Audiobook Review: The Sparks

Author: Kyle Prue

Narrator: Jon Eric Preston

Length: 9 hours 14 minutes

Publisher: Cartwright Publishing⎮2017

Genre: Epic Fantasy

Series: Feud Trilogy, Book One

Honor does not bend. A will of iron does not break. Victory lies within the ashes.

The Vapros, the Taurlum, and the Celerius: three dynasties bound by an ancient promise, and given superhuman abilities to protect the city of Altryon from the dangerous world beyond its walls. The Vapros have the ability to teleport and turn their enemies to ash, the Celerius have super speed and the ability to heal from any wound, the Taurlum have skin like steel and godlike strength. Centuries of petty infighting have turned the families against each other, resulting in a secret war. A powerful emperor now rules over all, as the families have weakened by massive casualties.

Sixteen-year-old Neil Vapros desperately wants to become an assassin, to please his hyper critical father. After failing his first mission, Neil learns that a sinister new force has awakened. This mysterious new power threatens to shatter the established order and threaten the lives of everyone in Altryon – regardless of their family name or allegiance.

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Limited copies of The Sparks audiobook are available for interested reviewers on The Audiobookworm’s Adopt-An-Audiobook page.

Kyle Prue is an award winning author, actor and comedian. Kyle wrote The Sparks: Book 1 of the Feud Trilogy when he was just 16 years old. Kyle has spent the past year on a national book tour visiting over 80 middle and high schools and meeting over 60,000 students. Kyle is now a freshman at the University of Michigan, studying acting and creative writing. He still visits schools and is a keynote speaker for conferences.

Kyle is the founder of Sparking Literacy, a non-profit dedicated to lowering the high school dropout rate by inspiring teens to read, write and follow their dreams. The Sparks has won numerous national awards including Best YA Fiction awards from: The Florida Authors and Publisher’s Association, the Florida Book Festival, New England Book Festival, Midwest Book Festival, Southern California Book Festival, and the International London Book Festival. Kyle also won an International Moonbeam Award and IndieFab Award for Best Young Author.

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Jon Eric Preston received his Theatre degree from Florida State University after returning from the London program. He earned top honors narrating in the Dramatic Interpretation category on the Speech and Debate team, and performed professionally in Children’s Theatre companies and did National Tours of A Christmas Carol, Twelfth Night, and Othello.

As a SAG BookPAL and a father reading to his two boys for more than 12 years, moving into the booth to record audiobooks was a natural and joy filled progression.
He is thrilled to be narrating and giving voice to the characters for Kyle Prue’s Feud Trilogy.He is thrilled to be narrating and giving voice to the characters for Kyle Prue’s Feud Trilogy.

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This was such an amazing audiobook and I am yet again lucky to be part of this book tour. I have so many great things to say, I don’t even know which one to begin with.

To start with a little background about the story, we have three powerful families, each in charge of some aspect of life in the city of Altryon. All members of these families were given certain abilities by the gods so they can serve and protect the citizens. However, a long lost war has been going on between them and now their youngest members have to unite and find a way to work together. It takes a common enemy and a loss from all sides to bring them together.

I love to very much how this story was full of action, how we get to experience each character’s point of view and each character’s development. Even if sometimes simple, the writing is very “familiar”, easy to understand and following a specific purpose. I appreciated the descriptions and the attention to details, as well as the political intrigues mixed with family and other social aspects.

Neil shows determination and somehow he is the leader of this group. He leans on his family and allies to reach his goals. Lilly Celerius is forced into maturity probably much earlier than she was expecting. The hesitation and lack of experience is visible in her personality, though she evolves and will be ready to face her opponent. The Taurlum brothers, even if they have received the gift of strength from the gods, seem to give up the fight even since the beginning. This is the amazing part in this book. There are no characters alike, all characters improve and learn from their mistakes.

Family aspects blend very well with politics, overcoming conflict and accepting responsibilities. Close to the end of the book, all characters have to decide if they are ready or not to continue the fight and this struggle is also very well captured – I know this is vague but.. it’s just some other awesome thing in this book that I just had to mention.

The narrator did an amazing job in expressing each character’s emotions and feelings. He managed to make us understand the despair, panic, conflict, love, hope. I absolutely adored his calm and clear voice.

To close, I cannot give less than 5 stars for this amazing book and I do hope you enjoy it as well. I cannot wait for the next book in the series!