Sasha

A Trial of Blood and Steel, Book 1

By: Joel Shepherd

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Sasha is a fighter, the likes of which the highland country of Lenayin has never seen.

Spurning her royal heritage to be raised by the great warrior Kessligh, Sasha's exquisite swordplay astonishes all who see it. But she is young, untested in battle, and often led by her rash temper. In the complex world of Lenayin loyalties, her willfulness is attracting the wrong kind of attention.

Lenin is a land divided by its beliefs: the Verenthane of the ruling class, and the pagan Goeren-yai, amongst whom Sasha now lives. The Goeren-yai value swordplay and honor, and have come to see Sasha as the great spirit who will unite them. But Sasha is still searching for what she believes and must choose her side carefully.

Soon she will face her moment of testing. Is she ready to lead? Can she be the savior the Goeren-yai want her to be?

©2016 Joel Shepherd (P)2016 Podium Publishing

Engaging, well written, and wonderfully performed.

What did you love best about Sasha?

It is enjoyable to see Sasha's makeup and growing personality unfold as she takes on her leadership role.

What did you like best about this story?

The descriptions of scenes and action are colorful and detailed enough to make the events exciting and vivid.
High marks for actual swordplay moves and technique. Believable explanation of how skill and speed are able to defeat brute force in combat.

Which character – as performed by Kate Reading – was your favorite?

Kate Reading nailed too many characters to pick a favorite. How anyone could read the part of everything from outraged, blustering warrior king, to fearful children so convincingly is truly amazing.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I wanted this story to last longer than one sitting.

Any additional comments?

As an equestrian I appreciated the detail, attention, and credit given to the horses of the story. Their character, handling, care and limitations were realistic, which added a lot when so much of the story involved riding.

A little slow but strong ending

I loved this book by the end, but I struggled with the beginning. It was extremely slow and there was pretty bad character overload. I slowly got to know the characters, but it took a while. After that initial part, I love how the book progressed and how strong the female main characters was. She was a fighting feminist throughout the entire book and l loved how easily she outdid everyone who ever doubted her.

Great start to a series

Joel Sheppard has become one of my favorites. The Spiral Wars and now this first entry for this new series, Sasha. Kate Reading was phenomenal as always.

Decent dialog, good fight scenes

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The story is mostly told through dialog and it drags. There are some good action scenes and the dialog is actually pretty good, but the normal doing of things that makes up a story is kinda missing.

Which scene was your favorite?

The end. The book could have been shortened by an appreciable amount.

Did Sasha inspire you to do anything?

Yawn

Spiral Wars to Sasha, grows heroes with integrity

Great story, with strong characters of women, men and children (and not all human).
Though not medieval earth, the politics are strangely universal and informed by our own human behaviours. Connections form with each new location and character.. Details drive the story across battlefields of politics; family, local, regional, international.
Bet you cant read just one...
enjoy.

Best descriptive writing i have read or heard!

Great on almost all accounts fair warning it has a lot of charcters with similar sounding names. I have to say is one of the best descriptive writers i have listen to and the narrator one the best also.

Good first book but the second I returned.

Would you consider the audio edition of Sasha to be better than the print version?

Good 1st for a series although for the younger generations I think. The 2nd I returned. Too much battle and not so much character interaction outside of that. I would try the 3rd only because I have an option to return it.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Most was the characters. Least was the ongoing battles of the 2nd.

Caught and Sucked In

This book captured my attention at the first and held it through the end. What a great way to begin a series! The end of this first installment had my craving more. I loved the well defined characters, the cities and landscapes that were painted clearly in my mind's eye and a story so well developed that I felt like a character moving through each chapter. I truly appreciated the lack of predictability, the obvious effort to put forth an awesome story and the perfect narration of my favorite narrator, Kate Reading. Thank you, Joel Shepard.