Mark of Fire

The Endarian Prophecy, Book 1

By: Richard Phillips

Narrated by: Caitlin Davies

An ancient prophecy. A young woman's destiny.

Lorness Carol, coming of age in the kingdom of her warlord father, Lord Rafel, aspires to wield magic. But she's also unknowingly become the obsession of Kragan, an avenging wielder as old as evil itself. He's waited centuries to find and kill the female prophesied as the only human empowered to destroy him. However, dispatching the king's assassin, Blade, to Rafel's Keep, ends in treason. For Blade arrives not with a weapon but rather a warning for the woman he's known and loved since he was a child. With a price on his head, Blade flees - as Carol and her family are urged away on their own desperate route of escape.

Now, traversing the lawless western borderlands, Carol struggles to understand the uncanny magic she possesses and must learn to master. Though separated, Carol and Blade are still united - not only by the darkness pursuing them both but by a quest toward destiny, revenge, and the revelations of an ancient prophecy that signal the ultimate war between good and evil.

©2017 Richard Phillips (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

I can't listen anymore. I will read the rest.

Richard Phillips is a new author to me. I noticed some mild discrepancies in vocabulary like interchanging gully and arroyo, which is probably a reflection of his geographic location. I have immensely enjoyed the story and intend to read the remaining books in the series. It was a little difficult at first to keep track of the numerous characters introduced. It also amused me that the names of several characters were unique, like Hawthorne, Rafel, Arn/Blade, Blalock, etc. - but the main protagonist and her brother are Carol and Alan.

When I start a series, I usually switch back and forth between reading and listening. I enjoy listening while knitting, crocheting, etc. However, I CANNOT listen to this narrator, Caitlin Davies, any longer. She has a monotone cadence, pauses inappropriately and then finishes a sentence like an afterthought. Also, one of my pet peeves in speaking is the silent T in the middle of a word. For example, the word satin, should be pronounced sa-tin, not sa-un. I tried to give the narrator the benefit of doubt, thinking she was new to narrating. But according to the internet, she is an accomplished writer, narrator and journalist. I tried multiple times to listen and ignore what bugged me, but gave up and just read the book.

Fantastic Story

I really enjoyed this Sci-fi book, it had interacting characters and a fairly complex storyline that isn't too hard to follow. Very enjoyable. I was not a fan of the narrator's voice & inflections but obviously enjoyed the book despite it

Slow start got better

I thought the beginning was soso but I continued on and it improved. Its decent

Enjoyed Arns story!

Arn is a great character and enjoyed his point of view. I found the Carol point of view mostly annoying and wished there was an easy way to skip her all together and still understand the overall story arc. Really hoping next book has more Arn and less Carol!

I also found the narrator style odd and distracting. Hopefully the narration will improve on the next book.

Mediocre story, horrible narrator

Richard Phillips is a great writer. His scifi series, The Rho Agenda, is a triumph that I intend to reread repeatedly! Unfortunately his story talents did not translate well across genres. What I loved the most about the Rho Agenda was the constant undercurrent of suspense. Phillips ability to withhold information and then reveal it at the right times is part of what makes him a great writer. The Endarian Prophecy series has a good overall story, but it does not evoke the same level of emotion or intrigue as his scifi series. It falls a little flat and I am disappointed. I'm on the last book of the series now, and I am having to force myself to finish it (I've made it this far, so I have to see it through). Different writing styles are required for different genres, and unfortunately I do not feel that his scifi talents translate well to fantasy.

Also, this narrator is atrocious! She's so breathy and uses weird, disjointed inflections as she reads. It's distracting. The new narrator for books 4-6 is better, but not great.

Overall, I thought it was mediocre at best. A good idea, but only ok on the execution....

Not a Rho book :(

I gobbled up all the Rho books. They were definitely new and different. For some odd reason I thought this series was part of that storyline. After finishing this book, I realize I must have made a stupid assumption. So that's on me.

I had a hard time getting into the narrative because of the weird narration. Caitlin Davies is new to me and I did my best to adjust to her "style". Unfortunately, her strange emphasis on the incorrect syllable often annoyed me. For example; the word "written" is usually pronounced with the stress on the first syllable as in "RIT-en", but this narrator does the opposite. It sounds like "ri-TEN". I don't know. Maybe it's regional? That aside (and it happens often) she also completely changes words in the story. Most of the time, I didn't let it bother me. Not until it became blatant in the next book. The characters are discussing some RUNES that are branded into a main character. Unfortunately, Ms. Davies keeps saying that the character has "RUINS" emblazoned on her flesh. It is a distraction.

To be fair, I like the series. Although, I think it may be a kind of "love letter" to Mr. Phillips' wife. I'll continue on through the next book because now I want to know what will happen. At the end of the day, Richard Phillips is a darn good storyteller. And Ms. Davies has moments of true talent. I just had to get past a couple of annoyances; like (occasionally) hearing one of those computerized voices that Microsoft developed, or her incorrect pronunciations. Ultimately, it hasn't prevented me from becoming involved in this fantasy world.

Good start to a new series

I'm not sure how I got turned on to Richard Phillips in the first place, but I read his Rho Agenda books soon after they were released and was pleased with them. Recently, I finally decided to take the Rho Agenda Inception trilogy out of my wish list, as I had heard he finished the third book of the third series, the Rho Agenda Assimilation. I started from the story's chronological beginning through the final story. I like Phillip's writing and the narrator, MacLeod Andrews. It was with some elevated expectations that I started Mark of Fire, hoping to continue the good storytelling.

It took me a bit to get used to Caitlin Davies voice and intonation. I can't say she is my favorite, but after a while you get used to her style.

As for the story, it is a nice, fun fantasy, mixing coming of age with magic and prophecy/legend. I'm sorry the next two books are not out yet, and will buy them, as I very much want to see how it turns out. There is some good world building, good character development (if somewhat predictable), and a story line that kept my attention.

It doesn't however fall into the "must read" category - yet. I feel like I have had to lower my expectations a bit from the action-packed Rho series. This one is more unrequited love set in a magical fantasy world. Nothing new here, but I hold out hope.

I do like Phillips' timeline details, however. He doesn't rush people from place to place. He takes into account that a caravan of 100 wagons will take several months to cross a continent, not a few weeks. Scouting parties don't return within the hour, but within the week. Resources must be secured along the way, not found in a pack in the back of the wagon.

There seem to be some things that seemed odd to me, like how all the animals are identical to ones found on Earth, though the assumption is that this isn't Earth. Rabbits, deer, horses (along with bows and arrows, wagons, swords, etc.) all are the ones familiar to us rather than some off-world variant that provides the same function. They even have the same English names. This almost seemed like a corner that he cut in order to write more of the plot. Acceptable because it doesn't change the story, but seems a bit of a cheat.

Overall, though, a good read.

Exciting First Episode in the Series

I loved this book but am impatient for the next book in the series. Thankfully it is scheduled for release in early January 2018. Caitlin Davies does a marvelous job bringing to life the characters and magic in this new world.

Overall enjoyable read.

Has a solid storyline and good foundation for first book in the series. There were moments in the book where I felt it was lacking some depth and needed more realistic character building, but overall an enjoyable read. I look forward to reading the next installment. Hoping the storyline and characters will continue to develop.

Off the Mark Misfire

I listened to Mark of Fire in audio after getting it as a Kindle First, and then I read the second entry in the trilogy, Prohpecy's Daughter, in print after getting an ARC from NetGalley. This after listening to Richard Phillips's entire Rho trilogy of trilogies over the past few years, which by definition indicates that I really liked them. His current Endarian Prophecy fantasy series, however, has misfired, landing far off the mark Phillips set in Rho.

Everything that appealed to me about Rho centers on Phillips, a former physicist, basing his science fiction firmly within the world of science fact. Even the supernatural elements of Rho end up (quite satisfyingly) rooted in science (speculative though it might be). Although one should not expect an epic fantasy to be based on science fact, I was nevertheless hoping -- expecting even -- that to be Phillips's way of setting his fantasy world apart from others.

No such luck. Indeed, this world doesn't seem to be based on any sort of logic, not even its own internal logic, never mind the science of our world. Indeed, after two of three volumes (the finale due next month), I remain seriously confused as to a) what this story is about, beyond a generic good vs. evil sword and sorcery showdown, b) what kind of world it is set in, beyond a generic medieval European fantasy setting, and c) what ultimate reveal can pull it all together, beyond a generic Planet of the Apes, multiverse, or time twist that would all be serious letdowns.

There is so much about these two books that just rubs me the wrong way, even beyond the fact that there are no interim climaxes or conclusions to set each volume apart, as there were in Rho. Some characters have made-up fantasy names, like Gaar, Blalock, Coldain, Kragan, etc., while others are named Carol, Alan, Derek, John, etc. Seriously, a non-Earth fantasy world with people named Carol, Alan, Derek, and John, etc. There is even a character with the last name Scot, in a world where Scotland never existed.

Similarly, Phillips misfires in trying to convey a sense through word choice that we are in a different world, a medieval world. For example, far-glass, a made up word, despite the fact that in the real world, the word telescope was coined as far back as 1610. But when it comes to value, one character mentions pieces of eight, coins first minted in 1598 in Spain, a country that doesn't exist in this fantasy world (never mind that there is no evidence of any type of monetary system in this world). And here, people domesticate guinea fowl, even though Guinea does not exist, nor would any sane farmer choose to raise ornery guinea fowl instead of docile chickens. I could go on at even greater length.

This may sound picky, but it indicates that no research was done to validate the use of these words, clearly chosen solely to make this world sound medieval, as if that quality alone defines a fantasy setting. The entirety of the plotting and world building, going back to the naming and the lack of logic (especially in the use of magic) -- and I haven't even mentioned how people enter the story and then disappear (there are hardly any Endarians in the second book of the Endarian trilogy, for example) -- all indicate that this work was rushed (the release schedule certainly validates that).

One saving grace are the set pieces, the action sequences. There are several in Mark of Fire, only two or three shorter scenes in Propechy's Daughter, that are quite imaginative -- and these have the virtue of being realistic and internally consistent. I also like that one of the major qualities of the male hero, Arn, is his immunity to magic, a nice twist (although I'm confused by the need for magic in the story if it can simply be foiled by declaring a character immune to it, and why he is immune to one kind of magic but not another).

As a fan of Rho, I'm going to give Phillips the benefit of the doubt and complete this series, hoping against hope for a finale that makes it all make sense. It will at least be a fast read/listen, as were the first two volumes. But then I hope he returns to his forte -- credible present-day real-world fact-based science fiction -- when he takes up his next project.