Ascendant

A Dragon Rider Fantasy (Songs of Chaos, Book 1)

By: Michael R. Miller

Narrated by: Peter Kenny

Length: 17 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

From the author of The Dragon’s Blade Trilogy and the narrator of The Witcher series, comes the start of a new dragon rider epic combining the best of Eragon and Pern with the hard magic of Brandon Sanderson and Will Wight.

Holt Cook was never meant to be a dragon rider. He has always served the Order Hall of the Crag dutifully, keeping their kitchen pots clean.

Until he discovers a dark secret: dragons do not tolerate weakness among their kin, killing the young they deem flawed. Moved by pity, Holt defies the Order, rescues a doomed egg and vows to protect the blind dragon within.

But the Scourge is rising. Undead hordes roam the land, spreading the blight and leaving destruction in their wake. The dragon riders are being slaughtered and betrayal lurks in the shadows.

Holt has one chance to survive. He must cultivate the mysterious power of his dragon's magical core. A unique energy which may tip the balance in the battles to come, and prove to the world that a servant is worthy after all.

Winner of the 2021 National Indie Excellence Award for Fantasy!

Bronze Medal, 2021 YA Epic Fantasy in the Reader's Favorite Award

Finalist, 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Awards for Fantasy

Gold Medal, 2022 Science Fiction & Fantasy eLit Awards

©2020 Michael R. Miller (P)2020 Michael R. Miller

A very good story, with a very good narrator

I came into this with fairly low expectations. Most of my previous experience with audiobooks was weak at best because of the monotone reading of the narrator. With this, I was pleasantly surprised and enthralled.

The books premise wasn't anything remarkable or groundbreaking. However, it intrigued me enough to start it. The pacing was well done, the worldbuilding and details grand enough for me to envision being there. I read a few of the other reviews and found some comparing the magic system to that of a video game, but in reality, it made sense. Magic would be a skill that requires experience in order to grow, the "ranking" being no different than someone calling a mage an archmage after their experience made them stronger.

As for the narrator, I feel as though he did an excellent job. His voice had enough passion and inflection to keep me engaged with the goings on of the characters and the world at large. His pronunciations of certain words were slightly jarring, but only that I had to remember words are pronounced differently between dialects of English. His narration made the world feel alive, and the characters have their own personalities. Again, i feel that he did an excellent job.

TLDR: A well-done first book of a series that I would recommend to those with an interest in fantasy books about dragon riders. Not for everyone, but then what book truly is?.

Great book, awful voice work

couldn't this guy just give the dragons normal voices? I mean, for heaven's sake, having to hear the awful way he voiced the dragons makes me want to put down what is easily a new favorite book.
I think I will buy the paperbacks to escape Peter's awful voice work.

enthralling story!

this is one of the first books in a long time that I couldn't put down! I am excited to see what comes next for this series.

x

loved it and can't wait for the next one! hope it won't take too long

excellent

what a great story , can't wait for more. Hopefully book 2 comes out very very very soon

Very good story if not perfect

It's a good beginning to a fantasy series. It is heavily cliche of course and other times the author is subverting plot point expectations. Which I'm never a fan of. He hints that this will probably happen only to disappoint you later. Some things seem to happen too fast in the book. Such as certain characters dying rather quickly regardless of the build up the author has made of the them. Heros, dragons, or villains will die in one short chapter without much effort. The narrator does a good job with all the voices. I'm curious where the story will go next.

Wonderful Book!

I greatly enjoyed the story and greatly appreciated the fact the it is clean. There was no bad language or sexuality to it. The story flows well, has great action and leaves the reader with anticipation for the next book without a major cliff hanger. I look forward to listening to it with my kids on an up coming trip.

Awesome story excellent narration

This was the best book I have read/heard in a very long time . I truly can't wait for more adventures of Ash a Holt.

Great Listen

This was a great listen for me. It was a good story, the narriation was engaging and the length was good.
I really enjoyed how the story played out and how the seeming hindered Dragon overcame percieved weaknesses.
Character development was good and I even changed my views of one while listening to the story.
I like how the story enhanced my known attributes of Dragons and their connection with humans.
I am really looking forward to the next book in the series and plan to enjoy it as well.

Excellent

Interesting world with characters you think you'll hate, then love. Others you think you'll like, then either love or hate. Good twists on classic elements, will listen to the rest of the story.