Shattered Dreams
Light in the Dark, Book 1
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Narrated by:
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Gareth Richards
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By:
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Ulff Lehmann
About this listen
Epic fantasy filled to the brim with grimdark reality.
If one looks too long into the abyss, the abyss looks back. Drangar Ralgon has been avoiding the abyss's gaze for far too long and now he turns to face it.
For 100 years the young kingdom of Danastaer has thrived in peace. Now their northern neighbor, mighty Chanastardh, has begun a cunning invasion.
Thrust into events far beyond his control, the mercenary Drangar Ralgon flees his solitary life as a shepherd to evade the coming war and take responsibility for his crimes.
In Dunthiochagh, Danastaer's oldest city, the holy warrior Kildanor uncovers the enemy's plans for invasion.
As ancient forces reach forth to shape the world once more, the sorceress Ealisaid wakes from a century of hibernation only to realize the Dunthiochagh she knew is no more. Magic, believed long gone, returns, and with it comes an elven wizard sent to recover a dangerous secret.
©2018 Ulff Lehmann (P)2020 David N. WilsonListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
Shattered Dreams is a rich, layered high fantasy, the beginning of an epic that will be well worth following for years to come. Looming menace, thoughtful world-building; a winner! (Ed Greenwood - New York Times best-selling fantasy writer)
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Story
Across the mountains called the Dragon's Teeth, beyond the chill reach of the Werewind and the fires of the world's beginning, above the walls of the castle Fangdred, stands Windtower. From this lonely keep the Star Rider calls forth the war that even wizards dread, fought for a woman's hundred-lifetime love. A woman called Nepanthe, princess to the Stormkings…
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Nothimg like Black Company-good in a different way
- By Zap Rowsdower on 10-02-21
By: Glen Cook
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For the Killing of Kings
- The Ring-Sworn Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Howard Andrew Jones
- Narrated by: Lori Prince
- Length: 16 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Their peace was a fragile thing, but it had endured for seven years, mostly because the people of Darassus and the king of the Naor hordes believed his doom was foretold upon the edge of the great sword hung in the hall of champions. Unruly Naor clans might raid across the border, but the king himself would never lead his people to war so long as the blade remained in the hands of his enemies. But when squire Elenai’s aging uncovers evidence that the sword in their hall is a forgery, she’s forced to flee Darassus for her life, her only ally the reckless, disillusioned Kyrkenall.
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Great Story!
- By Aurora McMillian on 05-15-19
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The Bard's Blade
- The Sorcerer's Song, Book 1
- By: Brian D. Anderson
- Narrated by: Andrew Kingston, Tamsin Kennard
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Mariyah enjoys a simple life in Vylari, a land magically sealed off from the outside world, where fear and hatred are all but unknown. There, she's a renowned wine maker, and her betrothed, Lem, is a musician of rare talent. Their destiny has never been in question. Whatever life brings, they will face it together. Then, a stranger crosses the wards into Vylari for the first time in centuries, bringing a dark prophecy that forces Lem and Mariyah down separate paths. How far will they have to go to stop a rising darkness and save their home?
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Something new
- By Blaise Ancona on 02-20-20
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Plague of Shadows
- By: Howard Andrew Jones
- Narrated by: Dina Pearlman
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The race is on to free Lord Stelan from the grip of a wasting curse, and only his old, half-elf mercenary companion Elyana has the wisdom - and swordcraft - to solve the mystery of his tormentor and free her old friend before three days have passed and the illness takes its course.
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Good -- rough recording IMO
- By Nico Ecenarro on 01-23-17
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The Crown of Command
- A Shattered Gods Story
- By: Chris Fox
- Narrated by: Ryan Kennard Burke
- Length: 22 mins
- Unabridged
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An empire entombed under ash. Four centuries ago, the Stewards decreed that the Elentian Imperium must be punished. For a year and a day, ash rained from the sky forming what is now known as the Ashlands. As a new member of the Temple of Celeste, you are now privy to the truth. Our diviners have scried the infamous lich's final moments. If you dare witness the memory, you will find it transcribed within. The Crown of Command is a short novella set in the Shattered Gods universe.
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Nice Prose, Vivid Descriptions, Intriguing Ending
- By Andrew Moody on 03-27-22
By: Chris Fox
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Incursion
- The Necromancer's Key, Book 1
- By: Mitchell Hogan
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 15 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Seventeen years have passed since the Necromancer Queen Talia was overthrown and slain, and her capital city destroyed by the Knights of the Order of Eternal Vigilance. Anskar DeVantte, raised in the sacred disciplines of the Order, is now ready to face the brutal initiation trials to become a consecrated knight-sorcerer. But the further Anskar rises in the ranks the more his faith wavers. As troubling powers awaken within him, a schism grows between Anskar and his hallowed Order, and he draws the hungry gaze of the vanquished queen’s fanatical followers.
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Michael Kramer!
- By Momof3inSLC on 07-24-20
By: Mitchell Hogan
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Onyx & Ivory
- By: Mindee Arnett
- Narrated by: Khristine Hvam
- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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They call her Traitor Kate. It’s a title Kate Brighton inherited from her father after he tried to assassinate the high king of Rime. Cast out of the nobility, Kate now works for the royal courier service. Only the most skilled ride for the Relay and only the fastest survive, for when night falls, the drakes - deadly flightless dragons - come out to hunt. Fortunately, Kate has a secret edge: She is a wilder, born with forbidden magic that allows her to influence the minds of animals.
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Fantastic.
- By Alex Tollefson on 06-04-18
By: Mindee Arnett
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Unfettered
- Tales By Masters of Fantasy
- By: Terry Brooks, Patrick Rothfuss, Robert Jordan, and others
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim, Marc Vietor, Bronson Pinchot, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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You define life or it defines you. In Shawn Speakman’s case, it was both. Lacking health insurance and diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2011, Shawn quickly accrued a massive medical debt that he did not have the ability to pay. That’s when New York Times best-selling author Terry Brooks offered to donate a short story that Shawn could sell to help alleviate those bills—and suggested he ask the same of his other writer friends. Unfettered is the result: An anthology built in order to relieve that debt, featuring short stories by some of the best fantasy writers in the genre.
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A TRULY BAD COLLECTION OF DOGS
- By Randall on 12-21-18
By: Terry Brooks, and others
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The Druid
- Warrior Druid of Britain, Book 1
- By: Steven A. McKay
- Narrated by: Nick Denton
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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A land in turmoil. A village ablaze. A king’s daughter abducted. In the aftermath of a surprise attack Dun Buic lies in smoking ruins and many innocent villagers are dead. As the survivors try to make sense of the night’s events the giant warrior-druid, Bellicus, is tasked with hunting down the raiders and thwarting their dark purpose. With years of training in the old ways, two war-dogs at his side, and unsurpassed skill with a longsword, Bellicus’s quest will take him on a perilous journey through lands still struggling to cope with the departure of the Roman legions.
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Interesting historical fiction of a Druid warrior
- By Dan on 02-05-21
By: Steven A. McKay
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Barrowlands
- Iconoclasts, Book 0
- By: Mike Shel
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 1 hr
- Unabridged
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No one enters the doom-haunted Barrowlands without royal sanction. But Hesk Atterley has. Accompanied by seedy companions and a hunger for riches, what he finds may change his life forever...if it doesn't kill him first.
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Short but Interesting
- By Michael on 02-01-21
By: Mike Shel
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Child of the Flames
- A Sword and Sorcery Saga
- By: D.W. Hawkins
- Narrated by: Malk Williams
- Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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The Red Swords came with the sunrise and took everything Shawna Llewan held dear. Her family massacred, her home destroyed, she escapes with nothing but her mother’s heirloom and the desire for vengeance. When she’s found by Dormael, a Warlock of the Conclave, she learns that her mother’s keepsake - the very reason her family was killed - holds the power to unleash boundless destruction.
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Great start!
- By Gordon on 08-18-19
By: D.W. Hawkins
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Mage's Blood
- The Moontide Quartet, Book 1
- By: David Hair
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl
- Length: 26 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Most of the time the Moontide Bridge lies deep below the sea, but every 12 years the tides sink and the bridge is revealed, its gates open for trade. The Magi are hell-bent on ruling this new world, and for the last two Moontides they have led armies across the bridge on "crusades of conquest". Now, the third Moontide is almost here, and this time the people of the East are ready for a fight... but it is three seemingly ordinary people that will decide the fate of the world.
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Nick Podehl
- By Logan on 01-05-15
By: David Hair
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Prodigy of Thunder
- Chronicles of Anna Atticus Stone, Book 1
- By: Sever Bronny
- Narrated by: Moira Quirk
- Length: 24 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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The youngest warlock to ever wield lightning, 14-year-old Anna Atticus Stone dreams of attending the prestigious Academy of Arcane Arts. Except her life is a mess. She's friendless, her older sister keeps knocking her teeth out, and her parents constantly argue.
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Worth a credit
- By Chris on 09-28-23
By: Sever Bronny
What listeners say about Shattered Dreams
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- C.T.
- 06-03-20
Awesome fantasy war story
SHATTERED DREAMS by Ulff Lehmann is a grimdark low fantasy epic which immediately draws comparisons to A Game of Thrones for the fact it is a multi-perspective view on an invasion of a Medieval country by its northern neighbors. It deals with the supernatural, politics, and violence in a non-romanticized way which works well for bringing about this is a gritty world where people are killed for trivial reasons. One of the best moments of the book is at the start when there's a casual murder in the street and no one dares lift a finger.
The short version of the plot, which is a bit of an oxymoron given this is an epic, is the kingdom of Danastaer is being invaded by Chanastardh. The latter already has a huge advantage in terms of soldiers and resources but they've also gained a new, seemingly insurmountable one, in magic. This despite the fact magic has been missing for a long time. Five individuals follow this invasion from their perspective.
Mercenary Drangar Ralgon is forced out of self-imposed exile even though he is suffering from severe mental trauma due to an incident where he committed a terrible crime. The holy warrior Kildanor, meanwhile, tries to find the enemies' plans so he can deduce how to stop this dreadful invasion. The sorceress Ealisaid awakens from magical hibernation to find a world where culture has been virtually wiped out and replaced by brutish warlords. The politically savvy Anne struggles to protect her family's position when the rule of law takes a backseat to practicality. Finally, the elf Lloreanthoran is sent by his people to recover a cursed book.
The biggest criticism I have for the book is it switches around a great deal and deals with a lot of plot threads that get left to future books to resolve. I can't help but think the book might have been improved if it had stuck with a somewhat smaller cast of individuals or even followed a single perspective per book. Drangar's story was the most interesting to me and the most traditionally "grimdark" as it dealt with a soldier suffering PTSD before it was ever diagnosed in a society that reveres violence. It's pretty far removed from an elf seeking a cursed magical book while he chats with his talking squirrel Bright Eyes (who is awesome, BTW). The book also stops at the end versus resolving most of its plot points and ends on a cliffhanger.
The book also suffers a bit from the naming conventions issue which plague some fantasy novels. Keeping straight an entire new world and all of its terminology as well as characters is a hard task, especially when you have so many like Ulff Lehmann's new world. This is a book which would have benefited from a glossary at the start or, again, easing the reader into things. Instead, it dumps you right in the middle of things and lets you play catch up. Then again, maybe it's me as it took me three reads to get A Game of Thrones mastered. I may just have the attention span of...hey, what's that!
With my criticism out of the way, I have to say I really like Ulff Lehmann's writing style. There's about four or five interesting books spread across Shattered Dreams and all of them are interesting. He has a way of taking high fantasy concepts like elves, archwizards, and world-ending threats then treating them in the most gritty unromantic manner possible. This is a world where wizard fireballs may fly at people but it will describe people burning to death followed by their ashen corpses getting trodden on by the invaders they failed to stop.
The handling of religion in the world is also something I was really interested in as we have several mutually contradictory but true faiths in the setting. There's no real substitute Catholic Church in the setting but "civilized" worship and the more wild pagan warrior cults which Kildanor is a part of yet have no real place in modern society--at least until things start to go to hell. I would have read a book entirely about them.
I also want to praise Ulff Lehmann's handling of Medieval combat and action scenes. The battles are brutal and bloody with a keen eye to detail. This isn't a place where people have long sword-fights but a person is struck then is either wounded (and probably bleeding out) or dead. He also actually has people surrender, which is something that I think way too few fantasy novels bother with. Way too many characters in fantasy are fanatics for their causes.
In conclusion, I recommend listening to Shattered Dreams. The good news is it's a very interesting doorstopper (doorlistener?) and I want to find out what happens to everyone.
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- Amy Lopez
- 04-06-21
Great book!!!
The story telling was very Game Of Thrones’ish. It was fun start to finish! Worth every penny.
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- trufriends
- 06-19-20
overall
I liked the story, in this book Gareth narration fit. So overall the story was pretty good.
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- Mark Mackey
- 06-01-20
Shattered Dreams Light in the Dark, Book 1 review
I really enjoyed this. With unique characters and spectacular writing, this book had me hooked from beginning to end. For these reasons I’ll continue to read future books by this author.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Daniel
- 05-23-20
A good twist to a classic genre.
I rarely write reviews, as I am terrible at keeping spoilers out of them but feel this story and its creator deserve a glass raised and respectful nod.
It is always a pleasure to discover a new talented author. Nowadays when searching for a good fantasy book one finds his or herself sifting through so much recycled content. Once in a while you come across a true gem. I have always enjoyed high fantasy and while I do enjoy classic Tolkien inspired characters it is a pleasure to read a book without the two dimensional paragons of virtue you find in most books.
Ulff Lehman has begun carving out a niche in a tired genre. This book certainly displays a love for some of the classic elements of High Fantasy with a realism to his characters that one rarely finds, the people and non people have flaws and virtues mixed in a way you could find in real life. The world he has built has alot of history and promises so much more in his future books.
The author doesnt take himself too seriously and isn't afraid to play with ideas, a rare treat as I did not find myself guessing the next scene in the story as often seems to happen with new fantasy books. Lehman's mind is unique both lighthearted and a little dark at times, I look forward to seeing this world and story unfold in many books to come.
The story is well read, some of the voices could have been a little more defined but that is hard to do. Richards did a great job his tone and tempo perfect throughout all but the first couple of scenes with very few noticeable edits.
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- Cindy
- 07-03-20
Busy, Busy
I tried very hard to get into this story. It kept changing characters with each chapter, making me go back and review thinking I missed something. It did come together eventually, but requires your full attention.
This author is new to me, but I see a great future.
Gareth Richards does awesome as narrator. His work is always impressive.
This audio was given to me free and I voluntarily gave this review.
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- Brian
- 07-06-20
A Grimdark Epic Fantasy Tale
As with most epic fantasy novels, the world building in Shattered Dreams is great. A lot of time and energy is spent on this and it shows. Lehmann is able to build up this world that feels real and believable. It feels lived in and like it’s been there for eons. Sometimes this can be overdone in books like this, but I think that Lehmann was able to do it just enough.
Characters also play a huge role in epic fantasies, and there are usually a lot of them. Thankfully, the narration and overall writing style from Lehmann allows this one to not get lost in the different characters. Each one feels different and unique and almost all of them feel like they’re adding to the story.
There were a few times when reading this that I felt lost or like Lehmann was going on to fill more pages – but far less than I expected going into it. There were a few scenes that after pages and pages of description and back and forth – the payoff was worth it. And there were a few times that it wasn’t. I won’t go into details since that would spoil certain moments, but I think that the good outweighs the bad here.
Gareth Richards does a really nice job with this book. As with any epic fantasy there is always a lot to confuse the reader – but Richards is able to keep the reader interested and not confused. His narration adds to this story and really makes the 18 hours seem to fly by. One of the biggest benefits of listening to epic fantasy audiobooks is that you don’t have to guess how to say words like Dunthiochagh, Danastaer, and Ealisaid. Richards just says them and you move on.
Overall, an enjoyable grimdark epic fantasy. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book similar to this, but I definitely enjoyed it. It had this sort of edge to it that I wasn’t expecting, but it made it unique and interesting. It wasn’t a perfect book but those are hard to come by. It’s good moments definitely outweighed the few issues I had with it personally.
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- Anonymous User
- 09-18-20
hard to digest
I'm sorry, I could not get into this story. I gave it the "old college" try up to chapter 17. I found the narrator irritating.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
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