Promise

Caulborn, Book 2

De: Nicholas Olivo

Narrado por: Ian McEuen

When gods fail to keep their promises there's hell to pay. Literally. After a slip of the tongue, godling Vincent Corinthos is obligated to keep his partner, Megan, "fine" forever. Enter the Keepers, who fulfill promises for a fee. Vincent agrees to their bargain, but will Megan be the one who pays the price?

©2014 Nicholas Olivo (P)2016 Nicholas Olivo

Just ok

First, read book 1. You will not get a summary of book 1, thank god. I do not like my listening time, or credit, taken up with a summary of the previous book. Promise is not as good as book 1. It is good enough that if you have a junky jones for the characters in the Caulborn series you will find it entertaining. Vincent Corinthos a demi-god who works to keep us mere mortals safe from the assorted characters in the paranormal world.

This book picks up from Vincent’s dilemma to keep his partner, Meg safe. In the heat of a battle, Vincent made a slip of the tongue and he said that he would keep Meg safe. That entails for him to keep her safe forever. Vincent does not keep his promise, Orcus, the god of oaths, can give him a trip to hell.

The problem is their job at as agents of Caulborn, a sort of paranormal bureau of investigation, deals with, vampires, golems, dragons and other paranormal characters is inherent with danger. ***spoiler*** Ironically when an organization, The Keepers, is hired to keep Meg safe does a cost benefit analysis, they decided the best way to do that is to put her in stasis. OK the premise of the book is a little lame. All Vincent has to do is explain to Meg about the situation and problem is over. Instead we get over eight hours of craziness.

Vincent does not using any of his investigative abilities and is really running around like a chicken with his head cut off, with the tunnel vision about the promise. *** spoiler*** He is so consumed with this petty problem that he compromises his morals and actually steals for his benefit. In addition to the weak plot, there is a glaring edited error. Of course what he steals has magically properties and guardians. These guardians are restless in chasing him for the return of the item. He is actually "marked" which is a homing device for the guardians. So the little side plot of the guardians retrieving the sword is dropped, yet, the sword plays a major part.

But I did really miss Gearstripper, the mechanical genius gremlin and his girlfriend, girlfriend Petra -- daughter of Aphrodite and made of living stone and Vincent’s followers. Meg has a love interest and their courting is very sweet. Yep, I did use that word. Put two intelligent geeks together with a sense of propriety, and their dating is sweet.

Even though the plot is not the greatest, Vincent does acquire new powers. Is it worth buying this book. Probably not? I say that because, it is a big change in what he will be able to do and will be included in the next book.

But if you are like me and like to know all the background in stories, then buy the book

AWESOME! A GOOD BOOK TWO.

Very good. Vincent Corinthis is a good protagonist. He is a likeable person with flaws but he is redeemed by his good deeds and acts of kindness. I love it! Very narrated by Ian McEudn. I hope book three will come out soon.

Without a doubt this series is worth it.

I was offered this book almost immediately following my review of the first one (Imperium) and I said yes as soon as I could. I really enjoyed the first Cualborn book and dove in immediately. There may be some minor spoilers from book one in this review.

The story picks up shortly after the events of book one and focuses heavily on the promise made by Vincent therein. After speaking with his friend, who is a dragon and dragon's are awesome, Vinny discovers the existence of a group called The Keepers. Keepers have a seemingly endless well of knowledge and capability. Since the Caulborn have never heard of them, Vincent decides to check them out. After an extensive tide of questions he decides they may be able to help him with his problem with Orcus, the god of oaths and the one who is holding Vincent to his promise that Megan will be "fine" forever, literally. After completing his part of the deal with the Keepers Vinny thinks everything is going to work out. That is until Megan goes missing. Adding to that Vincent has other worries at home; Petra's mother is coming to town. Not only is his girlfriend's mother visiting, she just so happens to be Aphrodite and she makes life unpleasant for Petra.

This was a solid follow up to Imperium. While it wasn't quite as good as book one in my opinion, it definitely kept me interested the whole time. Nicholas Olivo brought in some new and entertaining characters and built upon the old ones. I love what he is doing with the mythological deities in this series. As I said in my review of book one, I am a huge fan of mythology and I can't help but be sucked in when someone is doing something interesting and new with the gods. I'm intrigued by how the gods would act in another's eyes, this series has so far done very well with that.

Ian McEuen again brings his narration to table and he did a terrific job of bringing the story to life. He has a really great delivery and give every character their own voice, adding more depth the already likeable protagonist and his extremely entertaining supporting cast. One of the big draws of the voice acting by McEuen is the pace, it's almost perfect, there's not robotic pauses or sentences hard to understand because the narrator is reading too fast, it's right where it needs to be. In addition to the great performance, there is not background noices, static, or any annoying mouth noises or heavy breathing.

Fans of mythology or any kind of urban fantasy needs to give this book a read. Fans of Nick Podehl should also check this out. McEuen has a very similar style to Podehl and he fits the story very well. Without a doubt this series is worth it.

Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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first book where the main char is a mess up.

this is a fun book because the author guides the readers along a path, making you think "oh thats what I would so in that situation" many times throughout the story...then.....BAM!

it was ok. I will listen to #3 when it comes out.

not the best book in the world and could be lots better so if you like hero books this one is just OK.