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The Sagely Fox

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(Fire & Ice Trilogy 1) Born in Fire by K. F. Breene Review

Reviewed 2021-01-10

“Same goes for you. Let’s go. The sooner you give me what I want, the sooner you can go back to being useless while I protect the future of your species. No, no. Don’t thank me. It’s all in a day’s work.”

“Everyone is crazy. It’s the people who go with it, and admit it, that you can trust. So you be crazy, girl. Give that rat bastard hell.”

Born in Fire Katie Breene Born in Fire Audio Nichole Poole, Narrator

(Fire & Ice Trilogy 1) Born in Fire by K. F. Breene

My thoughts on Review spoilers, and ratings may be relevant before you venture below --- the spoiler line ---. Click the [Back] button there to return here if you take a look. This Review 1150± words

My Rating:

I recommend you put Ms. Breene on your "To Read" list. I've read at least 10 of her books, many of them twice. I've not found one I would not recommend.

First, thanks Katie for Born In Fire. I haven't laughed so hard since Don Quioxte in 2019.

Generally:
Our protagonist is Reagan. Reagan isn't easy to like at first. She comes off a bit pretentious. No worries. I've learned to trust Ms. Breene.

Reagan is a bounty hunter in New Orleans. She was strutting down Bourbon Street in her black army boots, made for kicking in teeth, black leather pants with gun holstered on her leg, and a sword strapped to her back. A little girl broke away from her parents and ran towards her. She stopped to pick up a string of pink beads on the street. After picking them up she said to Reagan, "Pink's my favorite color."

Reagan stared back at her, struck mute. Then replied, "Mine too." The little girl smiled and ran back toward her parents.

"So is mine?" She thought, "No way!", but worse, "Why wasn't that kid afraid of her?"

The next scene isn't impressive when a reader ought to learn why the kid should be afraid of her. Maybe women in leather with guns and swords don't seem all that odd to me? But Reagan grows on you. She is a supernatural bounty hunter.

I had the impression of a female "Dog The Bounty Hunter" vibe going on, but with less concern about fashion or appearance. But this girl, and... well... I'll get to that later. I wasn't buying it. I believe it was the audio.

Noteable notes:
Nicole Poole was nearly my entire failure at even starting this book. I tried for months. I could not hear her. I doubt it is her doing, I had a noisy & challenging job in my "protecting USA from enemies, foreign and domestic days". My hearing may have been damaged.

I listened to that part at least 12 times trying to understand Nichole Poole. That voice thing was driving me mad. I even looked up who had read the previous audiobooks I'd read by Ms. Breene. Caitlin Davies. Now there's a narrator I enjoyed! Not your fault Nichole. Hearing is a weird thing when ranges of the human voice have blank spots.

A SOLUTION! Fortunately, I have a daughter who prefers her audiobooks to sound like chipmunks, at almost double speed. I learned this just as I began a detective novel where the reader sounded like he was turned down to half speed. I adjusted the audio-speed so he'd read fast enough that I would stay awake between words.

Good novel BTW, Check out Brian Freeman. If you like Robert Ludlum, (of Jason Borne fame) you'll want to check out Brian's home page.

So when I thought I would give Ms. Breene's Born in Fire ONE MORE TRY, I forgot to change the speed back to normal. This did two things. First, higher frequency! I could understand Nichol Poole! Bad par,t higher frequency is not exactly a "bad ass" sound for a woman supernatural bounty hunter.

The only other notes worthy of mention were tjat Ms. Breene did a really amateur indie "course correction" with this series. I'll talk about that shortly.

Likes and Dislikes:
First. I like Ms. Breene. I like her sense of humor and her affinity for swords. She writes strong women protagonists who face adversity straight up and struggle though even when they may need die trying. They're real life type characters who are usually funny as well.

For me this demonstrates Ms. Breene understands the complexity of human relationships and isn't afraid to expose the inconsistencies all humans have and hate about themselves.

So when she creates complex personal relationships among her characters, if you've ever done any honest introspection, it can be downright fun to laugh at the "you" that you see in her characters.

Okay, dislikes. Nichole Poole's voice. Ugh. It's not her fault. Nichole is a thriving and accomplished artist, innovator and narrator extraordinaire who is greatly loved in her Oklahoma community. Not to mention many quite happy authors who had her perform their books into audio master pieces. But my (failed) attempt to keep commie foreign and domestic enemies away from your door during my loud and challenging service to USA, cursed me from enjoying her voice.

I too have done art and other community events like the ones Nichole's been recognized for, so I do sincerely appreciate a like minded soul in Nichole Poole.

The sad part in this for me is my hearing and what I did to resolve MY ISSUES. I increased the audiobook speed which increased the frequency of Ms. Pooles voice. This made Reagan sound "girlish". At that faster speed however she's not sounding like a gun totting, sword swinging, tracking dangerous strong people and beating them up "voice".

This isn't an issue I'd be concerned with if you want to hear the great performance of the audiobook. It's me, not Nichole. There are plenty of narrators that barely read the book, let alone make the character voices different. Nichole Poole deserves the awards she has won performing audio books. I did like Caitlin Davies better but I suspect by the time I finish the series, I'll be praising everyone involved in the series.

The Conclusion:
First, a sincere thank you to Katie. Love the little gift box things you and associates do. Thanks for the laughs, suspense, sexual, and otherwise. Specially for cutting open your veins and pouring scary parts of your soul into your work. That takes courage. I appreciate yours for risking it and getting paid off for the risk.

I was fortunate I have a version of the audiobook "Born in Fire" that contained the first chapter of the next book. When Born in Fire ended, I was not in the position to stop the audio, so heard the first part of the next book.

I'll be reading the series whatever it's called. I did find a blog that has a suggested reading order I may follow. It isn't the published order which usually makes more sense to me, but that's only because I've studied writing so intensively and know how the fifth book becomes the first book.

If I've neglected to mention it, Ms. Breene, your Finding Paradise series was absolutely my favorite of your books and I've read a lot of your books. Shanti books twice. I was so saddened to learn that Finding Paradise is now firmly in the rear view mirror.

Read on: Dec 23, 31, 2020 Jan 7, 2021
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Miscellaneous Information Join the reader group to chat with Ms. Breene personally: https://goo.gl/KAg0Nr Contact info: kfbreene@gmail.com I rarely support the ezines who suppress free speech but you can find K.F. Breen among some of those social media sites. She has some great Youtube videos that would be nice on Odysee, Rumble or Bitchute as well!

Additional Links Mentioned in the Review