Stormborn: A Steamborn Novel by Eric Asher : An Audiobook Review

A throne claimed. A city reborn. A family broken.

Thanks to the help of Jacob’s Titan Mechs, much of Belldorn survived the battle that ravaged its shores. But the war is far from over. Demands to chase Ballern’s surviving forces across the sea meet more resistance than Jacob could have imagined when Lady Katherine ignores her allies’ protests and shifts her focus to reinforcing the city.

Alice knows they’ll need to grow their numbers if they’re going to stand a chance against Mordair on the other side of the Crystal Sea. Their hopes rest on Furi bringing the Skyborn into the fold. But Samuel has another plan that will take them back to where it all began … behind the towering walls of Ancora.

Whether they await Mordair’s return or bring the fight to him, their survival once more depends on Jacob’s allies. As hope begins to fade … so come the Stormborn.

Every now and then I stumble across a series that is just so good that I know nothing else in the genre will ever be able to match it and Eric  Asher’s Steamborn series is a perfect example of this for me.  I  love steampunk as a genre and I  think Eric  Asher is by far the best author who writes in the genre so I was super excited to see this book released earlier this year. While I’ve loved every book in the series so far I think Stormborn is by far my favorite. The stakes are so much higher in this book that I felt like I was on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading it and then I had the exact same experience a few days later when I started listening to the audiobook.

As Stormborn is the first book in the final trilogy of this series I don’t want to say too much and accidentally spoil things for anyone who hasn’t read all the books yet. So I will just say that I loved pretty much every aspect of this book. The characters are all so good that I struggle to decide which is my favorite or whose viewpoint I’m always most excited to read. The story itself is fantastic and I can’t wait to see how things play out over the next two books. It honestly makes me a bit sad that I won’t have any more books in the series to look forward to after this. At least until Eric Asher decides we need a prequel or sequel series!

I also want to take a moment to once again tell people how amazing Saska Maarlevel is as the narrator. I’m always amazed by how much emotion she manages to pack into her narration and how she manages to give every character their own unique voice. She’s easily become one of my favorite narrators and any time  I see her name on an audiobook I have to go see what it’s about and whether I would like to read it or not.

I would definitely recommend this series to anyone looking for something to read,  especially if they’re looking for some amazing steampunk! Though I would suggest anyone who hasn’t done so yet start off with Steamborn and work through the series from the beginning. While I think this book would stand fairly well on its own I do think it’s much more enjoyable with the full backstory. I can’t wait to read the next book in this trilogy!