Title: The Red Sword
Author: Michael Wallace
Format: audiobook (Kindle Unlimited)
Narrator: Rosemary Benson
Publisher: Balsalom Publishing
Summary
Markal, an apprentice wizard, is thrust unexpectedly to the head of his order when his master is decapitated by a gray-skinned assassin. The order’s walled gardens have the power to restore their dead master to life, but only if the apprentices can protect his body long enough for their sanctuary to work its magic.
When a barbarian warrior named Bronwyn invades the gardens wielding a soul-binding sword and accuses the order of harboring a powerful sorcerer, Markal thinks she is another assassin come to finish the job. But Bronwyn is a paladin, a holy warrior from across the mountains, and her presence is a harbinger of a greater threat than Markal had imagined, a necromancer with the power to command the dead.
Together, they must join forces before the necromancer destroys Markal’s order and overruns Bronwyn’s homeland.
My Thoughts
The writing I felt was basic. There was nothing exciting about the writing. Character A did this, and oh no there is this problem. No humor, no twists, no fun way of describing something, at least none of these I remember. I seriously forgot most of what happened shortly after listening. What I do remember, is there is a wizard, someone is going around taking off wizard’s heads, and the king is evil, there is a battle and the good guys win…I think. I feel like there is a cliff hanger around the battle. I also remember there is a female that uses the Red Sword, the sword takes on the spirits of those it slays, and those spirits then live on and battle in the sword. Sounds cool right? Except, this is literally, I kid you not, pretty much all of what I remember of the book. I do remember one spoilery scene, so I’m not going to mention it here because, spoilers.
I remember being excited about the story while I was listening to it, but minutes, okay it may have been a few hours, after finishing the audiobook I forgot most of what had happened and what this story was about. I apparently loved it enough to give it 4 stars on Goodreads after finishing the audiobook, but since I forgot it so shortly after finishing, I have lowered this to a 3. I apparently didn’t enjoy it enough to remember what happened, so now it’s a 3 which means it was okay.
I got a copy of the book through my subscription to Kindle Unlimited, and used the whispersync to listen to the audiobook side, narrated by Rosemary Benson. She does a great job of narrating and the character voices. Her voice is about the only thing I do remember from my time listening to this. Alas though, her performance was not enough to make it stick apparently.
So, since I can’t really remember anything fun, exciting, or shocking about the story, but do remember listening to it almost non-stop, I’m giving this 3 of 5 stars. Also, because I don’t remember what happened, I’m running out of things to say about this book so I’m going to end this now. Speaking of ending, I will also not continue the Red Sword series, since I’d need to re-read the first book and hope I remember the characters, and what is happening.
These are just my thoughts on the book. Just because it was only okay for me, doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy this. If a sword taking on the spirits of those it kills and the spirits battling in the sword sound interesting, give the book a try. If not…then you may want to go pick up another book from your list.