The Unleashing

Call of Crows, Book 1

By: Shelly Laurenston

Narrated by: Johanna Parker

Kera Watson never expected to face death behind a Los Angeles coffee shop. Not after surviving two tours lugging an M16 around the Middle East. If it wasn't for her hot Viking customer showing up too late to help, nobody would even have seen her die. In uncountable years of service to the Allfather Odin, Ludvig "Vig" Rundstrom has never seen anyone kick ass with quite as much style as Kera. He knows one way to save her life - but she might not like it. Signing up with the Crows will get Kera a new set of battle buddies: cackling, gossiping, squabbling, party-hearty women. With wings. So not the marines. But Vig can't give up on someone as special as Kera.

With a storm of oh-crap magic speeding straight for LA, survival will depend on combining their strengths: Kera's discipline, Vig's loyalty...and the Crows' sheer love of battle. Boy, are they in trouble.

©2015 Shelly Laurenston (P)2015 Tantor

Great Story!

I loved this story and the narrator did an awesome job telling the story. I could clearly see all the characters in my mind as she read!

Surprisingly good

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. The writing was refreshing and entertaining. The story and plot were interesting. I bought the second book in the series before I finished the first one.

Medium well-done

Any additional comments?

Some positives, some faults. I forced myself to finish the book. Thanks to ebook reviews I knew a cliffhanger ending would set up an arc for a planned series. The positives are her usual style of characters-funny, bright, eccentric, overbearing, violent, joyful paranormal beings of various sub groups forced to interact. Heroine's new group and the heroine find a way to bond, and she and the hero end together. I think a gentle romance was meant, perhaps a Nordic raven version of Ulrich and Dee Ann. (Author does love her female marines!) I found it slow, kind of boring at times. The audiobook sometimes left me puzzled as to who was who. Voices similar, names sounding a bit similar-see narration comments below.The book may be much more enjoyable as an ebook, or just with an online character guide to keep many names straight. As to the narration complaint. While a brand new narrator for this author. she appears to have copied the phrasing and enunciation of some earlier narrators, plus a lot like one who did take away from the story IMHO. (Wolf with Benefits. I own both. Much funnier in ebook) . Sometimes it does not work..the only way to explain is that many sentences proceed to change tone (pitch?) and volume, often dipping Up/down, LOUD as they END! I gave it four stars since while it was a three star listen to me, I do have hearing loss that might have made vocals and name recognition issues partly my own problem. I shall still immediately buy her next Laurenston and Aiken books, but will wait for reviews before trying the next in this series.I HIGHLY recommend her dragon series and pride shifter series. She even makes a romance between a cheery, seemingly perfect bi-racial and bi-breed (wolf/wild dog) and a crabby, neat freak OCD Bi-breed (polar bear/Lion) Pro Hockey star into a funny, happy, romantic, sexy tale.

I really enjoyed this, caught myself laughing out

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this, caught myself laughing out loud, can't wait for the next book.

Another of the grates

I can't wait for the next in the series . Ms laurenston is an awesome writer And ms Parker dose an amazing job .

Loved it!

The story had annoyingly sarcastic characters you want to hate. But after getting their backstories, you begin to understand why they act the way they do. I love the snark with a little sex. The narrator gives it enough variety that makes you enjoy the story even more.

awesome

I really enjoyed this book. It was fun to listen to. Didn't want to turn it off.

love it!

I love Shelly 's work! but it did take me awhile to even consider to read/listen to this series for it seemed so off to what she normally wrote. I am so glad I did tho ! I can't wait to start the second book .

Good listen

This book was a great start to this series, looking forward to the next book.

A lot going on

This is good for someone who likes a ton of characters and a lot of action with different worlds/planes. There a ton of voices and the narrator did the best she could. It was confusing to me and I had to rewind a bit. I will say the main character female isn’t a very likeable character but does grow during the story. She does have a dog so we have to love that!