering how quickly I can read the next in this series.

The characters are so intriguing. I have my favorites for sure and the “bad guy” is clear(at least to me) and boy do I hateeee them.

The relationships in this story are just so incredibly crafted. The scenes beautifully described. The plotting and twists are fantastic.

I cannot say enough good things about this book.

Historical Fantasy at its PEAK.

Wonderful Irish Mythological Fantasy

A wonderful tale of Irish Mythology, history and fantasy, all woven together in a great tale of mystery and intrigue. And what a great presentation the audiobook is as well. Very much recommend reading this series.

Wonderful story and narration

The story was fantastic. I love this series so much! The only reason I gave the performance 4 stars was because of the odd gaps in Gormflaith’s narration. I could tell that many sentences had been edited together and sometimes the pauses in between sentences were so long that I had to double check the book was still playing. Overall, it wasn’t that distracting and I loved the voices these narrators gave to the characters!

Why Add a Second Female Narrator??

The addition of Clara Harte as a narrator in this series was most unwelcome. Her pacing and intonation was chaotic and difficult to listen to, and with multiple narrators, the accents vary chapter to chapter. I thought Aoife MacMahon did wonderfully as a solo narrator in the first book in the series, and the change from that book to this one was jarring. Pulled me right out of the story.