Black Stone Heart cover art

Black Stone Heart

The Obsidian Path, Book 1

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Black Stone Heart

By: Michael R. Fletcher
Narrated by: Michael R. Fletcher
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About this listen

A broken man, Khraen awakens alone and lost. His stone heart has been shattered, littered across the world. With each piece, he regains some small shard of the man he once was.

He follows the trail, fragment by fragment, remembering his terrible past.

There was a woman.

There was a sword.

There was an end to sorrow.

Khraen walks the obsidian path.

©2020 Michael R. Fletcher (P)2020 Michael R. Fletcher Dark Fantasy Fantasy Fiction

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Most relevant  
I’ve been wanting to read one of Fletcher‘s books for a while now as many of my friends praised his books, but I never quite got around to it. Lady Luck stood by my side and Black Stone Heart got sorted into our group. I took it as a sign and claimed it for myself. In the meantime the audiobook was also released and I got myself a copy of that too to speed things up. Little did I know what was waiting for me.

Black Stone Heart is the story of Khraen, a young (or old, depending on your POV) man in search of his past and the pieces of his obsidian heart. The first person POV makes Black Stone Heart a very intimate read as we tag along Khraen discovering the world and the answers to his questions through him. I generally favor books written in first person, so this aspect was a huge plus for me. There is something raw and powerful in Fletcher‘s writing that makes Khraen’s world to come alive. His thirst for collecting his memories, his hate for wizards bordering on irrational and the many form of magic than inhabit the pages.

I admit I had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Khraen, which – to me – shows his complexity as a character. On one hand, I sympathized with him and rooted for him to find his memories or to find his happiness with Shalayn. But as the plot went ahead, he started to make decisions I did not quite understand. His flaws started to come out more and more as he gained his memories and his personality changed with it. It was really intriguing to see that change, I might add. The way he battled with himself, trying to balance his new and old personality. But also, he resents the people of the North for treating him badly due to his dark skin color and old superstitions, but at the same time, he holds a similar prejudice against wizards. Sure, he has a good reason to hate them, but he never stops considering that maybe, just maybe, not every wizard is a traitorous bastard.

Another interesting aspect of Black Stone Heart is Khraen’s struggling with the concept of evil. Is killing people considered evil? And if you do it for your own survival? Or for the good of your people? Does the purpose make the deed excusable? And then, what is evil anyway? What makes Khraen a really memorable character is that the reader can’t really decide on which side he falls on the evil spectrum. I don’t think he knows it either. Characters like him make the Grimdark subgenre so damn intriguing for me. Because I just can’t make up my mind about him and it’s been a while since I’ve read it. Twice in quick succession because damn, Black Stone Heart just makes its way under your skin like a bad itch you can’t get rid of.

My only issue and the reason I didn’t give this book a higher rating is Khraen’s relationships with Henka and Shalayn. I won’t go into details so I won’t spoil anything, but suffice to say, I found his feelings a bit unbelieavable and a bit forced. He told us over and over and over what he felt but it felt more like pep talking himself and not convincing either of us. Though, in retrospect, some things do make sense by the end of the book.

That being said, Fletcher has this way of f*cking with your mind, whether you like it or not. There aren’t many big surprising twists – only one that really caught me by surprise and which I should have expected. It is more character driven rather than plot and even then, the Fletcher does not make life easy for them.

Black Stone Heart will make you uncomfortable, will make you question the actions of the characters but will never let you go. Do a favor to yourself and listen to the audiobook narrated by Fletcher himself. If you won’t fall in love with his voice and wish he was reading everything to you from now on, then there is something wrong with you.

Black Stone Heart will never let you go

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Good Grimdark book that leaves you wanting more. Plot was a bit thin but the main character was very interesting and the story leaves you wanting more. Worth a pop.

Potential is there

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Someone said that Black Stone Heart is a visceral masterpiece and they were right, it's also a bloody fantastically grimalicious read from start to finish. Michael R Fletcher is the grim reaper of souls and in my opinion the King Of Grimdark. I absolutely love Michael R Fletcher writing, I knew after reading his Manifest Delusions series I was in for another beautiful dark treat with this first book of The Obsidian Path series. His worlds are dark, his characters even darker, twisted and beautifully realised, this could be his best yet that I have read so far and I still have two books to go. If you're a fan of audible books, Michael R Fletcher narrates this one himself and does it beautifully. He gives a fantastic introduction with his Mad Dopple band jamming in the background. In Black Stone Heart our main protagonist, Khraen, wakes up less than a man, after pulling himself from a shallow grave. Naked and alone he slowly pieces himself back to some semblance of who he is and was, he regains his lost memories by collecting pieces of his shattered heart that are scattered across the lands, he begins a journey of self discovery and vengeance against those who tore him to pieces which will lead him to some horrifying places, dark magic and necromancy. A journey into morality and darkness. A nicely crafted tale of a man reborn and of the paths he chooses. Dark fantasy at its best. I very highly recommend..😁🔥💀🖤

Dark and Beautiful.

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A story of wonder and grim scenes. Everything great you'd expect from a Fletcher novel.

brilliant

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Fantastic story showing struggles between who we want to be and who we are if given the opportunity. Dark, gritty and wonderfully told

Dark brilliance

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