Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Shadows of Legend by JDL Rosell Narrator: Peter Kenny
Series: The Dragonforged Saga #1
Published by Brilliance Audio on September 29, 2026
Genres: Fantasy
Length: 11 hours, 41 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible
The tyrant gods have fallen. Dragons have returned. Monarchs scrabble for power while greater threats seethe in the shadows.
Leras Venaliel rises to meet these challenges. A half-elf prince, his mixed heritage and stunted sorcery has earned him scorn from his subjects.
Yet within him smolders a dormant power. A magic only dragons should wield.
Upon receiving a summons he cannot refuse, Leras embarks on a quest to save his people with allies both loyal and deceitful. Every step shapes him into the champion he must be.
Only forged in dragonfire can he withstand the trials to come...
Elves, Dwarves and Dragons oh my! Shadows of Legend is a the first book of the Dragonforged Saga, set in the same world after the events of the Legend of Tal series. While you do not have to have read any of the prior series to jump in and enjoy this book, there will be spoilers for the other series. This reminded me so much of Lord of the Rings and Aragon in different ways. The classes of characters and the magic is different but I couldn’t help compare some of the story to the ideas and some of the worldbuilding in those seires.
The story unfolds through the eyes of two different PoVs. Leras and Niom were both outcasts in their society, for very different reasons and grew up together forming a great bond of friendship. Leras, due to his is a half Elf / half human heritage and Niom because one of his Dwarven ancestors was cast out from the Dwarf’s city. They couldn’t be any different from one another, but due to circumstance they are the best of friends. Leras discovers he is bound to the soul of a Dragon and is ordered to go to the Dragon stronghold or bring war to his home. Niom travels with his friend to his unknown fate, but he was forced to go by a shadowy figurehead who holds the fate of Niom’s family in his hands.
Shadows of Legend is the first book I’ve read by JDL Rosell. It took me a little time to get used to the flow of the story and the established cast. You could tell there is a lot of backstory coming for the Legend of Tal books and so some of the time I felt like I didn’t have a full understanding of the world. That feeling dissipated the more we move through the story and the world begins to flesh out more. Leras, even though a prince of his lands, never felt like he belonged but at least knew he was loved by family. Travelling to a the Dragon’s keep he is met with distrust and loathing as they believe he stole the soul of the dragon. I started to enjoy the story more once Leras and his dragon begin their journey together.
This was a complex story and because it is the first book in a series I think you have to be a bit patient in the beginning. I could tell the story was setting up for some big payouts and it didn’t disappoint. There are some crazy twists, turns and betrayals from characters I should have but didn’t really expect. That said you have to get about 40-50% of the way into the book before it seemed to really take off. Still as this will be a series I don’t necessarily think that is a bad thing, especially with how it ended.
This is perfect for lovers of high fantasy that don’t need a big romance in the story as the book is pretty sparce on that front. Unless you count the bond between a Dragon and the Boy that saved it. Personally, I came for the dragons but stayed for intrigues.
Narration:
Performance: ★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★★
Diction: ★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★★
Sound Effects: none
Peter Kenny is a new to me narrator, but has an extensive fantasy catalog. I enjoyed his performance but he seems to have a slightly faster cadence than I’m used to and I needed to slow down the playback speed from my normal listening speed of 1.5x to 1.25x. I was able to tell the characters apart most of the time but there were a few times I seemed to loose track of the story. I don’t necessarily think that was the narrator’s issue, but mine and I had to back up to figure out what I missed. Still a strong performance and I can see why he has been selected to narrate a lot of high fantasy.
Listen to a clip: HERE
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