Death and Glory

Immortal's Ascent, Book 1

By: Luke Chmilenko, Chris Harris

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 21 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Gavin fights for freedom, Sadira for glory. Together, they will face death.

Together, they will seek ascension.

In the Domains, those born with magic have only one place where they can prove themselves worthy of it: the brutal pits of the arena, where they will either grow in power and build a following with every victory, or risk dishonor and death in defeat. For these “Gladiators”, the ultimate prize for their struggle is a place among the Chosen, the immortal rulers of that vast and decadent empire.

Gavin is an unlikely warrior trying to find his place in the savagery of the arena. Sadira, a star Gladiatrix already favored by all. When happenstance brings them together, the pair set out to earn themselves a place at the Grand Championships, vying to see their names carved in the annals of history.

With survival and immortality on the line, can they hold together against the vicious realities of the fighting grounds and the machinations of the Chosen?

Monsters and magic await them.

The white sands call for blood.

©2022 Luke Chmilenko & Chris Harris (P)2022 Podium Audio

I'm sad

I'm not east to get into books but I really love this one. I think it was brilliantly written. I didn't want to stop listening to it and when the end came I was sad I want the next book asap.

The style is not to my liking.

This book is to episodic for my liking it’s little tiny glimpse at the life the story is to spread out. Hell you don’t even know how much time has passed form chapter to chapter. And with each chapter so character focus it leaves the world building on the extreme short side.

I will give this to the author he knows how to write a good character. But that being said the development of said characters are off screen a lot of the time.

Here’s the thing if happened off screen it dose not matter…… but that is LITERALLY HALF THE BOOK! It make you feel unwelcome in this world\story the story moves on you are not invited to see it.

really good

not sure why people say nothing happens in this book. as quite a lot is happening. or maybe I just like the down time stuff too much. I think it helps flesh out characters

Takes…

A while to get its stride.

Excellent narration. Love the bloopers. Looking forward to see how the next book goes for it.

A combination so great you know it’s going to be good.

I just got the notice from Luke Chmilenko’s Discord page about this new book. Already I was excited to know that one of my all time fav authors had a new collaboration out but then to find that it’s performed by Luke Daniels on top of it?! INSTA-PURCHASE!!!

(I’ll update this with an actual review when I’ve finished listening to it.)

main character just gets carried so hard

The main character trains hard but he is just avarage at best. Learns new skills but they have no real impact. (spoiler) he blows up zombies minds with his mind. doesn't really effect other people. learns how to block attacks and deflect the momentum still gets his arms destroyed. His girlfriend does all the work and his friends.

I’m with Gavin

As much as I enjoy Luke’s work, I couldn’t help feeling, repeatedly, through the story that I empathized too much with Gavin’s thoughts on mindless slaughter. If there are additional books in the series I’m not sure that I will pick them up. Overall it was a well written story but not one that I could consistently enjoy.

What story?

First of all, didnt finish the book, so take my review with a pinch of salt. It's just fight after fight with some of the poorest character development I have seen in a while. The fights are entertaining, but there is nothing linking them together, and they cannot stand on their own. Characters are shallow, any interaction between the characters come out of left field and follow power fantasy cliches. Can be summed up as hot people like fighting or banging or both. I still have no idea who the main character is, except he's an orphan got mentioned once, he likes to train and fight, and wants to be super popular so he can have everything.
Could not hold my attention.

Great story but narration felt off

The story overall filled an itch I've been wanting to fulfil Iron Prince and it did just that.

My biggest gripe is unfortunately the narration. I felt the overall female performances from Luke Daniel to be far under performing from his usual works.

I enjoyed it

If I’m being honest I don’t know much about books but Im a fan of the writing of Luke and the reading of the other Luke