Never Die

De: Rob J. Hayes

Narrado por: Kim Bretton

Ein is on a mission from God. A God of Death.

Time is up for the Emperor of Ten Kings and it falls to a murdered eight year old boy to render the judgement of a God. Ein knows he can't do it alone, but the empire is rife with heroes. The only problem; in order to serve, they must first die.

Ein has four legendary heroes in mind, names from story books read to him by his father. Now he must find them and kill them, so he can bring them back to fight the Reaper's war.

©2019 Rob J. Hayes (P)2019 Rob J. Hayes

Stunning

Thanks to the author for an advance reading copy of Never Die in exchange for an honest review. Receiving this ARC did not influence my thoughts or opinions on the novel.

So, I am a bad blogger for this one, you guys. Rob sent me an advance reading copy probably 9 months ago and I just got around to it at the beginning of July. On top of that, this review has been sitting in my draft box since July 12th (prior to vacation, amidst upcoming releases, etc). Literally, this has nothing to do with the author or his novels; it all boils down to timing and busyness.

2019 has been an insane year as far as reading/reviewing goes, and I am now up to 95 novels on the year. To show the bar, I read 89 in the entirety of 2018…. I still have 4 1/2 months to go and I am not slowing down any time soon.

Alright, now to the whole reason why you clicked on this page. My review.

Well, since I waited so long, Rob had the opportunity to release Never Die on audio so I picked it up on the cheap thanks to Whispersync. I thought Kim Bretton did a wonderful job with the narration and would recommend it to anyone who wants to give this novel a shot (and enjoys audiobooks, of course).

Hayes uses Chinese Wuxia and Japanese mythology as an inspiration for Never Die and it shows throughout with extensive use of folklore and traditional martial arts, on top of very vivid world-building with a distinct Asian flavor. With this, he has written a very original tale of vengeance and redemption that I have yet to see before. I mean, tell me another book where someone has to die in order to serve (and don’t give me anything with necromancers because that is a totally different conversation). The fact that these warriors, legends in their own rights, are forced to toe a line by an eight year old child in order to fight in a war; who thinks up this kind of stuff?

This book feels sort of like Bruce Lee meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with a little bit of Monster Hunter. There are “levels” to the storyline that include fierce battles with legendary warriors and large scale assaults by supernatural demons called “yokai” that continually ramp up the intensity, leading to a consistently thrilling, edge of your seat read. I also have to give props to Hayes for his characters. Each is fully fleshed out not only in their present story, but with tales of their heroics and bravery in battle. It is a book that needs to be slowly ingested rather than devoured.

Never Die shows exactly why you cannot sleep on self-publishing. While anyone can put words to a page, call themselves an author, and upload a book to Amazon, Hayes is here to show that there are non-traditionally published books that deserve the same amount of attention as the GRRMs and Pierce Browns of the world. If you enjoy Asian-inspired fantasy, heck, if you enjoy fantasy at all, Never Die should be at the top of your wish list.

A bloody good time!

I was hooked from the first paragraph. This story is fun, fast, and action packed. I loved it from beginning to end. Highly recommended.

A good read

I loved the strory however sometimes I could not take it seriously on how the narrator performed it. She was no means a bad narrator but her different choice of accents really took away from the martial arts epic feel.

A phenomenal Eastern-themed standalone fantasy!

Yes, yes, yes!
What a ride!

First, let's talk about the audiobook narrator. Kim Bretton did an excellent job. While a couple of her male voices (yes, she has several, and most are great!) leave a bit to be desired, overall her voices are amazing! But where she really shines is in her tempo changes. She knows just what reading speed is appropriate for each scene and absolutely nails it!

I'll admit that at the start of the story I was pretty confused and didn't really understand what was happening.

I can't speak to the accuracy as I don't know a lot about it, but based on content I'd say there is a strong eastern mythology influence at work here. Between the monsters, the magic system, and the culture differences there was a lot to take in.

There is a lot of terminology that I don't rightly understand and had to piece together via context throughout the story. Particularly the titles each warrior has. I was several chapters in before I realized Emerald Wind and Century Blade were people and not things.

I honestly would have enjoyed a deeper dive into the characters, Cho in particular as I find her fascinating.

But what we have is a fast moving, almost thriller-eske story that flies by without feeling rushed. There's not a lot of time spent on internal monologue or introspection, but with the setup of this story it works beautifully.

And speaking of beautiful, let's talk about the writing for a moment. There are a handful of instances of clunky phrasing and some passive voice that doesn't seem necessary, but elsewise the writing here is gorgeous.

It's mostly of the simple, straightforward variety that I absolutely love. I'm not a fan of flowery, lyrical language and there is very little of that here. What little there is seems to have been included for emphasis in a way that works wonderfully.

Although, as I mentioned, there's not a lot of time spent on introspection, there is still some excellent characterization.

Every warrior has a trademark technique that is uniquely theirs, and seems custom tailored to their personality. Or perhaps their personality conformed to the needs of the technique. It's difficult to say with certainty.

Similarly, every character has at least one or two quirky personality traits that really makes them stand out as an individual.

Now, at the start the story seems extremely straightforward and, it must be said, a little silly and simplistic. Very easy to sum up in one sentence.

However, there's so much nuance, so many twists, and so much depth added throughout the story that I can't bring myself to type that simple sentence.

This is a story that will make you laugh. You'll want to strangle at least one character. You'll hate at least one. You're going to wring your hands in frustration. And in the end, your heart will break for these characters.

And at least one of the twists is going to hit you like a ton of bricks, leaving you dazed and unsure what to think or how to feel.

It's unusual for a twist to catch me competely unprepared, but one of these did so and it was glorious!

This book has the kind of explosive ending that readers dream about. All the promises made throughout the book come to fruition, even the ones you didn't realize were being made until you see them being fulfilled. Every disparate thread is weaved into a complex tapestry that can't help but blow your mind.

I'm normally the first to admit that no book can be for everyone, but I'm really struggling to come up with a type of reader who wouldn't enjoy this book.

Okay, here's one. If you insist on major character arcs, if you thrive on characters starting weak and growing strong, then this probably isn't the book for you. The whole quest is about gathering the greatest warriors in the world to fight an impossible battle.

Also, if there is no part of you that is even open to Eastern-themed fantasy or chi as magic (basically), then this probably isn't a good choice.

For everyone else, READ THIS BOOK!

Finally, full disclosure.
I received a free copy of this audiobook from the author and am voluntarily leaving this honest and unbiased review.

Great book

Fast paced. Keep me interested the whole time. Couldn’t stop listening. Waiting for another book.