Master of the Forest

By: Artyom Dereschuk

Narrated by: Bruce Mann

Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

At the edge of the world, unknown and unseen, he endures and survives even in our digital era....

A young man leaves his backdoor Russian town and heads to Moscow, never to be poor again. With each day, he grows more and more desperate, until he meets an old geologist with an intriguing and surprisingly profitable offer: to join him on his trip to the depths of Siberia, the largest forest on the planet, and become a "black digger" - one of those who find and excavate mammoth tusks with the purpose of selling them as ivory to the highest bidder.

With nothing much to lose, our hero agrees, venturing to the edge of the Earth, beyond the borders of civilization and into the untouched wilderness. There, thousands of miles from home, in a race against the clock before the cold seals the ground, he has to face nature, other diggers, his inner demons, and, most importantly, the enigmatic "Master of the Forest" - a prehistoric creature and the origin of all local legends, who ferociously protects his domain.

©2018 Artyom Dereschuk (P)2019 Tantor

Fresh. Loved it.

Spoilers, sort of! MOTF is the freshest thriller/horror I’ve listened to in a long time. This is a great story for people who really appreciate character development. It’s a ragtag bunch of men seeking their fortunes in Siberia. The characters are real - definitely flawed, but not evil in a good guy/bad guy way. Loved the dialogue. Completely believable and, at least to me, hilarious. Much of that is due to the amazing narrator. There are no heros in this story. No Bkack Ops, elite teams of this that and the other thing. No one has military weaponry and nothing blows up. I’m sure it’s something I will listen to again in the future.

Pretty good really enjoyed it.

I’m almost finished with this one and I have only one criticism. I would rate the narration as fair. Otherwise well written and compelling story telling. Better than most books in this genera. It’s a full story not a chapter a month ripoff. I recommend it.

Tenable

Was a different and entertaining story. Definitely gory and creepy at times but could have been more scary. Narration was good. I'd recommend it and will, myself, see what other books Dress him has aritten.

Szarabajka

A story set in Russia with Russian character narrated by a guy with a British accent? The story was good, but where was Keith Szarabajka???

He would have been a perfect voice.

A fun adventure horror

I’ve been looking for a fun monster story. Nothing heavy, and with the added bonus of a Russian author, it had a fun exotic feel. It felt like a timeless classic by A. C. Doyle until modern things would come up. I really liked it.

Could have been a much shorter story

I was very disappointed. Nothing really happened in the story until about 4 hours in. I found the very long lead up fairly tedious and boring. I think this could’ve been a short story or possibly a novella. I don’t think I experienced suspense at all because I could see everything coming.

A masterfully written Slavic horror book

Tense and detailed. Loved this book and the narrator. Will definitely listen again in the future

It’s good but, it’s nothing new.

First off, it’s a good story and the presentation is not bad. However, this type of story is so familiar you can predict every occurrence in the story. I did like how the “Master” was not so typical for a Sasquatch like figure. All in all, I do not regret the listen as I have with other horror novels included with my membership.

Easy listening

The story line and characters kept me captivated and the tone made for easy listening. I enjoyed and would recommend the reading.

Enjoyable Monster Tale

A great take on a primordial monster story- definitely worth the listen. This is the first monster story I’ve come across set in Russia and that was a nice change of scenery and culture. Luckily the narrator handled the Russian names adeptly and his pronunciations were smooth.