- Title:
- Roland’s Vow
- Author:
- R.J. Hanson
- Release:
- November 16, 2020
- Format:
- Audiobook
- Narrator:
- Terry F. Self
- Series:
- Heirs of Vanity #2 – Bloodlines Reforged Saga
As I do, I make my bias’ known at the start of my review. I’m an admin on the official Facebook group (because), I run the official wiki for the saga. I’m a one-time beta reader for the Lords of Order and Chaos series (same saga, same world). I originally received this as a review copy, though I’m re-reviewing it because I was never happy with the original Heirs of Vanity review.
Obviously, I’m very biased. Though as I always do and always will, I’d argue that I’m biased because it’s good. I went into Heirs of Vanity knowing only that it was in the same universe as Fires That Forge. The more I looked into it, the more I found to like about it. I created the wiki because I felt the lore was worth my time and deserved to be documented.
As with Roland’s Path, I didn’t realize how much I had either forgotten or didn’t take in. I remembered I originally said Roland and Eldryn’s journey felt aimless, I always thought that was because I didn’t take notes and was overwhelmed by the amount of story. Well, in my defense, I was kinda right. Wherever they go, interesting things seem to happen. Or maybe they’re just interesting people. It’s probably a bit of both.
The story starts off with Roland and Eldryn waking up from….. something. I reviewed Roland’s Path last week and I still can’t remember what the hell they did at the end. This is why I edit wikis, I can’t remember anything to save my life. This is a minor spoiler, but Roland wakes up and tells the first woman he sees that he loves her. Our boy falls in love faster than a Disney character. ahahahahahahah
Roland is my kind of person. he’s fiercely loyal and he gets shit done. The entire story is just Roland and Eldryn going around, doing interesting, intense, exciting, dangerous stuff and making a name for themselves. You get to meet some interesting new characters along the way. My flavorite is Marnie, a young girl who has a crush on Eldryn and is constantly sassing Roland, which I always found hilarious. the story also returns to some of the Roland’s Path cast, progresses their stories, and expands upon the lore of Stratvs. Ashcliff wasn’t in the story as much as I’d hoped he would be. I was hoping he’d stick with the dynamic duo a little more, but it makes sense that he has his own things going on. I wish I could talk about the awesome stuff the boys do, but I try to avoid spoilers to not limit who can read my reviews.
The narration was excellent. Terry F. Self did an incredible job of adding diversity and emotions to the people of Stratvs. I often suggest him as a narrator when people ask for recommendations.