Rise of the Ranger:

The Echoes Saga #1

by Philip C. Quaintrell

Praise for Philip C. Quaintrell's 'The Echoes Saga': 'For lovers of your classic Tolkien, this series has it all' - Alan Coleman - Amazon customer 'Best newcomer to the genre. Philip is up there with Feist and Sanderson' - Philip Spick - Amazon customer 300,000 COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE --
THE ECHOES OF FATE, A PROPHECY UTTERED UNTO THE WORLD A THOUSAND YEARS AGO, CANNOT BE DENIED... Mankind has lorded over the land of Illian for a thousand years, building on the ruins left by the elves, as if it were their birthright. A thousand years is a long time for an immortal race to see the truth of things, a truth that has remained unsaid for a millennium - elves are superior. They are faster, stronger and connected to the magical realm in a way that man could never grasp. Illian should belong to them. Unaware of the shadow that looms in the east, the six kingdoms of man are fractured, unallied, and clawing at each other's gates for more power. This isn't just war set to ravage the land, but a slaughter - the world of man cannot hope to survive. Thrown into the heart of this war is a man known by many names; an Outlander of the wilds, an assassin, a ranger. Asher was born a thousand years ago, to a life he doesn't remember. Forty years of brutal training and killing for money has beaten the earliest years of his life away, leaving his ties to the oldest of evils a mystery to all... RISE OF THE RANGER LAUNCHES AN UNMISSABLE EPIC FANTASY SERIES.
-- 'I read a lot of fantasy books and I can say that this is one of the best I have read' - B. Stewart - Amazon customer ''The Echoes Saga' demonstrates a simple commitment to the power of story' - Stephen Dudley - Amazon customer

Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Fiction, High Fantasy, Audiobook, Dragons, Adult

548 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 2017

About the author

Philip started his career as an emergency nurse and began writing the books he’d want to read as a hobby between shifts.

He published his first novel in 2016, and soon began his epic fantasy series, The Echoes Saga which went straight into the Amazon bestsellers list in 4 countries.

Now one of the best-selling indie authors worldwide, Philip lives in Manchester, England with his wife and two young children and is hoping this is just the beginning.

Reviews

[Petrik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rise of the Ranger is a promising beginning to another classic fantasy series told with a modern voice.

The Echoes Saga by Philip C. Quaintrell has been sitting on my radar for more than two years now. My attention towards this novel initially appeared after I saw the gorgeous cover art of each book in the series by Chris McGrath. As far as I know, this is a series of nine books divided into three sub-series, and Rise of the Ranger is the beginning of it all. If you take a look at the average ratings for each book in The Echoes Saga on Goodreads and Amazon, you'll see just how positive the reception is. Seriously, the last book in the series currently has a 4.78 average rating out of 1.2k ratings on Goodreads. That is INSANE. It's also why I'm so curious why so few people in bookish social media talk about this series. Now that the series has been completed, with a prequel series in the works, I figure it's the right time for me to check it out, and I'm glad I did.

Rise of the Ranger is the first out of nine books in The Echoes Saga by Philip C. Quaintrell. The story takes place in the land of Illian, where human has ruled for a thousand years by building on the ruins left by the elves. The elves are immortal and superior creatures. Physically, they're stronger, faster, and connected to the magical realm. While the six kingdoms of man are fractured and unallied, the elves are rising. War is coming, and individuals and factions around the world will clash. As you can probably predict from the premise, Rise of the Ranger is Quaintrell's take on a modern epic fantasy series while retaining everything good about classic fantasy. As I constantly said, I have a soft spot for classic fantasy books with a modern voice and the author's own twist to them. A few examples of my favorites being The Faithful and the Fallen quartet by John Gwynne, The Ember Blade by Chris Wooding, and The Raveling trilogy by Alec Hutson. Rise of the Ranger is showing promises that I will love this series more and more as I make my way through it.

“Pain leads to anger, and anger never wins in combat. Only when pain feels like an old friend will you free yourself from the shackles that bind so many men.”

Do note that Rise of the Ranger does, however, take its time to be great. I hope future readers of this novel will be patient enough to read through the first 35% of the book. Believe me, it gets better and better. The beginning section can feel a bit rough here and there; it felt like Quaintrell needed some time to find the right footing for his epic fantasy series. In a similar way to Malice by John Gwynne, Quaintrell used almost the first half of the novel to focus on the character's introduction and world-building carefully. I will admit that I did find the pacing in this section slightly too slow. Here's the thing, my expectation is not without guilt. The cover art and premise of Rise of the Ranger have led me to think that this epic fantasy series will be heavily centered on Asher, and yes, Asher is indeed one of the main characters of the series. But I totally didn't expect Rise of the Ranger would feature more than 8 main POV characters to follow. This, eventually, works in favor of the scope and narrative of the book. I'm damn sure it will be beneficial for the rest of the series as well.

From the get-go, I quickly took a liking to Asher and Galanor's POV chapters, but I honestly wasn't sure about all the other POV characters at first. However, as Quaintrell's prose gets more accessible and well-polished as the book progresses, the characterizations for all the other characters and their interactions with each other definitely ended up winning me over. Seeing Asher's continuous developing friendship with Nathaniel, Faylen, and Elaith was heartwarming. And I also loved reading the complex dynamic between Galanor and Gideon. Quaintrell used his POV characters effectively to tell the themes of duty, bravery, and friendship incredibly well. Plus, there's also Alidyr, the villain in Rise of the Ranger. I don't know about you, but I tend to find having a villain as one of the main POV characters compelling for the overall story. And having Alidyr as one of the POV characters heightened the tension for me.

“Pray that you never discover the true depths of duty. Men and elves alike are capable of great atrocities if they can do it in the name of another, be it gods or kings. Duty can give you courage and a sense of honour, but it can give you cause to act without thought.”

Speaking of intensity, I must say that I am so impressed by Quaintrell's action scenes. Lately, especially in classic epic fantasy novels, it's getting harder for me to discover authors who write vivid battle scenes that flow so easily. We have humans, elves, dragons, magic, and the Arakesh—one of the coolest groups of assassins I ever encountered in a fantasy series visually—fight each other, and I was utterly engrossed. I mean, just check out this passage:

“From the day you’re inducted, the order’s alchemist puts you on a regime of Nightseye elixir - one vial every day until you’re twenty-five. After that, you’re permanently affected. But the elixir was developed for elves. In humans, the potion only works if the user is in complete darkness.”
“That’s why the Arakesh use blindfolds...”
Nathaniel looked at the red cloth hanging from Asher’s belt. “When completely blinded, you can see, hear, taste, smell and feel everything. Your reactions are heightened as your senses tune you into the world in a way you can’t imagine. It becomes addictive though."

So badass, right!? It felt like watching a group of Daredevil with swords in epic fantasy! And I won't lie, despite a few rough starting points, I finished the final quarter of Rise of the Ranger in one sitting. I simply couldn't put it down; the climax sequence was explosive, and it made me ridiculously excited to read the rest of the series. So yeah, overall, this was pretty good. My journey in The Echoes Saga has just begun, and if this is the weakest volume of the entire series, then I may have just found a new epic fantasy series to add to my favorite series of all-time list. I look forward to reading Empire of Dirt as soon as possible; quite likely within next month. I recommend this to the fans of classic epic fantasy told in a modern voice with Tolkienesque world-building and great action scenes.

You can order this book from: Amazon UK | Amazon US

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[Anna [Bran. San. Stan] · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This had the potential to be truly great - an engaging plot, interesting characters, but the execution was lacking; sloppy prose and plot convenience marred the experience for me.

Let’s start with my favorite part of the book: the prologue, which is unusual for me. We are introduced to Asher as a child, caught in the middle of an elven war. Then something changes – Asher steps into another time, 1000 years later. Now color me intrigued and eager to continue.

Fast forward to the 49-year-old Asher, the eponymous Ranger, who is now a master assassin and warrior for hire, ostracized from the so-called Arakesh, an elite assassin group in which he was raised. (Honestly, a great character reminiscent of Geralt the Witcher.) Also, based on the title, I figured we’d see a lot of him, maybe even an entire book from his PoV; I couldn’t have been more wrong – he is just one of many viewpoint characters.

We also meet Nathaniel, a 30-year-old member of the Graycoats, an order of knights which functions as an elite policing force; Gideon, a mage in training; Reyna, an elven princess; Galanör, an elf with a mission from his king; Adilandra the elven queen in search of vanished dragons; Alidyr, also an elf but our main antagonist who seeks to restore the dark elves’ herald of the gods, Valanis; and some other minor ones. It was a lot! Considering that Asher was my favorite character by far, I was a bit dismayed by the plethora of viewpoints. Still, I came to appreciate the multiple points of view as the conflict unfolded; the story needed to be told this way for it to work. And despite my issues it did.

I’m going to raise a general question: At what point is an author’s work inspired by another novel and when is it borrowing or even stealing? Quaintrell uses geographical names like “Erador,” which is one vowel away from “Eriador” (LotR), and “Illian,” which is taken straight from The Wheel of Time. Are those names simply an homage? I guess that’s up to you to decide. I will admit it bothered me a bit but I also feel I might be a bit harsh in that feeling.

What I did have a real issue with was the prose; it was clunky and awkward at times, which made it hard for me to immerse myself completely. One small part of that were also descriptions of the elves as having greater sexual urges and stamina than humans. I cringed every time something along those lines was mentioned; I felt transported into a romantasy.

Another issue I had were the plot holes and character conveniences; for example, there were instances were characters act illogically and against all common sense just so that the plot progressed in the desired direction. I was shouting at my kindle to please tie a prisoner up or he will escape. Spoiler alert: they didn’t and he did. Then Asher wins a fight against a skilled, dangerous enemy but doesn’t kill him because of a flimsy reason. Wanna guess what happened? Yep, he escaped, And the not-killing-an enemy bit occurs again. I could go on.

Now let’s talk magic system. On the one hand, we have the Arakesh, assassins enhanced by the Nightseye elixir, whose abilities reveal themselves especially when blindfolded and make them into super-fast killing machines. Then we have the more traditional magic system based on spells. From what I can tell, elves in general are able to practice magic without the use of a wand or staff, unlike humans who need those; additionally, on some occasions both elves and humans use crystals in which magic has been stored via meditation.

My main issue was that I had trouble trying to figure out the limitations – or specific rules – of the magic system. With witchcraft, basically anything is possible, from creating portals to great offensive and protective spells to minor ones like becoming invisible, masking elven features, growing calluses on a hand. As a result magic is often used in a way that is too much deus ex machina for me. Need a large supply of arrows? Oh right, you already have an enchanted quiver. Can’t understand a language? Here is a magical translator top. And I can’t even tell if the magic system wants to be hard and fails, or if it’s supposed to be soft? Or, as my good friend Shamik observed, maybe It is magic trying to be hard magic which has enough loopholes for soft magic? Or maybe it simply defies categorization (or my comprehension).

And with that happy dig at my intelligence, I will conclude my review. Just some final thoughts on whether this book, or this series, is for you. If all those aspects mentioned are non-issues for you, then I don’t see a reason why you won’t enjoy this book. And if you do care about them, I’m pretty sure you’ll still be to get enough out of this; I know I did. Turns out I’m invested enough to see how this journey continues in book 2.

Onward!

[Bibi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Update July 1, 2022: I’m currently reading Court of Assassins and it definitely casts this book in a completely different light.

Original review

I did enjoy reading this although I think it ought to have been titled: Rise of The Elves.

[Library of a Viking · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was surprisingly good!

If you are a fan of John Gwynne or Ryan Cahill, then add this series to your tbr straight away. The Rise of the Ranger feels classic yet refreshing, which is usually right up my alley!

My only criticism is that Quantrell might have gone a bit overboard with the POVs (8 in total?) for a first book in a series!

I may or may not write a longer review but overall - I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait to continue!

4/5

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just plain bad! I was reading this book alongside another book and decided to focus on this one. Well that wasn't the best idea. It takes off at about the 40% mark and starts to get interesting, building up different characters and storylines, building an elaborate and intriguing plot. Then it falls flat. The main character is severely overpowered compared to every other character in the book, sometimes. It is like reading about Superman, but he chooses for some odd reason not to use any of his powers and gets beat by Batman, well it is like reading a Batman vs. Superman comic. The lead character Asher is a gritty human that doesn't like others and doesn't make friends easily, until he does and then it's pretty much just instant friendship. There are several other likeable characters that are introduced, but they tend to disappoint or be killed off (spoiler) like he was trying to pull some George Martin stuff, but without the well-developed character, or the first person chapters from the killed off character. The POV changes constantly within a chapter, paragraph, or although rare, sentence. You don't have the continuity of storytelling that you would expect from non-fan fiction, which I think this should be classified as. As fan fiction I would give it at least 3 stars, because I would expect the editorial mistakes, and the continuity issues. As an actual novel I can't believe I am giving it 2 stars.

Major Cons are numerous, but I will try to sum up the most annoying and grating. First and foremost, I have the kindle version and it has some of the worst editing I have ever seen, toward the end of the book there is a quote that is italicized and has nonsensical repeated words right in the middle of it. If anyone has actually read through this version and gave it a thumbs up, they need to give a refund or get a different profession or hobby. Next I would say is the inconsistency we are talking DBZ levels of power difference from scene to scene.

***Spoiler***
The lead character has the most powerful magical artifact on the planet on his finger, and it has been lost for over a thousand years. It is small and he wears it as a ring. This ring allows him infinite use of magic without knowledge of magical spells, or the need to store up energy like the other characters in the book. He almost never uses it though, and when he does it is at strange times. He will choose to heal himself a few hours after a fight instead of during it. He will choose to use the most useless magical spells instead of being creative, even though he is portrayed as a tactician and all around awesome dude. He doesn't lose the ability, he just chooses not to use it. Then the final battle in the book he all but gives the ring away without even bothering to use it to defend himself to the bad guy who he knows is going to use it for evil. He for some reason doesn't remember his past, but there is no good reason for that, because he isn't a baby when the events in question happened and they aren't particularly stressful compared to the rest of his life. The author could have easily given him something that he could drop, not use at times, doesn't fully understand, or otherwise can't always use, but no he has it, and just doesn't use it for no good reason.

The next bad thing would be the Elves, not that they aren't great, but again they are inconsistent. They can either be extremely perceptive, or snuck up on. They can either be incredibly mighty warriors or be defeated by a single human. Seriously several elven warriors were easily defeated by a single (larger than average) human in one scene and just one elf kills him later with almost no effort. A legendary almost godlike thousand plus year elf can be defeated by a single human that is no more than 50. Yeah seams a little unlikely considering the writing in this very same document. They are often times snuck up on by well anything, but other times can see for miles, and are near supernaturally perceptive.

Next would be the Arakesh, this is a league of assassins that is near immortal in the past 40 years not one has been killed and left, only 2 have been known to be killed in combat. In 40 YEARS! Then they meet a small contingency of somewhat competent soldiers, the lead character, and some elves they are easily bested and only manage to take down an amount of humans equal to their numbers. Then later on after having difficulty one on one in the earlier mentioned encounter the lead character beats hundreds by himself, it actually read that the assassins were having trouble getting through the massed bodies of their comrades.

Then I would say dragons and mermaids. These aren't bad characters they are awesome, and well written, if not briefly mentioned. Like he just needed some cool stuff to add and further the story a little, again they are great but it was just not enough to bother. The characters largely depended on your current knowledge of fantasy characters as well, not an original work basing his system off of either D&D or LOTR or something similar, seems like Tolkien.

Good stuff! Not a lot. There were some great scenes, the love interest seems tasteful, the magic seems well done sometimes. The scenes are well explained (minus certain editorial oversights). The overall objective seems fun, and exciting. Don't waste your time with this book like I did. If writing this review causes one person not to pick it up I have done my job. I have already caused at least 4 people not to read it by word of mouth. Not to say that this writer doesn't have a bright future, and that other books won't be great, but don't take a lot of shortcuts to publishing, then send out inconsistent, poorly edited fan fiction and call it decent.

[Shreyas Deshpande · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent introduction for the beginning of this series

Loved this storyline! While the start of the book takes time with the author’s world and character building, it clearly ends with a powerful climax. The main and support characters have well written arcs, as does the antagonist(s). Can’t wait to read the next in the series! Fully recommend for readers who like fantasy.

Ratings:-⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Dom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This felt like classic fantasy in terms of the worldbuilding. There were quite a few Dungeons & Dragons-type monsters and I liked that as it gave a lighter touch to the story which worked well for me.

There were a lot of good points, though there were a few that I wasn’t so much a fan of as well. I don’t tend to like magic schools and there was a magical combat school which took up a little too much for me. On the plus side though, it was at least a variation, and the combat side of it definitely worked better for me than a typical magic school.

Overall, I had a good time reading this. I could definitely have enjoyed it more, but it was a good opening to a series and gives a good solid base to build on from the next book onwards.

[LambchoP · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad I finally picked up this series. This is truly epic classical fantasy written with a modern style.

There may not be too many unique things about this story, we get all the classic fantasy tropes we know and love. Thing is, they are all done so well as to still seem fresh and interesting. There are tons of characters in this, but they all are unique and interesting in there own ways, especially the ranger Asher. He was my favorite POV and I couldn't get enough info about his backstory and history. I definitly need to check out the prequel series about him.

The true strength of the book is in the fast moving plot and action. I would even call this a fantasy thriller. The book starts with a bang and truly doesn't let up at all. I haven't felt this way reading a new series since I read Bound and the Broken or Faithful and the Fallen. If you are a fan of Ryan Cahill or John Gwynne then I highly recommend giving this a try. One of my biggest surprises of the year!

[Andrew Rockwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars—-

“Rise of the Ranger” has a phenomenal beginning, the world of elves and the prose had my hooked early. Then it kind levels off in pace around 1/3 of the way through to focus on world-building and character work. This makes sense cause it’s the first book of the series but I was honestly loving just following Asher and his storyline. Later on, I realized the pacing was probably the way it is because there 8 other books in this series and 3 in a prequel trilogy. The prequel trilogy looks especially entertaining to me since it follows Asher from his transition at Nightfall where he’s an assassin, into becoming a Ranger/monster bounty hunter.
There’s just so much potential here, and while I enjoyed the first 10% the most, the entire book was entertaining, with heavy action and multi-layered politics between the elves and humans.

I’m gonna be focusing on the rest of Quaintrell’s work as much as possible in the near future.

[THE BIBLIOPHILE (Rituranjan) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A return to the Tolkiensque classic epic fantasy, filled with quests, millinea old evil arising, unlikely heroes striving against all odds, and most of all elves and dragons coming out of their idyllic lands to make war on the nations of humanity. The influence of Eddings and Jordan is apparent in the narrative, besides all the tropes and lore infused into the fabric of the epic story. I loved the magic, the action, and also the grittiness of the atmosphere that pervades the tale.

The characterisation was pretty good. I like them and root for them. Asher is a fascinating character who has a grim past, and trying to do some good in his own way. I also loved Reyna and Nathaniel, and their chemistry is freaking hot. I hoped I would get to see more of Elaith. She was growing on me as an individual. And, I also see the possibility of an attraction developing between Faylen and Asher. I definitely will cheer for that. I'm also eager to know how the Elf queen Aliandra fares in her mission, after the horrific brurality she has experienced. The antagonist is also quite intriguing and, I look forward to an confrontation with him.

The writing is quite fluid and easy to read. I noticed very few errors. I also admired the worldbuilding, and Quaintrell has reused the familiar tropes in a refreshing way. I'm very much eager to see how the upcoming conflict between the elves and humans would be resloved. I loved the dragons, and it reminded me of another epic fantasy Dragon Mage which has a very similar feel to the story.

The author has the kernel of an entertaining story within this book, which I believe will blossom in the later books. I'm definitely eager to finish the series. But, I think I got the books with the old covers which looks damn unappealing to me. The new cover art is much better which captures the essence of the epic tale.

[Paul · Rating 1 out of 5]

Edit: I still regularly think about how bad this book was so I'm just going to give it one star. The original review is still below.

This ended up being a gigantic mixed bag. I'm fairly negative on some aspects of this book but just know that I did go into it expecting a fairly fast-paced basic fantasy book and that's exactly what I got.

Starting with negatives... well the writing kinda sucks for a lot of scenes. Character inner monologues often feel contrived. Dialogue feels like it comes from a bad action movie. The romance is incredibly basic. (Love at first sight in all it's tropey glory.) This led to me never really caring about any of the characters except for a couple, two of which we never got POVs from.

And besides that this book has probably the most egregious example of fridging that I've read in a while. The dynamic between the two characters was honestly the best part of the book until the woman dies so the man can have an emotional arc and go on a quest to save the world. Meh. The other death scene in this book felt fairly cheap as well. As I said, stuff with characters was not this books strong suit.

But on the positives side, the pacing is honestly perfect. The action is snappy with some of the final sequences feeling fittingly cinematic. In contrast to the character writing I seriously had no problems with the action writing. It felt like it came naturally to the author. And in terms of worldbuilding there's a bunch of cool stuff to latch onto, even if it is all closely derived from other fantasy. (Again that is what I was expecting so I won't dock it points for that at all).

I enjoyed it enough to probably read book 2 at some point. The high ratings of the rest of the books in the series makes me willing to bet that the writing improves significantly. But it probably won't be for a while or until the mood for classic fantasy strikes me again.

[Michael Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Major review update:

I started this book earlier this year, and took an instant dislike to it. I can't explain why, but I rarely give up on anything, and felt a bit defeated. So me being me, I decided to restart it. And oh boy, did I love it this go around!

A magnificent opening volume in what promises to be a new favourite fantasy series for me, this book had me on edge the entire time, and it has a nostalgic air to it that had me remembering what it felt like to be reading about Hobbits, Osten Ard, boy wizards and evil villains for the first time, but without that feeling of being reductive.

A truly wonderful novel and I'm desperate for volume two!

I will keep my original review below, for contrast.

_________________


I want to state that for me, this was a DNF.

But here is what could be of interest to you:

• Fun, easy to read prose.
• Immediately likeable characters
• The worldbuilding should appeal to anyone who loves classic fantasy. Think Dragonlance, Shannara, David Eddings, Eragon
• Well written action

For whatever reason, this book didn't click with me. It isn't bad, it will certainly suit other readers with tastes similar to mine, and I do recommend it.

But don't take my word for it, try it yourself!

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

How have I not heard more about this book (or the whole series)? Honestly, I hadn't heard people talking about it until just recently, and after looking at it, felt it sounded like something I would really like. Based on how quickly I read it and how much fun I had doing so; my rating would be 4.5/5.0 stars. There were all kinds of great characters I ended up loving (and hating!), and a very interesting storyline that made sense. And I loved that it wasn't until the very end before some of the mystery became clear to me. It's not perfect, and I've read several other reviews with some complaints about consistency, but none of that took away from my enjoyment. This is the kind of fantasy that I love, epic in scale, easy to read and a lot of fun to be had. I can't wait do continue with the series.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid Beginning

I really enjoyed this book and am very much looking forward to the rest of the series. Despite its some what boring or pedestrian title, what's inside is quite entertaining. You have a older grizzled bad ass protagonist which is refreshing after you've read about a million teenage farmboy chosen one fantasies. You have some really interesting factions and politics. You have some great side characters like Nathaniel and Gideon. And you have action written about as well as I've seen. It's like a movie in my head. The pacing is fast and consistent, and the writing is smooth and digestible without being modern or dumbed down. The pages just fly by. I also appreciated the fact that this is a little more dark and gritty than I expected. Even the good guys here are do or have done some pretty horrible things. I think if there is room for improvement it's with the characters a little bit. I love them but I want a bit more dialogue and back story. I'm very excited to continue the series.

[Michael Mayer III · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review was originally posted on SFF Insiders

Aside from the Cradle series by Will Wight, this is one of my first entries into the world of Indie Publishing. Of course, I've heard all of the negative stigma against indie published books: too many typos, poor quality, quantity of releases over quality, generic plots and characters, etc. As I embark into this new (for me) world of publishing, I hope to debunk all of that negativity and kill the stigma like Asher kills a bunch of Arakesh. And for the record, no typos that I could spot.

The Prologue starts with a bang a thousand years in the past, right in the midst of something called the Dark War. Right away, the reader can tell they are in for a modern take on a lot of classic fantasy elements. There are elves and humans, at first seemingly similar to the likes of Tolkien, and of course dragons. Later there's mention of dwarves and centaurs (C.S. Lewis), as well. In The Rise of the Ranger, the modern take on these elements is that the battles can be quite brutal and there's more romance with fade-to-black scenes alluding to intimate relationships. I can get behind some comps I've seen to John Gwynne (although the battles aren't as brutal), or The Witcher.

The most surprising choice for a debut author beginning a long series is the large number of POV characters. I think there's about 8 different characters you will get inside the mind of, though about 5 of those take up the bulk of the book. It's an interesting choice since most fantasy series start off with a lower POV number to not overwhelm the reader before ramping it up with each entry as the world expands. For that reason, it is a bit difficult to get invested into the characters in The Rise of the Ranger when you may not see them for another few chapters as Quaintrell works at setting the stage and scene for the main plot. One aspect I am grateful for, is Philip doesn't contrive ridiculous ways for all 8 characters to converge at the end. I mean, I don't mind that if it's a 400,000 word epic fantasy novel. It ceases to be unbelievable when it happens in half the words with characters seemingly continents apart. In this case, there are two convergences that happen in very believable ways by the end that feel satisfying and realistic.

Where Quaintrell really hits the mark is his characterization and pacing with the ranger, Asher, and other companions. Even with all of the POV characters, it's easy to feel Asher is the main guy and that's a good thing. There are a lot of layers of nuance to him that I can see, even if it hasn't all been revealed, and he's far from a simple, cookie cutter character. He’s also not some farmboy to fame twenty-something, but rather a middle-aged rugged former assassin that has already lived a hard, brutal life. It’s a breath of fresh air for me. Likewise, pseudo-paladin Nathaniel, who belongs to a dogmatic order that reminds me of the White Cloaks from Wheel of Time, also has a lot of conflict and complications to his worldview. He's loyal, to a point, but isn't beyond being able to assess a situation and look at it from an outside perspective. Of course, it helps that he's somewhat of a black sheep in the order, but I felt his arc the most relatable of the bunch.

We do get some POV characters that are elves and they are far from your typical woodland, immortal peacekeepers. These elves have been hurt by an extreme level of generational trauma and they've had to adapt to survive. I enjoyed reading the three main elf characters and how they process the world compared to their expectations. One of the main themes of Rise of the Ranger seems to be taking a step back at all you thought you knew about people, cultures, races, and to not be afraid to change your perspective if what you thought you knew isn't true. It comes up over and over again and it's a theme I can get behind.

I do have a few main gripes that some readers might find unimportant, but they took me out of the story a bit. Aside from the occasional cringe dialogue between characters, the sudden formation of a sexual relationship between two characters was jarring. Pretty much, right off the bat, despite both never having seen a member of the other's race, man and elf, fall head over heels with each other almost immediately. Now, I don't care for romance in my reading anyways, but this just felt too abrupt. It felt like two high school kids that finally got the courage to admit they like each other and now they are in love, ready to be married. Now, I get that Quaintrell probably wanted to establish just how passionate his elves are when it comes to emotion, but it felt very unbelievable to me. My last gripe is, one of the bad guys felt very tropey, in a bad way. As in, a mustache-twirling caricature type of bad way. I hope that, if they stick around, some backstory will be provided to help flesh out a more developed villain instead of what we get here.

All of that being said, the best part of Rise of the Ranger is the ending. Two main set pieces occur simultaneously between chapters as the aforementioned two separate groups of characters converge in different continents, all relevant to the overarching story. Did you always want to see what would happen if an army of assassins stormed a keep? I didn't know I did, but I'm glad Quaintrell had us covered! The final fight scenes were cinematic and heart pounding. We do get to see a dragon in all his fury as well as a truly sadistic army of savages that had my heart drop on more than one occasion. I'll say this, Philip isn't afraid to pull punches and what you think will happen definitely doesn't. It was all glorious as it ripped my heart out and stomped on it. What can I say? Us fantasy readers are masochists at heart. We know pain is coming on an emotional level and not only do we anticipate it, we pay for it again and again! I am happy to say that the stakes felt very real and no character is safe from an untimely demise, sometimes even unceremoniously.

I was surprised at the very end as a particular plot thread I didn't expect to be wrapped up in this book suddenly was accelerated and taken care of in the last couple of chapters. Fortunately, in light of what happened, it wasn't too jarring and it set up tasty possibilities for the sequel and the series, as a whole. I highly recommend this book to any fans of classic fantasy elements with a modern take and who enjoy deeper themes mixed in with the usual action found in this genre. This isn't a book that has elves and dragons for the sake of having elves and dragons because they are cool. There is a depth here that will keep the reader thinking long after they have closed the book.

The Echoes Saga
Rise of the Ranger - 8/10
Empire of Dirt - 8.5/10
Relic of the Gods - 9/10
The Fall of Neverdark - 9/10
Kingdom of Bones - 7.5/10
Age of the Kings - 9/10
The Knights of Erador - 8.5/10
Last of the Dragorn - 9/10

[Viv (vivianneslibrary) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic fantasy really has my heart! I loved the start of this epic fantasy series and I think it has the potential to be something great. It has everything you want in a classic style story however, if you don’t like that, then the story is probably not for you. My only negative really is that the writing could have been better but it didn’t take away from him telling a good story. Can’t wait for book two!

[Marc *Dark Reader with a Thousand Young! Iä!* · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 34%.

It's not terrible by any means, but I found it somewhat amateur and it was becoming increasingly cliche and I knew that boredom would be my prevailing feeling should I continue.

The writing was often clumsy, and there wasn't much of interest going on with the characters, with plenty of stock types. If worldbuilding is your main bag, this might work for you: a bunch of stuff happened a thousand years ago, and all that is coming to a head in the now on multiple fronts.

For me, it was simply too self-published.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was absolutely amazing. I loved the protagonist, he was everything you could want from an assassin with ‘magical’ abilities.
I especially liked the way in which Asher begins to form bonds with the people around him and begins to open up to them about his past as this has been drilled out of him by his training.
I felt like every character in this book was meant to be there and not just an extra in the plot. Their personalities really shone through. Unusually in this story (for me anyway) a lot of the characters meet unfortunate ends which was both sad and refreshing.
I loved the way the story flowed it was beautifully written. The world building and character development was out of this world. There are so many powerful characters in this book it’s hard to pick a favourite..!!
Jam packed with wonderful characters, magic, creatures and exquisite fighting styles by all. And if that’s not enough there’s a few dragons too. This book is a must read for fans of magic and fantasy. I look forward to reading the next in the series.

[Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not see this coming. I get most of my recommendations by following a reviewer by the name of Petrik. Thanks to him and his awesome reviews on Goodreads and YouTube, I’ve found some of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. While scrolling through the books he’s reviewed I can across The Echoes Saga. As a huge fantasy fan, I was immediately intrigued by the scale of this series. Decided to give book 1 a shot and it’s turning into a masterpiece. It’s got everything a fantasy fan wants in a series. Rise of the Ranger was the first book and it was just phenomenal. And according to Petrik, they keep getting better. I recommend this for people who like John Gwynne. I absolutely love The Faithful and the Fallen by Gwynne, so this series really resonates with me. At this moment, Philip Quaintrell is in my all time top 3. And that’s saying a lot with the amount of books I’ve read hahaha. Can’t wait to continue book 2. Easy 10 out of 10 from me. Definitely dying to check out the rest of his work.

[Shanna (shannasaurus_rex_reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid beginning! I love the A Time of Dragons series, so I’ve been very excited to go back and read the series that started it all. This world is so expansive and so detailed, with a ton of history and lore. I love worlds like this, and it feels really good to be back in this one! It feels very classic fantasy, and I am very excited to see where the story takes me. There were a few flaws, of course, but nothing egregious enough to dampen my enjoyment. I think the audiobook and ebook had a few discrepancies, but they were minor and didn’t change the story. Can’t wait to read the second book!

[Planxti's Imaginary World · Rating 5 out of 5]

5.0 stars

Let me start by saying that this outstanding book has little to nothing unique to it. Magic systems, fight styles, and terrain are all very standard for a D&D like environment.

What stands out is the writing itself. Charaerization, plot, pace, prose, and historical information are all amongst the best I've come across.

Sorry, examples would spoil it. He seems to seamlessly weave history in with natural conversation, making development seem a given second nature to it. All new information fits both natural and within that character's nature.

EXTREMELY WELL DONE.

[Henrique · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rise of The Ranger


Primeiro livro da primeira trilogia da saga dos Ecos e que baita surpresa foi essa história comecei a ler por recomendação de uma amiga que disse que eu ia gostar dessa história e foi ler e ela não poderia estar mais certa eu simplesmente fiquei vidrado por essa história nesse primeiro livro acompanhou alguns pontos de vista como o Ranger Asher, Nathaniel um Graycoat, Reyna e Faylen duas elfas da nobreza, Galanor também um elfo, Gideon um mago humano e também temos o ponto de vista do vilão desse primeiro livro Alydir mas o foco do livro mesmo fica no Ranger Asher e eu gostei muito desse protagonista tanto o personagem como livro muitas vezes me lembrava a vibe dos livros e dos jogos de The Witcher que é uma franquia que eu gosto muito acho que pode até ter tido umas inspirações, falando um pouco da história acompanhamos esses personagens com seus próprios objetivos que parecem estar desconectados ao primeiro momento mas que conforme a história vai passando se revela uma trama muito maior envolvida e os capítulos finais desse livro é simplesmente insano tem batalha épica tem plot twist e tudo que tem direito em um livro bom de fantasia eu gostei demais de acompanhar o Asher e toda a sua jornada e espero saber mais sobre o passado dele e sobre o que aconteceu pra ele chegar naquele momento do começo do livro realmente é um bom livro com um único promissor no que vai se desenrolar essa saga mal posso esperar para ver pra onde o autor vai levar essa história e como esses personagens vão conseguir das enrascadas que certamente estarão esperando por eles enfim um ótimo primeiro livro de uma saga recomendo a todos

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not fair...not fair that I found such a good book and there is no book 2 out yet!

My mind was blown. From the story itself and how it's presented, to the characters we meet and the journeys they go on. The world this Author has created...I love it. The action scenes are written perfectly and the magic presented here is an interesting one; we have runes, wands, staffs, internal power and spell calling. Oh, and Dragons.

The plot itself at the beginning is simple enough. Elves left the land of Illian 1000 years ago, abandoned after a war that cost their people much, some felt their Gods had left them while others say what God would allow such chaos to happen? Either way, Humans are left behind and the Elves and other races become history lessons in books. And it's into this timeline we are introduced to the various characters of the book - as the Elves are returning after 1000 years...the main question of course is, why. For Peace or for War?

I felt like this was the perfect book, it hit all my favorites. There is such a colorful cast of characters here as well, each fleshed out nicely and the various POVs allow you to see what's going on all over the world. You would think this might take away from potential surprises, which is usually the case when you get a POV from the villain - but not here. Even when you know the villains plan, the author still has ways of surprising you with a little wrinkle here or a twist there.

Asher reminded me a lot of Geralt the Witcher. From being an old man (like Geralt), to the use of two swords (one silver) and the training they both were put through as kids to become who they are today. When we meet Asher, he's even monster hunting! Love it. I was hooked right away. But as we go along you get to meet so many characters, each with their own personality. One stand out for me was Elaith - when you first meet her she's the annoying apprentice sidekick, young enough to think she knows everything. By the end, she was probably one of my favorites. Little things she learned throughout the story come up later on during some important scenes...I won't spoil - but she was written really well.

But yeah, this book has it all. A strong cast of characters, assassins, Kings and Queens and the political machinations that come with Royalty in books. Not to mention a shadowy assassins "guild" that is feared throughout Illian. Some plans have been 1000 years in the making, but no plan ever lasts first contact with Asher.

Pick this book up if you are a fan of sword and magic, you won't be disappointed. I am eagerly awaiting book 2 - and should the Author ever need a beta reader, let me know!

[Mica Santos ⇢ · Rating 2 out of 5]

It had the potential to be amazing; the idea and the way the story was going are great, and I'm a sucker for fantasy books with prophecies (and dragons).

BUT the prose, the WRITING, is awful. I just can't read a book that's written this poorly. There are also several issues with the execution of the whole 'what they can do / what they can't do' thing. Such a shame, because the concept really deserved better.

[João Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed my time with Rise of the Ranger, the first iteration of the Echoes Saga. I'd heard great things about this series and so I wanted to give it a shot.

At first, I fell for Asher, who among all the many POV characters this book has, seems to be the main character. He is brooding, mysterious, powerful and fits the archetype of the grizzled badass mercenary people don't want to mess with. I imagine him as a cool blend of Aragorn and Geralt of Rivia.

From those two comparisons alone, it should be easy enough to figure out what the atmosphere of this book is like. It's unapologetically classic fantasy. There is magic, monsters and mayhem. There are elves of differing alignments, dwarves, wizards, knights, princes and princesses, and magic. There are dragons and monsters of all kinds, and prophecies. It really felt like reading something older, written before 2017. If you're nostalgic about old school epic fantasy, there are some really good chances this will tick many of the boxes.

As the book went on, however, the book became less about Asher and kept introducing more POV characters. I wanted to spend more time with Asher, but I also understand that when laying the groundwork for a story of epic proportions, with many books to come, introducing a lot of POV characters is pretty much an inevitability. By the end of the book, a lot of the focus shifted back to Asher and that pleased me greatly.

However, because the book spends so much time going from POV character to POV character, it never quite feels like we spend enough time with any of them, which makes me think this book felt more plot-driven than character-driven. The characters have agency, motivations, and depth, but at times it can feel like they are simply pawns being placed in the storytelling chessboard to serve the events of the story. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, as it's simply a different storytelling choice being made, and I typically enjoy more plot-driven books as much as I do character-driven.

That being said, and while the characters were well fleshed-out, they seemed to fit more in the 'heroic' archetype, with not a lot of development taking place during the course of the book. They have things happen to them, but I'm not sure those things left a lasting mark or changed them in a meaningful way.

There was something else I was slightly underwhelmed by. This series is typically talked about as one featuring dragons quite a lot, and I was looking forward to seeing lots of dragons in it, but that wasn't really the case. Perhaps in future books in the series!

So, I quite enjoyed this and would be interest to continue the series. I'll recommend this to anyone looking for something with more old school vibes, and maybe more plot-driven than character-driven. The plot promises to only expand in scope and stakes in future books, so this could very well be the foundation of something truly epic!

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes. I will continue this series.

[Graham | The Wulvers Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE ECHOES OF FATE, A PROPHECY UTTERED UNTO THE WORLD A THOUSAND YEARS AGO, CANNOT BE DENIED…

Rise of the Ranger is an epic fantasy series by Philip C. Quaintrell that starts with an absolutely incredible prologue and the ball just keeps rolling. This is classic fantasy done right. I was impressed by the amount of POV characters which at first was overwhelming, but Quaintrell weaved these stories perfectly.

I was astounded with the sheer scope of the novel and can tell that there's already so much left to explore and I am here for this journey. I'm a fan of how these characters are written and whilst there is a lot to read, I have a feeling this will all pay off in other novels. This is a massive 9 book series that I'm sure will reward those who read it. There were times that I wish I had more character chapters because I was enjoying them so much, but you can tell that this is an epic journey and Quaintrell expertly sets the stage for the overarching story.

The character work here was where Quaintrell found his feet. Asher, although only one of the main characters, has a lot of layers that are just opening, and I'm intrigued to find out more. Nathaniel and Reyna have a great dynamic and we are only just starting to see what they are capable of. We have betrayal, traitors and conflict all unravelling and Quaintrell has hit the mark with how brilliantly written these characters are. Elves play an important role and it's great to see Quaintrell expand on people and cultures. Doing so, we see everything from a different perspective, and it really opens what we think is happening.

Some of the dialogue and scenes felt abrupt, mainly the romance and whilst I don't mind romance in novels it felt like a rush to establish this. I’m also eager to see how the villain plays out as they felt tropey at the end. The ending itself was fantastically orchestrated. Heartbreaking and heroic, Quaintrell isn't afraid to do what is necessary which makes for an exciting, but scary, read.

This is a series that has classic tropes but sets the tone for modern fantasy. This is setting out to be a massive undertaking but one I am eager to continue.

[E · Rating 2 out of 5]

The epilogue made me rate this a two star read.
The plot is nice and promising. The factions and the main characters are as one expects them to be, though they don't get to be very developed. There is a prophecy, a bit of love, a bit of dislike, and a fair number of quests since the main characters don't agree on how to thwart the bad guys.
There is a fair bit of hack-n-slash with some unexpected deaths (the character that finally started to grow on me got killed off) and an attempt at some grimdark twists.
At times the story is inconsistent. There are mighty elves that wield powerful magic. But upon meeting an adversary they rather get killed than create a portal to escape. Same for the hunted group of elves: 'once the hunters get the scent they never let go'; well tracking is pretty difficult when your quarry can just jump some 100miles away.
And why is no one wondering why there is an unnatural storm just hanging about for days, being highly inconvenient and that just does not abate or drift off? Or: who would be able to conjure such a thing?

But basically it's the writing itself that put me off. A lot of hyperbolics are used, also on ordinary moments. Misplaced metaphors. Everything is extremely confusing, painful, wet, slippery, I don't know, but the whole world seems to consist of extremes (it gets better in the second half). Blood spatters about in unlikely quantities and everyone gets cleaved down the middle after being decapitated in one swift stroke.
And then the book finishes with an unexpected twist that is somewhat inconsistent with the rest of the book. You feel like you're misled on purpose. And then the epilogue follows, which tries to do what? Make up for it? Explain the obvious? Does not work. Not for me.
Two stars.

[Paris (parismaereads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Quick Takes:
-3/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Genre 📚 Epic Fantasy
- Language 🤐 infrequent moderate*
- Spice ❤️‍🔥 fade to black
- Content 🤔 themes of war, on page death/killing, innuendo

I had really high hopes for this book. It is the author’s debut so I plan to continue on with book 2 to see if it picks up some and the issues I had work themselves out.

I wasn’t invested in the plot at all until around 70%. The action finally picked up and points of view were crossing paths and things actually started happening. The pacing was a bit slower than I expected. I couldn’t get into the audio or physical, I tried both and just still nothing until the 70% mark.

I kept with it because I read it for a book club. It’s a 9 book series though so book 2 will determine if I want to continue on or not. I’ve heard great things about this book and the author, so giving book 2 a chance.

*the language is infrequent strong on the audio. The author went back and reworked the first three books of this series and he took out all the F-bombs when he did that. The audio still has them but if you get the kindle version or read on KU it does not. There are also a lot of typos in the updated kindle copy, would benefit from a proof read or line editor.

[Barefoot Gypsy Jimerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second time I read this book an it's just as good as the first time.. I read it to refresh my mind about Ashers sense his new series is out. He is a outstanding character. This book has all you want in a fantasy world where everything is possible. What a great work of art. Outstanding read!!!!