Bard Hard

Song of the Exiles, Book 1

By: T. Ellery Hodges

Narrated by: Steven Barnett

From the multi-award-winning, Amazon bestselling author of The Chronicles of Jonathan Tibbs comes a thrilling new fantasy series.

In the Miers, a fragile peace has held for the twenty years since the Spirit Wars. Mortals stay within their boundaries, and the Faen keep to the Lost Green. Anything else is suicide. Renly Teurig, a young musician, unwittingly binds himself to a Bardic War Lute, becoming the reluctant Champion of Tetulinok, a Celestial Muse. Acting on the Muse's will soon ends in disaster—his sister Chloe is left unable to walk, scarred beyond recognition, and Renly is exiled in disgrace.

Years later, Tetulinok sends Renly to a town on the edge of civilization to find a mysterious young woman. Shyloh is the mirror image of his sister, down to the last freckle—but untouched by the injuries that led to his banishment. As strangers from across the land converge on Shyloh, Renly uncovers a web of danger and secrets far greater than he imagined. Pieces are moving into place, setting in motion a calamity not seen in over three thousand years—and Renly might be the one to tip the scales.

Redemption, a found family of misfits, powerful mentors with secrets, ancient prophecies, and reluctant heroes. Bard Hard is fantasy at its best, combining immersive world-building and intricate magic systems with a quick-witted narrator. Dive into the breathtaking world of Kiir through the eyes of Renly Teurig, one of its most enigmatic and conflicted inhabitants. Epic quests, thrilling battles, and unexpected twists, this is a tale of destiny, identity, truth, sacrifice, and the power of a story well told.

©2024 T. Ellery Hodges (P)2025 T. Ellery Hodges

A little slow on the start but a very strong story

While it feels like it's taking a stab at some is the unfinished authors, it is a really good story. The book is complete and still sets up for the next one nicely. I loved Hodges Tibbs Chronicles and am really looking forward to this new series.

Awesome!

Enter an incredible new world, but beware that you may feel an unwavering desire for more! You won’t regret this Audible credit. I can’t wait for the next book!

Old tropes with a new perspective.

my only problem with this book is the same problem I had with the chronicles of Jonathan Tibbs, the end comes to greet me before I'm ready.
10/10 will binge the book and then the series

A promising start to a new series ...

TLDR; Rich world-building and characters give this first book of a new series a fair start. Given the POV character is a bard, the story metaphorically weaves many notes into chords and those into stanzas and movements. But don't expect a classical style minuet. This book is more like scherzo jazz in its composition and sequencing. If the first book is an overture, the following books promise to be operatic.

"Bard Hard" kicks off a new series and tries to juggle a lot at once—world-building, the main character’s backstory, and setting up a bigger series-wide conflict. Hodges handles it decently, but honestly, it feels a bit thrown together, like he mixed everything up in a blender. It's almost like he rolled some D&D dice to decide the plot. The first-person past tense narration makes it even trickier. For me, Hodges gets pretty close to pulling it off. I’d pick up his next book, but fingers crossed it’s not as scattered as this one.

The Good: This world of Kiir has a deep back-story, as do the races and places that populated it. Each of the major characters are complex and different from each other, with their own backstory, motivations, and reactions. Despite being labelled with traditional fantasy races and types--druid, orc, witch, knight, muse, etc.--the writer avoids cutout personas and behaviors. In Kiir, each "character class" manifests distinctive behaviors, but mostly avoids RPG tropes. Yea!

Hodges' writing is sometimes quite lyrical with lush descriptions and nuanced dialog. Humor is scattered throughout the narrative, although it sometimes crosses the line of being glib or snarky. The author also applies foreshadowing fairly well by scattering important details without being too flashy, but it feels like he leaves a bunch of Chekhov's pistols lying around just waiting to be picked up.

On the other hand, I have a healthy number of quibbles; these don't cross into "Not Good" territory, but they do distract from the story.

I can't help but compare this book to Patrick Rothfuss' Name of the Wind. Is Hodges is paying homage or casting some kind of deprecation? IDK. Both authors use a frame narrative around a first-person telling of the story in past tense. They both use a minstrel as the protagonist whose boyhood was in a troop of traveling gypsies. Both young troubadours have a series of formative adventures to hone extraordinary skills. After the originality in the Never War series, these similarities feel derivative. Deeper into the story, this fades into the background, but still nags once in a while.

Using first-person past tense as a narrative style can make it difficult to create suspense or real concern for the protagonist, Renly. Since the story is told from his perspective after the events have unfolded, it’s clear that he survives to tell the tale. Hodges does try to address this issue, but the solution comes too late in the framing narrative to effectively restore the tension where it’s needed most. On the upside, this perspective provides a deeper look into Renly’s thoughts and motivations, though at times his internal monologue feels more like a detour than a benefit to the story’s pacing.

The frame narrative is initially confusing. I'm pretty sure it sets the stage for the series' overarching conflict. This frame exists in an entirely separate plane of the Bard's world, introducing its own set of characters and dynamics. Adding to the complexity, the Celestial Muse—who interacts with Renly in the core story—comes from this other plane. While she seems to be progressively more constrained by or from some mysterious influence, Renly's muse is spectacularly unhelpful to him.

The narrative does not follow a linear timeline. The benefit is we don't have to wade through another coming-of-age story. Neither does it follow a typical hero's journey (I think). The difficulty is the pieces of the narrative don't fit together until, in retrospect, you assemble them. Continuity is therefore the reader's job.

Renly, the POV character and protagonist, presents a bit of a challenge in terms of likability. While he endures significant hardships and tries to navigate them fairly well, he often feels more reactive than proactive, relying on external events to steer his actions rather than taking control. Despite his apparent care for those around him and his attempts to do the right thing, his journey often resembles a cork carried along by a swift current—adrift rather than directed. Toward the end of the book, Renly seems to reveal he intentionally hides his initiative behind a mask of foolery. Despite this, between his sarcasm and self-deprecation, the dude just whines a lot.

Steven Barnett's narration builds on his performance in the Jonathan Tibbs saga. He does a great job in his pacing and character differentiation. He leverages digital effects pretty well, but perhaps relies on them a little too much … the effects sometimes distract from dialog.

In summary, "Bard Hard" is a pretty good read. It sets up the world and characters and promises a worthy epic in future books. Yes, I have expressed some reservations, but they should not weigh heavily in deciding whether to buy this book. T. E. Hodges demonstrated his skill in the "Chronicles of Jonathan Tibbs" and I'm willing to give him a lot of benefit for that. I wish I had read the marketing synopsis immediately before starting the book. It provides a high-level overview that makes the many perspective shifts less disconcerting.

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!

Absolutely amazing! I was hooked from the 1st chapter. Such vivid writing and wonderful story telling. Made me laugh so much throughout the whole book. I fell in love with Renly and all the side characters (they are my babies now). I love the world you've created and how detailed it is. I could go on and on about this book, and I will!

but I want to say bravo to the narrator Steven Barnett. He was a one man show and an absolute JOY to listen to. He really brought this book to life. 10/10 would recommend.

very enjoyable characters

the pacing in the first few hours was quite difficult, and then when it finally hooked me, it immediate shifted gears and i almost gave up. the remainder of the book was great though. The chapters after the climax of the story were interesting but quite convoluted. I may need another listen through to really capture what was going on. Overall, it was good and I do recommend it. I look forward to the next installment. Steven Barnett did a wonderful job with the performance.

Start of a new adventure

Good beginning to a new world and characters for this author. A little slow in some areas but overall enjoyable.

Great new series

I am a huge fan of his first series, the chronicles of Jonathan Tibbs so when I saw there was a new book out in the new series I picked it up. It was really good. So much lower building and great characters. The plot twist towards the end of the book was crazy. Definitely recommend this book narration was good. There was a few weird pauses throughout the book that being said I give it a eight out of 10.

This author is phenomenal!

I loved his first series and was pleased when he came out with a new book. The all encompassing world building, captivating dialogue, and memorable characters has Bard Hard easily as one of my top five first book of a series hands down. the narrator is also exceptionally skillful in bringing the audiobook to life and makes it all the better. Looking forward to the continuation of the series.

Not as Good as his previous work

I had high expectations for this book, the first by this author after the never trilogy. Compared to that, this feels unfocused. Too long to be setup, too short for proper world building. Let’s hope he can get back on track with the next book.