A gem of a story!!

This was an unexpectedly fantastic story and narration!!

Brilliant listen don't hesitate to get it.

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Terrific

Oh what a luscious turn of phrase Mr Arnold has. Perfect scenes evoked with a word sketch.
And my, also a very talented actor/narrator. If not the best, certainly one of the best author narrators I have come across.
An engaging lead character, with his bag of angst and woes, interacts well with other residents of his world. Conversations you believe, that reveal the person and take the story forward.
If I was being super-picky, I would say that during the middle of the story I was a bit muddled. Also, although there were some very droll moments the overall feel was just the teensiest bit, gloomy. I guess that would be all the angsts making their presence felt.
So happy I gave it a shot. I do hope there are more to come.

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8 people found this helpful

Quickly became one of my favorite series

I listened to this book twice now. The story is great, the world-building is interesting, and what really puts the cherry on top is Luke Arnold reading it and giving all his characters amazing, distinct voices.

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1 person found this helpful

What a Talent

Written and narrated - everything you pray for when you start a new audible book.

Thank you Luke Arnold.
A Classic.

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Stick with it

Feels like a second book in a series as you are thrown into the strange illogical world without anything to hang on to, the explanation of the worlds dynamics are told in flashback spread throughout the book so you only really know what's going on in the last third. The author is an actor (lockdown novel maybe) and reads his own book well. The biggest block was the faux Sam Spade private eye persona and narrative style which is just not something that I would normally be interested in... But I stuck with it and enjoyed it overall.

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1 person found this helpful

Great world and ideas. clichéd writing

not much more to say than what I wrote in the title. Two words

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1 person found this helpful

Delightfully unexpected

I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting from this book, but damn. The world building was unique and interesting, the lead character was complicated and fascinating. Exploring the seedy underbelly of fantasy worlds is not usually my thing, but this book has absolutely fascinated me.

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1 person found this helpful

Amazing book

Amazing book, great story and actors. Great read and would recon3to friends and family members.

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A fantastic cross between Sam Spade and the X Men

I usually like to read books that mix fantasy with the everyday and a good dollop of humour, like the Inspector Hobbes Series and anything by Heidi Goody and Ian Grant, so I wasn't sure what to expect at first, but the story soon pulled me in and I kept wanting to listen to find out what happened next. The story was an inventive twist on the theme of vampires, werewolves etc, combined with a main character who was more a Sam Spade type. It shouldn't have worked, but it does! The whole set up is entirely believable and the book, while reaching a conclusion of sorts, doesn't go for the nice neat tidy ending but the sort of messy ending you find in everyday life, only with vampires!
And as for the narration, that's superb. I love the contrast between the hard gumshoe American type accent of the main character and the more western accents of the other characters. It could come across as clunky or forced, but it doesn't. It actually skilfully reinforces the otherness of the main character and gives the story an extra vibrancy. I'm currently listening to the second book in the series, and so far I'm enjoying it as much as and possibly even more so than the first.
Highly recommended!

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17 people found this helpful

Fantasy noir at its best

This is an amazing book, I honestly have massive hopes for the second of the series (which I got before even finishing the first). The main character is so we'll written if technology allowed it I can see Humphrey Bogart himself playing the lead. The emotions are written perfectly. One of the best books I have stumbled upon, well worth the listen totally worth it. I'll finish with a warning the emotions in this book are full on there are some scenes that hurt my heart.

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1 person found this helpful