Strange Fortune

By: Josh Lanyon

Narrated by: David Lazarus

Valentine Strange, late of his Majesty's 21st Benhali Lancers, needs money. Happily, the wealthy Holy Orders of Harappu are desperate to retrieve the diadem of the Goddess Purya from an ancient temple deep in the mountainous jungle-an area Strange knows well from his days quelling rebellions. The pay is too good and the job seems too easy for Strange to refuse. But when Master Aleister Grimshaw, a dangerous witch from a traitorous lineage, joins the expedition, Strange begins to suspect that more is at stake than the retrieval of a mere relic.

Grimshaw knows an ancient evil surrounds the diadem - the same evil once hunted him and still haunts his mind. However, experience has taught him to keep his suspicions to himself or risk being denounced as a madman. Again.

Harried by curses, bandits and unnatural creatures, Strange and Grimshaw plunge onward. But when a demonic power wakes and the civilized world descends into revolution, their tenuous friendship is threatened as each man must face the destruction of the life he has known.

©2010 Blind Eye Books (P)2013 Josh Lanyon

Narration

The stutter like way of speaking the narrator used for Strange bothered me through the whole story. I pushed through it and enjoyed the story, but it was very grating.

Fantasy romance

I'm not sure why people say this isn't a m4m romance. I believe it's because there is no explicit description of sex. no there are no sex scenes, but there is an underlying romance. the story is exciting and the narrator is amazing. mutiny and death gods, what's not to like.

I wouldn’t mind a sequel

There are a lot of great elements to this novel and the narration was excellent. I, like other reviewers, had a challenging time keeping up with the change in character perspectives with the audio version. Which probably was fine if you read the physical book, but with the audiobook if you didn’t listen carefully you could miss that the story had switched to the other protagonist’s view. I think if the author had separated chapters to align with character perspective transitions, it would have been more seamless. There were some parts to the storyline that spiraled too long in my opinion, but other than that I think this was an adventurous and engaging tale. I don’t understand reviewers saying that this isn’t romance, because it’s definitely a love story between two men, amid a fantasy/adventure plot. If there was a sequel maybe we’d get a little more exposure to the world building aspect of the fantasy. I recommend not multitasking when listening to this. I’m thinking about relistening to it because I probably missed some things.

A World Builder

This author and narrator team is magic. Befitting this story of ancient magic and a different world. An AI could never have read this with any of the gruff brightness and charm of David Lazarus, I'm so glad this narration exists. The story is Josh Lanyon at her best. Fearful and damaged fighting for in the same body as an ancient ghost the Witch Alister was perfect as the foil for Valentine Strange's learned practicality and military training. 5stars across the board.

Good story, very little romance

I think my disappointment with this book is primarily due to the fact that this is not really a MM romance book. It is a MM fantasy/adventure book and the MCs happen to be gay and bi. Mr. Lanyon's books are usually great relationship books with a great mystery woven into the background. In this book, the relationship is ancillary at best, just adding an interesting layer in the story. Maybe it is just the opening book to a series, I'm not sure, but he definitely does not focus on the relationship. That is not to say it is not a good story, it is, just not what I was looking for. The story is loosely based on colonialized India under English rule. It has witches, demigods, crazy monks, etc. I enjoyed the story and the writing is beautiful as always. The narrator was excellent. I just like my MM romance with a lot more romance.