Talonsister is Jen Williams’s latest epic fantasy and first installment in the Talon Duology, and if you are reading this review because you just read that behemoth of a synopsis and need help deciding whether you should read it or not: Yes, yes you should. That is, unless you are afraid of dog-sized beetles, in which case I would advise to proceed with caution.

But what is Talonsister about, beyond what the synopsis tells us? At its heart, it is about the world's history catching up with the present. Little by little, as the main characters traverse the world, we are fed information on historical events, only to see it all converging in the present time (and in a very satisfying way, if I may add). There is, also, a strong emphasis on the importance of familial bonds and betrayal: from the Talonsisters Ynis and T’rook to Envoy Kaeto and his assistant Belise; there is this ever present theme of found family between most of the characters. As for the betrayal part… Well, I think it is better to let readers find the meaning of that on their own.

Similar to previous Fantasy books by Jen Williams (e.g. The Winnowing Flame Trilogy), Talonsister is yet again a genre-bend in that, although it is Epic Fantasy, it also incorporates elements of Horror and Sci-fi. Likewise, it also features some amazing and complex worldbuilding that is a blend between European history, and in-world history and politics. The world feels cohesive, alive and very much unique, supporting the story without overshadowing it. The prose is very lush and atmospheric; and does a great job at evoking the right feelings, especially during the more horror forward scenes. The characters are, if anything, the only part that I found a bit lacking. Though the cast is medium-sized, none of them stood out as particularly memorable or remarkable. They serve the plot well enough, but they didn't leave a lasting impression.

I must also point out that this is a *slow* read. Nearly the first 300 pages are spent with characters traveling, exploring and interacting, with little to no action and even less clues on what all this is heading to. It is very much a ‘trust the process’-type of book that rewards readers that are willing to give their time to it.

The audiobook is masterfully narrated by Jot Davies, who also narrated The Winnowing Flame books, and I could not think of someone else for the job. There’s something on how he voices the characters and narrates the story that just feels right.

Overall, this was a great if a bit weird read. If you are looking for a fresh take on Epic Fantasy, or if you are already a fan of Jen William’s other books, I strongly recommend giving it a try!

Thank you very much to Bolinda Audio and NetGalley for providing me an Audio-ARC!

This was a wild ride, and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this book. It is very different from The Winnowing Flame trilogy but an exciting and captivating read!

Talonsister by Jen Williams and Narrated by Jot Davies.

Thank You, NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook and review it.

I'm a recent concert to fantasy fiction and am enjoying my journey in this sphere. Talonsister by Jen Williams was a slow burn for me. I loved the world built by the author, the characters and the way we were taken to the ending. The author displayed wonderful imagination in building this world. While I enjoyed the book, I couldn't feel the thrill that gives an extra edge to any book.

However, I would still recommend this because who doesn't like discovering a new world.

Talonsister has a slow start & middle with a lot of world building. I usually don't love slow paced books but I really enjoyed the audiobook format. It was really nice to listen to the world being built around me and to get lost in this vast fantasy world. An epic fantasy world if I ever saw one.

The ending was where things really kicked off. The pace picks up and as with The Ninth Rain series, Williams doesn't shy away from some brutal scenes (in a good way). I loved the connections that got brought together and the shocks at the end.

I hope we don't have to wait too long for the second book!

I’m not getting on with the audiobook of this sadly. It’s slow and confusing and I don’t think I love it as much as I loved the winnowing flame trilogy..

Talonsister is the first book in Jen William's new adult fantasy series and its one not to be missed.
As with most great world building fantasy, it has a slow paced start but does pick up towards the end. The unique world was clearly modelled after Great Britian with some recognizable names of places but with some very different inhabitants. What really kept me reading was the characters themselves, ranging from Griffins, a Herald (altered human), a druid with magic and some interesting political dynamics. I'm not usually a character driven reader so this is saying a lot!

Told from three POVs, the narration for this was perfection. The range of voices by the one narrator was amazing and i didnt feel lost at any point. I especially knew when the Griffins were talking.
Loved it and cant wait to see where this plot ends up. 4.5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bolinda Audio for an ALC of this for review. I own the physical book which enhanced my enjoyment.

Would I have started Talonsister by Jen Williams if I’d known it was the first in a trilogy? Absolutely. There really aren’t enough books written about Griffins, I’ve come to realise. And ones that manage to raise a human baby are quite remarkable!

Yhis is brought up by a Griffin family along with their own hatchling, T’rook. They become very close, even though they’re so enormously different. After a fight with some other young Griffins, Yhis is exiled and T’rook goes with her. Through their exiled subsequent adventures, we learn some of the Griffin lore.

The second point of view in this novel comes from a Herald called Leven. Heralds are a feared group of warriors with amazing abilities that come at a price. Leven leaves her homeland to visit Brittletain - the home of the Griffins. I really thoroughly enjoyed this part of the story. The magic and world-building around Brittletain, the Griffins and Leven was what made the story special for me.

The third narrative is set in another part of the world with Kaeto who works for the Imperium (the Baddies!!)| and is escorting Gynid Tyleigh around to find more Titans (Griffins are one such type of being).

These story arcs seem separate, but come together so cleverly and, at times, surprisingly. This was so listenable, both because of the excellent narrating by Jot Davies and the engrossing story itself.

I’m very excited to see where this story goes next!

OK so honestly at the start of this book I was a bit like "human baby girl gets rescued by griffins but then is sad she's not a griffin when she grows up - not sure I'm into this" But in typical Jen Williams fashion the story just EXPANDS beyond all belief and encompasses so many different threads and characters and places! In a world where titans (magical creatures) have mostly died out apart from the griffins, there are multiple groups of people all moving around these creatures - as mentioned before the adopted orphan daughter and (talon)sister who has lived with griffins as long as she can remember but is constantly reminded of her differences, a warrior whose very body has been altered using titan magic, a princess and a magical man of the woods who can commune with the trees, the scientist/alchemist who invented the methodology to attach titan magic to human beings and her research crew as she investigates a potential new supply of titan bones. The way these stories overlap and come together is brilliant and each chapter inches closer towards big reveals and cliffhangers for each of the characters involved. I'm so thrilled this is a duology as I won't have to wait as long for the conclusion - but when is book 2 coming out?! This was brilliant! The audiobook narration deserves a special shoutout as well, Jot Davies was exceptional and I'm not usually a fan of male narrators (sorry just personal preference) but his voices and accents made the entire cast come alive as distinct characters - perfection!

Format: audiobook ~ Narrator: Jot Davies
Content: 3.5 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars

Talonsister is a slow-paced and quite complex high fantasy novel with many characters and subplots. The setting and story are inspired by the UK and its history.

Leven is a retired herald who served eight years in the Imperium’s army. She has no memory of before she joined the army. Now, after the serving, she has strange visions of some foreign place. She is travelling with Cillian, the druin. Accompanied by the envoy of the Imperium, Kaeto, bone-crafter Gynid Tyleigh is searching for the new Titan bones. Ynis is a 16-year-old girl raised by griffins who lives surrounded by them in the north. They are isolated, so she never saw another human. She lives as griffins do and flies with her talon-sister, T’rook.

I needed really a lot of time to get invested in the story, and in the first half, I didn’t know how to feel about the story. The last quarter of the story was more engaging and faster-paced.

I liked the extraordinary narration by Jot Davies, who did an amazing job of bringing to life so many human and nonhuman characters.

Thanks to Bolinda Audio for the advance copy and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.

In true Jen Williams fashion, this book too has an amazing setting and magic system. And because this is set on such an epic scale, there's quite a bit built up of plot and characters before things finally click into place. In short, the pacing is a bit on a slower side but definitely picks up towards the end.

However, I love the diversity of the places she writes about. I love how unique her relationship building between characters are and that her books always has a special place for a human- animal relationship. Talonsister had all of these and I am truly looking forward to see how this story will unfold.

This was very high YA fantasy, it was engaging and interesting!

The narration of one of the characters in the beginning really threw me off as it sounded like dobby, but I moved past that after hearing it more.

I really recommend this, the character dynamics are complex and make for an interesting read.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of the auidobook for this title.

4.5 stars.

I really enjoyed this book! It was very different to the usual YA and NA fantasy stuff that's out there at the moment. Yes, there's magic, humans and non-humans. But it's not fabulously fiendish fae, for a change!

We had Titan races such as Griffins and what an insight into their world! Throw in some good and evil, terrible parenting, morally corrupt humans, warring kingdoms, battles between species, LGBT rep, first class world building and a teeny smidge of slow burn romance and you get this rip-roarer of a novel!!!

It loses half a star because the multiple points of view confused me at times but it all comes together well at about 90%.

The narrator was excellent!!! Lots of different UK accents as well as some more exotics ones. Really talented!

I'm very much looking forward to the sequel and will be looking up Jen's other titles too.

Brilliant stuff!!!

In an age where the Imperium has won the war, the heralds lying useless and griffins losing their minds, the book engulfs you into a fantasy world that feels like walking through the catacombs of Paris.

I found the first half of the book very interesting with the world-building and 3 major complex characters, around whom the story revolves. However, the second half simply dumped itself to a flat tone with unreliable pacing and a little too many scenes, prolonging the inevitable twist.

I was a fan and was sure this would be another series I would devour. But the second half of the story changes the game entirely. Still a fan of the world the author has created and would give the next book another try and keep my fingers crossed.

Thank you @netgalley @titanbooks @bolindaaudio @sennydreadful19 for the Digital ARC.
Genre: #fantasy #magic
Rating: 3/5 ⭐️
Tropes: #mythicalcreatures

Talonsister is a prime example of Jem Williams' mastery of story weaving. Across this expansive narrative we follow a number of characters and parties as they make their way through their various plots with threads only coming together at the exact perfect moment. It is a fantasy novel with the perfect pacing of a mystery novel - where you the reader can piece things together moments before the characters do. I would not only recommend it to pre-existing fans of Jen Williams' work but would suggest it to all fans of fantasy especially those feeling a little burned out on the familiar.
This is an epic tale including forest magic, the power of flight and some strange aspects of bone magic that you really do need to discover for yourself. This feels like a story to savour, to read and to discuss with friends, to pick over like a Griffin might pick over a carcass (or perhaps a nicer metaphor than that sorry Jen...).
The audiobook itself is a solid telling of the story - though I think perhaps there is too much reliance on regional accents to distinguish between characters in a way that felt a bit forced - the Newcastle accent in particular was an interesting choice. But overall I did enjoy the listening experience and would recommend the audio.
I will 10000% be recommending this to everyone I know.
I received a free digital copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

I listened to this book on audio and throughly enjoyed the production of this

Ynis is human child taken in and raised by the Griffins, but can she ever truly be a part of their society...

Leven is a killing machine designed by the Imperium, at the cost of the loss of her memories of her younger life. Can she uncover her past now she has done her duty..

Kaeto works to protect the Imperium is a lot of not so nice ways and their latest charge may prove go be more dangerous than they realised...

There is a lot going on in this book and a lot of different lore and POV so I did struggle to get a hold on all this at first, but the narrator was good in differentiating between the POVs

Slow build up but worth it to see it come together in the end!

Jot Davies has done an excellent job creating this audiobook, I particularly loved the intensity of the voices of the Titan’s which I had to turn down a little because I got the creeps - bravo! Also the sinister voice of Gwynid Tyleigh was also done brilliantly. I found this extremely easy to listen to and the short chapters were really nice, it was easy to stop and start.

This is exceeded all my expectations. I loved the Winnowing Flame trilogy so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read this.

The World Jen Williams has created felt so unique filled with Griffins, Heralds - human weapons created by a seemingly insane queen, Druins who connect with the Wild wood and an unlikely found family.

‘A hundreds loyal men and women, their memories erased and their dedication to the Imperium absolute. Their bodies are inscribed with the power of the Titans, and none will stand in their way.’

From the very beginning I was absolutely hooked. A screaming baby found by two Griffin’s who debate eating it and instead take them back to their nest. Ynis a human raised by Griffin’s with a fierce loyalty to her Griffin family.

Leven, a retired Herald goes in search of her past and finds herself embroiled in the politics of a country that hates her kind. Given a druin envoy who can think of nothing worse than being separated from his beloved wild wood to take a monster on a tour leads to a very unlikely partnership when a stowaway Princess joins them.

Meanwhile Gwynid Tyleigh, the original creator of the Herald’s continues her experiments and hunt for more power. If there was ever a twisted evil, she is that!

I loved this book and only mentioned a fraction of it. Featherless egg will remain my new favourite insult. All the stars.

We follow three main characters throughout this book.
Leven is a Herald of the Imperium. She has no memory of who she was before she became a soldier. She was turned into a fighting machine along with the other Heralds to help win the war.

Envoy Kaeto is loyal to the Imperium. He knows what was done to create the Heralds and what will eventually happen to them.

Ynis is a human that was raised by Griffins. She knows nothing of the human world.

They are all connected. They just don't know it yet.

I wasn't sure about this at the beginning, but the more I got to know the characters and the world, the more invested I became. I really enjoyed it.
The narrator was great!

i feel like i’ve been slammed in the face with this mammoth of a book and i’m still uncertain wether this was a pleasant experience or not. it’s a masterfully crafted book and story, i have to give it that, it just so happened that i wasn’t particularly in the mood for 350+ pages of world building and exploration and basically nothing major happening. i got attached to our 4 main characters by the end and liked each of their pov, the world is very interesting and i liked the reflection on the disposability of the soldiers once they have served their purpose. it’s one of those fantasy book you have to be in the mood for. 3.25 stars

WOW! What a ride! This epic fantasy tale of three interwoven fates in a cruel and chaotic world had me by the throat from the start. Ynis is a human raised by griffins, Keato is hired muscle, and Leven is a man-made war machine. Each of them have such unique voices and thrilling journeys, that I was never sad to jump from one perspective to another. All three stories gripped me from the beginning, with just enough mystery surrounding them to keep me guessing. There is quite a lot of world building, as each character is in a different sphere of the larger world, some of which function quite differently than others. However, I never felt that the world building was overwhelming or overdone. I really enjoyed all of the characters, and can't wait to see what happens next!

My only critique is that I wish it was longer!

The audiobook was excellent. I absolutely loved every minute of it, and all of the characters were extremely well done. One of the most immersive books I've had the pleasure of listening to in a while. I will certainly be on the lookout for more Bolinda audiobooks!

Sadly this is a DNF at 28% (6 hours investment) for me - I loved the Narration, but the story is split between multiple PoV's, the plot is intricate and the pacing is incredibly slow. Tbh I only got the point of the Ynis plotline and I was completely lost on the other PoV characters and the point of them existing! After what I would consider an ample investment of time, I would have hoped to be invested in the plot and characters, but I can't even remember who they are at this stage. Apologies NetGallery and Bolinda Audio, I cannot go further.