A Book of Blades: Rogues in the House Presents

By: L.D. Whitney, Matthew John, John Hocking, Jason Carney, Scott Oden, J.M. Clarke, Chuck Clark, Jason Waltz, Howard Jones, Cora Buhlert

Narrated by: Ember Lin

Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Within this tome are buried the blades of warriors, thieves, and wizards. Tales of their deeds, glories, and triumphs shall ring throughout the ages.

Rogues in the House Podcast has gathered the best tales of sword and sorcery from across the community.

Here, brave adventurers will find stories lovingly crafted from heroic fantasy greats such as Howard Andrew Jones, John R. Fultz, and John C. Hocking. At their side are up and coming genre authors Chuck Clark, T.A. Markitan, Cora Buhlert, and many more.

©2022 Rogues in the House Podcast (P)2022 Logan Whitney

Fun and Varied Anthology

To start, I'm a big fan of anthologies in any format and I haven't given many book anthologies a try, but this one has me rethinking that idea! I also hadn't heard of the Rogues in the House podcast before listening (who are behind this particular book along with other notable writers) but I for sure will get better acquainted with their work after listening to this!

Like any anthology some stories will give you more of what you're looking for than in others, but that is expected and I can't hold that against the overall book as I'd say I enjoyed the overall experience of listening to the stories.

You'll get stories ranging from dark fantasy to classic adventure and even a sprinkle of Lovecraftian horror (as you may have assumed from the cover art). There are stories that will make you cry, and there are stories that will make you laugh out loud with the characters, and most of them will have you eager to hear how each story ends. "The Gift of Gallah" in particular had me feeling many different emotions from beginning to end, and it went in a direction I wasn't expecting but made it feel more like a complete journey due to that surprise. "Wanna Bet" was a particularly fun one that really allowed the narrator to show off her accent work and featured many fun characters in an exciting plotline. I often felt excited to hear the next story as the one I was listening to was coming to an end. There are broad strokes of different genres that allow this to be picked up by many different varieties of readers, and that to me makes for an almost essential feature for a good anthology.

The narrator has a good soft approach to narration that allows you to get more immersed in the story and really allows for an easy listen. The different accents and voices used throughout showcased their abilities and felt believable for each character in their respective settings. I would enjoy hearing more from this particular narrator!

There truly is something for every fantasy fan out there in this book! All in all, if you're a fan of fantasy stories in any format I don't think you'd be disappointed with giving this book a try!

wonderful storytelling

Great story lines in each story. And absolutely great narration by Ember Lin. Wonderful Job!!

Difficult to get into

I enjoyed most of the stories when I read them, but the audible was difficult to enjoy because of the narrator. She wasn't bad, but she wasn't a good fit for this book. Short stories need to grab you from the jump and keep you engaged because they end so quickly. This narrator was, in my opinion, monotone and a bit boring. That said, if another anthology gets released by Rouges in the House, I will purchase it again (both physical and audible).