Audio Review: Crucible of Fate by Mary Calmes - Narrated by Sean Crisden

Author: Mary Calmes

Narrator:: Sean Crisden

Run Time: 6 Hours, 57 Minutes

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb: A Change of Heart Novel

In the secret city of Sobek, Domin Thorne is making his way as the newly chosen semel-aten, the leader of the werepanther world. He aspires to make sweeping changes—he’s set goals for himself and the people he chose to bring with him, modeling his reign after that of his friend, Logan Church. But Domin may have set too lofty a goal: his normal leadership style isn’t working.

While juggling a homesick Crane, a moody Mikhail, a bullwhip-wielding Taj, servants with murderous intentions, a visiting ex, and a mate on a dangerous goodwill mission, Domin has to figure out his new role alone. He also must determine how to deal with a conspiracy, all the while falling hard for a man who, for the first time in Domin’s life, reciprocates that love. Whether Domin is ready or not, Fate has stepped in to teach him a lesson: internal threats are just as dangerous as external ones.

Review: First off, I just want to say that Sean Crisden did an excellent job of narrating Crucible of Fate. His vocals, even of the secondary characters, were outstanding.

Now for the story part. I was really glad to see Domin grow since I’d first read about him in Change of Heart. I was impressed by how much his character had change from a total jerk to someone I could respect, and I really enjoyed learning more about this world of werepanthers and how they operate, though I was disappointed that there wasn’t more interaction and romance between Domin and Yuri. I love to understand why two characters should click, and I didn’t feel it with this story. I got that they loved each other. It’s just that with all the suspense and angst that happened in this book, I felt Domin and Yuri’s romance was less evolved. Crucible of Fate is more about the way Domin directs the position of semel-aten from what it was in the past to a new frontier for the werepanthers.

Yuri is still a bit of a mystery, other than I know he’s had a crush on Domin since he was 16, and that he’s a somewhat insecure with Domin because of his previous relationship with Koran. I feel I missed out on something because in the three previous stories I could feel the interaction between Logan and Jin. I could see why they fell so deeply in love with each other. As usual, Jin is what makes Crucible of Fate a reread for me. For some reason, Jin’s character just fascinates me.

So, combining Sean Crisden’s performance with the storyline, I’m giving Crucible of Fate a solid 4 Star rating. I would highly recommend it to those who have read the Change of Heart series and just can’t get enough of Jin and Logan.