A Plague of Giants (Seven Kennings, #1)

by Kevin Hearne

[Melanie]

My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

So I was very excited to start this book. I’ve been a fan of The Iron Druid Chronicles since I finally started it last year (yes, I was very late to the party, but better late than never). I was very interested to see what Kevin Hearne had in store for us with his new series. And to learn that Luke Daniels is back as the narrator, now paired with Xe Sands, was a real treat.

So let me start by saying that this is not The Iron Druid Chronicles. It is a completely different story and writing style. They aren’t similar at all. This is a much more complex read. I had to pay way more attention to this story to get everything than I did with Atticus. Also, this story is told from many POVs, and a lot are being told through a bard’s telling of the stories (which he does magically). Then there is also the story of the bard. So, we are frequently going back and forth from past to present.

So this book is set in a completely different world than ours. People can get magical powers, called kennings. They do have to go through a process to get the powers and not everyone survives the process. For example, to get the powers of a tidal mariner, most powerful of the water gifts, you have to dive into this tunnel. If you’re blessed by the goddess, you will be able to breathe the water and live. If not, you drown. There are five known kennings, though the sixth one is discovered in this book. There are people who are desperately looking for a supposed seventh kenning. Lastly, the more you use your kenning, the faster you age. I love that there is a trade off for magical powers (both in getting the powers and in how they are used). It makes them feel more real.

The things I really loved about this book was the characters (I’m sure you’re all surprised, since I love character driven stories). There are several characters to root for in this story. There are people who may not survive, but you love the time you spent with them. I really enjoyed learning about all the kennings. I’m really excited to see where book two goes from here (waits patiently for release date of book two). I highly recommend this story, just know that it isn’t a light read.

Narration
I knew that I would love the narration of Luke Daniels, but this is my first book with Xe Sands (which really surprised me. I thought I had listened to her before, but I can’t find anything. I did meet her at RT17 in Atlanta. She was very sweet). I will say that these two did an amazing job with the narration of this book. There is a large cast of characters and they nailed them all. Xe narrated all the parts told from a female’s POV and Luke from the males, but they both had to male and female voices. They also used array of accents, from both male and female voices. I love all the voices they chose. I can say that I truly felt that I enjoyed this story more listening than I would’ve if I had read it.

**I like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.