A Sellsword's Will

The Seven Virtues, Book 5

By: Jacob Peppers

Narrated by: Steven Brand

To battle the creatures of darkness, one must first leave the light behind.

Aaron and his companions return from Baresh with the truth of what the alliance faces, yet such knowledge is little comfort. Throughout the city, men and women whisper of demons, of monsters. But though they might disagree on the nature of Kevlane's twisted creations, there is one thing they have in common. Fear.

For the creatures they face are not men - not any longer. They are death given form and function. They are, it seems in the darkest hours - and there are many such now - Telrear's doom.

Crippled by indecision, the alliance leaders argue; they argue, they bicker, and they hesitate. A hesitation which, Aaron could tell them - if only they would listen - will kill them swifter than any blade or bow.

For shadows move in the night. Shadows which feel no pain or mercy, that have long since forgotten the meaning of compassion. But there are other threats in the darkness, other mysteries, and in poorly-lit taverns, men and women huddle together and whisper. If one listens closely enough, he will hear a name, one spoken in hushed, fearful tones. He will hear Akalians.

Little is known about the followers of the Shadow God, only that where the Akalians walk, death follows.

Meanwhile, confident of victory, Kevlane bends his dark desire to creating even more terrible horrors. Yet there is one thing he has not accounted for, one which the coming days and weeks will teach him - the strength of a sellsword's will.

©2018 Jacob Peppers (P)2019 Podium Publishing

Really enjoying this series

Jacob Pepper's writing and the great narration by Steven Brand is a winning combination. Aaron ,the Silent Blade is a character you will love even more as the series progress. Pepper's character description and storyline almost makes you wish it was and RPG.

frustrating end/cliffhanger

The end was frustrating, but it was supposed to be that way to set up the events for the next book!

The sell sword series is great!

I really like this style of story telling. The many characters, and situations are interesting. The story also added more comedy then I have seen in previous books like this. I find myself laughing out loud at times. This is a first for me And listening to a Jacob Peppers story and I really enjoyed it.
Steven Brand is my favorite narrator as well so I guess that was part of what drew me to the series.

Difficult Listening...

There was a difficult listen in that much of what to place was deathly necessary for the furmament of the plot and character development It could have been done Without the need for the book...

Filler, just a bridge to the next book

Simply a stop gap with just enough to keep one interested in the next book in the series. All the interesting and necessary material in this book could have been accomplished in a short story. The book needed more meat or story to justify a full length novel

conversations that just dragged

the story's not bad. it's like the author didn't have enough action or story to go so they're filling it in with long slow conversations. That are often extremely repetitive. more Storey less blah blah blah blah blah. I love conversation driven stories but conversations actually have to have a point and go somewhere when it's often just repeating the same things or having almost the exact same conversation over and over again just really doesn't help the story move forward. the progression of the characters is very slow.

The author’s attempt to bow down to modern feminism, instead of writing a good story.

This story stopped being about the sellsword and turned into “how can I completely change the female characters to outshine everyone?”

Bad read

I made it to chapter 14 and couldn’t take anymore. If I wanted a bad love/sex story, I would have purchased one. And it would not e found in fantasy section.

Team Good regroups … slowly

This book and the last should have been combined and cut in half to form an Empire Strikes Back middle to a tight, engaging trilogy. Instead, these books take way too long to advance the series arc. If the last book showed how Team Evil was reconstituting it’s forces, this one finds Team Good in search of a plan.

There are entertaining, if implausible, plots, such as assassins sent after Team Good that repeatedly fail, with one predictable exception that you’ll see coming a mile away (which character keeps talking about being old and having lived a good life, over and over again? Yeah, we all know how that’s going to end). There’s the bright idea of sending mindless monsters to do what one skilled bowman or poisoner would better accomplish. Finally, there’s potential allies who operate by kidnapping, killing, and avoiding any attempt to communicate until the end of the book… because that’s how you build trust.

Yet, despite the sometimes poor execution, the concept still drew me in. As frustrated as I was at the miserly use of the virtues, the lack of interaction between Team Good and Team Evil, and interminable talking, I still enjoyed this book and ended the series thinking this was overall a pretty great story.