Reviewed by Morgan
Title: Counterpoint
Author: Rachel Haimowitz
Narrator: Craig Beck
Series: Song of the Fallen #1
Heroes: Ayden/Freyrik
Genre: MM Fantasy
Length: 11 hours, 55 Minutes
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: September 8, 2016
Available at: Amazon, Audible and iTunes
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: It is the twilight of mankind. Depleted by generations of war with a race of dark beasts, humanity stands on the brink of extinction. The outlands are soaked with the blood of the fallen. The midlands are rotting with decadence and despair.
Elfkind, estranged by past crimes, watches and waits for nature to run its course.
And then the two collide.
Ayden’s life has long been guided by two emotions: love for his sister, and hatred of all things human. When he’s captured in battle, he is enslaved in the service of a human prince, Freyrik Farr. Freyrik’s always known elves to be beautiful and dangerous, but never has one affected him as deeply as Ayden. Teetering on a dagger’s edge between duty and high treason, Freyrik discovers that some choices can change a life, and some an entire world.
Between prejudice, politics, pride, and survival, Ayden and Freyrik must carve a new path, no matter how daunting. For nothing less than the fate of both their peoples rests on the power of their perseverance—and their love.
Review – Book: Wow. This is an EPIC story. It’s got war, betrayal, love, loyalty, politics, slavery, new worlds, magic… just about everything!
The world building is complex and the love story is very, very slow burn. Though Ayden gets captured fairly early in the story, it’s not til the last third of the book that our MCs cross the line into intimacy. As a result, it shouldn’t be a surprise that this ends on a cliff-hanger and continues into book two where it culminates.
The author creates the space for this alternate reality by not only describing the world, but through the dialog, phrasing, and word-choice, she also brings to mind a fairy-tale like sequence.
Because this is a time of war, there is a lot of violence in this and there are times it’s hard to read/listen to what happens to our MCs and others.
I think that fans of fantasy romances will absolutely adore this and those of us who aren’t crazy about high fantasy will soon realize that the world building is done in such a way as to feel “real” and not intimidating in it’s newness.
I’m not going to go into the description of the story, there are reviews out there that re-tell what happens, but I will say that it starts off slowly and builds rapidly – keeping our MCs in near constant action.
Review – Audio: I am not a high fantasy fan, generally. I chose this because of the narrator. I love Craig Beck and have been utterly charmed by each of the narrations of his I’ve listened to. I knew – if anyone- could make me love this genre, it’d be him.
Well, he succeeded! He’s a truly gifted narrator and absolutely brings the story to life. I really enjoyed listening to him – his pacing, intonation, and accents are wonderful.
I can safely say that I recommend this to both fantasy lovers and those with less love for the genre.
Overall Impression: I loved it!
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*
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