The Obsidian Path: Omnibus

By: Michael R. Fletcher

Narrated by: Kyle Adams

This is the omnibus edition of the Obsidian Path Trilogy and contains Black Stone Heart, She Dreams in Blood, and An End to Sorrow.

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.

©2022 Michael R. Fletcher (P)2022 Michael R. Fletcher

Kinda typical fantasy story with simple prose. from main character’s pov

Not as good or as ridiculous or as funny as manifest delusions (not really funny at all )
Main character does a bunch of evil stuff and then wonders if it’s evil and then decides that it is and then does it some more….
Some interesting and possibly purposeful similarities to Book of the New Sun (narrator is: unreliable, closely linked to death and a sword, naive/unfamiliar with the current world, and willing to trust every hot chick (and he only meets hot chicks) he encounters. Femme fatales, faction with god-like powers, etc…)

Amazing story

This is my first book by this author and this narrator. The story is so well written and complex that I had to know what would happen next and spent every spare moment being entertained by the story and trying to determine friend from foe. The narrator did an impressive job voicing each character and the spirit of the book. This is easily one of my most highly recommended reads.

Great grimdark value

The Obsidian Path trilogy in the omnibus is really great value for just one credit. The story is a really enjoyable wild ride from start to finish with memorable characters, vivid world building all told by a good narrator. If you haven’t read Michael R Fletchers books, you are missing out.

The Angst of an Unredeemable Protagonist

I really wanted to like this, always looking for new to me authors. The story starts out strong, interesting starting point, and believable forces arrayed both with and against protagonist. But he is constantly examining his own motives and those of others (in every chapter), determining he’s a pretty evil guy doing evil things and wants to be a good guy. That’s it. No real character progression even though he learns quite a bit over the course of three novels; no change in the same internal debate and same decisions to do (and support) evil actions without any redeeming factors. I don’t know if there’s more to this story because it’s frustrating to watch nothing change (even grimdark has some sort of progression in the main characters), and the narrator had a very flat delivery overall despite great character voicing.

Amazing Narration

I absolutely loved the narration and the characters but I have to admit that I didn’t really understand the ending… I will have to try and read the actual books and hope that maybe I just missed something! But I highly recommend this omnibus.