His voice is rich and quite beautiful, and he worked hard to delineate character voices clearly, but I found his women a little squeaky or raspy and hard to listen to or believe. In addition, while the author's handling of crisis and action were excellent, the story lagged a good deal in several places and I found myself murmuring, "Get on with it, already." Finally, and here it would seem I am a rare exception, I was not delighted by Chris Kipiniak's reading. I also found myself confused by the array of minor characters with interchangeable, one syllable names who were never developed quite enough to stick vividly in the mind. I found the interplay between the characters predictable and repetitive even when the grand sweep of the story was not, and they seldom surprised me in any way. Given all of that, I still had trouble losing myself in the book. She also manages to give us an ending which is both satisfying and a good foundation for further development in the second book. Even the central conflict of the book is inventive and surprising, and the plot evolves in unexpected directions at several points.
As a result, the book is a nice journey of discovery-always a pleasure for a fantasy fan. She reveals it effectively with description which is richly evocative but never excessive or showy. Wells has done a wonderful job of creating a world which feels fresh in this regard and makes us curious.
The great strength of the book is the originality of its cast of races and characters. There is a lot to like in this opening book in a trilogy, but a few troublesome weaknesses bothered me enough so that I probably will not go on to the second book.
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