The Instruments of Control

The Revanche Cycle, Volume 2

By: Craig Schaefer

Narrated by: Susannah Jones

Livia Serafini must die.

To the church, she is a heretic, tried in absentia and sentenced to burn. To her brother, Carlo, she stands as a threat to his corrupt rule and a symbol of resistance. To her new "allies" in the East, she is a pawn to be played and sacrificed as they see fit. They don't hear the whispers that follow her in the streets: whispers of hope and the name of a long-dead saint. When Livia rises up to fight, she will not rise alone.

Across the ocean, Felix struggles for control of his family's fate against the crime lord Basilio Grimaldi. Basilio is wealthy, ruthless, and the master of 100 killers. All Felix has are his wits and his courage. It won't be enough. To break free and to save the lives of everyone he loves, he'll have to face the darkness that followed him home from Winter's Reach.

And as the owl's horrific vengeance unfolds, her coven teeters on the brink of civil war. All the dominoes are in place now, lined up from the frozen north to the swamps and ruins of a dead empire, and set to tumble at one man's command. When they do, a world will fall with them.

©2015 Demimonde Books (P)2015 Demimonde Books

The tides are changing, the dangers are shifting.

What made the experience of listening to The Instruments of Control the most enjoyable?

Susannah's voice coupled with Craig's descriptions gives us, and Susannah the narrator, the clear direction of what emotion is felt by each character. Craig has the right format and amount of description to emphasis the story and draw the scenes around for us.

Death, lies, backstabbing, it's all here! I'm drawn in with Craig's masterful imagery with words. The world and the characters past are used to highlight the characters now, then, and the world we are currently in. All are touched on in few words yet drawing a huge picture.

I love how the tides change and the dangers turn from person to person. Craig is skillful in crafting the schemes that the characters create and how they turn to bring death to the doorstep and threats from others. Where we saw the characters in the beginning is not where the characters are in the end. They have evolved in the events happening around and to them.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Instruments of Control?

We lose some characters in this book, which can be expected. However! It's the manner of which they die. Some are unexpected and by the hand of those we wouldn't have expected. I love it!

We get to see the witches at work here. Their way of things start to be divulged to us. Interesting as they are hiding something too! And what we experienced in Winter's Reach is starting to be explained here. Oh what the world has to offer. The witches are more important than we saw in Winter's Reach. They start to come out in this book with the events that happen and lead them to where they are, for revenge, self defense, and accidental usage.

Which character – as performed by Susannah Jones – was your favorite?

I don't have one favorite character by Susannah.

I am thrilled to say Susannah is back with the second book. I enjoyed her voice and reading in Winter's Reach, and continue to do the same here. I really enjoyed the voice and attitude Susannah added to each character as she narrated the story. The voice differences are slight but you know the difference and who is who. Susannah has the emotion of each character down pat, from the leer of a threat to the shock of learning that you'd just sealed the death warrant of your loved one. She did slight voice differences for each character, differentiating each character for us as she brings them to life.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I was shocked at a few turn of events, the deaths, and how characters evolved as the story went.

Any additional comments?

A mind catching fantasy read. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series!