The Emperor of Evening Stars

The Bargainer Series, Book 2.5

By: Laura Thalassa

Narrated by: Chelsea Stephens, Nathaniel Priestley

Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

In the beginning, there was darkness.

Before he met Callie, before he became the Bargainer, there was Desmond Flynn, the bastard son of a scribe. A boy born to a weak mother, cursed with little magic, and destined to marry a slave. But fate had something else in mind.

Till darkness dies.

From the barren caves of Arestys to the palace of Somnia to the streets of earth, this is how Desmond Flynn, a fairy who began with nothing, became the Emperor of Evening Stars.

This is a novella told from Desmond Flynn’s perspective.

©2021, 2023 Laura Thalassa (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

Definitely a must read in order to understand the MMC

I needed to listen to this audiobook in order to understand the male character side of the story. He was just to mysterious that it was a little annoying. Just because I was afraid he was someone else than what he showed. But this book answers all my questions. This book is definitely a must in order to understand a lot more. The narrators did an awesome so definitely recommend.

Favorite of the Series

This has been my favorite book out of the whole series. Des’s point of view and narration has much more mature than the other books and you can really feel his love for her. His backstory and thoughts he had during events that happened in the first few books were well written.

Great listen

Great book, I did not care for the reader but great content from the author.

The Bargainer POV Novella

Changes in POV isn’t loved by everyone, but I do like to see what was going on in the mind of the love interest and what they did while the protagonist was away from them. This filled in some holes from the story since Des hasn’t told Callie all his secrets yet. Knowing for centuries he had a human mate but not when he would meet her seemed torturing and his resistance and patience once he met her to not scare her away admirable. I do love the soft side of morally grey characters when it comes to the people they treasure most.

This entire series should be from Desmond's POV after this book.

This entire novella is from Desmond's POV. It was night and day difference compared to the second book. That one was a struggle. This was beautifully performed and I would have been more into book 2 if it was solely from his POV.

Desmond

I love this series, especially this book as it gives us the background and Desmond’s point of view. He’s love for Caly, the pain he felt and fought for 7 years just to get to his mate, so dreamily romantic. Sooo hot, I cant wait for the last book. Anxiously waiting for July ❤️❤️❤️

Love this POV!!

So good to learn the other side of the story…loved it! This man’s voice is decadent.

If your favorite ACOTAR character is Rhys…

You will love this book! I found myself constantly wanting to know what was going on in Des’s mind the whole first 2 books and this more than scratched that itch. The sacrifice his mother made…. Wow. The darkest aspects of dark fantasy is always my favorite, so this series has called to me more than most I have read lately. I would really love to see some more diversity amongst the characters in these worlds too ie Queer or BIPOC. I think it would be interesting to see these intersectional identities, especially since there is already so much hierarchical elements in each world. Hopefully the lesbian fae warrior wakes up and gets to be a bigger role in the last book!

Dark and captivating origin story

I loved the origin story of Desmond Flynn, the fae King of the Night realm. I was drawn into this spellbinding tale and the bargainer’s world from the first sentence. From the “barren caves of Arestys to the palace of Somnia to the streets of Earth” we hear about Des’ journey and what ultimately crafts who Des becomes by the time he meets and is separated from his human soulmate, Callie, through the first book in the series, Rhapsodic, and then to the end of the second book, A Strange Hymn. The book has a little bit of everything - sweet moments, strong friendships, steamy times, real life issues, imperfect characters, dangerous action, uber protective men, secrets, plot twists, painful pasts, evil actors, supernatural beings, and love. I am very excited to read the final book in the series.

This is a single POV story. Chelsea Stevens and Nathaniel Priestley did a phenomenal job narrating the story and characters into life with enough change of inflection, tone and cadence to voice multiple characters quite convincingly.

New favorite narrator!

Hold my book while I search Nathaniel Priestley's other narrated audiobooks. His voice is pure auditory decadence.