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.

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!

amazing storyline

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

The imagines of the battle scenes were played out nicely.

I like all the character voices and the inclusion of two narrators. However, the shouting done by the female narrator is a little lack luster. But I don’t get pushed out of the story.

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.

Story is amazing…Gormflaith narrator terrible

I was so excited to immersion read book 2 only to find the narrator for Gormflaith had changed. The narration was clunky, weirdly paced and she kept changing the pronunciation of characters. I struggled through most of the chapters with Gormflaith.

Fodla and Colmon chapters were phenomenal and carried the whole audio narration. If the same person had narrated Fodla and Gormflaith, this would absolutely have been an infinity stars rating.

The story line was epic and the characters were top notch.


Story review

Shauna Lawless does it again! And a cliff hanger ending!!! This woman has delivered an epic story written in the most efficient, not overly wordy way possible. Her character work is amazing and the storyline is complex yet digestible! I cannot wait to start book 3!

Gormflaith is likely one of my new favorite characters in fiction and I’m honestly not sure if she is a villain or a hero. Fodla’s character growth was perfect with the budding romance being icing on the cake!

The only thing missing from this is a funny side character. One funny side character would have made this a 5 star for sure.

Summary
Book 2 of 3 (Gael Song Trilogy)
Narrative Style : 3rd person
POVs: 3
Chapter Length: Short
Length: 447 pages

Spellbinding! (Pun very much intended)

The magic of the first book continues. After the Wonderful character development of book one, the deepening and advancement of each character was natural and at times surprising. A well-paced storyline paired with narration that sucked you into the place, time, and culture.

I can’t wait to buy book three to find out what happens to our heroes!

My only complaint is the narration of the woman who played Gormflaith, though that might be more on the production/editing side. There were pauses, sometimes mid-sentence, where you could tell she was talking a drink or turning a page. Her mic was also very sensitive, so there was a hum that wasn’t present for the other narrators. It took you out of the story for a bit. She also started out a little stiff and robotic, but warmed into a more natural cadence towards the middle of the book.

Overall a fantastic book that I couldn’t put down!