Queen of Storms audiobook

Thanks to a very welcome ARC for this upcoming publication, I can now come forth and pretty fairly gush about how much I love the Firemane Saga. Mind you... this is book two, so that means you fans of Feist are comfortable with big stories that build up and complete naturally over a cycle.The first book ended with Hatu and Hava finally resting comfortably in an out-of-the-way town with their new friend Declan and his soon-to-be bride, Gwen. Hatu and Hava, having trained all their lives as assassins, find themselves VERY comfortable with the idea of being married, as innkeepers.Of course, that bucolic scene was never going to last. This is Feist. Tragedies come as easily as the brushfire of war. We spent the last novel enjoying small trials and tribulations, growth as characters, small skirmishes, much greater secrets, and plans within plans... but now, all plans have gone to hell. Indeed, the whole nation goes to hell.Reading this so soon after the first novel, I felt very emotional about many of the things that happened. It affected me pretty hard. No spoilers. But... yeah. All the best-laid plans...As for all you folks who like to know a little taste of the thing to come... prepare yourself for life on the sea. The Queen of Storms, indeed. Tons of action, tons of upsets, and be prepared for a novel as dark and desperate as the first was genuinely hopeful. Feist is a master storyteller. I've read most of his books and he always pulls off a great tale. :) He's at the top of his game with these, too.

QUEEN OF STORMS deserved my 5 stars! I forgot how much I enjoyed the first book KING OF ASHES of THE FIREMANE SAGA until my friends reminded me. So I asked my library to get me book two. And let me tell you, I'm glad that I did! I have never read over 400 pages so fast. If it hadn't been for interruptions I would have finished this sooner. It is unusual for me to read 50 pages in one day, and not just because I read slowly. To tell the truth, I enjoyed going back and reliving the moment as I reread some passages.This book has something interesting every couple of pages. It reads like GAME OF THRONES without the raunchy sex. Lots of action, but also lots of death and destruction. They don't go into gory details, but I found myself thinking "Yea!" every time some bad guy got what he deserved. If it wasn't hunting season here I might have been motivated to run through the woods with my sword slaying bad guys.I liked all the characters, or at least the good ones. You know what their world is like and it doesn't take a lot of imagination to see their world through their eyes.Yes, I enjoyed it, but now I just have to look for Book Three, dang it!

This picks up right after the first book. Hatu and Have are inn keepers at Beran's Hill and they become good friends with Declan and Gwen. Things are okay for a bit but then Hatu comes across some people who are trying to find the last Firemane baby and an attack happens. Hava goes to inform the Baron, Daylon but Hatu gets abducted by the Flame Guard. Declan gets injured and Gwen dies.The plot thickens and everybody is planning something. Every things changes from there on as Beran's Hill along with couple other towns are burnt to the ground by the attackers but nobody knows the attackers. There is a lot of bloodshed and violence. Hava is looking for Hatu with Molly and gets abducted by the attackers and ends up on a slave ship which she ends up taking over with the help of other abductees and turns out that ship has a lot of wealth stored on by the attackers. She becomes Captain of the ship and sails off to the border ports where she's hoping to get to the world of attackers as the attackers aren't even from this continent. I liked Hava but not as much as I had wanted to as she kept on making stupid decisions in the beginning even though she's a trained secret spy and when she takes over the ship I felt things kept happening for her too easy with her mostly untrained group and those same attackers burnt down town after town and killed trained soldiers and militia with such ease so I just couldn't buy that whole chain of events I am sorry.Hatu even though the saga is all about him was barely even in this book and when he was he was drugged and wasn't conscious. I wanted more of him but this book was more about Hava rather than him I felt and I wanted him more. Anyway, his magic is revealed finally even though at the end of the book and still a lot of the questions went unanswered which I believe should have been answered by now. I am obviously hoping for more Hatu in the next book.Declan loses his wife and he feels empty and I felt sorry for him. He also has something magical about him which was revealed in the first book and nothing about that is further revealed and I was disappointed and again hoping it will be revealed in the next book. Other than that I really liked Declan.Donte also makes a comeback and his part mostly made me laugh out loud and I liked what happened with him so far and again not much was revealed about what happened to him with the Sisters of deep and about the sisters' themselves and hoping it will be revealed in the next book. Gosh, a lot needs to be revealed in the next book and I think it's only a trilogy?The Baron, Daylon loses his family as well except for his half brother and plans on taking revenge from the attackers and starts to build his Barony which Declan suspects to be as powerful as another kingdom when it'd be done. I didn't have any favourite characters in the first book but I have found my favourite to be Daylon from this book. I did like all the characters though.A lot happens and a lot of revelations are still made and whilst I guessed some, others I didn't see coming. The pacing was a bit odd and there were some technical errors but other than that it is a great read not as good as the first but still pretty good. 4 stars

** spoiler alert ** Queen of Storms picks up right after the first book. Hatu and Have are inn keepers at Beran's Hill and they become good friends with Declan and Gwen. Things are okay for a bit but then Hatu comes across some people who are trying to find the last Firemane baby and an attack happens. Hava goes to inform the Baron, Daylon but Hatu gets abducted by the Flame Guard. Declan gets injured and Gwen dies.The plot thickens and everybody is planning something. Every things changes from there on as Beran's Hill along with couple other towns are burnt to the ground by the attackers but nobody knows the attackers. There is a lot of bloodshed and violence. Hava is looking for Hatu with Molly and gets abducted by the attackers and ends up on a slave ship which she ends up taking over with the help of other abductees and turns out that ship has a lot of wealth stored on by the attackers. She becomes Captain of the ship and sails off to the border ports where she's hoping to get to the world of attackers as the attackers aren't even from this continent. I liked Hava but not as much as I had wanted to as she kept on making stupid decisions in the beginning even though she's a trained secret spy and when she takes over the ship I felt things kept happening for her too easy with her mostly untrained group and those same attackers burnt down town after town and killed trained soldiers and militia with such ease so I just couldn't buy that whole chain of events I am sorry.Hatu even though the saga is all about him was barely even in this book and when he was he was drugged and wasn't conscious. I wanted more of him but this book was more about Hava rather than him I felt and I wanted him more. Anyway, his magic is revealed finally even though at the end of the book and still a lot of the questions went unanswered which I believe should have been answered by now. I am obviously hoping for more Hatu in the next book.Declan loses his wife and he feels empty and I felt sorry for him. He also has something magical about him which was revealed in the first book and nothing about that is further revealed and I was disappointed and again hoping it will be revealed in the next book. Other than that I really liked Declan.Donte also makes a comeback and his part mostly made me laugh out loud and I liked what happened with him so far and again not much was revealed about what happened to him with the Sisters of deep and about the sisters' themselves and hoping it will be revealed in the next book. Gosh, a lot needs to be revealed in the next book and I think it's only a trilogy?The Baron, Daylon loses his family as well except for his half brother and plans on taking revenge from the attackers and starts to build his Barony which Declan suspects to be as powerful as another kingdom when it'd be done. I didn't have any favourite characters in the first book but I have found my favourite to be Daylon from this book. I did like all the characters though.A lot happens and a lot of revelations are still made and whilst I guessed some, others I didn't see coming. The pacing was a bit odd and there were some technical errors but other than that it is a great read not as good as the first but still pretty good. 4 stars

** spoiler alert ** Queen of Storms picks up right after the first book. Hatu and Have are inn keepers at Beran's Hill and they become good friends with Declan and Gwen. Things are okay for a bit but then Hatu comes across some people who are trying to find the last Firemane baby and an attack happens. Hava goes to inform the Baron, Daylon but Hatu gets abducted by the Flame Guard. Declan gets injured and Gwen dies.The plot thickens and everybody is planning something. Every things changes from there on as Beran's Hill along with couple other towns are burnt to the ground by the attackers but nobody knows the attackers. There is a lot of bloodshed and violence. Hava is looking for Hatu with Molly and gets abducted by the attackers and ends up on a slave ship which she ends up taking over with the help of other abductees and turns out that ship has a lot of wealth stored on by the attackers. She becomes Captain of the ship and sails off to the border ports where she's hoping to get to the world of attackers as the attackers aren't even from this continent. I liked Hava but not as much as I had wanted to as she kept on making stupid decisions in the beginning even though she's a trained secret spy and when she takes over the ship I felt things kept happening for her too easy with her mostly untrained group and those same attackers burnt down town after town and killed trained soldiers and militia with such ease so I just couldn't buy that whole chain of events I am sorry.Hatu even though the saga is all about him was barely even in this book and when he was he was drugged and wasn't conscious. I wanted more of him but this book was more about Hava rather than him I felt and I wanted him more. Anyway, his magic is revealed finally even though at the end of the book and still a lot of the questions went unanswered which I believe should have been answered by now. I am obviously hoping for more Hatu in the next book.Declan loses his wife and he feels empty and I felt sorry for him. He also has something magical about him which was revealed in the first book and nothing about that is further revealed and I was disappointed and again hoping it will be revealed in the next book. Other than that I really liked Declan.Donte also makes a comeback and his part mostly made me laugh out loud and I liked what happened with him so far and again not much was revealed about what happened to him with the Sisters of deep and about the sisters' themselves and hoping it will be revealed in the next book. Gosh, a lot needs to be revealed in the next book and I think it's only a trilogy?The Baron, Daylon loses his family as well except for his half-brother and plans on taking revenge from the attackers and starts to build his Barony which Declan suspects to be as powerful as another kingdom when it'd be done. I didn't have any favourite characters in the first book but I have found my favourite to be Daylon from this book. I did like all the characters though.A lot happens and a lot of revelations are still made and whilst I guessed some, others I didn't see coming. The pacing was a bit odd and there were some technical errors but other than that it is a great read not as good as the first but still pretty good. 4 stars

4 stars You can read all of my reviews at https://nerdgirllovesbooks.com/.This is a fantastic second book in the Firemane Saga. There is everything you want and need in an epic fantasy book - non-stop action, betrayals, twists and turns, new alliances, intense fighting, horrific devastation, high-sea drama, and much, much more. We begin in Beran's Hill. Hatu and Hava bought Gwen's father's inn and are rebuilding it. They become friends with Declan and Gwen and have settled into life in the quiet town. But, because this is an epic fantasy, it doesn't stay quiet for long. Different groups of mysterious strangers arrive and it's clear they are dangerous men up to no good. Hava and Hatu discover that two men are looking for Hatu and decide to send a message to their masters in the Kingdom of Night. Before we know it trouble comes to Beran's Hill and many lives are upended. The characters are scattered and the remainder of the book finds several of them on separate paths. New characters are introduced as more of the plot comes into focus, but for every question answered, even more arise. I really like the new character of Molly Bowman. We were introduced to her in the last book, but she wasn't as prevalent as she is in this one. Molly adds a bit of wit and heart to the story, and becomes a good and trusted friend to Hava. Hava has never had a female friend, and it's nice to see their friendship develop. I really enjoyed how twisty the plot is getting. You can't get too comfortable with what you think is going on because before you know it, the author throws another wrench in the works. The scale of the story is getting massive, but have no fear, it's still easy to follow along. In the grand scheme of things, the number of characters to keep track of is manageable. Each chapter alternates its focus on a different character so you know what is happening with multiple characters simultaneously. This is pretty cruel of the author because I couldn't put the book down without finding out what happened next and before I knew it, hours had passed.This book does not suffer from "second book syndrome" where the story plods along and is basically filler. The action starts right out of the gate and doesn't let up until the exciting cliffhanger. I can't wait to read the next book in the series. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and Harper Voyager in exchange for an honest review.

The second novel in the “Firemane Trilogy” picks up with most of our four main point-of-view characters from book one, King of Ashes, in pretty comfortable places. Of course, the serenity can’t last, not with those that are behind the grand betrayal depicted in that first book still out there. A major horrific event occurs early on and separates the main characters, leading them to grow in their own right, but all driven to recover what they had and reconnect with each other. Hatu is still the last remaining member of the ruling family of Ithrace – the legendary Firemanes, that needs to remain in obscurity or risk assassination, but it is his wife, Hava that gets the bulk of the cool storylines this time out. This novel is traditional epic fantasy. By that, I mean that unlike much of today’s “gritty” fantasy, the heroes face tough situations and decisions and make their way through them much like a true hero would. They may make mistakes, but their motivations are good. You will not find F-bombs in this book nor anti-heroes as main characters. There is some hefty tragedy in this second book, turning the main storylines on their head and destroying the characters’ best-laid plans.Raymond Feist is, of course, well known for his lengthy Riftwar Cycle involving many inter-related trilogies, duologies, etc. and totaling nearly 30 books. He tells his stories through his characters and this book continues that tradition. The world building was well done in the first novel but is greatly enhanced this time around as the characters are thrust into new regions and must learn new skills and social dynamics in order to cope and progress toward their futures. The prose is very down-to-earth and easily readable (once again, not like so many of today’s gritty fantasy that tries to be “literary” at the expense of good old fashioned story-telling). All in all, this is a solid second novel in “The Firemane Saga” and serves well to set up a great finish in the third book. However, this world is sufficiently complex and interesting to allow for another one or two…or five trilogies to come, much as Feist did in his lengthy Riftwar series.Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, HarperCollins for a free Advanced Readers Copy. This book is due to be published on 14 July 2020

Book 1: 4*Book 2: 4*My only complaint about this one is that it seemed short and took a while to get going. I'm also worried about this only being a trilogy. In so many ways it seems like things are just starting. I've seen what I believe to be the ending since book one but the writing and characters are so good I really don't care.

The tale continues apace. Well written, as always, great plot and characters. An effortless but entertaining read

RTC

He certainly knows how to end a book. I enjoyed it more than King of Ashes. Could/Should have had more Sisters Of the Deep updates… they appeared for like a paragraph. Book 3 is gonna be crazy.

Really loving this series, unfortunately after binging the first 2 books I now have to wait for the next one to come out

Our heroes make an effort to live quiet and normal lives but unfortunately big and mysterious plans get in the way and everything is destroyed in fire and violence. So begins a struggle to save whatever they can, figure out what's going on, and get revenge. Through all of this, the unique characters created by the author stand out more, which gives more depth to this book. The continuous action that results from all this highlights once again the ability of the author in this field who through these scenes offers moments of heroism, emotions, and also humor, as he is used to all these years. A very good sequel to this trilogy.Οι ήρωες μας κάνουν μία προσπάθεια να ζήσουν ήσυχες και φυσιολογικές ζωές αλλά δυστυχώς μεγάλα και μυστηριώδη σχέδια μπαίνουν στη μέση και όλα καταστρέφονται στη φωτιά και τη βία. Έτσι ξεκινάει ένας αγώνας για να σώσουν οτιδήποτε μπορούν, να καταλάβουν τι συμβαίνει και να πάρουν εκδίκηση. Μέσα από όλα αυτά αναδεικνύονται περισσότερο οι ξεχωριστοί χαρακτήρες που δημιουργεί ο συγγραφέας, κάτι που δίνει μεγαλύτερο βάθος σε αυτό το βιβλίο. Η συνεχόμενη δράση που προκύπτει από όλα αυτά αναδεικνύει για ακόμα μία φορά την ικανότητα του συγγραφέας σε αυτόν τον τομέα ο οποίος μέσα από αυτές τις σκηνές προσφέρει στιγμές ηρωισμού, συγκινήσεις αλλά και χιούμορ, όπως συνηθίζει όλα αυτά τα χρόνια. Μία πολύ καλή συνέχεια σε αυτή την τριλογία.

This second instalment of the Firemane Saga takes the story further, revealing some of the mysteries set up in the first book.The world-building is excellent and the characters are well-developed. I still don't have a particular favourite but I'm gaining an odd fondness for the manipulative priestly characters.More behind the scenes manipulators are brought into play, along with more secret societies. Betrayals and attacks happen all over the place and the main core of characters try to survive them and prepare for the coming war and invasion.I did wonder at the title, but that question is answered near the end of the book.Looking forward to the third instalment of this story.

För drygt ett år sedan fick den förra av dessa mig att återvända till läsning i stor skala. Denna är lika bra. Minst lika bra. Feist talang som författare, är skildringen av små saker - pilar som slår in i väggen bakom huvudpersonen som flyr upp ett rep, användandet av (alldeles för dyr) ambra för att bygga stinkbomber, de ord en tjänare som stänger fönster på ett värdshus vind hör. I denna bok får dessa småsaker fullt spelrum, och de stora slutstrider (som Feist hanterar sämre) som präglar Feist böcker har ännu inte dykt upp. Istället hanteras de strider som är genom små skilda episoder, vilket hjälper. Jag rekommenderar denna varmt, för genreälskare.

Feist at his best, story telling at its best.Highly recommended to my goodread friends who read fantasy of the highest quality.

An amazing sequel to King of Ashes! Can't wait for the next one! Not sure who pops in the page numbers but my book had 461 pages ....not 400.