The Shattered Land

Eberron: Dreaming Dark, Book 2

By: Keith Baker

Narrated by: Alex Hyde-White

Xend’rik. The dark continent. A land of once-proud empires that now lie in ruin. A land shrouded in mystery where monsters and dark powers stalk the jungles, where only the bravest and most foolhardy will venture.

Now a band of war-weary soldiers must brave the depths of Xen’drik in search of an artifact that is the last hope to save one of their own.

©2006 Wizards of the Coast LLC (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

❤️

as a lover of Eberron... wow.. that ending... I don't want to spoil... but.. wow ❤️ the Clues were so subtle 😆

Can’t wait to listen to the next one!

I have been a long time fan of the forgotten realms books and I will say that these first two ebberon books I’ve listened to have been just as good, if not better than some. The characters are memorable and the story is well written. I can’t wait to start the next one!

Better than the previous one, still a bit flawed

What did you love best about The Shattered Land?

The inventive about the fantasy world and the alien landscapes and situations.

What did you like best about this story?

It finally ditched the badly written mystery tropes from the previous book for better written ones.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

It's still as stilted as the previous one, but at least each voice is recognisable even without the speaker being called in the script.

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

As i listen to stuff while driving (and i do a lot of driving) i would not be able to listen to the whole book. Yes i'm still one of those people that like better to actually read a book when available.

Any additional comments?

Far better than the previous one in this series and with interesting situations and characters, it has two main flaws:
1) characters whining that they do not want mystery. Yes, that's a thing readers probably said of the previous book. No. It should not come out of the mouths of the actual characters in the story every five minutes.
2) The plot twist at the end. It really, really, REALLY sucks. It's the kind of plot twist pulled out of thin air that does not work on multiple read-th- ... uhm ... listen-through searching for clues.

a worthy sequal

starts off great. gets a little harder to follow midway through as the plot thickens and new characters are introduced. existing characters grow in meaningful ways.
the narrirator really goes all out to put voice to a somewhat convoluted cast of characters. that might not be everyones thing.
4 stars overall. It may be a better read then a listen.

Combat heavy fantasy

A bit repetitive at times. Protagonists are always ready to fight but succumb to capture when convenient. Story is interesting and will bring me back for the third installment.

Great narrator but book is lacking

Really struggled to finish this one. Plot twist in the last 15 minutes of the book are the only thing making me wonder if I actually should give the 3rd book a try. First book was awesome.

Falls Short of the First Book

The first book in this series was captivating with its setting and plot in a word that felt fresh and new. The second book unfortunately loses that sense of grandeur in lieu of telling a simple quest story. Disappointingly the whole book is a quest to heal one of the main characters of a mental illness he received in the first book.

A lot of this book is an endless series of the characters getting captured at various stages of their journey, then getting saved by some new character that pops up with some new agenda. The characters rarely think things through or prepare, rushing headlong into situations and trusting the wrong people. The main character wakes up over and over again in darkness, trapped in either some mental or physical prison, and trying to escape. It makes the novel very difficult to follow.

The other subplot of the book revolves around the question of whether the war forged are people or machines, similar to the plots of countless sci fi books about androids ever since Asimov. This book doesn't really add anything new.

Overall a frustrating book, as it falls far short of the standard set by the first volume.