Swordmage

Forgotten Realms: Blades of the Moonsea, Book 1

By: Richard Baker

Narrated by: J. P. Linton

Discover a whole new realm of adventure!

When a wandering swordmage, trained by the elves of Myth Drannor, returns to his boyhood home on the windswept shores of the Moonsea, he finds that corruption has taken hold, leaving his friends and family open to a devastating evil.Swordmage was the first novel to fully embrace the exciting new elements from the next edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game. This paperback resize releases fresh on the heals of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, and showcases a major revision to the Forgotten Realms world that has fans buzzing.

©2008 Wizards of the Coast LLC (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Rough listen

sorry to say it but the narrator ruined this adventure for me.
The attempts at voicing the characters was terrible, (for me).
The monotone reading and emphasis throughout was very rough for me to get into.
Again, sorry to say it but it was only the narrator for me that caused me to rate low.

Poor editing of recording.

The recording editing is horrendous. Lines in chapters 7, 8, and 9 are repeated several times. Chapter 8 is especially bad. I erased the book, and then downloaded it again, hoping to correct the issue to no avail.

Good story. Play at 1.05x speed and it’ll be great

Good story. I enjoyed it. I’ve listened to so many forgotten realms novels. Best advice though good narrator but a slow recording. Play at 1.05x speed and it’ll hold water with all the other great forgotten realms novels. I look forward to book 2.

Passing on this series...

The story is pretty transparent and lacked significant intrigue for the type of story being told. The narration pissed me off! Orcs and other gruff subclasses sounded absolutely pathetic!! Ruined the immersion!

Epic struggle...on a non-epic scale

Richard Baker first came to my attention as one of the authors in the War of the Spider Queen saga. On a whim I then decided to check out his Last Mythal Series and wow. That was an epic adventure spanning all around Faerun and the locations were beautifully described. With this series Baker brings down the stakes and the scale. Greater Faerun probably doesn't care too much what happens to the little city of Hulburg, but to the people who live there it is home and the stakes are very high indeed. Baker still takes us on a ride around the Moonsea and beyond (no spoilers). I quite enjoyed this book. I didn't enjoy it as much as the Last Mythal because I had issues with the main character. By the end of the first book you are thinking, "Okay...you are 30 now, time to take some responsibility. But he makes excuses, gets distracted, and refuses to see what is right in front of him for two more books until he finally comes to his senses. It was a bit frustrating (but likely necessary to the story arc, but it made him less relatable for me).