Son of the Black Sword

Saga of the Forgotten Warrior, Book 1

By: Larry Correia

Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds

Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Finalist, Fantasy, 2016

After the War of the Gods, the demons were cast out and fell to the world. Mankind was nearly eradicated by the seemingly unstoppable beasts until the gods sent the great hero, Ramrowan, to save them. He united the tribes, gave them magic, and drove the demons into the sea. Ever since, the land has belonged to man, and the oceans have remained an uncrossable hell, leaving the continent of Lok isolated. It was prophesized that someday the demons would return, and only the descendants of Ramrowan would be able to defeat them. They became the first kings, and all men served those who were their only hope for survival.

As centuries passed, the descendants of the great hero grew in number and power. They became tyrannical and cruel and their religion nothing but an excuse for greed. Gods and demons became myth and legend, and the people no longer believed. The castes created to serve the Sons of Ramrowan rose up and destroyed their rulers. All religion was banned and replaced by a code of unflinching law. The surviving royalty and their priests were made casteless, condemned to live as untouchables, and the Age of Law began.

Ashok Vadal has been chosen by a powerful ancient weapon to be its bearer. He is a Protector, the elite militant order of roving law enforcers. No one is more merciless in rooting out those who secretly practice the old ways. Everything is black or white, good or evil, until he discovers his entire life is a fraud. Ashok isn’t who he thinks he is, and when he finds himself on the wrong side of the law, the consequences lead to rebellion, war - and destruction.

©2015 Larry Correia (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"This book has everything I like in fantasy: intense action scenes, evil in horrifying array, good struggling against the darkness, and most of all people - gorgeously flawed human beings faced with horrible moral choices that force them to question and change and grow." (Jim Butcher, creator of the New York Times best-selling Dresden Files)

“I loved the book, it was great, fast paced, with wonderful characters, and also a lot of wonderful scenes that screamed to be painted.” (Larry Elmore, legendary, award-winning artist and cover artist for Son of the Black Sword)

"Correia skillfully sets in motion this story of plots within plots, revealing complex, sympathetic characters and black-hearted villains with equal detail and insight. Full of action, intrigue, and wry humor, this exciting series launch promises many more thrills to come." ( Publishers Weekly)

New Fantastic Series !!!!

So far all the books by Larry Correia are awesome, and this one is no exception. Fantastic storyline interesting characters and good twists.

I was worried before I started listening to this book about the century this story is set in, as the other series were set in the 20th and 21st centuries. But no worries, it was great and the way the story was told was great.

Narration was good as well, no issues there at all.

I wonder how long this series will be, its quite good, looking forward to the next addition.

loved every minute!

this isn't normally a book I would buy but thought I would try it on a whim.so proud I did! it's really a great listen! loved the characters and the story line! can't wait for the next in this series!

Can't wait for next book

Great story and narration, has become one of my favorites. Many twists and revelations so it's not too predictable.

Slow start, but then a great ride

A change of pace for this (auto buy) author. A view of slavery and possible redemption.

Excellent start to the series

Larry Correia, whose other Series include Monster Hunter International and The Grimnoir Chronicles, starts a new series with this one, in a straight fantasy world. It is a departure for him, with a lot less humor and a much more serieous take on epic fantasy, bordering on Grimdark. It is an interesting book, with a fully fleshed out world, with a long history that is slowly revealed. The characters, a strength of Correia's in all his books, are engaging and multi dimensional, with realistic motivations for their actions. No Deus ex machina or Macguffins necessary to move the plot along, just engaging storytelling. The actions sequences, of which there are a lot, are excellently staged, as is typical of anything written by Larry Correia. I found myself unable to guess the twists and turns in the plot, which I found refreshing. Tim Gerard Reynolds does an outstanding job of bringing the differnent characters to life, really adding to the book. Any fans of Anthony Ryan, Luke Scull or Brian Stavely will enjoy this book, as should fans of his previous works.

Loved it!

Tim Reynolds makes everything sound great and even better with a good plot and writing

Another Great Larry book

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

If you like Monster Hunter you will love this. Its basically the same style but with swords

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Correia does it again.

Another series from the gunslinging accountant that goes in a different direction from it's peers, and is entertaining the whole way through.

Medium-ocre

Generally speaking Larry's books are great. Sadly this isn't. The plot is muddled, which wouldn't be a big deal if every bit of the dang story didn't feel the same. I felt lost with the world premise even though there were a bunch of solid characters. I felt lost this new world of this book needed a ton more explanation, especially considering where his genre has come from before. Many new fantastic worlds such as Cinder Spires, Storm Archives, or even the cruddy Thomas Covenet world were more developed by the end of book 1.

Sorry, Larry but I'm disappoint with this one. Please make the next at least Storm Archives length to show us your new world.

Good start, but missing something.

While a good story, it is nowhere near as enjoyable to listen to as compared to Larry Correia's other series, MHI and Grimnoir. There was a lot of world building in the beginning to the story and was a bit slow. It took about 3 1/2 hours to finally get going with the story. And at about half past hour 5 the political part of the story started to take over. Which isn't my favorite type of story whether it be real or a fantasy genre. So this book is perfect for all those listeners out there who are into hard core fantasy books. For me while I did like this book, I felt it was missing something, maybe some humor. I also wished that Ashok would have developed more sooner in the story and got over his racist point of view. The story also jump around in time and then would skip parts of the story right at the climaxes only to tell you about it later, that drove me crazy. It also introduced new characters in the middle of the story but they end up becoming some of the main characters which also through me off. I probably will listen to other books in this series, eventually. Narrator was good, a bit monotoned but with a nice voice.