Of Blood and Fire

The Bound and the Broken, Book 1

De: Ryan Cahill

Narrado por: Derek Perkins

Born in fire. Tempered in blood.

Epheria is a land divided by war and mistrust. The High Lords of the South squabble and fight, only kept in check by the Dragonguard, traitors of a time long past, who serve the empire of the North.

In the remote villages of Southern Epheria, still reeling from the tragic loss of his brother, Calen Bryer prepares for The Proving - a test of courage and skill that not all survive. But when three strangers arrive in the village of Milltown, with a secret they are willing to die for, Calen’s world is ripped from under him and he is thrust headfirst into a war that has been raging for centuries.

There is no prophecy. His coming was not foretold. He bleeds like any man, and bleed he will.

Includes bonus story The Fall.

©2021 Ryan Cahill (P)2021 Podium Audio

Fantastic fantasy debut!

What a great debut novel! It not only tosses the "chosen one" trope on its head, but it also has great action & great characters.

This book is about Calen, a young man who is still dealing with the grief of losing his beloved older brother. Make no mistake: there aren't any prophecies or omens that foretold what happens to Calen, his friends & family. He was just in the right place at the right time (or perhaps, it'd be better to say: wrong place, wrong time!).

This was a thoroughly enjoyable listen that possibly caused some sleep deprivation.
Also... I'd want my supervisor to know that reports which claim that listening to it in the car today made me late to work are **greatly** exaggerated. Do not believe those scurrilous lies!

Highly recommended!

Decent start… and great performance

While the plot and prose were fairly decent, after a while (and a bunch of character deaths) I found it difficult to even want to invest in any kind of connection with the characters… and why would I? So far, any good that popped up in this book seemed to get snuffed out—if not immediately, then eventually.
Not very good fertilizer for a reader to cultivate attachments in, if you ask me… but, I suppose some folk are just into that devastating George R.R. Martin stuff. Not me.
I do think, however, that I will continue with the series… for now. And we shall see if things progress, remain the same, or deteriorate even further. Hopefully the former.

This is a pretty good start

To what I’m guessing will be a really great series. I look forward to the next installment.

New favorite fantasy!

Some listeners described this series as “like coming home” and I think that’s perfectly apt. It feels like a fresh new version of OG fantasy series like Eragon, LOTR, or Star Wars Legends. Great fight scenes — which are quite hard — and characters you get to know more and more throughout. Only critique is that some of the descriptions/verbs become repetitive, e.g., “capitulate” is used at least 6 times, but this is a very minor gripe. Well worth the credit and I’m sure the writing will improve in later books. Writing: 7.5/10, Story: 10/10

Fist Full of

Of Blood and Fire was a great read, understandable why some have it highly rated. I would say it falls under Epic storytelling (even though I’m not 100% sure what the criteria is). Plenty of action, story development and critical elements set for future events to come. Fascinating characters and other beings. Can’t wait to read the next one. DRmz 10-09-23

Coming of age

LOVED the story telling, the reader, all the colorful characters!! It was a story (books 1-3, no 4th out yet) like I've never heard, or read in my entire life.

A fantastic start!!

Ryan's series is an all time favorite and I loved the audio performance by Derek!!

Good Series

it's pretty much exactly like eragon like weirdly so kind of hard to believe there wasn't some copyright infringement there

Excellent beginning to a new series!

I really enjoyed this book. This book has everything I love in epic fiction. There is an enormous detailed world filled with familiar races such as elves, dwarves, giants, and humans. The main characters all have depth and you can really pull for them. Even the evil characters were fleshed out & felt like they had depth.

The magic system was pretty cool and would be considered a soft system which I like. I’m not into the trend of creating weird magic systems in an attempt at creating a pseudo-science explanation for the magic. Ryan Cahill avoids this and I really like that.

My only real criticism is the use of curse words from the real world. I don’t mind them being used in books that take place in modern day or the future but when they’re used in fantasy it immediately pulls me out.

The narration was very good. I’d definitely like to hear more from Derek Perkins.

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone that loves classic epic fantasy. Looking forward to the 2nd book in this series.

Standard Fantasy Story

Pretty good but nothing special so far. I will continue to the next book. If you like the genre it’s worth giving it a shot.