Halcyon Rising: Breaking Ground, Book 1

By: Stone Thomas

Narrated by: Chris Graves

Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

My skill set brings all the girls to the yard.

And by yard, I mean the temple of a young goddess who's using me to build a fortified city around herself before the god of war can finish slaying every deity in the heavens.

He'd better not find us before we're ready. Spoiler: We're far from ready.

But hey, I get a cool skill out of it. The goddess allows me to view anyone's strength, vivacity, and other attributes as though they were numbers on a menu and then use their life experiences to make them stronger. I can unlock their special skills, too, and it's all stuff no one else can see.

Hence the girls: a beastkin builder, a negotiatrix made of slime, a half-elf gypsy who charms snakes - and more - seeking safe refuge and a place to belong.

Think our ragtag group can survive a divine onslaught of apocalyptic proportions? I know what I think. Come on in and find out.

©2017 Stone Thomas (P)2019 Stone Thomas

try it

I received this book free of charge for an honest review. kid survives an attack that kills the rest in his city. while escaping meets a God and becomes her priest. in order to avoid the fate of his previous home he must build a city that will withstand the attacking force, in his travels he eventually gains followers who come back with him for a life where all are equal instead of the lower classes they were treated as in their previous communities. that's a boring summary but I personally liik forward to maybe seeing more of this series

Pretty good with realistic expectations

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

This is definitely one of those books that you have to set your expectations appropriately going in, or you are going to be disappointed. Having said that, I expected a lot of action, a harem element and game mechanics with a coherent story tying it all together. That is exactly what I got. If you aren't a fan of the genre, I'm 50/50 on if you'll like this book or not. I really enjoyed it. I thought the narration is great, the game mechanics were different, and the characters were engaging.

Harem + LitRPG

This was a better mixture than I had expected. The LitRPG is decent and the characters make for an interesting Mashup. Chirs Graves does a great Narration and made this an enjoyable listen.

If you're coming to this for the LitRPG aspect you might be a bit disappointed, it's an interesting system, but not the best LitRPG I've listened to. That said if you enjoy both Harem and LitRPG genres you'll probably enjoy this.

If you're unsure about the Harem idea, this isn't too overdone as far as the concept goes. This wouldn't be a bad one to dip your toe in to test the waters.

What a cool concept

I loved the concept of this book. The MC basically operates as a skills trainer for those around him in addition to being a semi-front-line fighter/priest/mayor/other stuff. I hadn't ever thought about a story told from that perspective before and it actually plays really well! The closest comparison I can think of is Felix in Super Sales on Super Heroes. There are some harem themes here, though there isn't anything super graphic from a relations perspective as you often see in such stories. It's a quick listen at under 6 hours, but I did very much enjoy my time with the various chanarcters and found myself cheering for their success throughout the entire book.

While I felt the pacing of the story was good, I often found myself wanting more information about the characters and the world in which they inhabit. I feel like a bit more "stuff" would have really helped to make the world feel more alive to me. Perhaps that's something we'll see more of in book 2.

The narration was good. I hadn't ever listened to Chris Graves before and I feel like his range of characters was well-suited to the story. Female and male characters were easily distinguishable from each other, which always helps in fight scenes. His choice of voice for the slightly insecure, yet driven MC was perfect. The only gripe I had was with the voice he used for the skill interface... he went for monotone and robotic, which it was, but that kind of took me out of the story a bit.

On the whole, it's an interesting book with a MC that has a skill you don't see often in the game-lit space. I'm glad I listened and will be on the lookout for the second book in the series!

**Note: I asked for and received a promotional copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review***

Such a cool story

This book was super dope, and as always a perfect narrative performance by Chris. Love the concept of the MC having more options when it comes to power.

Great Start to This Series, Excellent Narration

"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

I should begin by saying that I’m a fan of this genre, and particularly of this narrator. The leveling up aspect was unique in that it was the main character who performed that for others. This worked well to endear him quickly to his companions, and established a true value to his abilities. Each character was unique, and well established by both the writing and by the narration. Being the start to a series, there was some basic groundwork established, an adventure, and a final climatic battle. The future of the story was set well at the end, making me excited to see what would happen next. The was a degeee of violence, but nothing that I felt was graphic in any way, and some audit themes that were fade to black in nature.

As mentioned, I’m a big fan of the narrator Chris Graves. For me, he really brings the story alive. I’ve listened to numerous stories he has narrated, and can’t say enough positives.

Can’t wait until the second book!

Funny litRPG

This review is based on an audio-book that I received. It is an honest review and the complimentary receipt of it in no way affected my review or rating.

'Breaking Ground' by Stone Thomas is the story of Arden.
'Breaking Ground' is officially the start of the series 'Halcyon Rising'. But to be honest I have the feeling that this book more of a prelude is for the series. The series contains 3 books.
This audiobook is about 5hours and 20minutes long. This book has a semi closed end. But there is a lot of room for more to come.

The narrator, Chris Graves has a nice and clear spoken voice and with pacing that makes the story easy understand and follow. Chris Graves his pronunciation is very good and the sound quality is also good.

This book is super funny, light hearted and absolutely worth the read. I really like this dry humor that the writer applies. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was definitely surprised and ecstatic how the storyline flowed.
Stone Thomas does a fantastic job of bringing each character to life. Then there are plenty of moments of unique humor that Stone Thomas nails, keeping you laughing throughout the book.

Arden an orphan living in a goddess's temple watches as the god of war kills his goddess Laranj.
He is able to get away. He stumbles upon a young goddes Nola who needs rescuing. She asks him to be her head priest.

As Nola's head priest, he is able to adjust the skill levels of whoever he wishes as Skillmaster.
In protecting Nola, he gathers several women whom he protects and who help him. I like the humor, romance, action and game vibe.
He gathers a lot of women around him and later on also men. I like it that there is a harem element in this book. It has the perfect balance of harem (without being erotica) and a great adventurous storyline.
Will Arden be able to protect all those dear to him?

I would definitely recommend this book if you like LitRPG genre you will enjoy this book. It's a good, solid listen and a promising start to the series.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher for an honest review.

A great Story

This is a great read. The characters are very well developed giving the story a good story flow. It is easy to follow. I have read the authors books and the narrator does this story proud. From what I can remember from reading the book nothing has been left out. I would recommend this book as well as the authors other books. Your time is well spent reading/listening to all the author's other books.

I loved it

I know it might be not a book for everyone but I enjoyed the book very much I did know and read the blurb before I chose this book and I liked it a lot I knew what to expect and see if it was a great ride

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review

Building from the ground up

After spending a lifetime doing grunt work and menial chores then losing your goddess to invaders attacks you would think life would be over. But when an unexpected request comes from a rookie goddess reaches you along with three beautiful women, what else can you do but build a temple from the ground up. Fun characters, lots of manga style harem comedy, and adventure galore. I really enjoyed the story and the narration brought it to life for me. I hope the other books in the series also come out on audible.