The Waking Fire

Executive Summary: A great start to a new series. It blends a lot of different things together in an interesting way to feel original. I'm really looking forward to see where he takes things from here.Audiobook: Steven Brand is a great narrator. He reads with good inflection, and does a few voices. In the past my main complaint about him has been he speaks too quietly. He's either fixed that, or the people making the books are adjusting his volume up to make him a lot easier to hear than past books I've listened to.Full ReviewI absolutely loved both [b:Blood Song 13569581 Blood Song (Raven's Shadow, #1) Anthony Ryan https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1421573407s/13569581.jpg 19148922] and [b:Tower Lord 18138189 Tower Lord (Raven's Shadow, #2) Anthony Ryan https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1382486392s/18138189.jpg 25481154]. It's possible that it made it impossible for me to love [b:Queen of Fire 18405221 Queen of Fire (Raven's Shadow, #3) Anthony Ryan https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1417350958s/18405221.jpg 26039753]. Either way, I was disappointed enough in that book, that I was reluctant to pick this one up. I had planned to wait on reviews from people I trusted to come out before getting it. Then a review copy fell into my lap.This book is kind of a hodge podge of several things I love: Mistborn, Indiana Jones, James Bond, and Dragons. And if that's not enough there is also high sea adventure, and pirates! That may sound like a mess, but Mr. Ryan does a great job in blending those elements together. I also can't guarantee all of those things were influences on this book, but they are things I thought about as I was reading.Mistborn has one of my all time favorite magic systems. This one feels similar, only a little less structured, and with only 4 known types of abilities. The main similarity is the idea of imbibing something in order to do magic, and that only a small number of people are born with the ability. Beyond that they are quite different.My favorite character is Lizanne, who is basically Jane Bond. Her story line was always my favorite, and I really want to know more about the training she went through. I hope we get some flashbacks or possibly her training new recruits in future books, but then I'm a sucker for the magic school trope.Clay was also a great character, and a more reluctant protagonist then Lizanne. His story was reminiscent of an Indiana Jones story, with him being basically nothing like him. If anyone is Jones it's maybe his uncle.The final protagonist, Lt. Hilemore was enjoyable enough, but I spent much of the book wondering how his story fit in with the other two. Rest assured it's made clear by the end of the story, but it takes awhile. That doesn't mean his story wasn't interesting, it just felt disconnected from the rest of the book for me. With him you get high seas battles and pirates!None of that even scratches the surface of the great supporting cast. Each subplot has it's own supply of interesting characters. And if 3 interesting protagonists influenced by different elements, and a great supporting cast isn't enough. There are Dragons. And really, isn't that enough?Overall, I'm glad I got this is a review copy because I really enjoyed this book. I just hope he can take his time on the sequels because I felt like his last book suffered from rushing to completion to meet a deadline. I love getting new books in a series once a year, but I'm willing to wait longer if the author needs more time. I'm hoping he'll be able to bring this to a more satisfying conclusion than his previous series.