Transformation

Rai-Kirah, Book 1

By: Carol Berg

Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell

Seyonne is a man waiting to die. He has been a slave for 16 years, almost half his life, and has lost everything of meaning to him: his dignity, the people and homeland he loves, and the Warden's power he used to defend an unsuspecting world from the ravages of demons. Seyonne has made peace with his fate. With strict self-discipline he forces himself to exist only in the present moment and to avoid the pain of hope or caring about anyone. But from the moment he is sold to the arrogant, careless Prince Aleksander, the heir to the Derzhi Empire, Seyonne's uneasy peace begins to crumble. And when he discovers a demon lurking in the Derzhi court, he must find hope and strength in a most unlikely place....

©2000 Carol Berg (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Unmatched Masterpiece.

This is my third reread, or listen this time. I didn't deem it possible, but every time it's even more breathtaking.

A slow burn friendship

A tale of a slow burn friendship between a slave and the prince he servers. The narrator does a laudable job portraying the world weary protagonists acceptance of his fate, and the inner strength he fails to contain.

Rai-Kirah is Excellent

Carol Berg has written one of the best novels I have had the pleasure to read in 2015. The selected narrator added just the right touch. Two thumbs up for him and five for Carol Berg. Everyone who enjoys reading must read.

Wonderful Story, Wonderfully Written

I absolutely LOVED this book.It might be my favorite book ever. I could barely bring myself to stop listening even though I wanted to spread it out and make it last for as long as possible. The writing is excellent and evocative, the characters multi-dimensional and so enjoyable, and the story held my attention from beginning to end!

I feel as if someone looked into my mind, found all the kinds of things I love, and put them into this book. If you like the hurt/comfort genre, if you like whump, if you like stories about deep and unexpected friendships, peril, angst, and characters you can't help falling in love with, then I am sure you will adore this book as much as I did.

I reallly really enjoyed this book!

This book is the first I have read in a while that is not only cleverly written with great dialogue, a good pace and lots of intrigue. What I loved the most about it was I had no idea where the book was going but I enjoyed the process of finding out where the story was leading. It's a great piece of storytelling. Purchase it it won't regret it!

Amazing

I've read the book many, many times and I love it. The audiobook is well read, easy to listen to..and the narrator does a great job at times conveying Seyonne's pain. I can't imagine you won't enjoy the Audiobook if you enjoyed reading it yourself.

Really great listen!

I’ve had this one in my library for a long while. It was recommended to me by someone on reddit with the caveat that you should absolutely not let its cover deter you from reading it, and I ended up finding it on audible for a not-ridiculous amount of money (thanks whispersync!) and couldn’t resist.

It was an interesting and quite amazing listen. Seyonne is a slave, recently purchased by the prince of the Derzhi. He is of a race that was pretty much overthrown sixteen years previously and he has been a slave ever since, but he was once a Warden, known for their ability to fight demons. He finds that there is a demon hiding in the court of Prince Aleksander, and when the prince himself starts suffering from maladies that demons are known to cause, Seyonne takes a risk to himself and tells the prince what’s happening. Then he finds out that the prince has within him, something special. Something he’s sworn to protect. And they become… friends, of a sort.

I really liked this one. I don’t think I was expecting to latch onto it quite as easily as I did. Most audiobooks take at least an hour to get into, but this one caught my attention right from the beginning. I ordered the following two audiobooks in the series before I was even halfway through this one.

We get the story from Seyonne’s point of view, which is often heart wrenching, especially at first, because the Derzhi are not at all nice to their slaves. He is routinely beaten and half-starved and so on. It was a really interesting view to see this story unfold though, and I really enjoyed it. It was well written, and the story unfolds in an interesting way. There’s not a great deal of action in the beginning, but the story gets where it is going. It gets there quite well! There are quite a few transformations in this book, so it has quite an appropriate title.

The narrator, Kevin Stillwell did a great job. I like the sound of his voice, and so I think he gave Seyonne a good voice for his story. There were accents peppered throughout, and he did them well, but there are little things here that make this one special. For instance, when Seyonne is reading Aleksander a letter, the cadence that he gives him sounds like a student reciting something from a book. Little things like that really immersed me in this book.

It was great! Can't wait to see what happens next!

Awesome!!

LOVING this book. Especially the Narrator! He is AMAZING. His voices for different characters are so varied and in depth! The way he reads totally draws me into the book and makes it hard to push pause when I'm done driving.

Excellent match

Kevin Stillwell does an awesome rendition of this character. Very well done! I've enjoyed the book since I was a teenager, but this format combined with a great performance lands it in my favorites. Considering the way the book is written, I think this is the best way to experience the story.

Amazing

A wonderful story of many transformations. Well written and well performed. I could not stop listening.