Cycle of Fire

An Elemental Warrior Series

By: D.K. Holmberg

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

The final book in The Cloud Warrior Saga. A year has passed since the last attack, and Marin remains at large. Tan and the elementals know she will not remain that way for much longer. Power builds, and Tan knows that he will have to fight again soon. He is willing to do whatever it takes to protect his precocious—and surprisingly powerful—daughter. The Mistress of Darkness begins her final plans, attacking not only Tan but everything the Mother has created. When Tan’s attempt to thwart her lends her even more power, he loses the one thing he feared most. Stopping the Mistress of Darkness will require a sacrifice, and Tan must understand the cycles that have preceded him, cycles as old as time. If he succeeds, the cycle will begin again, but he wonders if there might be some way for the Shaper of Light to stop the cycle for good.

great story, original concept on magic, rich and vibrant world

I really liked the story, and it had me from the start. Filled with emotions and trials, the characters developed nicely. Some characters were underutilized, Roine for instance. The narration was wonderful, up until around the last 3 or 4 books, which were done with the computer generated voice. All of the vibrancy the original narrator gave it was jarringly gone. Names mispronounced, unnatural flow of sentences, and the loss of the characters' voices made it hard to follow along. I think "Az-bowl" would be offended by it. Please, don't use the robo-voice in the future. It ruins an otherwise great experience.
Also, the story ended with way too much loose threads. The survivors from Tan's home town for instance. There are other instances, but this has gotten rather long. I just feel that after eleven books worth of time invested the reader expects, and deserves more than a far too short epilog to wrap it al up.