Rush

I strongly suggest reading the Warded Man first before picking this sequel up. Also, be aware that the first half of the book is from Jardir's point of view (as indicated in the synopsis). That being said, if you enjoyed the first book, then you will enjoy this one as well. The characters are definitely maturing, but also have not changed radically from who they were before. We are also given a slight glimpse into the inner workings of the Core and the demons that live there, along with being introduced to some new elite demons that aren't the simple, mindless brutes that sprout up from the ground every night. I was very happy that they kept Pete Bradbury as the narrator as he does an excellent job. I look forward to grabbing the third book as soon as it is released.

The Good:
It was a very well written book. I found myself feeling dread just from the author's description of a log in the ground. Not something easily done for me! I can't go into too much depth without giving anything a way, but it does have that Lovecraftian journal-writing feel that slowly injects you with growing dread of something that shouldn't be.

Jeremy Northam does a good job as the narrator and by the end of the book you really feel he is the voice of the protagonist.

The Bad:
There are a few thoughts and declarations of male homosexuality that Michelle Paver crams in near the end of the book that I didn't feel were really needed, but the story was still great despite it. Not sure why she decided to add it. There isn't any physical homosexual contact. It's all in the guy's head. However, you won't miss anything by skipping the few tiny bits that she included if you are the homophobic type.

Also, if you are seeking an action-packed read, then you will not find it here. You should probably look for a different novel if that's what floats your boat.

Overall:
All in all Dark Matter was a great horror story that I enjoyed a great deal. Anyone who enjoys tales of growing dread and creepy horror stories, but isn't looking for action, should definitely give this audiobook a listen.

Kevin Hearne made a modern-day novel about magic and monsters that actually comes across as believable. The Iron Druid's ability to be both aloof and caring about something at the same time is extremely amusing. He loves his dog and cherishes chilling on the front porch with a little the old lady down the street. He's not bothered by innocent people who ignorantly walk into death when they are disrespectful or have a bad attitude, but he tries to make sure that their deaths don't get him in trouble with the law. I was very pleased with the writing and the characters.

Luke Daniels did a great job of narrating. His accents are well performed, which is where a lot of narrators tend to fall short in my experience. I do think that Oberon's voice (the dog) could've used a bit more intelligence in some scenes, as it didn't always match with the ideas the dog was conveying later on, but it's an understandable voice for him if the narrator hadn't read the full book before choosing it and the rest of the narration was very good, so I let it slide.

All in all, from the delight I obtained in this novel, I'm already to pick up the sequel when my next Audible credit comes in.

I only made it a quarter of the way into the novel before putting it down. I was put off by the level of detail in the history of the characters. There was simply too much of it. The book starts off by telling you what has happened then spends an extensive amount of time talking about the past and thoughts of the people it's introducing you to without telling you why. I was disappointed by how far I got into the novel without it giving you more information about the event the books is supposedly revolving around. I know this is the start of the series and such books often start out slow in order to introduce you to it's players, but this one took it too far for me to put up with. I'm not big on books that try to cram an entire person's history into your face before getting to the actual story. I prefer getting to know characters by their personality being spread out and interspersed with the actual story.

I am not sure what the hell it is that I just read exactly, but oddly enough I liked it. It was well written and the narration was not bad. It reads more like standard fiction than sci-fi until near the end of the book when you suddenly get slapped in the face. The story revolves around relationships and the quirkiness of small town life meshed with a rather unexpected, zany secret. I strongly suggest not going into this book with any expectations in your head as to what it's supposed to be or you will be disappointed. If you can manage to wrap your head around that idea early on, then you may find yourself enjoying it as I had.

I only made it 2/3rds of the way through the book before putting it down. I really enjoyed the story and the descriptive fashion of the objects and environments. But the two-dimensional characters and the dialogue drove me far enough away that I couldn't enjoy it anymore. I really wanted to like this series as it has been hard for me to find a good contemporary sci-fi book about monster-hunters and/or paranormal investigators, which is slightly infuriating as Howard Phillips Lovecraft, August Derleth, and F. Paul Wilson have all made it one of my favorite genres.

I was looking for more of a contemporary, post-apocalyptic fantasy book when I came across this novel. The synopsis was very intriguing and the narration in the sample wasn't bad, so I picked it up despite it not being what I was looking for. I expected to not make it very far in, as I tend to give up on books quickly if the first chapter can't hold my attention. I thought the demons would feel hokey and put me off to the rest of the story. Surprisingly, I found myself unable to put it down. The characters and world are well-detailed and quite engrossing. The narration is good as well. I liked it so much that once I was done with it instantly had to pick up the sequel, The Desert Spear.

The thousands of people that love this book series will probably hate this review. I have been looking for a new contemporary monster-hunter series to sate my appetites. I did not enjoy much of this book unfortunately. It reads like a comic book or pulpy action novel. If that's what you're looking for in a book however, then this story might be for you. I'm just not big on pulp.

Most of the dialogue was either a confident person who knows something talking down to someone who is ignorant of something, empathetic comments from people while someone else talks about something sad, or a juvenile back and forth between people who dislike each other. I prefer more breadth in dialogue, personally.

The writer really enjoys talking about guns and ordinance. Unfortunately the majority of his descriptions consist of name-dropping the name of gun manufacturers or simply translating an acronym without going into further detail, so if you're not a gun nut then you have no idea what the weapon he's getting so excited about even looks like without hitting up Google (which I did on multiple occasions). Even the one gun he goes into great detail about gives relative descriptions compared to another gun of it's type rather than giving you specifics. The handle was longer than normal? Well how long is it normally!? I'm obviously not in the writer's target audience.

All in all, I was hoping for more intelligence from this story. I really liked the writer's ideas and portrayals of both the old man in Pitt's head and the Cursed One. The narrator also does an excellent job. The few positives were not enough to counter the negatives for me however, so I will not be continuing the series. Luckily I still have a good list of other first-books of contemporary monster-hunting series to go through on my Audible wish list.

Yes. It was very well written and narrated to boot. Not your average zombie book. In fact, you rarely see any zombies in this story. The horror and fun that happen in this book revolves around people and the things that they do to survive and protect. I loved the main character. I got to the end of the book and wanted more. Too bad it's a one-shot. I definitely appreciated the time I had with this story though, otherwise I wouldn't be disappointed that it ended. :)

The base them is pretty similar to Sci-Fi channel's mini-series, The Lost Room, as another customer mentioned.

I really enjoyed the way the narrator read the book up until I heard him do his first accent. It got worse when I heard is second accent. Whether he's doing an Oriental accent or a Hispanic accent, they all sound like they're from India. It was really bugging me, so I just pretended like all of the accented characters were actually Indian and it wasn't so bad after that. The rest of the narration was gold.

Yes. Once I got past the bad accents, the story was quite fun. B.V.Larson is really good at making you feel the details with his descriptions. There's also a lot of both contemporary fantasy and horror in it. Fans of both genres will likely get a kick out of it.