Selarial's Song

Book One of The Songs of Talmanor

By: Laura Brewer

Narrated by: Chris Jackman

Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Selarial ne Talmanor is wary of going on patrol with the mostly human crew of the Ventura. They have a good combat record, but human suspicions run deep. Will they be willing to trust the Sorthian crew of the Equinox?

Alcar Trent, Captain of the Ventura, knows the captain of the Equinox. He’s skeptical of the Sorthians’ psychic talents, but he does trust them as strong allies to watch his back in a fight. Can he learn to rely on their abilities – and admit to his own?

The Coalition of Free Worlds is on the verge of open war with the Thess’n Empire. As the incidents increase, Selarial and Alcar begin to see the Sorthians are high on the list of targets. When ancient weapons, long thought destroyed, begin to appear, Selarial must trace the source. On Sorth, the Singer Council searches equally ancient records for answers, but finds more questions – and an urgent warning.

©2012, 2022 Laura Sue Brewer (P)2023 Laura Sue Brewer

It's a slow burn, but totally worth it

Not a bad read, the intergalactic politics in place kept the coalition's hands tied and the story developed fairly slowly in the first half of the book - but you could see the character development and world building being set into motion. - The half way point the story is set and the action is starting to build, passions are fiery and things are starting to make a turn for the worse. then by the last quarter of the book it was like I was strapped into a rocket and flying towards the ultimate build up to the start of the next Coalition and Thess'In War and and... the book was over. - Curse you cliff hangers, now I HAVE to read the second book!

(4/5 stars, good story, but a bit too much cheesy romance for my taste. - Over all a damn good read though and being from the South I can appreciate Alcar's voice actor for giving him that Southern Gentleman's voice.)

Solid read, maybe just not for me.

The Good:

-The World Building: It is pretty good, its pretty obviously inspired in several ways from other works, which is to be expected. The world feels alive enough and the difference between the different humans and near humans are apparent enough to delineate cultures.

-The Technology: There is a good chunk of very intuitive uses of the world's magic system and blending it with technology. The author explains it well enough without “explaining the magic” entirely and taking out the mystery and the leaps of imagination the reader engages in. Overall pretty neat concepts at play.

-The Narration: Chris is a great narrator, and he reminds me a lot of listening to my grandfather read me a story. The voices are different enough to differentiate between characters and one of the MCs southern gentleman accent is spot on.

The “Okay”:

-The Romance: This reads like a romance novel first sci-fi novel second to my eyes and ears. The Main Characters are HIGHLY amorous with one another and its a consistent thing throughout. Nothing is graphic but it is frequent. I personally dislike the flavor of the romance but that is a personal nitpick from a cynic. I just don't believe in the insta-love trope.

-The “Magic”: To diverge from my earlier discussion on the tech, the magic seems a bit inconsistent and the way it develop later takes away alot of the feeling of threat towards the main characters. The ability to affect things an entire galaxy away seems…powerful even in the context it is used.

The Bad:

-The Politics: The council is dumb and their workings are reductive and lack much logic, if a threat on the magnitude they are facing exists their division doesn't make a lot of sense. The interaction between civilian and military authorities grated on my nerves and the arrogance present in certain characters and the way they exercised their authority was petty and grating. Politics and the skullduggery that goes with it is hard to pull off. As it stands this series does not pull it off.

-Animal domestication = slavery? Lol, lmao even.

Overall I will probably pick up the second book and see how things play out when it is finished. A pretty good read where most of my issues with it are personal rather than having to do with quality.

Enjoyable and intriguing, I recommend this book.

This is a very enjoyable book, with a mix of drama, action, intrigue, and romance too.

I received my Audible copy for free, but I have purchased the Kindle edition so I'm not locked into only listening to this novel.

Wonderful dip into science fiction

I’ve been on a fantasy kick for a while and this was my first foray into science fiction in a while. It was a wholesome and enjoyable read. I loved Selarial and Alcar as characters and cannot wait till I can see more in the future!

The music was a very nice touch, and voice actor did a great job!