Book 1 in The Way To Freedom series
Narrated by Katherine Anderson
Genre: high fantasy
Format: kindle ebook & audiobook
About The Kalarthri:
“This Hatar Kalar has more natural Talent than any Second Born found in the Empire.”Source: Info in the "About The Kalarthri" was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21346586-the-kalarthri on 19/03/2022.
Kalena awakes one morning to find her world changed forever....
The Imperium Provosts of the Great Suene Empire have come to take Kalena away from her family and friends.
All because she is Second Born.
The Second Born Rule declares that all second born children above the age of five become indentured to the Empire for a period of thirty years to serve wherever the Empire sees fit. After the thirty-year period, the Kalarthri (as the indentured are called), are then pensioned into retirement by the Empire.
Kalena is different in that she has a special gift that is much sort out by the Imperium Provosts. Her mind has the ability to accept the special ‘living’ crystal that is implanted into her head to enable her to partner a Hatar’le’margarten (Hatar) in the Military Flight Corps. Kalarthri who are in the Flight Corps are indentured for life.
Taken to Darkon, Kalena is paired with one of the giant, feathered Hatar'le'margarten. But when Kalena accidentally injures one of her Wingmates, there is a race against time to find the one man who can help them.
Kalena and her New Hatar Partner, Adhamh, are determined that they will be the ones to find him.
Buy Link(s):
It took me a bit of time to get used to and understand the terms like Kalarthri meaning second borns and second class citizens or indentured. Hatars are dragons with feathered wings instead of the typical bat-like wings of dragons. It took me sometime to keep track of whats what... And that contributed to the slowness of the pace of this book despite it being very short indeed!
The book ended in a cliffhanger but it did kind of closed the current dilemma in the book. However, I am never fond of cliffhangers, so there we are...
This is my first Katherine Anderson listen and I like the way she reads, especially when she reads Kalina's lines with a young voice! And yes, the descriptions are right, she has a typical British accent.
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 3.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = (3 hrs and 54 mins listening time)
Plot = 3.5
Narration = 5
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries
Books In The Way To Freedom Series:
Meet The Author
In a former life, H M Clarke has been a Console Operator, an ICT Project Manager, Public Servant, Paper Shuffler and an Accountant (the last being the most exciting).
She attended Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, where she studied for a Bachelor of Science (Chem), and also picked up a Diploma in Project Management while working for the South Australian Department of Justice.
In her spare time, she likes to lay on the couch and watch TV, garden, draw, read, and tell ALL her family what wonderful human beings they are.
She keeps threatening to go out and get a real job (Cheesecake Test Taster sounds good) and intends to retire somewhere warm and dry - like the middle of the Simpson Desert. For the time being however, she lives in Ohio and dreams about being warm...
She is also a bit of a video game nerd and, is into Star Trek, Midsomer Murders and Harry Potter, and she absolutely adores the TV show Almost Human.
The Narrator
Engaging, Eloquent, Emotive … and quintessentially British!
Katherine is a passionate reader and narrator who loves language and literature, in all its genres. She has a natural British accent (RP), and a versatility that has allowed her to narrate a wide variety of books ranging from historical fiction through cozy mystery/comedic to young adult fantasy.
With an Irish mother and Scottish father, she has an ingrained love of storytelling, complemented by formal training in speech and drama. She also speaks fluent French, having lived a number of years in France, and is capable of employing convincingly a good number of different accents - British, several European and others. Katherine also enjoys non-fiction, particularly, but not exclusively, relating to political science, history, language and literature and international relations.
Katherine understands that every book is different, and each deserves the best a narrator can give. Her genuine love of reading and the spoken word allows her to embrace and interpret each book (and, for works of fiction, its characters) with the requisite vigour and emotion.
Katherine works from her home studio (Equipment: DAW: Studio One; Audient iD14 interface; Rode NT1-A microphone; Behringer DT770 PRO headphones).
FTC Disclosure:
The ebook and audiobook were bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.
The ebook and audiobook were bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.
