The Dancing Crow: Version 2 of Book 1

The Kingdoms of Blood, Book 2

By: Des M. Astor

Narrated by: Des M. Astor, Robert "Rein" Ramsay

Hey, I’m Ares. Big, bad, scary vampire that your kind is supposed to be afraid of. And I’m here to help save you!

They call me the “Dancing Crow”. Don’t ask me who ‘they’ is. No idea. Anyway, my kind has emerged from the shadows and ripped the mantle of ‘dominant species’, or whatever, right from your hands. Shame, really. If only you didn’t erase magic from your history.

Anyway-z, I used to prowl the streets, ripping to shreds the evils of your society. Like some twisted superhero, or something. Everything changed when other vampires had enough, and well, here we are. Now my gang and I are trying to establish harmony in this city, at least. Not many would expect a gang, of all things, to be heroes. But here we are.

Our job is to help you widdle humans by getting rid of an evil tyrant, Ash, in this unnamed city. Well, that’s hard to do, so we got allies. A half-dragon, a Tasmanian Devil shapeshifter, you know, cool stuff like that. Now, if only I could get this vampire hunter to leave me alone. No idea what her deal is, but she clearly can’t kill me despite ‘trying’ her hardest. Ah well, I know my job, and it’s to continue doing SOMETHING to help out here.

CONTENT WARNING: Heavy gore, sexual assault and rescue from it, extreme religious indoctrination/manipulation, and heavy profanity.

This is Book 1, version 2 of “The Kingdoms of Blood” series.

©2020 Des M. Astor (P)2022 Des M. Astor

Loved it from start to finish!

As the headline says, I loved it from the start to the finish. The audio quality was spot on and the tone and inflections used by the narrators were amazing as I listened through the story.

While I don't know how it'll sound for others, I primarily listened via earbuds and was really nice to immerse myself in it and relax after a long day of staring at monitors. Having this as an audio experience was just what I needed!

Rein did an amazing job as Ares!

I am so happy at "Rein"'s performance for "The Dancing Crow". He captured the character perfectly, and is such a skilled actor. This violent story is brought to life perfectly through his voice, and I'm very thrilled about that.

Please do mind the content warnings, as this novel is incredibly violent, but great for those who love vampire horror.

A fun bloody romp!

First I'll discuss the story. Big kudos to the author for this reimagining of vampires. Excellent work in setting up the cast of characters, and they all come alive on the page (or in this case in the ear). The story is engaging and keeps throwing the characters into more and more trouble, but never to the point it seems pointless. There are some inconsistencies here and there, but they are minor and don't take you out of the story.

The voice acting is top-notch, though in the chapters with Cecilia narrating, I wish some of the breathiness was taken out when it was exposition. It makes perfect sense otherwise, but it became grating being on all the time., Still, the actor did an amazing job overall and it was more of a minor annoyance than anything worse.

I highly recommend this audiobook, and I can't wait for the next instalment!

Not fully finished

I'll update my review once I finish it! So far I am enjoying it, the narration is really well done! It's both easy to understand and entertaining. This is my first audiobook, so a new experience for me.

I'm also really loving the story, and I look forward to hearing how it all turns out.

Bloody Fun

Dark, bloody, and fun. Great vamp story with political intrigue, turf wars, and plenty of action

Great read so was stoked to hear this was out!

Great voices for a well-written story. The readers clearly have a lot of passion and they were perfect for this story in particular. I am not a fan of the genre but have a huge respect for the writing and the voicing.