Frostborn: The Gray Knight

Frostborn Series, Book 1

By: Jonathan Moeller

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

Ridmark Arban was once a Swordbearer, a knight of renown. Now he is a branded outcast, stripped of his sword, and despised as a traitor. But he alone sees the danger to come. Calliande awakens in the darkness, her memories gone, and creatures of terrible power hunting her. For she alone holds the secret that can save the world...or destroy it utterly. The secret of the Frostborn.

©2013 Jonathan Moeller (P)2017 Tantor

A Very Nice Find!

I came across this 1st book in this series quite by accident. I downloaded another of this author's books, Sevenfold Sword, the first book in a series that I believe follows the son or perhaps children of the main character in this series and while I began to listen to it I was looking at the other books this author wrote. When I saw that there were books that predated it set in the same world and concerning some of the core characters I immediately stopped the book and downloaded this. I hadn't heard of the author nor the narrator and there were very few reviews on the books in this series so I was a bit leery as to whether or not I'd enjoy it. Oftentimes the first few books an author puts out can be tortuous to get through but progressively get better as more and more books are put out especially given that self publication is much easier to achieve now. This book wasn't like that at all. It was wonderfully done with great character development and a storyline full of action that still gives the reader a firm grasp on the world's history without revealing too much about the central characters, leaving plenty of mystery to be disclosed in later books. I wasn't familiar with the narrator, Steven Crossley, either and have never listened to him prior to this book as far as I can recall. There again I was pleasantly surprised. He does a solid job and gives much more to the story than reading alone. His female voices were a little weak but not so much that it detracts from the performance. I definitely recommend checking this title out!

Great description of action

I really enjoy the action scene descriptions. I can see the damage caused as I hear the words.

loving it

it's what I love in fantasy, a hero, a love interest and a sidekick. very enjoyable

Quality story

I accidentally stumbled upon this story while looking for knight books and decided to give a try, this was a great find! This story was an interesting tale unlike many I have heard. I like how it tied in Latin and Christianity, it really got me hooked and I have since then moved on to the second book. This book was full of mystery and it was packed with in-depth battle scenes, which I really enjoyed.

Well written and narrated but lots about Jesus.

Good book but all the references to the Catholic Church and Jesus were tiresome and didn't advance the plot or characters. The good Orc and dawarve are baptized Catholics. Every aside seems to be about Catholicism and the even reference Rome of first earth ect from the Bible. I don't mind hearing about the church, I just don't think it added to this story.

Exciting adventure

A great start to what seems to be a fantastic series. If you like fantasy and a well drawn plot with a touch of mystique.

I want to finish the rest of this series

I feel like there might be some imperfections in the story. There are things that feel odd and bother me a little. I can be a little pickier these days, though. I have so many books to choose from.

The staff wielding works, but does feel like it pushes the boundaries of belief sometimes. There were also some times where I wondered at character choices. I felt that there were simpler solutions at hand.

Still, I like the story enough that I want to finish out the rest of the books in the series. There were enough good qualities in the story to keep me intrigued enough to see what happens to the characters. I think that a helpless, forgetful character is something I don't normally like, so having the others there to protect that character helped get me through to the end.

Still, I also like some of the plot as well. Someone who is good when no one is looking and no one expects it of you is someone I want to follow. If I care about the characters enough, I will continue through the story regardless of minor things that would normally bother me.

Excellent Story! Please Give it a Try!

I have listened to the first nine books in this series, and I have really enjoyed it so far! If you looking for a fairly clean, but well written sword/sorcery series (with a Christian world view) I would recommend this series. Starting in book five there is some sex (not explicit - just mentioned). The narrator does change starting book six, but I think he does a great job.

As a Christian I really enjoy several aspects of this book series:

First, this book series takes place in a world where most people seem to believe in Christianity (specifically it seems to be similar to Catholicism). This is a refreshing (and less common) thing to read in modern culture. For example, one of the main characters in the party is a priest, and he talks about how things relate to faith quite a bit. The other characters discuss their faith as well. When a character starts having sex out of marriage in the fifth book it is acknowledged to be wrong, and even discussed by the other characters to some extent.

Second, its refreshing to have such real characters with real problems. The main character Ridmark is possibly the greatest warrior of the age which leads to some great fight scenes. However, while he is a great fighter, he is also a fairly emotionally broken (not in a whiny way though) person due to a tragedy from his past. In spite of being exiled from the kingdom he has spent the last five years saving and protecting people as the Gray Knight. Calliande is one of the other main characters, and is an incredibly strong woman with amazing character, but has her own problems and baggage as well. What I enjoy about this is seeing amazing people who are broken (emotionally/mentally) in certain ways, but they still do their best (even though they aren't perfect) to save the kingdom in spite of their problems.

Third, I just really enjoy the story!

Fourth, the narrators both do an excellent job! (Steven Crossley for the first five books, and then Brad Wills started narrating from book six onwards). Note: Some of the reviews were a little negative towards Brad Wills taking over in book six, but a couple of hours into the first book he narrated I came to really enjoy it. Personally, I think like in most things people don't like change. I would highly recommend you give Brad Wills a chance, and listen to the entire sixth book before making any decisions. I really enjoy both narrators!

Please use Stephen Brand as narrator

This is a good story- very interesting but I enjoyed the other books more because of the different narrator.

Bad narrator like GOT

While this os my favorite book series I just recently decided to go back to it through here and really the only issue is the narrator. While it's doable because I love the series i can see why it's not too popular on here. It has the same issues as game of thrones where you get an old guy to do the narration and that in turn leads all characters to sound old. There are many voice actors on here that are able to do a good range but this one just isn't, while his voice isn't terrible on its own it just doesn't fit here it makes the orcs sound like skinny English peasants and the woman sound like old men. It will likely never happen but a redub would do very well as the frostborn series has some of the best story I've ever read.