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  • Along the Razor's Edge

  • The War Eternal, Book 1
  • By: Rob J. Hayes
  • Narrated by: Moira Quirk
  • Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (117 ratings)
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Along the Razor's Edge cover art

Along the Razor's Edge

By: Rob J. Hayes
Narrated by: Moira Quirk
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Summary

An empire in flames. A prisoner of war. An unbreakable will to escape.

At just 15, Eskara Helsene fought in the greatest war mankind has ever known - and lost. There is only one place her enemies would send a Sourcerer as powerful as her: the Pit, a prison sunk so deep into the earth the sun is a distant memory. Now, she finds herself stripped of her magic; a young girl surrounded by thieves, murderers, and worse. In order to survive she will need to make new allies, play the inmates against each other, and find a way out.

Her enemies will soon find out that Eskara is not so easily broken.

©2020 Rob J. Hayes (P)2020 Podium Audio

What listeners say about Along the Razor's Edge

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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Very enjoyable. Gritty and Raw

I listened to this on audiobook as it was included with my audible membership. The description interested me and I went into it not knowing what to expect, other than the blurb.

The story is very enjoyable. Extremely gritty and raw. This is a great escape story, with friendship being a main point and what people would do in a chance of escape.

The narrator was brilliant, really enjoyed listening to her read the story. 3.5 stars.

Come chat books with me @readsgavin

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good book

fast paced good story line am going to download the sequel to this book

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Surprised how much I loved this

Think this series may be my next obsessive follow.
Thought it would be a basic fantasy but it's very character focused with an interesting magic system that obviously has great depth. Not a huge fan of the future self narrating framing device however the actual narrator was fantastic and added genuine emotion to all necessary areas.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A decent beginning.

It's interesting to see a story told from the perspective of the anti-hero/ antagonist. The mc is fittingly confused and contradicted with her thoughts and feelings and perhaps will end up even less reliable a narrator over time.
On the other hand the mc feels more one note than not and hearing her make one more wrong life decision after another gets exhausting. There is a hint for the cause of her extreme impulsiveness and edginess, but that's something i'll perhaps find more about from another book.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A Protagonist Perhaps Unbefitting the Story

This review is a hard one to write, because I can tell from listening that the author has talents. The world that was described to us listeners was well thought out, interesting, and compelling. The cast of side-characters were fleshed out, had distinct personalities (for the most part), and added to the story. The main character, however, not so much. I can tell that Eskara was written this way by design, but her sheer unwillingness to show any care for anything other than her own desires made her a very hard character to root for. Josef, Hart, and even Tamura were characters I would have enjoyed taking the spotlight more. But, for better or worse Eska was the main character, and the story was enjoyable. Her aggressive displays and lack of a plan drive the story forward, and it would not have made sense for any of the others, so it appears her personality was a necessity, without adding another character to drive the plot.

The story is told as if an elder Eskara is recounting her memories, (This is evident from the first chapter, so not a spoiler.) which is a relatively novel way to tell the story, but her constant remarks about things that are yet to happen take away from the moment. This might not have bothered me if it had only happened a handful of times, but they made an appearance in most of the 30+ chapters, and the constant reminder that an elderly Eskara is telling the story removes a lot of the tension about her predicaments - we know she has to survive (or that she is a very chatty ghost).

There was also a lot of swearing. A lot. I am very pro-whatever-the-character-would-say when it comes to writing, but whilst most books have character dialogue and a neutral narrator, this book has Eska as a narrator, and therefor it never lets up. I am no puritan or prude, and love a good f-bomb, but with so much overuse they lost all edge, and felt gratuitous..

The highlight for me were two things. The author made great use of his descriptive abilities. There were scenes where the feelings or surroundings were vividly painted in my head, a few of which sticking out even now. I have no doubts that the author is talented, even if their style was not so much to my tastes. The second highlight was the narration. Moira Quirk was a delight to listen to. Every emotion she portrayed was done to perfection, the characters had distinct voices, inflections, and cadences. Some spoke so nasally that they were laughable, and others hissed as though they were fork-tongued.

I would definitely recommend this novel, and intend to follow up on the series, but a part of me wishes we could have had any other protagonist, though I hope that feeling changes as Eska grows as a character.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

excellent storytelling and concept

Great story and characters. unexpected twists and turns which keep you guessing. looking forward the next in the series.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely Fantastic

Before my review, note a trigger warning towards the end of this book for the only intimate scene. It may prove distressing for some listeners. Not so bad to affect everyone but, yeah, wish Audible would add these to the description. Anyway......

Finally a heroine that isn't soppy or preoccupied with who she should or shouldn't marry. Refreshing!

I found this fast paced, thrilling, emotional but with plenty of moments to make you shout "yeah" when a villain gets their just desserts.

I was completely surprised by this book and listened non stop. I've already purchased the second book.

I'm very picky about my fantasy books, finding a lot of them slow and tedious with the world building. This books throws you in and drags you through the plot without a moment to pause on such boring aspects as politics etc.

The narrator was the perfect choice for this series, she brings a little something to the reading which really brings it to life. I don't think I've ever been so enthralled.

Highly recommend

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great! A new favourite

Loved this book! The writing style had me hooked right from chapter one. The author writes with a charming frankness that makes the story feel more like a conversation than a reading.

The voice artist gave a great performance too. The narrator of the story is also the main character and Moira Quirk acted the part in a believable way, leaning into the emotion of the character and with a distinct range of voices for other characters.

The story itself was good too. Often these tales are full of cliches but this felt fresh and I look forward to the next instalment!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

i like "grim dark" this one is grim grey and good

i was afraid it was a typical teenage protagonist, and i was wrong :)

Character driven in my opinion and they have the ability to reflect and make wrong choices.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Excellent story but little tension

Really enjoyed the narration (As expected from Moira Quirk). Primary story is really great, very gritty, good character interactions (although would have been good for main character to learn from experiences).
Biggest problem is the retrospective approach to storytelling. With the main character telling the story as an adult, and very often referring to events that happen after the current plot, its very obvious who lives and who dies in this book (and likely the main plot points of future books). This removed all the tension from the near death moments, really making the narrative highs fall a bit flat.
But if that kind of mild spoilers inherent on the style doesn't bother you, I would highly recommend the book.

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