Tao Wong

The First Step

Fraser Simons

This was a pleasant surprise. Pacing, character work, fantastic descriptions of fight sequences, a fun plot that emphasizes classism and prejudice. The audible narration is great as well. I’m terrible at pronunciation so it was an added component to listening to it rather than reading. Will definitely check out the second book. Took a chance on these with the recent audible series sale; totally worth it!

The First Stop

A fun follow up that follows his journey through the inner sect. Much of it is negotiating schooling and deciding how to progress, and that was pretty enjoyable for me, as I find the setting interesting and wanted to know more about it. There’s quite a bit of a exposition dump but I think otherwise it would have been quite a large book, so I didn’t mind this.

It wasn’t as strong as the first plot wise, though, which I think would have easily made this a 4 star book. Some foreshadowing and restructuring would have made this really tight. As is though, I didn’t mind the character arc, which felt like it came out of no where - but when listening to an audiobook that can happen sometimes. I am definitely less engaged listening than reading, so I try to choose straightforward and less complex titles for audio. This one has a good narrator and because a bunch of words aren’t English, it’s great listening to how things are supposed to be pronounced. 

All in all, it feels like an indie self published title, but also better quality than most titles like that I’ve found on Amazon. I’m pretty happy with this and will get the next book at some point.