Blood of the Earth

Sovereign of the Seven Isles, Book 4

By: David A. Wells

Narrated by: Derek Perkins

Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Alexander’s costly victory at Northport provides only a brief reprieve from the onslaught of enemy forces converging on those loyal to the Old Law. Prince Phane has created a deadly new soldier - man mixed with darkness - imbued with terrible power and a purpose so sinister that that it could turn those Alexander loves most against him…or take them away from him forever. Zuhl is plundering Fellenden, killing, torturing, and enslaving the people for his own selfish purpose. He’s using the fabled Iron Oak forest to build a fleet of warships capable of dominating the oceans of the Seven Isles, ensuring his ultimate dominion over everyone, everywhere. The shades are loose in the world and starting to make their move. They intend to open the Nether Gate and plunge the world of time and substance into eternal darkness. Blood of the Earth is the story of Alexander’s struggle to preserve the Old Law against impossible odds while trying desperately to save the one person he loves most from a fate worse than death.

©2012 David A. Wells (P)2014 Podium Publishing

Nothing Original, But Enjoyable None The Less

I’ve been meaning to write a review of each of the book in the Seven Isles series, but just haven’t seemed to get around to it. Now that I completed it, I have decided to write a review of the entire series instead. I guess as a whole I would best describe The Seven Isles as The Wheel Of Time Lite. With much of the same concepts, evil returns to the world, as a young hero and his friends take up the unwanted duties to save mankind, the Seven Isles doesn’t have quite the depth of Robert Jordan’s novels.

Books one and two are much the same, and center around the young hero Alexander. After his brother is murdered, he returns home to find that an evil Arch Mage has arisen from the dead, and Alexander is the long lost ancestor of an ancient king, the only person who can defeat the mage. Predictably, our young hero wants nothing to do with saving the world, but the Arch Mageforces his hand by sending evil forces to kill him. The story stays exclusively with Alexander’s character in the first two books as he and his friends run for their lives. The story almost becomes comical as they are repeatedly attacked by both men and creatures. It seems that our band of heroes can only walk mere steps before another attack comes from soldiers, wizards, demons, dragons, and wild animals. At one point they are attacked by a swarming hive of bees. Each time they barely survive and must heal themselves with magic or potions. It really became a bit ridiculous the amount of times characters should have died only to healed just in time. Despite these things, for some reason I still found myself enjoying the books enough to continue.

Books three and four of the series mark a vast improvement. After two books of following only Alexander, the book suddenly opens up to include the view points of other characters. The best of these are Alexander’s new wife Isabel, and his sister Abigail. The story improves greatly from this point as plots begin to take form, and the group does less running and hiding. Alexander begins to strengthen his magic, and his friends find they have some powers as well.

Books five and six form a bit of a lull in the series as Alexander is either injured or in the custody of one enemy or another for much of the two books. He learns to project his image to anywhere in the world, and spends much of these two books helping the others from afar. The other character blossom more in this book, which was a good thing, but waiting for Alexander to return to the action got a little old. Secondary plots are given more time as Alexander is away.

The seventh and final book is by far the best of the series as our heroes prepare for and execute the final battle with evil. The final battle is drawn out nicely, and most plots are put to rest nicely so the the world may live happily ever after.

Overall, despite this story not being the most complex or original, it redeemed itself with likable characters and an overall enjoyable feel to it. Yes the good characters were good beyond the point of saints, and the evil were predictably wicked, but I found myself enjoying the series more and more as I went along. I almost gave up on this series after book two, but for some reason I found myself wanting to continue on. By the end I found the Seven Isles to be very rewarding listen.

Yikes!

I do not have time to give this its proper review. I will just say that this is a really good addition to the story but UGH the ending! Cliffhanger does not even begin to describe it. That being said, I think there are some character inconsistencies that boggle my mind. I like the light versus dark, good versus evil, love versus despair story that is going here but I do not like when authors make characters suddenly respond in a way contrary to their personality (e.g. a logical character acts illogical).

Sad the whole way through!!!

I understand books must have their ups and downs but it seems like what can go wrong does go wrong for Alexander in "Blood of the Earth." Not one encouraging part during the plot. I was thoroughly disappointed with this addition to the series!

Somewhat enjoyable series.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I wouldn't say the time was well spent on this series. It could have been a great series but...there were too many "she wiped away a tear". Tears filled her eyes", she fought back tears". Tears tears tears! Do men really think women are bursting into tears all of the time?
Other than this, there is an awful lot of repetition, sometimes a section is repeated almost word for word. Was the author not paying attention or did no one proof read the manuscript.
The characters were likeable enough. The author spends time developing a character and then moves on to the next one. Characters from earlier in the series undergo no more growth or development they become caricatures of themselves, one dimensional and boring.
The battle scenes are interchangeable. It's just your stock battle scene insert here, here, and here.
The main character seemed
D likeable at first, but by book six, even he has lost his personality. He makes stupid decisions to prolong the story when he could have ended the book much earlier. I have read up to and including book six and I will finish book seven just to see how the author ends the tale. That is if the characters all don't get bored and leave in search of a better tale to become involved in. I sure hope it has a good ending because it's been a long sloug.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

There are no endings so far.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

He could have skipped all the handkerchief scenes with the female characters, such a lot of crying females!

Was Blood of the Earth worth the listening time?

Not so sure, maybe after the series is over I can answer that. If it has a decent ending yes, but if book seven ends the way the others have, well the answer would have to be no.

Impossible obstacles

Though the story remains interesting the author continues to put forth Honestly it's distraction things out too for obstacles for the MC confront with no time to rest and so the MC fails to develop any magical ability. Honestly it's just stretching things out too for

Captivating

Wonderful series that gets better with every book. Talented writer and narrator. Can't wait for more.

A Struggle to Enjoy

The first two books of this series were amazing. There was a plot, several smaller crescendoes, a final climax, and then hinting at the next story. Several times throughout each book there were victories of some sort or another, whether through attaining new artifacts to use, gaining new friends, narrow escapes, or conquering an enemy. Book three had some of the same, but not as much. Book four was just one bad turn of events and disappointment after another. I presume at this point in the series the author is building towards victories to come in books 5-7, but you have to give the reader more in the hear and now in each book, not just put it off for the final crescendo in book seven. There’s a long list of things those holding to the old law are up against, let them have victories over one or two of those things while saving the rest for the next book. The impression I get is that the author had meant for a shorter series, but after the success of the first two books the publishing company pushed the author to make it into more books than had been originally planned. The result is “thin,” as Bilbo Baggins might say, “like butter spread out over too much bread.” I really wanted to enjoy this book, and I’ll continue reading the series regardless, but this was truly a struggle to stick with.

I love this series!

I love the series. The author, narrator, story lines ... I love it all! If they made it into a movie, I'd be first in line on opening day!!!

Ugh...This was horrible.

After listening to the Omnibus(books 1, 2 & 3) I struggled with the decision to move on to book four. The story has potential but it has been disappointing so far. Book 4 was a MASSIVE mistake. The MC makes one bad decision after another which is apparently contagious because then the supporting characters make stupid decisions as well. The way this book ended was flat out stupid. Completely quelled any thought or desire to finish this series. I'm done.

Do yourself a favor, unless this type or story (and narration) is absolutely enthralling you DO NOT BOTHER!

The main character is annoyingly prone to catastrophe

The additions of multiple foes, dangers, and horrors becomes so prevalent the story is lost and the belief that survival is possible is unbelievable. Rushing into danger repeatedly and foolishly is stupid. The fact that there are plans contingent on one character who doesn’t work with others is fool hearty. To enjoy this book you must suspend belief and are left with annoyance.