Are you looking for an immersive fantasy world to get involved in while you stitch? I’m picky about my audiobooks, but this whole series I’ve listen to over and over again! Let’s find out if you’ll like it to with, this audiobook review.
Genre
This book is considered fantasy and is places in a Middle ages like time period… except with magic, mages, and immortals.
Book Summary
For this months book recommendation, I chose: The Realm of the Gods by Tamora Peirce.
This is the 4th and final book in the Immortals Quartet, which follows Veralidaine Sarrasri, called Daine, her young dragon, Skysong whom she calls kitten, and her former master/friend the mage Numair SalmalÃn as they live in and work for the country of Tortall which is ruled by King Jonathan III and Queen Thayet.
In this book the barrier keeping the immortals out of their world has broken. Tortall is at war and has been since mid winter. The leader of the war? The former Emperor Mage, Ozorne, who has sworn vengeance on Daine, Numair, and Tortall.
To Daine and her friends dismay, the enemy seems to know their every move… Kitten is asleep, exhausted after dealing with wyverns sent to attack the castle, when Daine and Numair are sent to take care of some new beings called skinners. They are reeking havoc on a farm town and they’ll need all the supplies they can get next winter.. if they survive that long.
Skinners
When they arrive, Daine and Numair try everything to kill these monsters to no avail. Just when it seems that she and her tall friend will be killed, they are both yanked out of harms way…
Daine is surprised to wake up to the familiar face of her mother, who died 4 years ago…But how? Daine finds that her father and mother live together on Weiryn’s land in the Realm of the Immortals. She and Numair did not take the sudden trip across realms well, finding themselves weak and sick from the experience. While grateful for being saved and happily being reunited with her mother. Both Daine and Numair are anxious to get back to their world where their friends and colleagues are still fighting for their lives. After some convincing, she and Numair, along with the Badger and Duckmole Gods as guides, are on their way to the dragonlands. The only way they can return home, if they survive the journey, is with the dragons will help.
two battles
While she is in this new realm Daine finds herself dreaming vividly. She soon learns that theirs is not the only war being fought, the great Gods are locked in battle with their sister, Uusoae, the Queen of chaos. While Daine shows indifference to the Gods fight, pointing out that the Gods didn’t help them in theirs. She soon finds out that if Uusoae wins, she will devour everything starting with the Realm of the Gods and then turn her greedy eyes to the mortal world and all it’s inhabitants. And if one God is right, the 2 fights might be more connected then either she or the great Gods thought.
Reader
The narration is done by Tamora Peirce the author, however the voices are done by the full cast audio family.
Full cast audio is a wonderful cast of voice actors that make the characters come to life. Very often you don’t have to be told who is speaking because each voice is specific to the character. When I say actors, I mean actor. If a character is feeling or says something a certain way, it is conveyed through their voice.
At first, Tamora’s voice as narrator can seem a bit dull at first. However, as the other characters join in it suddenly feels like you couldn’t listen to it any other way.
This is the link for the full cast audio website to learn more:
My review
This is the final book in the quartet. There are still some questions that are left unanswered from the last book. Like, will Daine will meet her father and will Tortall will finally live in peace now that Ozorn is no longer on the throne in Carthak. I have to admit that I was also hoping to see romantic interest for Daine now that she’s 16. An adult by the standards of the time period.
On chapter one, you’re thrown into the middle of chaos as the barrier keeping the immortals out of the human relam has broken. You soon find that Ozorn is not dead as you expected him to be from the events last book, and Tortall is now at war with the an army made of immortals, men from the copper isles, and who know who else. The army is headed up by the former Emperor mage Ozorn who has a deep seeded hatred for Daine, Numair, and Tortall as a whole.
Daine has grown so much since the first book, it really is wonderful to see that she’s becoming a woman. There is so much going on in this book that you will not want to put it down/stop listening to it for a second. I got a fair amount of crocheting done during to this audiobook, because I just couldn’t stop listening to it.
The god’s Realm
The realm of the god’s, is so different from the human realm that you really don’t want to leave. Even with the dangers in this realm being great, you still want to explore everything. The war still going on in the human realm and their friends/loved ones being in danger is the only thing that keeps Daine and Numair on track for going home as soon as possible.
Meeting Daine’s parents was an awesome turn of events, you can definitely see that Daine’s personality takes from them both. I actually cried a bit when Daine’s parents helped her and Numair even though they don’t agree with what she’s doing. The Badger God has been a favorite character of mine throughout the series and he truly shined in this book. The relationship between the Badger and Daine is very special, you can feel his pride in her and the woman she has become.
It’s love and a battlefield
I can’t say I was surprised by who Daine ends up calling her love. I won’t spoil it by saying too much, but in my option the build of of the two admitting their feeling for one another is one of my favorite love stories. There’s so much to do and neither one knows if their going to come out of this alive. They are literally in the middle of a war, possibly a war within a war.
I don’t think I can say much more.. There’s so much going on that I could give away a plot point with too much talking… or typing.. However that works.
Anyway, I highly recommend this book, but be sure to read it in order so you it makes more senses. Seeing the characters grow is part of the fun.
Where to get it
This is the link for the audio book: https://www.audible.com/pd/Emperor-Mage-Audiobook/B002V08DW4
This is the link for the book: https://www.amazon.com/Emperor-Mage-Immortals-Tamora-Pierce/dp/1481440268
The first time I read it, I got it from my local library. I would suggest looking there if you want to read it for free before you buy.
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If you’re looking for more audiobooks, check out these reviews: