Emory

reigniting my love of fantasy

Revisado: 03-20-25

It's been a long time since I read a fantasy series so gripping and fascinating. the world is well crafted, the characters realistic in their pain and struggles as they navigate terrible situations. Loved this journey with Emrael and his people and can't wait for the next one!

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Good old fashioned sword and sorcery fun with lots of heart

Revisado: 02-10-25

this book is awesome, the narrator is awesome as well. we follow Emrael Ire on his quest to save his brother and it is breathtakingly exciting and full of intrigue. a story told with passion and heart. Definitely recommend this. the only downside for me was the exposition, would go a little cross-eyed every time characters explained things about the world or the magic system in laborious, contrived detail. Definitely didn't overall diminish my enjoyment of this wonderful tale. excited for the next chapter!

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A thrilling adventure

Revisado: 09-22-23

This book was a wonderful audiobook listen. The characters were deep and engaging, living in a complex, multi-dimensional world where good and evil are not black and white.

The performance of the narrator was exceptional as well. I haven't read the book itself, some reviews mentioned some spelling/grammatical issues, but you definitely don't notice that in listening to the audiobook version.

Highly recommend this audiobook if you're looking for a good adventure story.

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Fascinating and disturbing

Revisado: 09-08-23

Fascinating and disturbing series of short stories. I'm really impressed by the author's imagination and his ability to bring all these strange ideas and scenarios to life. Not all the stories were super enjoyable, but most I found really interesting. Some did drag on a bit longer than they needed to. I absolutely loved the pieces narrated by Vas Eli, superb voice.

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An extended prologue suffering from torturous plot

Revisado: 02-05-23

Let me first say that this narrator is brilliant, absolutely brilliant. I would listen to anything he narrates, really.

In 2007, 2008, and 2009 I spent a total of 8 months in India, primarily in New Delhi, though I traveled a bit. This book was engaging for me from the beginning because it brought back memories of the horrors and ruthlessness that I witnessed there. The characters were familiar and well-written, overall, if a little one-dimensional.

I'm going to disagree with a lot of reviewers who really like Ajay's opening 200 or so pages. This was a slow, passive slog. It was just extended backstory. Ajay himself is a character without agency who doesn't seem to develop as the backstory drags on.

Neda's portion was a little more interesting because she at least has a little agency in the world. I think Neda was a well-done character with a lot of believable flaws. She reminds me of the classic shtick of the young women I met in Delhi during those years. Eventually her story got a little blah too. I think at one point I accidentally moved the dial back an hour and found myself listening to something I had already heard. But rather than thinking I had accidentally jumped backward I actually thought the author was going over the same things again later in the story, as the character reflected on what happened, because this would not have been in anyway outside her established patterns as a writer to this point.

We finally switch to Sunny, who's a total whiner, but has more agency than all the other characters and actually does things. The story starts at last (I think I was about 12 hours in at 1.3x at this point) and I was engaged and excited. Then the finally present story comes to a SCREECHING halt so we can listen to some rando bad guy that has just appeared--apropos of nothing--give a 2 hour monologue (no joke, at 1.3x speed). I almost stopped entirely and gave up.

That monologue really ruined the rest of the book for me. I no longer cared about the brief "story" that had finally started, the characters, the outcome. All credibility the author had gained in the brief moments of brilliance were utterly shattered. Not sure if Penguin Random House had to cut all their editors due to the pandemic or what. I will not be buying the sequels. There are flashes of brilliance in the story (hence 2 stars) but that accounts for about 2 hours, the rest is a dragging, monotonous slog, going nowhere, without plot or point. Torturous.

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Superb performance, brutally visceral story

Revisado: 01-08-23

I tend to DNF books in first person present tense, just a matter of taste.

But this book is a masterpiece and would not have been so riveting written in any other way. It was raw, and awful and full of the hard truths reality in war. I will be processing this story for a long time, and am so grateful Erich took the time to share it with the world.

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Excellent writing, excellent narrator

Revisado: 12-26-22

The performance was incredible. The writing is beautiful. But listening for 13 hours for something to happen does at times vegans to tax a person. A story perhaps bogged down by the necessary boring aspects of actual facts and actual life.

Definitely enjoyable at times, but there are hours and hours where nothing happens and we move through massive swaths of time. The characters are rather unlikeable as well, which perhaps they were in real life.

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Lovely writing, boring tale, excellent performance

Revisado: 07-06-22

Written like a meditation for the author on medieval life; a long, protracted writing prompt that becomes a gratuitously excessive exercise in prose. Story has no stakes. Didn't really care what happened to any of the characters. The reader was phenomenal, really nicely done, enjoyable performance. You might like it, you might not. Don't go into with expectations other than a meandering story without any really meaningful messages to take home at the end.

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Excellent story

Revisado: 05-07-22

This book has an ominous feeling to it, good pace. Some of the events seemed a little contrived and occasional cringey dialogue, but overall very enjoyable. Pacing really picks up toward the end, there are definitely some slow parts. Overall, if you're looking for likeable characters, an interesting villain, and enjoyable historical fiction, you'll love this. The audiobook narrator is also superb.

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The Greatest Novel Ever Written

Revisado: 03-23-22

They aren't lying. This book will tear you apart in ways you never imagined. Tolstoy was a master. The narrator blows, I found that if I kept him at 1.15 speed that was the only way he was tolerable. I had a hard time finishing, the last 4.5 hours are difficult to get through, but worth it. I can't believe the ride this story was and how much I learned and how much it made me think about what really matters in life, how trivial all the big historical things are and how vitally important the events of our every day lives. Incredible.

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