The Whitlock Trilogy

By: Allen Kent

Narrated by: Gryphon Corpus

The Whitlock Trilogy brings together in a searchable boxset the three books of award-winning author Allen Kent's popular historical fiction family saga. Set in the tumultuous 1860s and 70s of the American frontier, River of Light and Shadow, Wild Whistling Blackbirds, and Suzanna's Song reflect the energy, tension, romance, and adventure that defined the nation's westward expansion.

Kent's talents as a successful writer of best-selling thrillers combines with his intense passion for historical accuracy as he propels the Whitlock family and his listeners through Missouri's bloody Mormon Wars, the fracturing years of the war between the states, and the period of greed, prejudice, and courage that shaped the opening of the West.

Juliet Scherer of Yettie Publishing wrote: "I just love this whole series. So thought-provoking and thoughtfully written. Wonderful historical fiction with contemporary application for the insightful listener.

©2018 Kent Farnsworth (P)2020 Kent Farnsworth

Should have been read by another reader

Inflections were unnecessary when reading and somewhat infantilized the listener. A well constructed history of events needs no such dramatization. A good story but somewhat too romanticized.

A Family Saga through the American West Settlement

This is an outstanding collection, reflecting the settlement of the American West. It's told through a couple and their family. It starts as the couple are teenagers and continues until they are grandparents'. The stories provide insight into attitudes, changing needs of the settlers, and the everyday life of the people of the time. I was surprised to learn how quickly a sod house could be constructed, interested to know how they collected wild honey, and surprised to find out why Wyoming was the first state/territory to give women the right to vote. These are just a small sample of the things I found fascinating in this audio book.

The narrator is excellent.

I recommend this series to people who are interested in American History. This is my honest review.

Historical fiction done right.

I loved The Whitlock Trilogy. Allen Kent did a wonderful job of creating three believable, touching, and highly entertaining novels. This trilogy follows several generations of the Whitlock family and the challenges they face in an America that was still in great part wild an unsettled. Kent did not shy away from showing the racism and sexism of the era. But, he also provided some very strong female characters. If you are a fan of historical fiction you don't want to miss this amazing trilogy.

Amazing Narration and Realistic Story

A terribly and heartbreaking realistic depiction of the pains and tragedies of that age.

River of Light and Shadow:
A good blend of history and fiction. Not only on the religious front - which is a big part of this novel - Mormon vs Methodist. A very descriptive and thorough novel. This narrator is very good. I’m very appreciative that she sang the song rather than just reading the lyrics.

Wild Whistling Blackbirds:
Fast forward some years and we find our family in the midst of the Civil War with an empty nest of children flown the coop in all directions. A thorough novel with tragedy and hope, contention and peace, plus family and community.

Suzanna's Song:
I really liked this series. It covered so much and a big section of time. I could never have guessed where the characters would end up when I started this series (or even after the first book!) it was a lovely, historical fiction read.

An amazing trilogy, an amazing family!

This is such a wonderful story of a family and the struggles they encounter in a brave new land. Many of the situations in the trilogy actually took place, the mormon wars, the attacks of native Americans and what actually caused at least one of these attacks. The beginnings of the women's suffrage movement fighting for equality of women and so many interesting times in history. It is very easy to tell that Mr. Kent has done a lot of research into this trilogy. I definitely enjoyed the fictional Whitlock family, there are some places that when I read the trilogy I knew that I just had to hear it on an audio version to see what the narrator would do with them. As expected I was right on the edge of my seat, Gryphon Corpus has done an excellent job of bringing this story to life and I know that I will be listening and reading it again in the future.
I received a free code from the publisher to listen to this book on Audible.com. This review is my own honest opinion of a very emotional and beautiful story.

Don’t Bother

Historical fiction is a favorite, but this disappointed. The narrator’s voice was gravelly to me. She attempted to change voices for every character, male and female, this got annoying. Descriptions throughout seemed too wordy. It moved slowly, for example a whole chapter describing the building of a sod house in detail. I skipped chapters and started into book 2 hoping the flow would change, it didn’t.