Legacy of Ash

By: Matthew Ward

Narrated by: Suzannah Hampton

Legacy of Ash is an unmissable fantasy debut - an epic tale of intrigue and revolution, soldiers and assassins, ancient magic and the eternal clash of empires.

A shadow has fallen over the Tressian Republic.

Ruling families - once protectors of justice and democracy - now plot against one another with sharp words and sharper knives. Blinded by ambition, they remain heedless of the threat posed by the invading armies of the Hadari Empire.

Yet as Tressia falls, heroes rise.

Viktor Akadra is the Republic's champion. A warrior without equal, he hides a secret that would see him burned as a heretic.

Josiri Trelan is Viktor's sworn enemy. A political prisoner, he dreams of reigniting his mother's failed rebellion.

And yet Calenne Trelan, Josiri's sister, seeks only to break free of their tarnished legacy; to escape the expectation and prejudice that haunts the family name.

As war spreads across the Republic, these three must set aside their differences in order to save their home. Yet decades of bad blood are not easily set aside. And victory - if it comes at all - will demand a darker price than any of them could have imagined.

©2019 Matthew Ward (P)2019 Orbit

Got good but no mark.

It started off slow as most new series I started tend to but during the middle and the latter parts of the story it got a better but I can’t get behind the end. Nor the buildup to a kind of lack luster story.

I couldn’t wait for it to end

The story jumped around and was hard to follow. The reader made it harder because she didn’t make any indication that she was changing storylines. There were too many characters and too may story lines. Most of the characters were poorly developed. Some I never figured out who they were at why they were included in the story at all.

The narrator changed volume when she changed voices which made it really hard to listen to. She also dropped her volume at the end of sentences so I would lose the meaning.

I love long complicated stories with lots of chapters, but this was just a mess. Not sure how the editor or the producer let this book and audio book get released. Very disappointing.

Volume issues in production

I’ve only started this story because I’m having such a problem with the recording. The narrator speaks very softly when narrating the background text, and the volume shoots up for the dialogue. This results in uncomfortable peaks that are making it impossible for me to listen to this at anything but the lowest possible settings and therefore only when the house is very quiet.

Very Similar to ASOIAF, More Magic

Legacy of Ash is absolutely brilliant, and there are undeniable comparisons to be made with ASOIAF, both in the characters, themselves, and the overarching story.

Yet somehow, it ends up being somewhat different than Game of Thrones. It's a bit heavier handed on the magic (which I personally enjoyed), and the story remains hard to put down, despite being one of the heftier reads.

With interesting twists and turns, brilliant characters, and a well-created world, Legacy of Ash is one of the more memorable fantasy epics in recent memory.

slow starter

It took quite some time to get into this story. I found it very hard to care about the characters, who failed to interest me. As the story went on, it became more interesting, though, and new characters and situations were added that were more intriguing. The eventual climax made me glad I stick with it.
The performer did a good job. I could distinguish between characters merely based on the voices and she gave them life.

I'm not sure what I listened too

I have this on hardback and I am going to read the hardback. I don't have the time to lounge around and read all day anymore, especially big books like this, stormlight, or WOT. So audible has been huge for me.

the Narrator has a plenty fine voice, but like many have states before -she just makes it so hard to follow.

i was constantly lost. I rewinded so many times.
it's taken me over a month to slog through this as well. for an example

Legacy of Ash 28hr. 45 days to complete

The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, Oath Bringer, & Rythm of War - completed in 30 days. average length 40 hours per book.

I really hope #2 doesn't have the same narrator.
everyone just sounds like a Posh teenager

DNF review

I didn't finish this one. And I feel a little bad about it. The technical quality of the writing wasn't bad at all. The characters were pretty distinct.

I just kept wishing it were over, and I didn't really care about any of the characters. After listening for 18 hrs, I threw in the towel.

The story rating suffers because the book simply didn't grip me, but the overall rating is a bit higher because there were no glaring technical issues.

A little convoluted and complex but mostly enjoyable

There are so many points of view and the spacing of the narration doesn’t help this. At some points it’s almost as if the author added a different point of view to carry the story past a certain place. It’s still an enjoyable story but not an easy listen.

Great story!

Can't wait for the next book, best I have read in ages. Well done! Duke Uperesa

Complex and satisfying

A fine book with complex characters. Sometimes challenging, but deep and well-written enough to reward the hale bing moments. Wonderful characters and interesting and original take on magic and mythology.

In truth I am ambivalent about one of my two complaints, both of which have to do with the audio presentation.

The one about which I am not ambivalent is regarding the editing. The author switches perspective quite often in the narrative and the editor or director (or whatever the relevant job title is) doesn’t provide a sufficient break in between to make it clear that the character providing perspective has changed. Even something as simple as an extra second’s pass would have help.

My more ambivalent “complaint” is about the narrator. She has an appealing voice and gives a fine narration. However, she lacks a certain “dexterity” in distinguishing between characters’ voices and accents and is particularly challenged in distinguishing between the voices of the different genders. This further exacerbates the problem from the editing in distinguishing the changes in character perspective (ie it is often difficult telling to whom the narrative has switched for perspective until the writer identifies the character by name.

This problem does not ruin the listening experience, but it does make it unnecessarily challenging (I read it half in kindle and half in audio. He problem doesn’t exist in the written format).

These critiques notwithstanding, it is a fine book I a, impatiently awaiting the next two in the trilogy.