The Tainted Crown

Books of Caledan, Book 1

By: Meg Cowley

Narrated by: Jack Voraces

The kingdom of Caledan is in turmoil after the queen’s murder. Her son and heir, Soren, is framed for the killing by his uncle, who seizes the legendary throne of the Dragon Kings and rules with an iron fist to crush rising dissent.

Soren is a fugitive; his only friend a broken, old man. The dragons, ancient allies of the throne, may hold the answers, but their whereabouts is a mystery that died with the queen. If he can find them, will they be the allies he seeks?

Soren must discover whether the price of kingship is worth paying, and whether he is worthy of the throne, yet far more is at stake than a crown, for ancient and dark magics stir.

Across the kingdom, Soren’s cousin Eve takes matters into her own hands and journeys to the ethereal Eldarkind on his behalf, where she discovers an inescapable fate. As she comes to terms with the gift and the curse of magic, Eve risks her life to help Soren. Will it be enough?

Before the fragile peace shatters, can Soren unite Eldarkind, dragons, and men to secure peace for Caledan? Step into Caledan, a land of swords, sorcery, and betrayal.

©2017 Megan Laura Amy Jolly (P)2019 Eldarkin Publishing Limited

Good, but great story, with great narration

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Jack Voraces narration does a lot for this book. This good fantasy, it's got some great moments, but the book just doesn't seem to hit the level of great overall. This is the fourth book by Meg Cowely I've listened to, and my general impression of her work so far is good, but not great. I'm not sure where it falls short for me, there's action and betrayal, intrigue, and a great world for people to exist in, but something is holding these books back from being great books. If you're looking at some of Meg Cowley's books I think Chronicles of Pelenor actually holds up better, but this is a serviceable series if you're looking to get off the beaten fantasy path.

Enjoyable Start to the Series

I received a free review copy.

I felt the book was an enjoyable start to the series. It has magic, dragons, battles, and romance along with some surprises. I look forward to reading the subsequent books in the series. I liked the narration. I thought the dragon voices were pretty cool.

This book follows Soren, a prince whose mother, the ruling queen, was killed by his uncle in a move to take over the kingdom. To that end, the evil uncle frames Soren for the queen's death and drugs his minor sister. Soren must go on a journey to attempt to depose his uncle and become the legitimate king. Another main character is Soren's cousin, Eve, who must journey to visit the eldarkind to get their counsel and learn about her past.

A fun YA book about regicide

OK fine there's probably more to it than that. The story follows the paths of various young adults following a coup to take over a kingdom. the story reminds me of a Princess Bride has it has a little bit of everything.

Dark--gloom--Political Intrigue

The Queen is murdered. The daughter is shipped off. The son, well, now, he must run. He has allies everywhere, including the dragons, and he has to fight his uncle (Lion King--he's SCAR) to take the kingdom back, with allies. The only thing missing here is the hippies telling him to have no worries for the rest of his days. This was a fun book, though dark and gloom at times. It is full of action and political intrigue, though it's not this author's best work.

Good politics, needs more action

I received this book for free, though this review is left of my own accord.

This book was...alright. I prefer my fantasy stories with a bit of action in them. Swords and spells and dragons and such. And this story has all of those. They just dont do much fighting. Without the fighting, the medieval fantasy setting is irrelevant and the conversation would just as easily be in a scifi story or one set in modern day. That said, the story is fine. The politics are pretty clever in a couple points, something Id expect to see in AsoIaF or something by Sanderson. Plus the story leaves off in a good place for the main characters, giving them plenty of options for the next book.

I've heard Jack Voraces narrate before (in the Limitless Lands series and Im pretty sure he's the one who gifted me the book) and he does an impressive job as the narrator. I was a bit distracted by a couple of the voices cause it just reminded me of the other books I'd heard him do, but he is still good. I knocked a star from Performance due to what I assume are a couple of editing errors where Jack read a sentence twice to get a better go at it but they didnt bother to remove one.

Read this book if you enjoy politics more than action.
Read this book if you enjoy the talky parts of A Song of Ice and Fire.
Read this book if you enjoy listening to Jack Voraces.

Elves, Dragons, Magic, family drama

Soren is a likeable character and he has morals. Unlike his uncle. Soren is stubborn and strong willed but listens to his elders. He learns that dragons are more than just guarding the throne. Hi cousin Eve learns more about her mother's family. She is someone I would love to learn more about. His sister is sweet. These young adults are all fairly level headed but have some growing to do. I recommend this book for those that enjoy magic, dragons and coming of age novels with some evil for good measure.

The narrator does a great job.

Wonderful!!

Absolutely gripping story and narration. Cannot wait to start the next book in the series!

Epic!

Jack Voraces is quickly becoming one of my favorite narrators. He is very talented and does an excellent job with this book. Listening to this you can tell it is going to an epic story and i definitely recommend.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A great listen!

Thoroughly enjoyable listen. Great characters contained within an exciting plot. It was nice having the 3 different perspectives. Looking forward to see how it pans out in future books. Great narration by Jack Voraces. Varied character voices and a solid performance throughout.

Narrator is horrible!!!!!!

Absolutely couldn’t stand the narrator. He made the main characters sound like whiny brats. I honestly couldn’t get into it because of that. His female voice is obnoxious beyond all reason. The story might have been ok if the characters were read by someone who didn’t make them sound so helpless and whiny, but I couldn’t get over it. Ick! Just thinking about it is like nails on the chalkboard. He did do a good old man voice though, props for that.