The Risen Shard

The Chain Breaker, Book 1

By: D. K. Holmberg

Narrated by: John Pirhalla

An assassin with no rival meets a magic he cannot defeat. The Chain Breaker series begins.

Trained to kill from a young age, Gavin Lorren finally escaped that life. No more killing innocents. No more working alone. The jobs are still dangerous, but at least he can choose.

Now an old friend has invited him to the city of Yoran where the work is plentiful. The Roasted Dragon tavern is rough but cozy. The regulars are seedy but welcoming. The owner, Jessica, is fond of him. It's almost too good to be true.

His good fortune is fleeting. Gavin finds himself facing a new enemy, fast and deadly El'aras warriors - an ancient race with innate magical talent. By the time he learns sorcery is involved, he's in too deep. To succeed, he’ll have to uncover parts of his past that he'd hoped to forget.

It will take an assassin without equal to survive.

It will take the Chain Breaker.

©2020 ASH Publishing (P)2020 ASH Publishing

i don't know

i guess it was ok but i fell like it was to slow getting to the point and i wished for a little bit more understand in the difference races or what ever they where

Low stakes, fast paced

I liked it! The stakes were low and the scope was narrow— reminded me of old sword and sorcery stories, which is great. Narrator was good and the story was simple but there’s so much more to find out! I look forward to continuing the series.

Not my cup of shards

Just Fighting interspersed with Action. Boring. I won't be reading any more of this series.

It’s okay

I wanted to like this book. I don’t think the author does enough to immerse us in the world or does enough for us to connect with the characters. We just don’t know enough about them to really care. When I read a fictional story, I want to know about the world I’m reading about and I want to become intimately familiar with the characters. Didn’t feel that way. Not a bad book, but I’m not sure I want to continue reading the series. Just okay. The narrator is fine. Don’t worry about the reviews saying he is awful. He is fine.

Decent narration, not so decent characters

The narration was pretty good, however I found the story to be lacking. None of the characters were appealing and the main character, who is supposed to be a bada**, suffers from a severe case of lacking common sense. I found myself rolling my eyes constantly from his stupid decisions and lame banter.

Aside from the characters, the plot itself was nothing special and would have benefited from additional world-building.