Embered Soul

The Fall of Creation, Book 1

By: Willem Neill

Narrated by: Peter Kenny

Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

In a world of monsters, a beast slayer confronts a foe more deadly than any creature the world has seen. As the battle draws close, so, too, does the reckoning....

Afflicted by the incessant rot of beasts, the people of Asthradele have never known life without war. The threat of the next Bestial Tide has always been enough to keep the realms united. But what's it all worth if the world is dying?

Seb du Monte is one of the many men and women dedicated to fighting the Tides. As a newly fledged Knight-Questor from a venerable lineage of beast slayers, sworn to protect Asthradele, his journey begins in earnest when he leaves his home to undertake the Questing Rites.

But when a powerful force threatens what he holds dear, all the weaponry, cunning, and training he possesses may not be enough to defeat it.

Fates collide and all will hang in the balance.

©2020 Willem Neill (P)2020 Willem Neill

Great story, great style, great narration

Love it! If I'm honest, at first, I was more drawn by the cover of the book, but the more I listened, the more I got drawn into it. I finished it in two days. So well written! I now crave to get the second book.

Good listen especially for Witcher fans but

leaves some to be desired with world building. Second book is not out so I would have waited had I known

What great start to a series!

I won't lie, at first I was only interested in the book because Peter Kenny narrated it. But by the last 3 chapters, I was so entranced I couldn't stop. Can't wait for the next one!

I keep periodically looking for the next in series

I have a ridiculously large Audible library, but this book really caught my attention. I enjoyed the narration and the author’s world building and believe there will be a lot to explore with the way the author left the ending. I’m awaiting the next in the series to see where it goes….hurry up Willem and Peter!

A Suberb Story

William Neill's novel is a superb blend of fantastical creatures and riveting world-building. It reminded me a lot of "The Witcher" novels but with it's own originality and flavor. What struck me the most about this book was the world and lore that's shrouded in mystery, even to its inhabitants. Its secrets unravel as the story progresses, leaving the reader and the MC to puzzle it all together at the same time. Although not much is revealed in this first book, you are given enough tantalizing information to piece together your own conclusions by the end. I will definetly be purchasing the next book. If you are more interested in the action, then I can promise that this book does deliver. It is not your typical high fantasy magic and supernatural power type battles. This world is very much grounded by reality and and the fight for survival. If you need a reference, think of Game of Thrones and how its world is structured around real world combat with medieval weapons. Our MC is by no means a Marry Sue but he is competent enough to handle himself in dangerous situations. His journey to complete his questing rights as a Beast Slayer takes him to many lands, each expertly fleshed-out with unique environments, cultures, and beasts. Peter Kenny's performance was amazing.

Reminds me of the Witcher.

All In all it’s a good book. The only issue I have is it leaves you hanging with no second book.

Meh

Wooden undeveloped characters. Undeveloped world building. Lots of things unexplained.

Why can’t the knights let people know their names? They go around like secret agents with false identities. If your going to put that in the story you need to flesh out that idea and give readers a satisfactory reason why that is.

The knights have to go the rough some sort of testing period before they are considered full fledged knights but this is never explained with any detail either. What exactly are the rights? Are they different for each knight?

There are female knights who are the equal of the male knights or better. Of course. I am woman, hear me roar.

The main protagonist Seb has no personality and is a bit of an ass hole honestly. Not a way for the writer to get their readers interested in the story.

There is a serious battle of two on two and it turns out the opposing characters know each other and don’t realize they’re fighting friends until it’s nearly too late. And no it wasn’t at night. They were in a lit room. WTF?! Two of the characters fighting one another were actually cousins. The writer tries to explain away the mistake by writing in that they hadn’t seen each other in seven years. Again WTF?!

I kept waiting for some character development. After listening to over half the book it was obvious that there wasn’t going to be any character development and I gave up. Life’s to short to read bad books. I’ve read over 700 books on audible. This one is a hard pass folks.