Shadow Prowler

Chronicles of Siala, Book 1

By: Alexey Pehov

Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews

An army is gathering; thousands of giants, ogres, and other creatures are joining forces from all across the Desolate Lands, united, for the first time in history, under one, black banner. By the spring, or perhaps sooner, the Nameless One and his forces will be at the walls of the great city of Avendoom.

Unless Shadow Harold, master thief, can find some way to stop them.

Epic fantasy at its best, Shadow Prowler is the first in a trilogy that follows Shadow Harold, the legendary thief of Siala, on his quest for a magic Horn that will restore peace to the Kingdom of Siala. Harold will be accompanied on his quest by an elfin princess, Miralissa, her elfin escort and ten Wild Hearts, the most experienced and dangerous fighters in their world...and by the king's court jester (who may be more than he seems...or less).

©2010 Alexey Pehov (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

LOTR quality

I used to have this in paperback, and I was devasted to find out it got sold to a used book store. I had to have it again. The story has many main characters and McLeod Andrews does a very good job with the different voices making it easy to keep track of who is talking.

Excellent story, excellent narration.

Would you listen to Shadow Prowler again? Why?

Yes, this was one of those stories that you just cannot seem to walk away
from... very enjoyable as was the narrator.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I would have to say that Harold by far.

Have you listened to any of MacLeod Andrews’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but he did a great job and I would take a long look at a story that he narrates.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

J.R. Tolkien would have loved this book.

Any additional comments?

If you enjoy a great story thats easy to follow then this is for you

Wonderful story and great narration!

I loved the story. The characters were great, the story line very exciting, and the narrator is exceptional. Love how well the narrator changes his voice for each character. I couldn't stop listening and reading (I bought the book too). Now I'm off the read/listen to the next book. Definitely recommend this book, its as good as Michael J Sullivan's Riyira books about Royce and Hadrian!

Impulse buy.. but i got lucky

I saw this book at a book store and kinda glanced over it. Then when browsing on here i saw it again and after reading another customers review i decided to give it a shot. It honestly had me hooked after the first 5 minutes. A great buy for anyone looking for a good epic fantasy novel.

Great Story and Great Characters

I wasn't sure what to expect when I made this purchase, and I really enjoyed this book. The story is engaging and the characters are really well written. I is all brought together by narrator MacLeod Andrews who does and excellent job bringing it all to life. His voicing of the different characters is one of the best I've listened to in my 300+ audio books.

It's almost a Tolken-esque story of a journey to acquire an object, and never left me bored or distracted.

I recommend this to fans of the genre.

Lost in Translation

Would you try another book from Alexey Pehov and/or MacLeod Andrews?

I really enjoyed both the story and the narration of this book but, as my title suggestions, there is something lost in the translation. Some of the metaphors and dialogue come off a little rough sounding. Not rough as in tough but rough as in unpolished..

However, I do plan on finishing the series, so I guess it can't be that bad.

Partial story that goes off on tangents

The fictional world created by Alexey Pehov is full of standard fantasy fare including elves, gnomes, dwarves, goblins, orcs, demons, shamans, and magicians. It also has some interesting quirks mixed in along the way that give it great potential; however, the overall story struggles to pick up momentum.

It all starts with the King making Shadow Harold (a thief) an offer he can't refuse - either Harold goes into an ancient tomb and retrieves a powerful artifact needed to save the kingdom or he gets thrown in prison for the rest of his life. Harold, being the practical sort, agrees to go on the quest because then he at least has a small chance of surviving. He reluctantly accepts the King's commission, which will make him a rich man if he actually succeeds, and begins to prepare for his task. Unfortunately, the tale then gets mired down in so many side stories and flashbacks that by the end of the book Harold and his party of adventurers hasn't even reached the first city along their route to the catacombs of Hrad Spein. It really feels like a partial and incomplete story.

There are some interesting concepts and historical flashbacks that keep things entertaining at times but overall the story feels disjointed and just a little bit off. It is likely a side effect of the translation from Russian to English and it kept me from becoming invested heavily in the story and the characters. I didn't give up on it but I did have to re-listen to certain sections because the lack of engagement allowed my mind to wander and think about other things.

MacLeod Andrews does a good job with the narration but he isn't enough to carry the day here. This book is a solid 2.5 star effort that gets rounded up to 3 only because of Macleod's performance. However, there was enough to like here for me to continue with the series and hope for more of a payoff in book 2.

Had difficulty getting through this one.

The story dialogue is very dry. This becomes a compounded issue because this story is written in the first person perspective. The reader is engaging and appropriately dramatic but has noticeable difficulty carrying this piece. The plot would have a nice pace if not for the narrative and inter-character dialogue, which I found to drag. It took me a long time to finish this one because I wasn't drawn in enough to keep it playing. Unfortunately, I doubt I will continue the series.

Best Narrator Yet!

What made the experience of listening to Shadow Prowler the most enjoyable?

The story was well met with enough twists and turns to keep your attention but what impressed me most about this particular audible trilogy was the pure talent of the story teller. Most audible narrators can keep up a handful of character accents and enough tricks to know one or four characters in a conversation from each other. MacLeod Andrews however can keep up at least a dozen different character speeches without missing a beat. I never had to guess which "older" character was speaking or any such non-sense. Even when a character hadn't been in a few chapters Andrews could have you certain of who was talking before the book confirmed it. All in all this made for a very interesting and pleasant listen.

A twist of difference

Sure you've read fantasy thief stories and quests before, but this time the tale's told with Shadow Harold's sour wit, Pehov's Russian love of poetic description, and MacLeod Andrews' outstanding narration. There's plenty of action, fun characters, funny moments, and clever surprises. But there's also some darned original high fantasy, with amazing moments of wonder and terror. Just when you think you know where the plot's going, you'll find you're wrong.

So give this book a chance to win you over. Russian writing styles may not be what you're used to, but Andrews does a great job making it seem like perfectly normal speech. I really liked what he did with the various characters, too.

This novel doesn't end on a cliffhanger, but on a good temporary stopping point in the quest, with progress made. I was eager to find out what happens next in Book 2.