Chasing Graves

By: Ben Galley

Narrated by: Moira Quirk, Samuel Roukin

Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Meet Caltro Basalt. He's a master locksmith, a selfish bastard, and as of his first night in Araxes, stone-cold dead.

They call it the City of Countless Souls, the colossal jewel of the Arctian Empire, and all it takes to be its ruler is to own more ghosts than any other. For in Araxes, the dead do not rest in peace in the afterlife, but live on as slaves for the rich.

While Caltro struggles to survive, those around him strive for the emperor's throne in Araxes' cutthroat game of power. The dead gods whisper from corpses, a soulstealer seeks to make a name for himself with the help of an ancient cult, a princess plots to purge the emperor from his armoured Sanctuary, and a murderer drags a body across the desert, intent on reaching Araxes no matter the cost.

Only one thing is certain in Araxes: death is just the beginning.

©2018 Ben Galley (P)2019 Recorded Books

Entertaining and interesting

Not in my top 40 or so favorite fantasy series, but a good listen and not as predictable as my recent listens. Well written.

Thoughtful fun and mayham!

I enjoyed the authors spin on the dead as economic resource. I like the characters and my only critique would be they needed just a bit more rounding out to be fully developed enough for my tastes. Good voicing as well. Bravo!

Awesome Book!

Great start to a cool new trilogy! Definitely left me wanting to know what happens next! Recommend this for sure!

Interesting premise, story lacking.

The theme for this book is murder. You have four characters, a thief who is murdered and who's soul is indentured, a soul dealer who is the thief's murderer, a woman who travels across the world to murder her husband, and a princess who is determined to murder her father and steal his crown. The setting is a city where soul stealers roam the streets murdering people for the right to claim their souls.

If this sounds like the setting for an exciting tale with action and intrigue to you, well, you're in for disappointment. Other than the first few chapters, nothing much happens in this book, including the ending which just kinda finds a spot and ends. The world building was interesting, but often things didn't make sense. For example, in a city where marauders roam the streets murdering people and stealing their souls, the storyline goes to lengths telling about happy people walking the streets, selling their wares, and doing their jobs. No one seems to be worried about getting killed and sold. The story tells of nobility owning hundreds of thousands of souls, and for some reason none of the citizens have thought it might be wiser to move along. The main characters seemingly accomplish nothing throughout the book with the exception of the soul dealer who is so evil it's straight out of a comic book.

Overall, the book was disappointing. I initially came upon it due to Moira Quirk, who's reading in other books I found enjoyable. In fact, the only thing that led me to finishing this book was the fantastic narration from Quirk and Samuel Roukin, who I had never listened listened to before, but whom also delivered a great reading. As I said, some of the world building and overall theme of this book seemed promising, but the story itself just wasn't that interesting. Perhaps the series will improve as it goes, but I'm not sure I will move on to find out.

mislead

summary is misleading,,the book is actually about politics, and it shift pov for three characters, 2 of Wich an women, the whole undead thing is just a gimmick,

the book is just a book about slavery and politics, with no structure, or ending or climax, or anything