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Age of Iron
Unavailable
Age of Iron
Unavailable
Age of Iron
Audiobook15 hours

Age of Iron

Written by Angus Watson

Narrated by Sean Barrett

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5/5

()

Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

LEGENDS AREN'T BORN. THEY'RE MADE.
Dug Sealskinner is a down-on-his-luck mercenary traveling south to join up with King Zadar's army. But he keeps rescuing the wrong people.
First Spring, a child he finds scavenging on the battlefield, and then Lowa, one of Zadar's most fearsome warriors, who has vowed revenge on the king for her sister's execution.
Now Dug's on the wrong side of the thousands-strong army he hoped to join ­-- and worse, Zadar has bloodthirsty druid magic on his side. All Dug has is his war hammer, one small child, and one unpredictable, highly-trained warrior with a lust for revenge that might get them all killed . . .
LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 2, 2014
ISBN9781478929789
Unavailable
Age of Iron

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Reviews for Age of Iron

Rating: 4.434210526315789 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

190 ratings22 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Historically accurate, believable characters, great plot...what’s not to love about this book? After hearing the author’s notes at the end, the listener gets an insight as to how much research and effort went into the creation of this story. I DEFINITELY recommend this to any anglophiles and/or history buffs out there.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Parts of it were really good and parts of it were excruciatingly boring
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The characters were very relatable, and I found myself swept away.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book has its foundation on historical events but at a time where the dearth of recorded history allows the fiction and fantasy to enhance rather than distract from the story. The small dollops of romance did not overtake the story and the more important relationship is that of a flawed father figure and a ten year old girl. All in all just the kind of historical fantasy a male American reader would expect from an author named Angus Watson. This reader was not disappointed!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Holy crap! So so so good, I can’t wait to get into the next one!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book was a pleasant surprise. The narration was perfect and I really felt like I was a part of the story. Love the historical fiction fantasyness of this novel and I can’t wait to continue listening to the rest of the series
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Jxjdjdjjdjd d. D d d. D d. D. D d
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Pretty good book. A bit slow in the beginning but great once I got into it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great book, really liked the writing style. Great narration enjoyed it all the way through. Great characters looking forward to another of his books.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    this had some very gory parts, but also had some hilarious parts. I enjoyed it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Really good one. If you’re thinking about listening to it.... then do it
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Decent writing, great narrator. Really enjoyable book for the most part. I definitely recommend but it tends to get a tad bit soap-opera-ish at times.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I wasn't so sure at the beginning, which starts out a bit all over the place, but once I got past that, I couldn't put it down. (I've already started book two.) There was also a nice smattering of subtle humor throughout the book, which I appreciated.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really enjoyed the book! The character plots were developed, it was well written and I truly enjoyed the narration. I experienced a range of emotions. I Recommend book 1 ... off to book 2!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    That was a great listen... Gotta love a good story with a great naration

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Exceptional story telling read by a masterful performer. If you are a fan of Celtic fiction, you can’t find better entertainment.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I really wanted to love this but I didn’t. I like fantasy and I like history so this should be perfect book for me, right?
    I think the biggest problem was that I thought this was a fantasy book. But it was in Britain, Romans are coming and Germany was also mentioned. Just because you add pagan gods and add few druids and their magic doesn’t make it proper fantasy book for me. If I think it as a historical book then the too modern language would bother me. At some point I wanted to start counting how many times shagging was mentioned but that would have meant too much commitment.

    I didn’t mind the blood, gore or mentions of rape but that could be a problem for someone. I’m pretty sure that every time new female character was introduced we’re told how her face, hair, boobs and ass looks. And it got tiresome after awhile.

    Aithne was big-boned, big-arsed, busty and tall with hair the colour of piss-soaked stable straw, while Lowa was average height, slender, with hair so blonde it was almost white. Admittedly she was on the stocky side of slender. Riding and archery had built muscle, and a keen observer would have seen that her right shoulder and arm were bigger than her left from drawing the longbow, but she was slim-waisted and supple, with a bottom that lobbed slingstones would have bounced off. Aithne had the small-featured, freckled face of a milkmaid. Lowa had the pale skin and high cheekbones of a fairy princess. Aithne had dark, bovine eyes with long, heavy lashes. Lowa's eyes were blue, pale-lashed and slanted like a wildcat's. Aithne was gregarious while Lowa watched from the edges. Aithne was confused and idealistic where Lowa was logical and pragmatic. Aithne was a glutton for food and booze, often to be found vomiting before bed, while Lowa never overate and had never been sick after drinking. Aithne was two years older, but Lowa had been the leader as long as she could remember. (pg.53)

    I couldn’t care less about the characters and I was so bored that I had to force myself to open the book. The writing wasn’t bad but unfortunately that’s not enough to make this good. But I liked that there is strong women who went to battles, and fought well, so that is a bonus and earned higher rating.

    This definitely wasn’t for me but everyone else seems to love this so don’t take my word for this.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a really strong series opener. The characters are vivid and the world building excellent.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    good writing, long for me so I didn't read every word, but good entertaining characters
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is a great book. It is a different tone of fantasy than I am used to, a theme I have been going with lately when I choose my reads. It was an interesting experience. It is a very adult fantasy epic with a lot of myth, celtic and roman cultures, historical tones mixed in. The chapters are in montages. Yet there were echoes of scenes and actions that sparked memories back to those childhood summer days where I would spend hours reading my ridiculous stack of fantasy books from the library.

    Something new that feels like an old friend. Read it if you love fantasy, like history, vikings, magic, sarcasm, war and weaponry, and epics.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    holy smokes this book was great. LOVED every second of it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Age of Iron ended up surprising me in many delightful ways, but what I didn’t expect at all was how addicting it was. It simply grabbed me by the throat and wouldn’t let go. It’s dark, brutal, violent and gritty, and yet I was completely immersed in its harsh, war-torn world.We begin the story with an introduction to Dug Sealskinner, a mercenary on his way to join up with King Zadar’s grand army at Maidun Castle, hoping for a way to earn some steady coin. But then he is waylaid at Barton, a town that gets attacked and annihilated by the very same people Dug had wished to join. In the aftermath, he meets up with a strange young girl named Spring, and together they encounter Lowa Flynn, formerly one of Zadar’s favored fighters who now finds herself on the run and seeking revenge on the king for her murdered band of warrior women. King Zadar is a tyrant like no other with his twisted sense of how the world should be. His betrayal of Lowa and failure to capture her has earned him a dangerous enemy, but his killing and pillaging across the country has also made him the target of a young druid named Ragnall, who too seeks to make his way to Maidun to rescue his kidnapped fiancée. Ragnall and his mentor Drustan end up joining with our trio, and together the five make up a rather motley party of unlikely adventurers, all with a common foe.Very little is known about life in Iron Age Britain; that the book began with this fact and a “this is what really happened” kind of statement in its foreword made me wonder what I’ll be in for. Large swaths of the book filled with history lessons, perhaps? But no, while we do indeed get a torrent of rich, scintillating details about the world, all of it no doubt painstakingly researched and cross checked and checked again by the author, none of it felt blatant or overtly shoved down my throat. In fact, Watson placed storytelling and characters first, which is what I think made the book’s pacing so successful. He gave backstories to even the more minor characters, in a way that didn’t bog down the story but instead enhanced it, as every detail seems purposely placed to provide insight into the people and life at the time. The plot is also constantly driving forward, and there aren’t many places where it loses steam. History clearly has a role in this book, but the ultimate goal here is epic adventure, and we certainly don’t sacrifice storytelling or momentum.It also wouldn’t feel completely without a bit of magic, which brings us to the druids. I admit I was very much drawn to the mention of them in the book’s description, as I’ve always been interested in the subject. And the druids of Age of Iron are fascinating indeed. There are all kinds of druids – healers, soothsayers, magicians, some who are benevolent and others who are bloodthirsty and depraved. This latter sort of druid seems to get the most attention, in the form of Felix, the druid who serves King Zadar. As cruel and wicked Zadar is, Felix makes him look like a snuffling choir boy. Some of the druid’s deeds are hard to read about, described in all its gruesome, gory details, and Watson doesn’t spare his readers one bit in this area. I guess here’s where I should mention that no one is safe in this book – men, women, children and animals are all subjected to some horrific, violent fates, and it can get quite graphic – disturbingly so. If you’re squeamish or turned off about that kind of stuff, here’s a caveat: you might want to stay far away.And yet, Age of Iron isn’t all doom and gloom, and blood and guts. There is humor, and there are inherently good people in this book. However, none of them are so black-and-white as that either. Characters like Dug, Lowa, Spring, and Ragnall serve as good counterpoints to the depravity and viciousness of people like Zadar and Felix, but our so-called heroes aren’t without their weaknesses. The may endear themselves to you, make you laugh or make you root for them, but be prepared to despise them sometimes too, because in the end they are also flawed people and simply trying to survive a world trying to do them in. I was all the more impressed by the well-roundedness of these characters, and whether you love them or hate them, I thought they were all very developed and well written. Needless to say, I can’t wait for the next book. Age of Iron is one hell of a novel. The polish and skill in the writing makes it hard to believe it’s a debut, but you can bet Angus Watson’s got my full attention. I’ll definitely be watching for his future works as well as the progress of this series with great interest.

    1 person found this helpful