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House of Blades

The Traveler's Gate Trilogy, Volume 1

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House of Blades

Written by: Will Wight
Narrated by: Travis Baldree
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About this listen

Simon can only watch, helpless, as his family is killed and his friends captured by enemy Travelers—men and women who can summon mystical powers from otherworldly Territories. To top it off, another young man from Simon's village discovers that he's a savior prophesied to destroy evil and save the realm.

Prophecy has nothing to say about Simon. He has no special powers, no magical weapons, and no guarantee that he'll survive. But he sets off anyway, alone, to gain the power he needs to oppose the Travelers and topple their ruthless Overlord. It may not be his destiny, but Simon's determined to rescue his fellow villagers from certain death.

Because who cares about prophecy, really?

©2013 Hidden Gnome Publishing (P)2022 Audible, Inc.
Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Village
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About the Creator - Will Wight

About the Creator

Will Wight is the New York Times and #1 Kindle bestselling author of the Cradle series, a new space-fantasy series entitled The Last Horizon, and a handful of other books that he regularly forgets to mention. His true power is only unleashed during a full moon, when he transforms into a monstrous mongoose.
Will lives in Florida, lurking beneath the swamps to ambush prey. He graduated from the University of Central Florida, where he received a master of fine arts in creative writing and a cursed coin of Spanish gold.

What listeners say about House of Blades

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Awesome book.

Loved it. Story kept me hooked right till the end, can't wait to move into book 2!

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Excellent!

Loved the adventure you took me on! Enjoyed Will’s story very much and Travis was great to listen to.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Great book

Awesome book with a very unique magic system that I haven’t seen before in other books!

100% recommended.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Another Hit by Will Wight + Travis as Narrator

Gritty, dark , fantasy with a twist. Love how the main character isn't treated with " you are the chosen one ". Really good character development, gonna check out the next in the series

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Extremely pleased overall

The narrator's multiple characters are splendid. I really like his voice. The story is also gripping so I'll go on to book 2 for sure

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Great magic system

I really like the magic system and the world's lore. The way things work and how the different magical territories operates is very compelling. The premise isn't super original being ur standard small village raid and hostage rescue, but it's a very good story nonetheless. My only gripe would be the characters. They didn't grow on me until the last chapters.

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Good story

I think the world building was great. The contrasts of the main characters are interesting and I’m looking forward to the next books.

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Great story

I like the fact that after reading book 1 I still can't decide who I am rooting for in the story. There's great potential in the world building and character development. looking forward to book 2.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Unique Magic System

*Note: If you are planning on listening with kids, this book is occasionally violent/gory

Chris Wight crafts a capable 'Wheel Of Time' analogue: a medieval-level of development world with war, magic, good & evil wizards, monsters, and a prophesied powerful hero that will bring peace to the kingdoms. Don't expect anything terribly original.
Where Wight shines is in envisioning some clever worldbuilding: the rare individuals of the magical class in Wight's imagining are called "Travellers".. able to draw specific elemental forces (fire, lightning, ice, etc.) - and summon monstrous/celestial creatures - by accessing "Territories" - fascinating extradimensional worlds - where Wight's characters can also journey to explore.
He further writes with decent prose/vocabulary, excellent imagery/metaphor, well-scripted combat, and quirky characters & dialogue (eccentric wizards with talking dolls and wisecracking animated suits of armor, for example). His description is also mind's-eye vivid - including sounds and smells (as mentioned, those sounds and smells include screams of agony & burning flesh.. but, regardless, the action is cinematic).
Wight's pacing is pretty weak in this book - too often alternating plodding and hurried - but the plot progression is intuitive and captivating. The book is definitely readable.

The narration of the book contributes to it's suitability, too. True, reader Travis Baldree far too often exhibits over-the-top character voices.. but his diction, timbre, and cadence are exemplary. Audible Studios did well to enlist Mr. Baldree on this project. His interested tone is actually *chefs kiss* for the text.

Despite a couple of deficiencies, I rate Book One of the 'Traveler's Gate' Trilogy 8 stars out of 10. Don't expect to be blown away by 'House Of Blades' - but the book would merit a Credit if they asked for one (I am thrilled that I was able to get it as a 'Plus' option).

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    5 out of 5 stars

one of the best fantasy series on the plus catalog

An original story with believable characters won me over very quickly. this is a book you can decide if you like or not in the first chapter and keeps a very nice steady pace.

Definitely recommend if you are sick of the "cHosEn OnE" tropes and like characters that make human errors and have reasonable outlooks.

The performance by Travis Bladree is as good as ever if you are familiar with his name you know the narration is going to be good before you listen to the first chapter.

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2 people found this helpful