Garden of Serpents (Dramatized Adaptation)

The Demon Queen Trials, Book 3

By: C.N. Crawford

Narrated by: Bradley Foster Smith, Colleen Delany, Eric Messner, Holly Adams, James Konicek, Laura C. Harris, Shanta Parasuraman, Robb Moreira, Daniel Llaca, Gabriel Michael, Elena Anderson

Once, Orion and I were lovers. Then, the gorgeous demon king broke my heart. He kicked me out of the City of Thorns, exiling me to the mortal world.

Now, I have plans to get back at him—and save the world while I'm at it. Orion wants revenge on all the mortals. If I steal his crown, I can stop the bloodshed. All I have to do is beat him in a series of trials, proving that the gods chose me as queen.

But Orion seems determined to seduce me with his apologies and sensual charm. And the fact is? He's hard to resist. In the City of Thorns, nothing is ever as it seems, but figuring out who to trust is the most important trial of all. Because if I get it wrong, I'll have the blood of thousands on my hands.

Performed by Laura C. Harris, Gabriel Michael, Shanta Parasuraman, Bradley Foster Smith, Robb Moreira, Colleen Delany, Daniel Llaca, Elena Anderson, Eric Messner, Holly Adams, James Konicek, Ken Jackson, Matthew Pauli, Michael John Casey, Nanette Savard, Scott McCormick and Yasmin Tuazon.

©2022 C.N. Crawford (P)2023 Graphic Audio LLC

I have never heard a narrator so robotic

There are 2 narrators in this book. From as much of an objective point of view as you can get, the narrator that plays Rowan is terrible at her job, and the narrator that plays Orion is good at his job.

I’m sure there are tens if not hundreds of reviews saying the same thing, but the narrator that plays Rowan sounds like she was computer generated. Every single sentence has the same inflection regardless of the emotion evoked. If she’s unable to drastically change her narration, this isn’t the line of work for her. Period.

Meanwhile, as with his other titles, the narrator that plays Orion knows how to captivate his audience.

The contrast between the narrators is startling, and I don’t think this title should have been released in the state it was in.

Worth it.

So, if you are someone that enjoys the chase, this book is worth it. The two main characters dance around each other perfectly and the tension is delicious and starts very quickly.

The male voice actor is 10/10. For the female voice actor it's kind of impressive how her voice can sound so much like AI consistently. I could tolerate it. It didn't ruin it for me personally, I sometime noticed it but could tune it out mostly.

I wish this series was rated better. It really is good.

Mid

Started off strong and very good story. By book 3 the ending just felt rushed. For the ride we were taken on by the author and how these characters developed, they deserved a better executed finale. The narration was awful making it extremely difficult to get attached to an AI sounding voice.

Uhm…

Listened to the audiobook and felt like I was going crazy thinking there had to be parts from the book not included. Read the book and confirmed that steamy scenes were NOT INCLUDED… Don’t offer to do a smutty fantasy book if you’re not going to include the full book.

🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

𝗧𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀: Paranormal Romance, Demons, Slow Burn, Enemies to Lovers
𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫 
𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ 
𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: 💜💜💜 
𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗟𝗼𝘀𝘁: 💧 
𝗣𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: 🖊️🖊️🖊️ 
𝗣𝗢𝗩: Multiple, Multiple Narrators
𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁: Graphic Audiobook

I don’t know what to say about this book, except that it was completely and totally amazing. Seriously, so freaking good! I couldn’t put it down and at the same time, never wanted it to end.

This book leaves off where we ended book 2, and let me tell you, Orion has a lot of explaining  to do. You finally start to understand what makes Orion tick in this book, and it was not at all how I expected.

I also really loved how Rowan continued to grow and stood for her own beliefs in this book. She has become such a strong character and I absolutely love her.

And that ending, just wow. I both loved it & it left me wanting more from this world. Fingers crossed we get to explore the City of Thorns again.