-
No Return
- Narrated by: John FitzGibbon
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
![Prime logo](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/Audible/Homestead/Prime_Logo_RGB.png)
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Unsouled
- By: Will Wight
- Narrated by: Travis Baldree
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sacred artists follow a thousand Paths to power, using their souls to control the forces of the natural world. Lindon is Unsouled, forbidden to learn the sacred arts of his clan. When faced with a looming fate he cannot ignore, he must rise beyond anything he's ever known...and forge his own Path.
-
-
Amazingly Addictive and Oddly Cleaver
- By ronnito on 05-31-19
By: Will Wight
-
The Emperor's Blades
- Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, Book 1
- By: Brian Staveley
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 19 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The emperor of Annur is dead, slain by enemies unknown. His daughter and two sons, scattered across the world, do what they must to stay alive and unmask the assassins. But each of them also has a life-path on which their father set them, destinies entangled with both ancient enemies and inscrutable gods.
-
-
4 Primary Crimes Committed By The Author
- By Captain Spanky Of Nazareth on 05-09-16
By: Brian Staveley
-
Fatemarked
- The Fatemarked Epic, Book 1
- By: David Estes
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 19 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They are the fatemarked. Misunderstood. Worshipped. Hated. Murdered at birth. Their time to step into the light has come. An ancient prophecy foretold their coming, the chosen few who will bring peace to a land embroiled in a century of mistrust and war. When kings start dying, that hope and belief swiftly turns to fear. Roan Loren is one of the fatemarked, but has hidden his mark of power his entire life, fearing the damage it might cause to those around him. A great evil is coming. He can't hide anymore.
-
-
Written to fit an ideology, not the story it tells
- By znidarsic.blaz on 04-30-18
By: David Estes
-
Prince of Fools
- The Red Queen's War, Book 1
- By: Mark Lawrence
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Red Queen is old but the kings of the Broken Empire dread her like no other. For all her reign, she has fought the long war, contested in secret, against the powers that stand behind nations, for higher stakes than land or gold. Her greatest weapon is The Silent Sister - unseen by most and unspoken of by all. The Red Queen's grandson, Prince Jalan Kendeth - drinker, gambler, seducer of women - is one who can see The Silent Sister.
-
-
A fantasy odd couple caught up in a bigger game
- By Lore on 04-10-16
By: Mark Lawrence
-
Heroes Die
- The First of the Acts of Caine
- By: Matthew Stover
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 22 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Renowned throughout the land of Ankhana as the Blade of Tyshalle, Caine has killed his share of monarchs and commoners, villains and heroes. He is relentless, unstoppable, simply the best there is at what he does. At home on Earth, Caine is Hari Michaelson, a superstar whose adventures in Ankhana command an audience of billions.
-
-
Don't Let the Cover Turn You Off
- By Paul on 08-13-12
By: Matthew Stover
-
Fireblood
- Whispers from Mirrowen, Book 1
- By: Jeff Wheeler
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a world beset by plagues, Tyrus of Kenatos has made it his life’s work to end the devastation. Yet when he first ventures into the Scourgelands to uncover the secret of the plagues’ origin, he barely makes it out alive after being ambushed by a mysterious, unseen enemy. Tyrus knows the plagues will rise again - more powerful than ever before - and he is determined to complete his mission. To aid in his new quest, he summons his nephew Annon and his niece Hettie - both of whom possess an innate magic called the fireblood - and a pack of unlikely allies.
-
-
Slow start, mediocre characters, + cliff hanger.
- By Phillip on 01-23-14
By: Jeff Wheeler
-
Unsouled
- By: Will Wight
- Narrated by: Travis Baldree
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sacred artists follow a thousand Paths to power, using their souls to control the forces of the natural world. Lindon is Unsouled, forbidden to learn the sacred arts of his clan. When faced with a looming fate he cannot ignore, he must rise beyond anything he's ever known...and forge his own Path.
-
-
Amazingly Addictive and Oddly Cleaver
- By ronnito on 05-31-19
By: Will Wight
-
The Emperor's Blades
- Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, Book 1
- By: Brian Staveley
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 19 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The emperor of Annur is dead, slain by enemies unknown. His daughter and two sons, scattered across the world, do what they must to stay alive and unmask the assassins. But each of them also has a life-path on which their father set them, destinies entangled with both ancient enemies and inscrutable gods.
-
-
4 Primary Crimes Committed By The Author
- By Captain Spanky Of Nazareth on 05-09-16
By: Brian Staveley
-
Fatemarked
- The Fatemarked Epic, Book 1
- By: David Estes
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 19 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They are the fatemarked. Misunderstood. Worshipped. Hated. Murdered at birth. Their time to step into the light has come. An ancient prophecy foretold their coming, the chosen few who will bring peace to a land embroiled in a century of mistrust and war. When kings start dying, that hope and belief swiftly turns to fear. Roan Loren is one of the fatemarked, but has hidden his mark of power his entire life, fearing the damage it might cause to those around him. A great evil is coming. He can't hide anymore.
-
-
Written to fit an ideology, not the story it tells
- By znidarsic.blaz on 04-30-18
By: David Estes
-
Prince of Fools
- The Red Queen's War, Book 1
- By: Mark Lawrence
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Red Queen is old but the kings of the Broken Empire dread her like no other. For all her reign, she has fought the long war, contested in secret, against the powers that stand behind nations, for higher stakes than land or gold. Her greatest weapon is The Silent Sister - unseen by most and unspoken of by all. The Red Queen's grandson, Prince Jalan Kendeth - drinker, gambler, seducer of women - is one who can see The Silent Sister.
-
-
A fantasy odd couple caught up in a bigger game
- By Lore on 04-10-16
By: Mark Lawrence
-
Heroes Die
- The First of the Acts of Caine
- By: Matthew Stover
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 22 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Renowned throughout the land of Ankhana as the Blade of Tyshalle, Caine has killed his share of monarchs and commoners, villains and heroes. He is relentless, unstoppable, simply the best there is at what he does. At home on Earth, Caine is Hari Michaelson, a superstar whose adventures in Ankhana command an audience of billions.
-
-
Don't Let the Cover Turn You Off
- By Paul on 08-13-12
By: Matthew Stover
-
Fireblood
- Whispers from Mirrowen, Book 1
- By: Jeff Wheeler
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a world beset by plagues, Tyrus of Kenatos has made it his life’s work to end the devastation. Yet when he first ventures into the Scourgelands to uncover the secret of the plagues’ origin, he barely makes it out alive after being ambushed by a mysterious, unseen enemy. Tyrus knows the plagues will rise again - more powerful than ever before - and he is determined to complete his mission. To aid in his new quest, he summons his nephew Annon and his niece Hettie - both of whom possess an innate magic called the fireblood - and a pack of unlikely allies.
-
-
Slow start, mediocre characters, + cliff hanger.
- By Phillip on 01-23-14
By: Jeff Wheeler
-
Kacy Chronicles Boxed Set
- The Revelations of Oriceran
- By: A. L. Knorr, Martha Carr, Michael Anderle
- Narrated by: Mikael Naramore
- Length: 31 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born to a wealthy Virginian family, privileged Jordan's got her life all planned out. Get her PhD, find the perfect Virginian man to marry, pop out a few more Kacys, and make her state senator father proud. If only Jordan could let the past rest. When your mother disappears without a trace, it carves a gash that bleeds a long time. Jordan has never given up hope that her mother is alive. So when Jordan's old nanny shows up with a mysterious locket containing a portrait of Jordan's mother, Jordan believes her hope was not in vain.
-
-
A good teen fantasy!
- By Montzalee Wittmann on 01-13-20
By: A. L. Knorr, and others
-
Onyx & Ivory
- By: Mindee Arnett
- Narrated by: Khristine Hvam
- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Fantastic.
- By Alex Tollefson on 06-04-18
By: Mindee Arnett
-
The Shadow of the Torturer
- The Book of the New Sun, Book 1
- By: Gene Wolfe
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Shadow of the Torturer is the first volume in the four-volume epic, the tale of a young Severian, an apprentice to the Guild of Torturers on the world called Urth, exiled for committing the ultimate sin of his profession - showing mercy towards his victim.
Gene Wolfe's "The Book of the New Sun" is one of speculative fiction's most-honored series. In a 1998 poll, Locus Magazine rated the series behind only "The Lord of the Rings" and The Hobbit as the greatest fantasy work of all time.
-
-
great writing, won't appeal to everyone
- By Ryan on 03-20-10
By: Gene Wolfe
-
A Blade Through Time
- A Grimdark Progression Fantasy
- By: Louis Kalman
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leones Ansteri was only sixteen when they came to kill him for the heresies his father had committed against the Archons—the mighty demigods who keep the peace in the Civilized Lands and prevent the evil Goetia from enslaving all of humanity. But even as the flames of the Magisters burned everything Leones knew to the ground, they awakened in him a power he didn’t know he possessed: the ability to manipulate time. But as Leones grows more confident in his temporal abilities, he realizes all is not well in Odena.
-
-
Loses its way
- By Jack Brown on 09-25-22
By: Louis Kalman
-
The Dying Earth
- Tales of the Dying Earth, Book 1
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The stories in The Dying Earth introduce dozens of seekers of wisom and beauty, lovely lost women, wizards of every shade of eccentricity with their runic amulets and spells. We meet the melancholy deodands, who feed on human flesh and the twk-men, who ride dragonflies and trade information for salt. There are monsters and demons. Each being is morally ambiguous: The evil are charming, the good are dangerous. All are at home.
-
-
A Decadent and Hopeful Dying Earth
- By Jefferson on 06-27-10
By: Jack Vance
-
Loom Saga
- The Complete Series
- By: Elise Kova
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell, Erin Moon
- Length: 36 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After a bloody conquest, the world of Loom is now ruled by Dragons. They oversee those beneath them from their sky cities with magic and cruelty. Arianna is known as the White Wraith; an unscrupulous thief who will do anything as long as it defies her Dragon oppressors. She's spent her life working in the shadows, harboring a secret that would have her killed. A secret that will bring the Dragon King to his knees. Joined by a trigger-happy gun mage and a Dragon prince who seeks to assassinate his king, Arianna sets out on an epic journey.
-
-
good ideas badly implemented
- By R. Painton on 07-08-23
By: Elise Kova
-
The Garden of Stones
- Echoes of Empire, Book 1
- By: Mark T. Barnes
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl
- Length: 16 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fueled by visions promising him prolonged life and political power, the dying Corajidin, leader of a millennia-old dynasty, has brought the nation of Shrian to civil war. But is his bright destiny assured, or do the events unfolding around him promise a more ignoble, and finite, future? Indris, warrior-mage of the Seq Scholars and scion of a rival Great House, is caught in the upheaval. Driven by loyalty and conscience to return to a city that haunts his past, Indris reluctantly accepts the task of finding a missing man, the only one able to steer the teetering nation toward peace.
-
-
Realistic, Engaging Dialogue - Where Are You?
- By Michael on 08-18-13
By: Mark T. Barnes
-
Unbound
- Unbound, Book 1
- By: Shawn Speakman
- Narrated by: Dick Hill, Tim Gerard Reynolds, Nick Podehl, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Not bound as a book. Free. Like Unfettered before it, the contributing writers of Unbound were allowed to submit the tales they wished fans of genre to hear - without the constraints of a shackling theme. The result is magical. Twenty-three all-original stories are sure to captivate you - some will move you to tears while others will keep you listening long into the night. The power of Unbound lies in its variety of tales and the voices behind them. If you are a fan of discovering new writers or hearing the works of beloved authors, Unbound is for you.
-
-
There are some gems in this one
- By Gyula Mészáros on 04-16-18
By: Shawn Speakman
-
Soulkeeper
- The Keepers, Book 1
- By: David Dalglish
- Narrated by: Nicholas Tecosky
- Length: 19 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Devin Eveson is a Soulkeeper, traveling through remote villages as a preacher and healer. But when a mysterious black water washes over the world, the veil is torn, flooding the land with ancient magic and forgotten races: fire that dances as if alive, corpses that walk, and creatures that can manipulate time itself. And not all the creatures that have reawakened remember humanity fondly. As the land grows more dangerous and more chaotic, Soulkeepers are turning up dead, their bodies transformed into macabre works of art.
-
-
A Slow Start.
- By Ashanti on 11-07-19
By: David Dalglish
-
Passenger
- Passenger, Book 1
- By: Alexandra Bracken
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Violin prodigy Etta Spencer had big plans for her future, but a tragedy has put her once-bright career at risk. Closely tied to her musical skill, however, is a mysterious power she doesn't even know she has. When her two talents collide during a stressful performance, Etta is drawn back hundreds of years through time.
-
-
love the writer, but performance is a zoonzer
- By Richard & Lynzie Siegrist on 02-02-16
-
Monarch: A Prince Out of Time
- Monarch, Book 1
- By: J. McCoy, Eligos
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 22 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s hard to be a drunken idiot when the world keeps burning down around you. Cairn, the charming-yet-utterly-irresponsible heir to the Uskarrion throne, is all too happy to toss the crown aside. But an invasion, conspiracy, and rise of a terrifying villain result in his untimely death. Then, Cairn reawakens. It's a decade earlier, and he's in his childhood body. But he remembers everything...there's much to accomplish. First, however, he'd really love to stop himself from dying.
-
-
Multi-Reborn
- By Francisco on 04-24-22
By: J. McCoy, and others
-
Taming the Elements
- The Elwin Escari Chronicles, Volume 1
- By: David Ekrut
- Narrated by: Chris MacDonnell
- Length: 19 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A young man, Elwin, seeks to become an elementalist. But with war looming and an accident that could cost him his freedom, Elwin finds himself fleeing for his life and evading the Guardians of Life. The Guardians think Elwin guilty of the most grievous of crimes, and as he trains the gifts of his bloodline, he will discover a secret from long in his past.
-
-
Wonderful journey!
- By leanne on 09-27-15
By: David Ekrut
Editorial reviews
Zachary Jernigan's No Return tells the daring, complex story of a fantasy world in which the proven existence of a god seems to have done little to solve the problems that religious dissent traditionally cause. Jernigan grapples with issues of divinity, while simultaneously telling a sensual, gripping story, featuring compelling characters and admirable world building.
John FitzGibbon's grave voice suits the depth of Jernigan's subject matter well, and his performance lends equal weight to thrilling action sequences and dark existential contemplation. His delivery of the audiobook is strong and thoughtful, imbuing Jernigan's words with a truer and deeper power even than they may have had on the page.
Publisher's summary
On Jeroun, there is no question as to whether God exists - only what his intentions are.
Under the looming judgment of Adrash and his ultimate weapon - a string of spinning spheres beside the moon known as The Needle - warring factions of white and black suits prove their opposition to the orbiting god with the great fighting tournament of Danoor, on the far side of Jeroun's only inhabitable continent.
From the 13th Order of Black Suits comes Vedas, a young master of martial arts, laden with guilt over the death of one of his students. Traveling with him are Churls, a warrior woman and mercenary haunted by the ghost of her daughter, and Berun, a constructed man made of modular spheres possessed by the foul spirit of his creator. Together they must brave their own demons, as well as thieves, mages, beasts, dearth, and hardship on the perilous road to Danoor, and the bloody sectarian battle that is sure to follow.
On the other side of the world, unbeknownst to the travelers, Ebn and Pol of the Royal Outbound Mages (astronauts using Alchemical magic to achieve space flight) have formed a plan to appease Adrash and bring peace to the planet. But Ebn and Pol each have their own clandestine agendas - which may call down the wrath of the very god they hope to woo.
Who may know the mind of God? And who in their right mind would seek to defy him? Gritty, erotic, and fast-paced, author Zachary Jernigan takes you on a sensuous ride through a world at the knife-edge of salvation and destruction, in one of the year's most exciting fantasy epics.
Critic reviews
Related to this topic
-
Immortal: Curse of the Deathless
- By: Derek Edgington
- Narrated by: Nik Magill
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If Asher Hearst had a superpower, it would have to be his ability to take a punch, laugh it off, and keep on swinging. So yeah, immortality comes with a few perks. As a college student slash small-time fixer, he's about to take a job that's best left to the pros. A proposition by a dryad to save witches from the Inquisition is a first, but he isn't one to balk when the odds are stacked against him. Especially not while he's drinking on someone else's dime.
-
-
Immortal
- By MeDi on 04-09-17
By: Derek Edgington
-
The War with the Mein
- Book One of the Acacia Trilogy
- By: David Anthony Durham
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 29 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A deadly assassin sent from a race called the Mein, exiled long ago to an ice-locked stronghold in the frozen north, strikes at Leodan Akaran, ruler of the Known World, while the Mein also unleash surprise attacks across the empire. On his deathbed, Leodan puts into play a plan to allow his children to escape, each to his separate destiny. And so his children begin a quest to avenge their father's death and restore the Acacian empire, this time on the basis of universal freedom.
-
-
Much Fun
- By Chris on 07-24-07
-
Fatemarked
- The Fatemarked Epic, Book 1
- By: David Estes
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 19 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They are the fatemarked. Misunderstood. Worshipped. Hated. Murdered at birth. Their time to step into the light has come. An ancient prophecy foretold their coming, the chosen few who will bring peace to a land embroiled in a century of mistrust and war. When kings start dying, that hope and belief swiftly turns to fear. Roan Loren is one of the fatemarked, but has hidden his mark of power his entire life, fearing the damage it might cause to those around him. A great evil is coming. He can't hide anymore.
-
-
Written to fit an ideology, not the story it tells
- By znidarsic.blaz on 04-30-18
By: David Estes
-
Worldship: Udo the Digger
- Worldship, Book 1
- By: Joshua Gayou
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Udo's biggest problem isn't being a digger (that's low class), or staying drunk (that's damn expensive), or avoiding the Dwergaz (they're monsters), or even pissing off the supposed Gods. It's that his reality...well, it isn't what he thought. And now, he can't even afford to drink because his so-called friend Nicz is cutting into his business, digging up tin, iron, and copper. So Udo forms a new plan: clay. After all, clay jars are used to store everything: meat, herbs, and, his personal favorite, ale.
-
-
I am confused.
- By Ahkia on 06-02-20
By: Joshua Gayou
-
Heroes Die
- The First of the Acts of Caine
- By: Matthew Stover
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 22 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Renowned throughout the land of Ankhana as the Blade of Tyshalle, Caine has killed his share of monarchs and commoners, villains and heroes. He is relentless, unstoppable, simply the best there is at what he does. At home on Earth, Caine is Hari Michaelson, a superstar whose adventures in Ankhana command an audience of billions.
-
-
Don't Let the Cover Turn You Off
- By Paul on 08-13-12
By: Matthew Stover
-
Three Parts Dead
- By: Max Gladstone
- Narrated by: Claudia Alick
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A god has died, and it’s up to Tara, a first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethras, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring him back to life before his city falls apart. Her client is Kos, recently deceased fire god of the city of Alt Coulumb. Without him, the metropolis’ steam generators will shut down, its trains will cease running, and its four million citizens will riot. Tara’s job: resurrect Kos before chaos sets in.
-
-
Great story, but the narrator was off
- By John on 07-27-14
By: Max Gladstone
-
Immortal: Curse of the Deathless
- By: Derek Edgington
- Narrated by: Nik Magill
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If Asher Hearst had a superpower, it would have to be his ability to take a punch, laugh it off, and keep on swinging. So yeah, immortality comes with a few perks. As a college student slash small-time fixer, he's about to take a job that's best left to the pros. A proposition by a dryad to save witches from the Inquisition is a first, but he isn't one to balk when the odds are stacked against him. Especially not while he's drinking on someone else's dime.
-
-
Immortal
- By MeDi on 04-09-17
By: Derek Edgington
-
The War with the Mein
- Book One of the Acacia Trilogy
- By: David Anthony Durham
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 29 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A deadly assassin sent from a race called the Mein, exiled long ago to an ice-locked stronghold in the frozen north, strikes at Leodan Akaran, ruler of the Known World, while the Mein also unleash surprise attacks across the empire. On his deathbed, Leodan puts into play a plan to allow his children to escape, each to his separate destiny. And so his children begin a quest to avenge their father's death and restore the Acacian empire, this time on the basis of universal freedom.
-
-
Much Fun
- By Chris on 07-24-07
-
Fatemarked
- The Fatemarked Epic, Book 1
- By: David Estes
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 19 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They are the fatemarked. Misunderstood. Worshipped. Hated. Murdered at birth. Their time to step into the light has come. An ancient prophecy foretold their coming, the chosen few who will bring peace to a land embroiled in a century of mistrust and war. When kings start dying, that hope and belief swiftly turns to fear. Roan Loren is one of the fatemarked, but has hidden his mark of power his entire life, fearing the damage it might cause to those around him. A great evil is coming. He can't hide anymore.
-
-
Written to fit an ideology, not the story it tells
- By znidarsic.blaz on 04-30-18
By: David Estes
-
Worldship: Udo the Digger
- Worldship, Book 1
- By: Joshua Gayou
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Udo's biggest problem isn't being a digger (that's low class), or staying drunk (that's damn expensive), or avoiding the Dwergaz (they're monsters), or even pissing off the supposed Gods. It's that his reality...well, it isn't what he thought. And now, he can't even afford to drink because his so-called friend Nicz is cutting into his business, digging up tin, iron, and copper. So Udo forms a new plan: clay. After all, clay jars are used to store everything: meat, herbs, and, his personal favorite, ale.
-
-
I am confused.
- By Ahkia on 06-02-20
By: Joshua Gayou
-
Heroes Die
- The First of the Acts of Caine
- By: Matthew Stover
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 22 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Renowned throughout the land of Ankhana as the Blade of Tyshalle, Caine has killed his share of monarchs and commoners, villains and heroes. He is relentless, unstoppable, simply the best there is at what he does. At home on Earth, Caine is Hari Michaelson, a superstar whose adventures in Ankhana command an audience of billions.
-
-
Don't Let the Cover Turn You Off
- By Paul on 08-13-12
By: Matthew Stover
-
Three Parts Dead
- By: Max Gladstone
- Narrated by: Claudia Alick
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A god has died, and it’s up to Tara, a first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethras, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring him back to life before his city falls apart. Her client is Kos, recently deceased fire god of the city of Alt Coulumb. Without him, the metropolis’ steam generators will shut down, its trains will cease running, and its four million citizens will riot. Tara’s job: resurrect Kos before chaos sets in.
-
-
Great story, but the narrator was off
- By John on 07-27-14
By: Max Gladstone
-
Lamentation
- The Psalms of Isaak, Book 1
- By: Ken Scholes
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Scott Brick, William Dufris, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Lamentation, the first entry in the Psalm of Isaak series, an ancient weapon has completely destroyed the city of Windwir. From many miles away, Rudolfo, Lord of the Nine Forest Houses, sees the horrifying column of smoke rising. He knows that war is coming to the Named Lands. Nearer to the Devastation, a young apprentice is the only survivor of the city—he sat waiting for his father outside the walls, and was transformed as he watched everyone he knew die in an instant. Soon all the Kingdoms of the Named Lands will be at each others' throats.
-
-
Highly Enjoyable
- By RB on 05-15-09
By: Ken Scholes
-
Tower of the Forgotten
- The Tainted Cabal Prequel Novella
- By: Mitchell Hogan
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 2 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Niklaus, master swordsman, has not aged a day since being chosen by his mercurial goddess. A slave to her will, he moves from one cryptic mission to the next in the hope of ascending to become her equal. But even a man who has lived for centuries can sometimes find himself out of his depth. When Niklaus is sent to kill a sorcerer of the Tainted Cabal, overconfidence leads to a fatal mistake, and neither experience nor skill with a blade can prevail against the forces unleashed against him.
-
-
What's Next?
- By James on 06-04-17
By: Mitchell Hogan
-
Seven Forges
- Seven Forges, Book 1
- By: James A. Moore
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Seven Forges are a range of impassable mountains, far to the north of the settled lands of Fellein. From time to time explorers venture up beyond the Blasted Lands in search of a way over them and the promise of legendary riches, but without success. Now Captain Merros Dulver has found a path, and encountered, at last, the half-forgotten people who dwell there. And it would appear they were expecting him.
-
-
THE GODS HAD DIFFERENT IDEAS
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 06-03-16
By: James A. Moore
-
The Emperor's Blades
- Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, Book 1
- By: Brian Staveley
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 19 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The emperor of Annur is dead, slain by enemies unknown. His daughter and two sons, scattered across the world, do what they must to stay alive and unmask the assassins. But each of them also has a life-path on which their father set them, destinies entangled with both ancient enemies and inscrutable gods.
-
-
4 Primary Crimes Committed By The Author
- By Captain Spanky Of Nazareth on 05-09-16
By: Brian Staveley
-
Spellwright
- By: Blake Charlton
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 17 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nicodemus is a young, gifted wizard with a problem. Magic in his world requires the caster to create spells by writing out the text...but he has always been dyslexic and thus has trouble casting even the simplest of spells. And his misspells could prove dangerous, even deadly, should he make a mistake in an important incantation. Yet he has always felt that he is destined to be something more than a failed wizard.
-
-
it was a good book
- By Grant on 02-13-16
By: Blake Charlton
-
Onyx & Ivory
- By: Mindee Arnett
- Narrated by: Khristine Hvam
- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Fantastic.
- By Alex Tollefson on 06-04-18
By: Mindee Arnett
-
The Empire of the Dead
- By: Phil Tucker
- Narrated by: Paul Guyet
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Acharsis has always loved long shots. But even with a perfect scheme and a handpicked squad of godsblooded grifters and fighters, breaking into the undead lord's Akkodaisis' ziggurat is suicidally impossible. Good thing Archarsis is a fallen demigod with more than one trick up his sleeve....
-
-
Incredibly imaginative
- By RyRy on 09-08-17
By: Phil Tucker
-
The Wrath of the Orphans
- Book One of Elmoryn's The Kinless Trilogy
- By: Chris Philbrook
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What do you do when everything you've ever known is ripped away from you, leaving nothing but ashes and charred memories behind? You get angry. So very angry. Malwynn and his twin sister, Umaryn, live in a small town in Northern Varrland. In idyllic New Picknell nearly nothing happens, and when their day-to-day routine is interrupted by a skirmish between an invading patrol of the dead from The Amaranth Empire and a defending force from Varrland, their world begins to come undone.
-
-
FURIOUS TICKLING ENSUED
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 09-27-17
By: Chris Philbrook
-
Way of the Argosi
- The Spellslinger Series, Book 0.5
- By: Sebastien de Castell
- Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ferius Parfax has a simple plan: Kill every last inhabitant of the spell-gifted nation that destroyed her people, starting with the man who murdered her parents. Killing mages is a difficult and dangerous business, of course, but when she meets the inimitable and extraordinary Durrall Brown, she discovers that physical strength is not the only way to defeat evil of all kinds. So Ferius undertakes to study the ways of the Argosi: the loosely-knit tribe of tricksters known for getting the better of even the most powerful of spellcasters.
-
-
Not what I expected
- By Mary Catherine on 12-03-21
-
The Emperor's Knife
- Book One of the Tower and Knife Trilogy
- By: Mazarkis Williams
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There is a cancer at the heart of the mighty Cerani Empire: a plague that marks each victim with a fragment of a greater design. Geometric patterns spread across the skin, until the victim dies in agony or becomes a Carrier, doing the bidding of an evil intelligence. The lost prince Sarmin, the emperor's only surviving brother, lies locked in a hidden room. As the pattern draws closer to the palace he is at last remembered: now he awaits a bride, Mesema, a Windreader from the northern plains.
-
-
Unable to listen
- By T Rao on 09-28-15
-
The Vagrant
- By: Peter Newman
- Narrated by: Jot Davies
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Vagrant is his name. He has no other. Years have passed since humanity's destruction emerged from the Breach. Friendless and alone he walks across a desolate, war-torn landscape. A s each day passes the world tumbles further into depravity, bent and twisted by the new order, corrupted by the Usurper, the enemy, and his infernal horde. His purpose is to reach the Shining City, last bastion of the human race, and deliver the only weapon that may make a difference in the ongoing war.
-
-
It was the concept and the prose that kept me goin
- By Alexandra on 08-18-15
By: Peter Newman
-
The Iron Duke
- By: Meljean Brook
- Narrated by: Faye Adele
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the Iron Duke freed England from Horde control, he instantly became a national hero. Now Rhys Trahaearn has built a merchant empire on the power-and fear-of his name. And when a dead body is dropped from an airship onto his doorstep, bringing Detective Inspector Mina Wentworth into his dangerous world, he intends to make her his next possession. But when Mina uncovers the victim's identity, she stumbles upon a conspiracy that threatens the lives of everyone in England.
-
-
Great for Some but Not for Everyone
- By Kjda on 06-27-17
By: Meljean Brook
What listeners say about No Return
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Zac
- 12-28-13
Poor Narrator and too much sex
Would you try another book from Zachary Jernigan and/or John FitzGibbon?
Zachary Jernigan, yes. The world and story were very original and the writing was good. John FitzGibbon, no. His narration was uninspired, very monotone.
How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?
Less sex, masturbation....etc. It felt forced and very unnecessary for the story. Its inclusion felt awkward and arbitrary - and this from someone who ranks Richard Morgan among the very best.
How could the performance have been better?
Give John some speed?
Could you see No Return being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?
No. But if so, Ben Stein could play all the parts.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ryan
- 05-25-13
Gods, elders, men, magic, and space travel
Every so often, the fantasy genre produces a new crop of writers who boldly break out of the walled garden of its tired conventions, and change the rules of what “can” be done. While it’s perhaps a little early to tag Zachary Jernigan as such an author, he shows promise akin to earlier freethinkers of fantasy. The universe here, which has the feeling of being set in some unimaginably distant, decadent future, seems to owe a debt to Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, but the gritty, street-level, anti-traditional mythos of the world resembles China Mieville's Perdido Street Station, too. Since these works are already favorites of mine, it wasn’t hard to jump in.
Jernigan is his own guy, though, and tells a story that’s confident, imaginative, baroque, violent, and erotic. As we learn in the prologue, the world of Jeroun has a god, who dwells in an assembly of orbiting metal spheres called the Needle, and can’t seem to make up his mind whether or not to destroy his human creations (apparently, one goes a little mad as a god). On the planet below, cults that reject or embrace Adrash’s dominion battle in ritualized street fights. Elsewhere, a community of mages seeks to ascend into space and meet Adrash personally -- a risky idea at best.
The story is divided into two main threads. One follows a trio of warriors on their way to a sort of world championship religious battle tournament: a monk in living armor, a down-on-her-luck pit fighter haunted by a (literal) ghost, and a robot-like being known as a constructed man, whose former master continues to make unwelcome visits to his mind via some sort of magical data link. The other storyline deals with two astronaut-mages, who have diverging ambitions in the works. The characters are well-developed, with distinct, complementary personalities and histories. The ambitiously strange world might have been a little too much to take in in one pass, though; I had to reread a few chapters before the geography, politics, history, religion, and ethnography of Jeroun made sense to me and I could focus on the story. (Writers: take note of Neal Stephenson’s Anathem, those pre-chapter lexicon snippets are handy cues.) Some readers might find all the sexuality a bit over-the-top -- it didn’t bother me, but its rawness wasn't really to my taste, either.
However, not huge issues. Jernigan’s confident, unadorned prose takes command of the reader’s mental viewscreen, mixing delicate sensory details (the smell of pine, the flavors of herbed bread), macabre images (corpses of an elder race still strewn about after some ancient apocalypse, now harvested for magical substance), and far-out, superhero comic-like sequences such as mages battling in space, or a robot walking along the bottom of a lake, engaged in dialog with a hallucination while giant fish pass by. Cool stuff. Surprisingly for a left-field debut, audiobook narrator John FitzGibbon is excellent, with a “stage presence” and a range of voices that suit the novel quite well.
Clearly, No Return is meant to establish a world and its characters for future books, so I'll have to withhold full judgment until I see how the story develops, but it's certainly an impressive start. Can Jernigan can keep it all together in future installments, and not let the high-flown cosmic stuff overwhelm the intimate personal tales he’s set up? I look forward to finding out. Definitely a book and a writer worthy of your attention.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ken
- 06-04-13
Flawed but ultimately redeems itself
This is a peculiar kind of fantasy, with elements of science fiction thrown in just to keep the reader guessing. It's a universe in which believers battle non-believers and the god they love or hate is a powerful being transformed by technology he does not understand. Indeed, all of the magic is technological in some respect. The battles over whether god or man should rule are the action core of the story, but it is also a story about journeys, both literal and figurative. All of the characters are struggling to reconcile who they are with who they think they should be, and much of the story is told as retrospective personal histories about how they got to where they are. The structure of the story is flawed, with odd discontinuities and long periods of time when unnecessary bouts of raw description overtake the scene and threaten to induce sleep, but the core ideas are interesting enough. As others have noted, you have to be willing to endure some pretty graphic gore, often combined with some pretty graphic sex, at several points. On balance, though, enough happens that is interesting and unexpected to make it worth the journey as a reader. I'd give it 3.5 stars if that were an option. What really kept me listening, though, was John FitzGibbon's narration, which is just amazing. He turned the book into audible theater. If I had been reading instead of listening, I'm not sure that I would have stayed with it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jefferson
- 08-16-14
"How could one change the nature of men?"
Adrash, the 30,000 year-old "god" of the world Jeroun, has spent the last 20,000 years trying without success to change the nature of humankind, whose petty and violent behavior (especially through their worship of him) has led to predictably cyclic rises and falls of civilizations. Bored, Adrash longs for the challenge of some prophet uniting the competing nations and feuding religious sects of Jeroun and leading them into war against him. But (sigh) people can't change, can they? Adrash thus has a decision to make: "Return to Jeroun as mankind's redeemer, or cleanse the world of mankind forever."
Zachary Jernigan's weird epic fantasy novel, No Return (2013), is largely about the human (in)ability to change, alternating between two story-strands featuring five point of view characters. One set, a man, a woman, and a "construct," are traveling together across the continent of Knoori to the city of Danoor, there to attend an influential combat tournament that's held once each decade. Vedas Tezul, a devout warrior monk, plans to win the tournament for his Black Suits, Anadrashi devoted to the downfall of Adrash and opposed to the White Suit Adrashi who worship him). For twenty years Vedas has not removed his skin-tight magical black armor (and has not had sex). Despite his faith, he suffers persistent guilt and grief whenever a child recruit to his Order is killed in a skirmish against the White Suits. Vedas' companion Berun is an assassin construct, a robot made of magical metallic spheres. Caring nothing for money or religion but liking fights and festivals, Berun plans to win the secular tournament following the religious one. Able to change his shape and to repair damage at will, the prodigiously strong Berun is a formidable fighter, but he can never tell whether his thoughts, feelings, and actions are his own or those of his mage creator-master-father ("Have I never admired anything for myself?"). Vedas and Berun's guide, Churli Casta Jons, is an earthy veteran/mercenary on the run from gambling debt collectors. Not overly religious ("I try not to mix religion and killing. . . it's liable to get you killed"), Churls will also enter the secular competition. She is either insane or haunted by her daughter's ghost, and the latter more likely possibility is scarier than the former. Vedas, Berun, and Churls are an entertaining trio as they travel through badlands, over steppes, and across bodies of water, for their relationships and problems feel real, funny, and moving (especially the sexual tension between Vedas and Churls). If they embrace change, there will be "no return."
Contrasting with the road buddies are Ebn Bon Mari and Pol Tanz Et Som, half-human, half-elder rivals in the Academy of Applied Magics. Ebn and Pol are Royal Outbound Mages, who don magical Void Suits to travel 30 miles up from Jeroun to the region of the moon, where Adrash lives. Ebn, Pol's mentor and captain, wants to appease Adrash by seducing him, while Pol, her handsome and gifted student, wants to impress the god by attacking him, each scheming against the other's plans and life. With their mutated bodies, intellectual superiority, merciless cruelty, sex magic, and unhealthy views of love ("The only true expression of [which] is submission"), Ebn and Pol are a morbidly fascinating pair to follow.
Complicating the above situations is a sentient species of nine-feet tall "elders" whose advanced cultures fell over 100,000 years ago and whose mummified bodies are so imbued with magic that "corpse miners" collect them so that their skin may be fashioned into Black Suits and White Suits for battle and Void Suits for space travel and their bones may be ground into dust for money and spells.
Not for the squeamish, the book has some unpredictable, suspenseful, arousing, revolting, and mythic violence and sex, most of it integral to the development of character, plot, and theme. The violence is never dully repetitive, and the sex can even be cosmically funny (it might convince you to never masturbate aboard a ship).
The novel is about love, friendship, parents and children, change and identity, free will and fate, and the drawbacks of organized religion. It has plenty of humor, beauty, weird wonder, and great writing:
Beauty: "She drank the sunlight like an elixir."
Violence: "carving people from crown to scarum."
Life: "Fate held a person like a mother holds her child, lovingly or with revulsion."
Romance: "Your name was the first word that came out of his mouth."
Sublime: “For a moment, the scope of the animal could not be fathomed. When she turned her head, the large black object a few feet from her head resolved itself into one of its talons. . . the animal seemed to be watching the city.”
Uncanny: “Holding her daughter's hand felt like air passing through her lungs.”
The reader of the audiobook, Jonathan FitzGibbon, is perfect. His base narration voice is nasally sophisticated, reminiscent of Vincent Price. All his character voices are interesting and appropriate. Vedas sounds frank, rational, and restrained, Berun deep, ponderous, and boomy, Churls sarcastic, seasoned, and coarsely accented, Ebn and Pol intellectual, arrogant, and decadent. And Churls' daughter sounds cute and creepy, a sweet kid learning to be a mighty ghost.
My disappointment lay in expecting No Return to be a self-contained novel like J. M. McDermott's Last Dragon (with which it shares literate style and "weirding" of genre tropes), when it turned out to be more like the first book in a series like Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of The Fallen (with which it shares vast scales of time, varied species, cultures, and religions, and "gods"). Jernigan is surely crafting his own desires and fears, and I'd like to read more books about Jeroun, but hope for a trilogy rather than a decology.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- davidwat
- 06-11-13
Appealing characters in a jumbled mess
Is there anything you would change about this book?
The editor.
This thing really needed tightening up. It is full of unnecessary asides with unnecessary descriptions of historical figures and battles and weapons that at times are laughably referential to Homer. The presence of an epilogue is the author's admission of defeat with regard to constructing a cohesive narrative whole. As with much of modern fantasy, this book needed a fresh eye and a sharp red pencil to whip it into shape.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- A reader
- 05-08-13
Visceral and cerebral mix in this heady SF/Fantasy
It took me awhile to put together the review for this novel. The plot can be summed up relatively quickly, for what it is worth: it is a story of a group of traveling companions heading to a marshal arts tournament, and the story of a group of mage/astronauts trying to appease an angry god. This doesn't help explain the book much, however, and the best way to give a sense of what the book really is involves comparison with other important works in SF and fantasy. This is, in part, because the audiobook manages to invoke many tropes and touchpoints in the best science fiction and fantasy novels while remaining entirely its own entity.
With its picaresque wanderings and mingling of science fiction elements (robots, space travel, orbiting weapons) and fantasy (gods, magic, potions) it invokes Vance's Dying Earth, Harrison's Virconium, and Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. There are lots of amazing wonders, an immense land full of history, and the sense of an ancient and tired world with its own rules. The book is more playful than these grim (but excellent) comparisons, though it does suffer a bit from their flaws: if the world is odd and the book involves travel, many of the events that happen seem random. There are moments in the book where things happen suddenly, and it is hard to know what to expect, or anticipate the consequences of the characters choices. At its best, this is wonderful; but it can also be tiring, as the characters wander from event to event.
On the other hand, the attention to the inner lives of the flawed characters, along with their sharply observed interactions and the visceral attention to the physical nature of the characters (lots of blood, sex, and sweat here) invoke Joe Abercrombie, Richard Morgan, and the rest of the recent grimdark fantasy writers. There is plenty of fighting, coupling, lust and revenge to go around, and the novel also delves deeply into the motivations and histories of the main characters. This, too, can occasionally be over the top, and the reader seems to over-enunciate every body part being caressed or crushed, making the reading, which is mostly fine, seem a little awkward and even embarrassing at times.
So, there is a lot of brilliance here, and lots of novelty. It doesn't always feel like the parts of the novel fully connect, though there are potential sequels for that, but it is rarely less than interesting. The sheer intensity of the interactions, combined with the repeated unexpected plot twists, can make it hard to deeply engage the novel for too long at a time, but that might be me. Certainly, don't let these issues (and the mediocre reading) scare you away from an original, exciting debut.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Todd
- 07-18-13
Wish I could return this
I was dissappointed when I learned this book could not be returned. This was the first book from Audible that I tried to use the return policy to reject.
Other than the fact that the book was about as exciting as packing my lunch in the morning, some of the ideas are perverse. I'm no prude but when the "goddess" character started masterbating with her Hand Tongue to spit out pearls of god spunk, I shut the book off. The story wasn't worth continuing past that point.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
- 04-17-13
A stunning and original debut fantasy
In a crowded year of strong debut fantasy novels, "No Return" is a very strong contender. Beginning with an assured voice, a prologue of a pitiless landscape of an hallucinogenic salt lake, expanding out to a world whose currency is the powdered skin of an Elder race, populated by (among others) rival enclaves of warrior monks engaging in ritualized battles to defend and proselytize their competing faiths. There is a god with city-killing orbital kinetic ordinance at his whim; there are deeply weird and sexualized alchemistic magics; there are sentient constructs of magical metal spheres; there are dragons and ghosts.
The narrative is split along 5 principle points of view in a rotating fashion, across two primary storylines. In the first, it is a 'journey' narrative, in which we meet the three companions who form a bond as they travel to a massive gladiatorial tournament. These three are 1. a warrior monk, 2. a female sell-sword, and 3. a construct. In the other, it is a more political/academic setting of advanced magical research, and the power struggles (and competing lusts) of a senior mage and one of her more junior colleagues with experimental theories. These "outbound mages" make excursions to space, to observe the god and take measurements of his "spheres" -- the two smallest of which had been used centuries before to demonstrate the planet-killing power at hand.
The world builds and deepens and widens; the journey narrative treks us through disparate peoples and landscapes and histories, developing the characters and (through flashbacks) providing back stories as well. Throughout there's always the atmosphere of a deeper world at work, at mysteries not yet revealed. Who is the god Adrash, what does he want? Building toward dual climaxes in both narratives and powering on into denouement and stage-setting for a sequel, a lengthy epilogue serves to further widen the mysteries of this world by another deep breath. All in all, a very strong, no-holds-barred and emotionally impactful debut novel by Jernigan, whose short fiction I have followed on and off through M-BRANE SF and Asimov's. His is a bold, determined voice, with a razor's edge balance of rawness and assuredness; each character's point of view was distinct and fully realized. This is absolutely an heroic fantasy novel not to be missed.
I had never heard of the narrator John FitzGibbon before; presumably he was found by Audible through taking on stipend-eligible ACX titles. In any case he appears to be a US stage actor, and this training serves him exceedingly, exceedingly well. There are some passages of potentially uncomfortable content, from eviscerating violence to explicit sexual encounters. FitzGibbon does not shy away from any of these, nor over-emphasize in a campy way. His voices for each character are solid and distinct, bringing accents which accentuate the character's backgrounds. In particular his voice for the construct, Berun, is as outstanding a character voice as you'll find in audio.
Highly recommended.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
11 people found this helpful