More or less John Wick in Middle-earth. Good for high-fantasy fans looking for a non-stop, action-filled, twists 'n turns version.

Conozco a Gregory A. Wilson por su podcast Speculate!, pero la verdad es que como autor no lo había catado, hasta ahora. Grayshade es la primera entrega de una trilogía, fantasía muy pero que muy convencional aunque escrita con oficio y entretenida. La verdad, si os fijáis en la cubierta, es un resumen perfecto de lo que nos vamos a encontrar, con el típico enmascarado misterioso TM que protagoniza el 80% de las cubiertas de fantasía, pero con un detalle, el kukri que porta, que quizá cambie algo de lo que ya esperamos.


He de decir que la narración del audiolibro por parte de Tren Sparks es estupenda y puede que haya redondeado hacia arriba la puntuación que le iba a otorgar a Grayshade . Os preguntaréis por qué, la respuesta es porque es alucinante su capacidad para dotar a cada personaje de una voz distinguible quizá solo alterando un poco el tono. Creo que esa es la labor más encomiable de un lector profesional de libros, añadir matices al texto para hacerlo aún más creíble. Lectores como John Lee o Samuel Roukin, con un dominio enorme de su registro de voz capaces de resonar en nuestro interior.

En cuanto a la obra en sí, nada de lo que os cuente os sorprenderá. El protagonista es un asesino TM, miembro de la hermandad de asesinos TM, que lleva a cabo su labor de asesinato sin poner en duda en ningún momento las razones para ejecutar a sus víctimas. Pero cuando las necesidades de su siguiente misión empiezan a hacerle dudar de sus actos, todo su sistema de creencias TM se derrumbará como un castillo de naipes.

Como ya he mencionado, la historia es muy normalita, no esperéis sorpresas en ese aspecto. Si bien es cierto que las escenas de acción están bastante bien narradas, el sistema mágico sigue cubierto por un tupido velo aún en el final de la novela y en general, la maraña de conspiraciones no es tan enrevesada como sería de esperar. Quizá los puntos fuertes de la historia son los atisbos de la intrahistoria de Grayshade y sus comienzos en la senda de los asesinos TM, con un personaje, Caoesthenes, que destaca especialmente en todas sus apariciones.

Una lectura ideal para el verano, una novela sin muchas complicaciones que cumple perfectamente con su función.

Gray shade obeys the Order of Argoth but who is really issuing these orders for him to kill people? He has questions which will lead to him becoming a target himself. Gray shade will question his faith and total obedience. If he surveys can he craft a new future? Book one and I look forward to more.

Well written and well narrated (I listened to the audiobook). In-depth characters whose lives and deaths cross over in this well paced novel. Politics are at the heart rather than faith dictate the deaths of others to retain power. Enjoy a great first novel.

I have just started listening to Book 2: Black and I honestly can't see myself finishing this book.
The book started out good and I really like the narrator. The voice is very nice and fits the character. I like the other character voices the narrator does. They are believable and not over the top.
I noticed right away that this wasn't revolutionary or groundbreaking fantasy but I didn't mind at first. The longer the book went on though, I realised there was absolutely no diversity in the cast. All characters were men, seemingly white, and very cliché fantasy characters: the rough main guy, the insecure young man, the wise old teacher. It's easer for me to see past this kind of thing in an old, classic fantasy book. In a book written now, it just got harder and harder to get lost in the world.
In the latest chapter the main character meets a 10-year-old child and the author uses they/them pronouns for this child. It was honestly just super confusing. I don't understand if the author is trying to make some kind of statement by creating a gender non-conforming child or if the author feels that 10-year-olds are not old enough to inhabit a gender. This scene took me out of the book completely.

I will give it another chance at some point but I felt the need to share this feedback now.

I thought I would try this Audio book as the storyline was different from my usual physiological thrillers and as book one in a trilogy it has the making of a good series
Assassin turned good it will be good to see how this trilogy pans out

Thank you NetGalley, Atthis Arts, and Gregory A Wilson for the audiobook. The narrator Tren Sparks holds you in with their deep melodic tones. The story reads old Fantasy and I can’t put the book down. The book is short and reads fast. I am excited for the next adventure. One of my favorite reads of the year, for sure. I ordered some more of Gregory A. Wilson's books and look forward to reading their other works.

Grayshade is a story of an assassin in the service to an order reported to serve a god of "justice" who begins to doubt, and inevitably turn on, the order to which he belongs. It should be noted, he neither doubts, nor turns on said order until they begin chastising him for doing so....for no real reason, setting up doubt where there was none....so they must be the worst order of assassins ever if they are that bad at keeping secrets...but I digress...

The writing is passable, but nothing special. The characters are virtually indistinguishable. There is little to no characterization between any given character beyond, "X says", or "Callosotomy (not his name, but tragically his name evokes it) does machines, Jek is a jerk, etc. so every character feels no different from another. Fortunately the narrator is good, and does a phenomenal job at giving the characters such different voices I thought, at first, it was genuinely a different person. This doesn't save it.

It's also bogged down in practically non stop exposition dumps that seem to be mistaken for world building. 53% into the book, I've been told a LOT about who is who, who runs what, and what what is...but what the book has drastically missed out on telling me, is why I should care about any of the goings on or any of the people.

Over half way through and I'm less engaged than when i started, I'm afraid that's my cut off point. As far as "assassin fiction" goes, this is as bland and basic as it gets. Perhaps it ramps up before the end, but you really need to hook your reader before they've reached the half way point.

DNF @ 56%

*ARC provided by NetGalley & Atthis Arts*