"Ascendance - Part 1 of 2" book 5 of "The Demon Wars Saga" by R. A. Salvatore

"Ascendance - Part 1 of 2"
book 5 of "The Demon Wars Saga"
by R. A. Salvatore
Multicast performance
Produced by GraphicAudio
approx 7 hours


Being a big fan of science-fiction, fantasy and supernatural stories, I jumped at the chance to begin reading the "Demon Wars Saga" by R. A. Salvatore. I first looked at this series and saw there were seven books in the series and knew it would be a fun adventure. I then found out they were available as audiobooks from GraphicAudio and knew that was a convenient way to get into the saga. When GraphicAudio first produced these I was so enthralled by the story that they couldn't release them fast enough. I then thought well, just go read the books. That didn't work because GraphicAudio had me addicted to their superb production quality and presentation that I just HAD to hear these masterpieces of audiobook production.

You see, GraphicAudio has a slogan, "A Movie in Your Mind," and they take it pretty seriously. It shows from the first words spoken in these audiobooks. The full cinematic feel of these stories is pushed along with superb voice acting and sound effects that come exploding out of whatever sound-system you hear these productions on. They really know how to suck you into the story. The storytelling prowess of R. A. Salvatore is enhanced a thousandfold through GraphicAudio's production quality. The nice thing is that GraphicAudio separates the books into 2 or 3 parts keeping each edition to about 6 or 7 hours in length. This is nice in that the books can be absorbed in chunks and then give you time to recover from the experience before continuing.

So let's talk about this book. This is book 5 of the 7 book saga that is "The Demon Wars," years have passed since the "Miracle of Avelyn" occurred on Mount Aida healing the country of the Rosie Plague. The Abellican Church is well on its way to canonizing Avelyn, even though he was once called a heretic.

Jilseponie after losing her husband, the Ranger, Elbryan (Nightbird) Wyndon, has settled in to becoming Baroness of Palmaris and serving the people. The Abellican church, who realize that with her talent of magic using the holy gemstones would better serve the Church and the folk of Palmaris by becoming a Bishop of Palmaris. The Bishop being a representative of both secular and church interests. At this same time King Danube Brock Ursal, king of Honce-the-bear wishes for her to become his wife and Queen. The King is actually in love with Jilseponie, but the church seems to have a hidden agenda.

The elves of Touel'alfar took Jilseponie's unborn son (also son of Elbryan) and raised him to become a ranger even greater than his father and to, hopefully, be the salvation of the elves. The plans of the Touel'alfar go awry due to Aydrian's own arrogance, cultivated by a dark force he encounters at Oracle.

The focus of this book is on the development of Adryan and what could possibly be a dark future for all the residents of the land of Corona, elves and humans alike, and GraphicAudio delivers this story with a punch.