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kitvaria_sarene's review
3.0
Toric's Dagger by Jamie Edmundson works probably have worked a lot better for me some years ago.
Having read as many fantasy books as I have, it just felt a bit too stereotypical, and predictable.
I did like the tone and voice of the two main characters, but some of the side characters felt a bit too two dimensional to me, as well as fulfilling the typical tropes.
Some scenes just felt weird and disjointed, like they had been stuck in there with sticky tape, instead of an organic part of the story, like I've specific scene meeting two wizards.
I found the start of the story intriguing, but sadly lost interest the farther i read, and by the end I wasn't interested enough anymore to pick up any sequels, despite owning the whole omnibus.
Overall it might well appeal to those looking for an easier epic read, with a familiar cast on a quest.
Having read as many fantasy books as I have, it just felt a bit too stereotypical, and predictable.
I did like the tone and voice of the two main characters, but some of the side characters felt a bit too two dimensional to me, as well as fulfilling the typical tropes.
Some scenes just felt weird and disjointed, like they had been stuck in there with sticky tape, instead of an organic part of the story, like I've specific scene meeting two wizards.
I found the start of the story intriguing, but sadly lost interest the farther i read, and by the end I wasn't interested enough anymore to pick up any sequels, despite owning the whole omnibus.
Overall it might well appeal to those looking for an easier epic read, with a familiar cast on a quest.
inked_up_bookshelf's review
3.0
I started this novel on audible and while appealing it was very Lord of the Ring type… High Epic fantasy is often hard for me to get into. The long journeyed novels often get boring. I need action, dialogue.
While there was plenty of actions and certainly enough dialogue there was a high lulled in the middle of this that left me somewhat bored. It was unfortunately absolutely necessary for this lull as it gave insight needed for the future of this series. By the end I recaptured my attention to what may come and may continue at a later date. For now 3.5 solid stars.
While there was plenty of actions and certainly enough dialogue there was a high lulled in the middle of this that left me somewhat bored. It was unfortunately absolutely necessary for this lull as it gave insight needed for the future of this series. By the end I recaptured my attention to what may come and may continue at a later date. For now 3.5 solid stars.
sunny_care's review
4.0
First of all, whoever made the casting choices for the voice actors? Good job.
The book is voiced by two people, a man (Greg Patmore) who narrates the story and voices the men and a woman (Bridget Thomas) who narrates the women. It's not too common that books are narrated this way, so it threw me off for a second. But after I got used to it it really works for this book. Especially because you meet so many different characters it helps to differentiate them.
The genre is "epic fantasy" and I'd like to put emphasis on the word "epic." A lot happens in this story. I mean, a lot. It starts with a bad of thieves, led by brother and sister duo Soren and Belwynn, who are brought in to reclaim Toric's Dagger, a relic stolen from their home kingdom. They travel across kingdoms and empires an even to lands of different races. My head is spinning with the expanse of this story.
I listened to the book over the course of ten days and one bit of advice I'd like to offer: Take it slow and savor it. I am going to have to re-listen to this, because I'm sure there are important things I missed. But I enjoyed the book the first time around and I will enjoy it a second time.
Good for fans of expansive and epic fantasy audiobooks.
The book is voiced by two people, a man (Greg Patmore) who narrates the story and voices the men and a woman (Bridget Thomas) who narrates the women. It's not too common that books are narrated this way, so it threw me off for a second. But after I got used to it it really works for this book. Especially because you meet so many different characters it helps to differentiate them.
The genre is "epic fantasy" and I'd like to put emphasis on the word "epic." A lot happens in this story. I mean, a lot. It starts with a bad of thieves, led by brother and sister duo Soren and Belwynn, who are brought in to reclaim Toric's Dagger, a relic stolen from their home kingdom. They travel across kingdoms and empires an even to lands of different races. My head is spinning with the expanse of this story.
I listened to the book over the course of ten days and one bit of advice I'd like to offer: Take it slow and savor it. I am going to have to re-listen to this, because I'm sure there are important things I missed. But I enjoyed the book the first time around and I will enjoy it a second time.
Good for fans of expansive and epic fantasy audiobooks.
thiefofcamorr's review
3.0
Read for the SPFBO, this is the another book that I chose to further consider out of my initial 30, trying to whittle them all down to a single title to put forward to the other judges.
A heist story - yay! At least, this is how it starts, and unfortunately the most interesting writing is at the beginning. The heist scenario is over by about 10%, and from there we are taken to how the novel got its name - Toric's Dagger, which is a religious relic and needs to be stolen. Stolen back, that is. I never really felt as though they had reason enough to be the ones who had to get it back. It's a big world out there.
The world building itself felt decent. It felt like a big world that worked, had depth, where people came from a range of socioeconomic lives and it all made sense in the big scheme of things of how lives work.
Overall, however, the characters felt a little flat and seemed to speak the same, and rely on 'exclaimed' and 'answered' to get their point across. The main characters are a set of twins who can talk to each other mentally, and there's also a split narrative following a couple of childhood friends (one the son of a landowner, and the other of course a son of a man who used to work those lands...) and their chapters at the start were honestly so boring I skim-read them. The twins however had a far more interesting plot line and was more of a joy to keep reading.
Small errors such as to 'knock' an arrow threw me out of the story, and gave the illusion of limited research. Fair enough if it's a simple typo, however a reader can also assume the author doesn't know much about archery.
Overall this was a readable book, but this sub-genre is written time and time again that when an author plays in this sandpit - it has to be good. And this was possibly at the middling level of the sub-genre.
A heist story - yay! At least, this is how it starts, and unfortunately the most interesting writing is at the beginning. The heist scenario is over by about 10%, and from there we are taken to how the novel got its name - Toric's Dagger, which is a religious relic and needs to be stolen. Stolen back, that is. I never really felt as though they had reason enough to be the ones who had to get it back. It's a big world out there.
The world building itself felt decent. It felt like a big world that worked, had depth, where people came from a range of socioeconomic lives and it all made sense in the big scheme of things of how lives work.
Overall, however, the characters felt a little flat and seemed to speak the same, and rely on 'exclaimed' and 'answered' to get their point across. The main characters are a set of twins who can talk to each other mentally, and there's also a split narrative following a couple of childhood friends (one the son of a landowner, and the other of course a son of a man who used to work those lands...) and their chapters at the start were honestly so boring I skim-read them. The twins however had a far more interesting plot line and was more of a joy to keep reading.
Small errors such as to 'knock' an arrow threw me out of the story, and gave the illusion of limited research. Fair enough if it's a simple typo, however a reader can also assume the author doesn't know much about archery.
Overall this was a readable book, but this sub-genre is written time and time again that when an author plays in this sandpit - it has to be good. And this was possibly at the middling level of the sub-genre.
shereadsontrains's review
4.0
This is a great beginning in what is sure to be a superb epic fantasy series. It has everything you could want, a group of travelers, interesting humanoid races, and fantastic world building. Pick this one up if you want a travelling story with a montley crew .
I listened to the audiobook and it was well narrated.
I listened to the audiobook and it was well narrated.
alwroteabook's review
4.0
Okay, I've got to admit, I didn't give this book a fair crack of the whip. I've had other stuff going on that was somewhat distracting, and I was also reading Chasing Graves and We Ride the Storm in the same period.
On to Toric's Dagger. The story tells of twins Belwynn and Soren, who take on the job of retrieving an ancient religious relic,that doesn't seem to have any real value. They were wrong. Their road leads the twins and their merry band down a twisting path that leads to a war that could end all wars. Can they hang onto the dagger, or will one of the other "interested parties" steal it for their own nefarious means?
I liked what I heard of this book. The story was good, the characters were likeable and funny, and it had a dark touch that always puts a smile on my face. The two narrators was an interesting idea. Normally it would be mostly redundant, but the twins could communicate telepathically,so the having a female voice for Soren made a lot of sense when trying to figure out who was talking.
I am going to get back to this, probably give it a reread/listen in a couple of months. Well worth checking out for fans of dark or epic fantasy. 4/5 stars.
On to Toric's Dagger. The story tells of twins Belwynn and Soren, who take on the job of retrieving an ancient religious relic,that doesn't seem to have any real value. They were wrong. Their road leads the twins and their merry band down a twisting path that leads to a war that could end all wars. Can they hang onto the dagger, or will one of the other "interested parties" steal it for their own nefarious means?
I liked what I heard of this book. The story was good, the characters were likeable and funny, and it had a dark touch that always puts a smile on my face. The two narrators was an interesting idea. Normally it would be mostly redundant, but the twins could communicate telepathically,so the having a female voice for Soren made a lot of sense when trying to figure out who was talking.
I am going to get back to this, probably give it a reread/listen in a couple of months. Well worth checking out for fans of dark or epic fantasy. 4/5 stars.
alexiacambaling's review
4.0
I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Toric's Dagger starts off with a bang. Or rather, a heist. It introduces us to Belwynn and Soren, two twins who have the ability to communicate telepathically, and the group of people they work with. The opening chapters also serve to familiarize the reader with the group's dynamics and their roles.
Be warned though: the first chapters are nothing like the rest of the book. By the time the heist arc is finished, the rest of the story unfolds and becomes more epic in scope. We are introduced to princes, would-be-kings, kings, and even an emperor. The politics that come in later were a nice surprise, and I really enjoyed how all the plot elements were introduced.
Because the main plot revolves around the retrieval of a dagger, there is a lot of traveling in this book. While traveling in a lot of fantasy books can be tedious if not done well, I didn't have a problem here as the story is pretty action-packed. There are no long scenes full of navel-gazing, but there are dangerous road encounters and enemies lurking around every corner. The main plot reminds me of an RPG fetch quest- if said fetch quest features a lot of twists you didn't see coming. This isn't a straightforward story in which a dagger is taken and must be retrieved. There will be surprises.
The writing is fast-paced and conveys the action very well. However, there were some typos and possible grammatical errors. Those are far and few in between, however, and didn't impact my reading too much. While there, the prose and dialogue are pretty okay and does its job well.
As much as I enjoyed the plot and the twists, the main thing I liked was the characters. I loved Soren and Belwynn and the rest of their motley crew also intrigued me. The characters have some interesting backstories that I want to see explored more and I also want to see where each character's arc would take them. One more thing is that this book features a lot of women characters. There are women who are heroes, women who are villains, and those who lie in a somewhat gray area. I really liked how they were portrayed and how they seemed to be believable characters.
All in all, I really liked Toric's Dagger. I think it can be a good gateway to high fantasy considering its shorter length at 321 pages.
This review can also be found on The Bookworm Daydreamer
Toric's Dagger starts off with a bang. Or rather, a heist. It introduces us to Belwynn and Soren, two twins who have the ability to communicate telepathically, and the group of people they work with. The opening chapters also serve to familiarize the reader with the group's dynamics and their roles.
Be warned though: the first chapters are nothing like the rest of the book. By the time the heist arc is finished, the rest of the story unfolds and becomes more epic in scope. We are introduced to princes, would-be-kings, kings, and even an emperor. The politics that come in later were a nice surprise, and I really enjoyed how all the plot elements were introduced.
Because the main plot revolves around the retrieval of a dagger, there is a lot of traveling in this book. While traveling in a lot of fantasy books can be tedious if not done well, I didn't have a problem here as the story is pretty action-packed. There are no long scenes full of navel-gazing, but there are dangerous road encounters and enemies lurking around every corner. The main plot reminds me of an RPG fetch quest- if said fetch quest features a lot of twists you didn't see coming. This isn't a straightforward story in which a dagger is taken and must be retrieved. There will be surprises.
The writing is fast-paced and conveys the action very well. However, there were some typos and possible grammatical errors. Those are far and few in between, however, and didn't impact my reading too much. While there, the prose and dialogue are pretty okay and does its job well.
As much as I enjoyed the plot and the twists, the main thing I liked was the characters. I loved Soren and Belwynn and the rest of their motley crew also intrigued me. The characters have some interesting backstories that I want to see explored more and I also want to see where each character's arc would take them. One more thing is that this book features a lot of women characters. There are women who are heroes, women who are villains, and those who lie in a somewhat gray area. I really liked how they were portrayed and how they seemed to be believable characters.
All in all, I really liked Toric's Dagger. I think it can be a good gateway to high fantasy considering its shorter length at 321 pages.
This review can also be found on The Bookworm Daydreamer
anniewilson's review
3.0
This was okay. However I was confused and had to relook what the senopsis of this books was again half way through to make sure I was understanding what was happening.