The Speaker


Fiction - Fantasy - Epic
252 Pages
Reviewed on 04/15/2017
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

Andi O'Connor is the award-winning author of The Dragonath Chronicles, The Vaelinel Trilogy, and The Legacy of Ilvania. She’s written multiple books, including the critically acclaimed Silevethiel, which is the 2015 Best Indie Book Award winner for Science Fiction/Fantasy, and the 2015 New Apple Official Selection for Young Adult. Silevethiel was also named to Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2013. The Speaker is a Finalist in the 11th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards. Andi's short story collection, Redemption, is a 2014 Kindle Book Awards Semifinalist.

You can frequently find Andi as a guest panelist at Comic Cons throughout the country including the Rhode Island Comic Con, Philcon, Conclave, WizardWorld, and Chessiecon.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Divine Zape for Readers' Favorite

I was mentally transported into strange and exciting places, encountering powerful and deadly characters in The Speaker, the second book in The Vaelinel Trilogy by Andi O'Connor. One reads nonstop, and once the last page is turned, it feels like waking up from a nightmare or a strange dream. Irewen has only one way of surviving the cruelty of the Drulaack: take refuge in dead bodies. But then, she can’t hide in dead bodies for long as she is quickly driven out of them. Now, she has to return to Vaelinel where a group of despairing companions awaits her. The Corrupter — the evil one who is insanely craving power— is about to exact revenge on them. What hope is left for them? Can they muster the strength to stand against a powerful evil that is about to befall their land?

The Speaker starts with action and it absorbs the reader from the very first lines. Although I haven’t read the first book in this trilogy, I didn’t find it hard getting into the story, and that is a plus for the author. There is a lot to enjoy in this book, including the extraordinary setting, the powerful cast of characters — some of them have lived and fought for hundreds of years — the great conflict that involves the eternal struggle between good and evil, and the fascinating plot lines. Irewen, Laegon, Elthad, and the Corrupter are characters I wanted to follow to the end and how they evolve in the story shows the author’s gift for character development. Irewen, for instance, is a gifted character, but she is unaware of what she is capable of doing and this is interesting because she is surprised at her strength, as well as are readers. Andi O'Connor writes beautifully and her storytelling skills come across clearly in this entertaining and absorbing story.