The Elemental Keyes

Circle the Square, Book 1

De: Sam Burns

Narrado por: Greg Boudreaux

Today is the day the world ends.

Fine, tomorrow is the day the world ends, but is that actually better? My name is Blaze Keyes, and I’m a seer. Since I was a kid, I’ve known that the world was going to end on my 25th birthday.

But the day before the apocalypse, the most unexpected guy falls into my lap—or maybe I’d like to fall into his. Elethen is tall, handsome, a type of mage that disappeared from earth a century ago, and is an elf. Also, he says he fell through a portal from another world, and I sort of believe him.

If I can’t save Earth, maybe I can at least get Elethen home safe. Or if we can get my infuriating brother to work with us, maybe we can save everyone on both of our worlds. Maybe the world dies tomorrow, but damn it, I’m not going out without a fight.

The Elemental Keyes is the first of two books featuring a deadly portal between two very different worlds, a confused elven Robin Hood, an unemployed mage trying to deal with the end of everything he knows, his snarky criminal brother, and a few surprises along the way.

©2023 Sam Burns (P)2023 Sam Burns

Highly recommended

I couldn’t stop listening to this audiobook! Great story and the narration was expressive without sounding comical. Can’t wait to listen to the next one

Each new series is getting better

I appreciate and thoroughly enjoyed the world building in this new series, and the ending has me wanting the next book asap. Kind of a cliffhanger but could only hope for more..

Fantastic!

All the magic! I adored this amazing tale of magic and two different worlds. This is one of my favorite authors and once again I was spellbound by the incredible story and this narrator as always did a magnificent job. Can’t wait for book two to come to audio as well.

Great read

Excellent read good play and the narrator did an awesome job, I would recommend it

Amazing story!

Great storyline. Character development was awesome as well. Need the next book now! Let’s go!

Excellent, Inventive and just Fun

I always enjoy Sam Burns’ writing and this novel is no exception. Her characters and stories are original and well rounded. Plenty of excitement and believable romance. Greg Boudreaux’s narration is always superb and this book is maintains his exceptional standard of work. I am very much looking forward to book 2.

Sam Burns is an amazing author

As usual, Sam keeps my attention riveted throughout the story. Funny. Wholesome. Sexy. Good guys fight the bad guys and win. Interesting characters. But lighthearted too. A breath of fresh air from a fantasy world when I need to escape real life for a bit.

How can adventure, magic and new worlds still be an instant comfort read? This pair.

Sam Burns and Greg Boudreaux, that is! Having fallen absolutely in love with Burns' writing in the Sleeping Foxes series, seeing another of their books again paired with my hands down favourite performer ever meant it was an auto-buy.

There's great worldbuilding, really cool magic systems, all kinds of great characters, wonderfully written and brilliantly brought to life. It's funny, it's sexy and spicy, it's full of caregiving and intrigue without Big Misunderstandings or anything honestly requiring a content warning from me that is outside of the book's description.

While this book came to a satisfying end, I had already bought the sequel by the time the epilogue rolled through. Technology is grand -- I get to start listening to the next as soon as I post this review!

I'd absolutely recommend this to anyone who has enjoyed Rhys Ford, Alice Winters, and honestly... I tend to buy books for Boudreaux (or as Greg Tremblay) first, and I have yet to be disappointed. He could probably read me a menu and make it riveting, he just has SUCH a great range, variety of voices and personalities inside of him -- along with authentic accents from a dozen or more cultures to really bring worlds to life.

I will buy this pair together every day of the week for a full credit and be sure it is worth it every single time.

I forget who wrote "Happy Ending", but just the preview from that book shows off a ton of Greg's talent (and it's a great book besides, totally recommended for people who enjoy this!). If you like Rhys Ford's Kai Gracen series (and do I ever -- yes there are things in the first book that at first blush might look problematic and sexist, but you can trust Ford as well because it makes 100% sense as the series progresses and Kai's background is brought to light), if you like awesome LGBTQ2IA+ chatacters getting happy endings because we all deserve happy endings, if you like Urban Fantasy and High Fantasy and new magic systems, you're going to have a very good time.

I'm diving back in and hope you will too!

Loved it!

I loved everything from the narrator to the character to the plot! I also live the name reversal, cracked me up. I always love when it’s Duel POV. Don’t even get me started on that plot twist though, so good! Cant wait for the next one!

Next book in series, please.

Bought because Greg Boudreaux was the narrator, but the story was so good I'm hooked. Definitely a series I will purchase all of. Clueless men, snarky yet supportive brother, and two worlds on the brink of destruction. Will they save each other? Or be each other's destruction? And where did the Spirit mages go?