The Adorned

De: John Tristan

Narrado por: Shannon Gunn

My name is Etan, and I am Adorned.

A living piece of art, I exist to please the divine rulers of Kered. With nowhere to turn after my father died, I tried my luck in the capital city. Little did I know how quickly I would be robbed, beaten and forced to sell myself into servitude. But I was lucky enough to gain the attention of Roberd Tallisk, an irascible but intriguing tattoo artist who offered to mark me with enchanted ink for the enjoyment of the nobles. I was given a chance to better my station in life, and I could not refuse.

But the divine rulers want not only the art but the body that bears it. In their company I can rise above the dregs of society and experience a life most only dream of, at the cost of suffering their every desire as a pawn in games of lavish intrigue. Their attention is flattering, but I find I'd rather have Tallisk's.

Caught between factions, I learn that a revolution is brewing, one that could ruin Kered - and Roberd and myself along with it...

©2013 John Tristan (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Heart-gripping!!

What a beautiful, heart-gripping story!! I loved it!! The author transports you to a place in time that, while indecipherable in itself, is so richly described you can actually see, hear and touch it. As others have reviewed the prose is absolutely beautiful. The plot chains intrigue, vanity, despair, admiration, survival, grit, loneliness, and ultimately love… and Mr. Tristan demonstrate to be a master at it. Oh, and Tallisk’s art!! Etan’s tattoos (and his brothers/sisters) were so wonderful and captivating *bows to author* Excellent book!!!

My favorite MM book

Would you listen to The Adorned again? Why?

Yes, I bought the ebook and wanted to be able to listen to is as well because I loved the story so much.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Etan, I bonded with him right away. He had a very hard life and did what he had to, to survive in the world. Luckily he finds his way to Roberd.

Have you listened to any of Shannon Gunn’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It's an emotional story and I thought the narrator did a good job of portraying emotion.

Any additional comments?

LOVED this story and the audio book version!

Beautiful genre writing - worth a read

I am giving this book 3 stars mostly because I doubt I will re-listen to it, though I am glad that I bought it and spent the time listening to it as a once through. My summary - Not a waste of time, an excellent narration, enjoyable for it's style but probably not going on many play on repeat lists.

I always feel like I need to caveat these sort of reviews. I go through phases where my tastes radically differ. I went through a period where pretty much all I read were "dime-store novels", and a gross Harlequin *cringe* romance novel phase, a huge sci-fi stint that melded into a fantasy gorge. As a young adult I got *way* into vampires, and I still love a lot of stuff that falls into the paranormal/urban fantasy classification. I have never found myself particularly attracted to historical fiction, though I am also not specifically adverse to it. Right now I am on a huge MM romance kick (kind of long lasting phase, to be honest.)

The point of all of that? This book definitely falls into a (fictional) historical/supernatural sub-genre that isn't really my thing at the moment. Honestly, I bought it because I'd listened to pretty much everything else available in the new releases section that I was interested in but I wanted something new rather than re-listening to an older favorite.

Although it is kind of a slow paced book, both the story telling and the narration kept me engaged through-out. It was beautifully written and it took me a long time to realize that I was, in fact, reading a somewhat novel and unique imagining of a vampire book.

There was so much *potential* in this story, but I think that it is a bit watered down at times, to be honest. It was like the author loved the characters so much that although he knew that it was his job to torture them, he didn't quite have the heart to go full-bore, then at the end he all of a sudden decided to get it all over with in one fell swoop before tying everything up in a pretty bow and attaching the gift tag to the package.

For those interested - very little in the way of sex - not nearly as much titillation as it could have had - and definitely not a light or feel-good sort of read. Even-so, and especially if you like a bit of paranormal and/or fantasy "historical" twist to your reads - Very worth the time and credit. So yeah, 3 stars - not a glowing review I guess but there it is.

wonderfully different

I really enjoyed this book. if you are sensitive to accent, watch out, Mr Gunn did a great job, but there are some areas that were a little off. I enjoyed the world building and characters. there is some tragedy, but no moping.

Interesting Story; Great Narration

I've long been a fan of Shannon Gunn's narration, but when this book started my mouth fell open. I had no idea he had this much range. Absolutely fantastic.

The story itself was interesting. A little too long maybe, but definitely worth the listen.