Demon Lord for Hire

A Progression Fantasy Epic

By: E.M. Hardy

Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds

Length: 9 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Are you a god in dire need of followers, of some more faithful to bolster your ranks?

Then I’m the one you’re looking for: a Demon Lord in all its glory! You may hire my services for a small fee, that is a small portion of your divinity.

I will send my minions to terrorize the populace and give people a reason to pray to you. I will spawn horrors to drum up support or even trigger a holy crusade.

Just sign the contract and I’ll take care of everything. You won’t even have to lift a finger, except maybe to bless a few heroes of your choosing to face off against my armies and eventually defeat me, the dreaded Demon Lord, in dramatic fashion.

This is a bargain you can’t possible pass up! But I warn you, if I hold up my end of the deal, I expect you to honor it too, or else…

©2022 LitRPG Freaks (P)2023 Podium Audio

Actually Quite Good

I nearly passed this book over after reading the poory written summary that had at least one glaring grammatical error in it, but the reviews seemed quite positive and the narration sounded wonderful so I gave it a try. I'm glad I did. This was a charming story that was expertly narrated and was a joy to listen to. Apart from the author repeating himself way too many times when describing the main character's attributes and personality, the writing was much better than that tatty summary would suggest. I'm hoping the author has more books like this on offer as I'd gladly read more.

What an original concept!

This is more one of my books that will go into the repeat rotation. The unexpected setting and character arc were engaging and the narrator brings them to life!

Decent All Around

Good world, good magic, good characters, good plot. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to sneeze at either. A solid pick if you want something reliable to listen to in the background.

A fun little adventure

I really enjoyed the story, the characters, the character development. I really ended up cheering for the main character. I look forward to more in this series.

Fresh take on genre

An interesting perspective on fantasy fiction. I enjoyed reading it and hope the author writes a sequel quickly.

Unexpected, Wholesome and Wonderful

Not what I expected at all. Affirming, sweet and lovely. I’ll listen again when I need a lift.

Enjoyable

Very enjoyable, was a surprisingly good listen. I had low expectations and this exceed them by a far margin.

Very enjoyable. Hope for a sequel

Honestly wasn't what I was expecting, it was better. Only gave it a try because I like the narrator. Whoever is responsible for the book description on Audible needs to change it to better reflect the actual story.

God of a Lost World

I generally avoid LitRPG books because constantly interrupting the story to give stat reports drives me nuts. I was grateful that this book didn't do that. I was slow to warm up to the story and I did wonder a few times if I was going to stick with it, but by the end I was ready to riot if things didn't work out for the main character. He was a god who lost all his followers in a cataclysm, so he was stuck being a con man in support of other gods in order to survive. It was a clever solution but he was a good guy trying to portray a bad guy, which led to all sorts of second guessing and sneaky solutions. All in all, I really was happy with the ending. I didn't care for the way each spell was.... well, every spell was listed by name when it was used, and each one was read with the verbal equivalent of bold font and italics. It was jarring each time, and just felt silly. But, I guess a LitRPG book needs a strong RPG element, and there it was.

Great story, not progression fantasy, not an epic

Amazing story, incredible and consistent writing — memorable characters who are easy to get attached to. I got emotional several times during the book and was truly impressed by the character growth throughout. And the narrator is top-notch! …But the marketing for this book is god-awful.

The Demon Lord form on the cover is only in chapter 1 and is not the Demon Lord form that the MC takes for the remainder of the book. Also, the book is not a progression fantasy. The MC has “skills” but they honestly don’t feel like they fit in this setting and the MC is already at the top of his power level so there’s nowhere to progress to. Also also, the book is not an epic as the book is no longer than 9 hours and appears to be a one-and-done as far as I can tell. There is nothing wrong with one-and-done books. Honestly I welcome them in a market saturated with so many super long series. I just wish the marketing of the book had been more honest.

All in all, worth the credit and 5 stars minus a star for lying to me.