Fintan, Bard of the Poet Goddess Kaelin, gathers folks in the town and retells stories and invites others to share those. The stories surround the folks of Teldwen, whose lives have been uprooted by armies of giants who invade their lands bent on conquest. I loved these stories, and I had to laugh because I began this audiobook on vacation. My thought process was that I'd listen over the 14 days we were away. Ha. I finished as the fourth day began. The four-hour flight had a lot to do with that.
Giants
- Hathrims -They are masters of fire. They realize their land is in danger from a volcano and use the opportunity to move to resource rich lands. While they had good reason to leave, and chose lands in Teldwen that were unoccupied they upset the Fornish, who border its lands. They are masters of the forest, woodcraft and lore. The Hathrim use the trees the Fornish see as scared for fuel and thus the fighting beings.
- Bone Giants- a fearsome bunch who make land in search of the seventh kenning. They lay waste to the cities and lands of Teldwen.
People of Teldwen
The people of Teldwen live where their kennings are most useful.
- Fornish- reside in Forn and are masters of wood, forest, woodcraft and lore
- Raelach- live in Rael and are masters of earth
- Brynts- reside in Brynlon and are masters of water
- Nentians- live in Ghurana Nent and are masters of air
- Hathrim -reside in Hathria and are masters of fire
- Pelemyn- this is where Fintan the bard shares the story of the "Giant Wars" to the people.
The Kennings are gifts or magic individuals hold. The magic comes from the elementals and mythology which quickly made me feel at home. Those who are gifted the kennings, use them with care as doing so drains their lifespan. When the story begins there are five known kennings, and they will soon discover a sixth. No one knows what the seventh kenning offers. I liked the magic and rules established within the world. We get to see a few characters come into their powers and witness them trying to master skills.
While the story contains multiple POVs and shares both present and past accounts, I felt the bard and scholar Dervan Du Alöbar who is transcribing the story being told, pulled all of it together. Kind of like a giant play with intermissions by Dervan. The stories surround the invasion of the Hathrims, the Bone Giants invasion and political unrest or indecision among those in Teldwen. I quickly became connected to the multiple characters and felt their happiness and loss.
Luke Daniels narrates much of the story and as always he is a masterful storyteller with a wide range of voices. He brings Hearnes charters to life, I even heard a little Oberon, and it made me grin. Xe Sands was a new-to-me narrator, but she compliments both Hearne and Daniels wonderfully. She typically took on the female roles and her pacing, tone and connection to the characters only enhanced Hearne's story. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer