Brilliant

We need more fantasy like this. Very well written and performed and the second book is even better.

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Very good!

Really enjoyable with great characters & a good story. Can’t wait for the next instalment!
Great narration by Colin Mace bringing the characters alive with great accents & personalities.

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1 person found this helpful

Frustrating

Firstly, the story itself. Wragg is clearly a solid and talented writer and has created a band of likeable and well developed characters, in a world I was keen to explore. The story progressed a little slowly, but kept me interested.

Secondly, the narration. Mace gave life to these characters and for the most part I enjoyed the narration. This is the first narration I have listened to by Mace, and I will try more. However...

The main reason I am writing a review is because of the quality of the production. Sound quality et al is fine, but I could not possibly recommend this audiobook unless you are fine with having your hand on the volume dial constantly, as Mace (or the production, I honestly don't know which is to blame) goes from too loud to too quiet almost constantly throughout the book, particularly when voicing characters. This was particularly prevalent in the final quarter of the book.

This made for an incredibly frustrating and uncomfortable listen which I just could not enjoy and I found myself wishing it would just hurry up and end.

I recommend a different format for this book as I'm intrigued by any sequels and will be continuing, just definitely not with audio.

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9 people found this helpful

Why is it so quiet?

Story is good, performance is good, could have just done with being a lot louder

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2 people found this helpful

Another sleepless night!

what an excellent book!
I can only recommend that you don’t start it in bed as a means to go to sleep ( as i did) because you will not get any as it is too good to turn off.
I became completely involved in the plot, all the swordplay, and even all the swearing as i could not turn it off because you never knew what was going to happen next.
I have just purchased book 2 “the righteous” which means another night with no sleep LOL

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A promising start to an interesting new series

STICK WITH IT!
When I first started listening to this audiobook, the first hour or so was oppressively slow, but soon enough I started to really enjoy the characters and their interactions. This culminated especially with the arrival of the titular 'Black Hawks', who are some of the most endearing and likeable characters in any book I've ever read. The story is also good, engaging and fun throughout with nice twists. When I finished the book, I was actually sad it was over, eagerly anticipating the sequel.

Colin Mace does a stellar job at narration and really shines when voicing the Black Hawks.

I cannot recommend this book enough!

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3 people found this helpful

Some decent fantasy action

It took a while for me to get into it but as it got going I was happy. A decent plot, some rollicking action, a dollop of intrigue, and very well narrated. I was looking for something after I ran out of Joe Abercrombie books, and I’m glad I chose this. I would only have made it longer. I am immediately moving onto the sequel.

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Slow, and rather bland

The Black Hawks is marketed as a book that fans of Joe Abercrombie and Scott Lynch will love. My being a huge fan of those two particular authors dove into this book as soon as I saw that tag line. I wish they hadn't put that tag line on. Not only did I not love it, but I just downright wish I hadn't bothered. I feel the truth had been somewhat abused by that sales pitch.

Abercrombie's books are filled with rich, detailed characters and a world that feels as real as the one we live in. It's also brimming with clever turns of phrase and witty banter that doesn't rely solely on swearing. Lynch's books are, similarly filled with wit and you can't help but grin at most of the stuff written.

With The Black Hawks I never really felt in anyway attached to the characters nor did I find any similarity in turns of phrase or level of wit that might make someone liken it to Abercrombie or Lynch. There was wit, I'd be lying if I said there wasn't. But what wit there was relied heavily on swearing to get the humour across which, when done sparingly can be effective. But, when done as heavily as I just mentioned, falls flat and loses its appeal quite early on.

I also feel as though the main character had nothing that made him stand out as a main character. Nor did he have anything to really give him any form of character. He was just there and, despite knowing why he was there I just couldn't see why he had to be. Had he died early on, I can't imagine the book would have suffered anything for it. For the vast majority, he just felt like a total nonentity. A frustrating nonentity considering his was the overall POV.

Sadly, to my eyes at any rate, this was a flaw experienced by most of the characters within the book. I usually like a mercenary company style novel, but this one didn't have any of the flavour or shine to it that other such books do.

The character of Lemon was my favourite and I found that parts with her in went down an absolute treat. It's just the rest that seemed utterly grey instead of brimming with colour. I never really felt fully attached to the story either. I can see why, if someone were enjoying it, the plot points and events throughout would be enjoyable. But, to someone like me, who was struggling to keep interested, they did very little to keep that interest from waning.

I've since read several reviews for this and they are generally positive. So it's just one of those cases of one size not fitting all. 

I felt the narration was lacking as well. Colin Mace has a very good voice for general narration, but his overall vocal range for character voices wasn't very deep. He also frequently took pauses where there was no punctuation. It sounded like a man who was reading, got to the end of the page and had to wait until it was turned to carry on. It really hit the pacing and, considering how often it happened, felt quite jarring.

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1 person found this helpful