The Heroic Age Trilogy

A Mortal Techniques Box Set

De: Rob J. Hayes

Narrado por: Kim Bretton

Includes all three books in the award-winning Mortal Techniques series.

Book One: Never Die.

Ein is on a mission from God...the God of Death. Time is up for the emperor of Ten Kings, and it falls to Ein, an eight-year-old boy, to render the judgement of the reaper. He can't do it alone, but luckily the world is full of travelling heroes. There's only one catch; in order to serve him, they must first die.

Book Two: Pawn's Gambit

Yuu wants nothing more than to forget the mistakes of her past. The gods have other plans. Once a renowned strategist and general five years ago, Yuu made a mistake that cost her everything. Now, she is on the run, royal bounty hunters snapping at her heels. But, what if there was a way to get back what she lost, a way to bring back a murdered prince? Every century, the gods hold a contest to choose who will rule from the heavenly Jade throne. Each god chooses a mortal champion, and the fate of all existence hangs in the balance. On a battlefield full of heroes, warriors, assassins, and thieves, can Yuu survive long enough to learn the rules of the game, let alone master it?

Book Three: Spirits of Vengeance

Haruto swore his soul to the God of Death for the chance to hunt down the vengeful ghost of his wife. He’ll die as many times as it takes. The Ipian Empire was once a land that welcomed dragons and spirits alike, but a century of war and bloodshed has seen them all but vanish. Now, the lost things are returning, and the Onryo have gathered. Five legendary spirits with mysterious powers, bent on freeing an ancient evil that would wreak havoc on humanity. As a plague of spirits sweeps across the land, the Onryo leave a bloody trail for Haruto to follow. But, who’s hunting who?

Fans of Will Wight and Andrew Rowe will love this energetic, anime-inspired trilogy.

©2019, 2021, 2022 Rob J. Hayes (P)2022 Rob J. Hayes

The best hidden gem on audible

Had I found these books as individual listens I would have gladly used a credit for each and considered them well spent. All three for one credit? you are a fool if you don't listen.

From richly developed characters, to a hauntingly engaging plot, these stories draw the listener into a complex world festooned with the unexpected. Even better is the fact that they are brilliantly depicted through the voice of a narrator whose deft handling of each character brings them to life in a way few can match, and none surpass.

Absolutely brilliant storytelling, the likes of which I've rarely encountered on audible or in print.

I hope there's more to come because this narrative voice is one I long to hear again.

Epic.

world building is excellent
characters are excellent

Any who enjoy cultivator styled books wool enjoy these.

So many nitpicking things

Don’t read or get this especially on Audible if you have lived in Asia (I live in Japan part time) or have trained in martial arts (44 years in November). Especially the narrator. She destroys the Japanese pronunciation of words and terms largely. The mixing of Japanese / Chinese definitions at times is teeth gritting.

The stories are ok and enjoyable for what they are and that’s

A great read for young adult and family

Little kids may not get every aspect of this, but the storylines are quite entertaining and grab you. You will have no trouble keeping interest with this story, and all three of the stories came together to make for a wonderful compilation for a road trip.

Good but flawed.

It's definitely a manga-style story and I liked it a lot. That said, there are a few places in every book where the narration is interrupted by a piece of dialog being repeated due to editing flaws.

It's fairly easy to move past, but I found it annoying.

The Heroic Age

It was a fantastic audiobook to listen to while working out in the gym. I think my favorite was the first book in the series. It was absolutely hilarious. 5/5

Mostly Entertaining

First of all, I like to start by stating that reviews are nothing more than opinions from the perspectives of those who have read/listened to the books being reviewed.

With that said this trilogy is entertaining enough to consider buying.

The performance of the narrator was well done, I fully grew to enjoy her range of voices in books 2 and 3. I was mildly annoyed by a few of her voices in the first book, but it's more of a personal preference. I will say that it took me a while to get over her accent while the story is set in a feudal Japan/Chinese setting.

Each book has its own unique story that cross reference the other stories, but one could listen to book 2 and follow the story line without listening to books 1 and 3. I mention this because if you find you don't like one of the books skip to another one and you can still follow what's going on. I personally enjoyed books 2 and 3 the most.

The setting of the series uses feudal Japan/Chinese(mostly Japanese) references, customs, and mythology for the inspiration of the word building. Please note that the author took a lot of liberties with said mythologies and don't take it as actual Japanese mythology. It's his story, so don't think I am knocking him but don't quote things from the series as actual Japanese mythology. Otherwise, you could look like a fool. Also, the author leaves a lot of things unexplained in the world, especially concerning some of the countries. The end of the series eludes to a continuation so maybe it will be further explained in future books. This personally doesn't bother me, but I know it bothers some people.

All in all it's an entertaining series and worth a buy in my opinion especially since you are getting 3 for 1.

Excellent but lacks editing

Loved everything about the stories, characters, and narration except for the lack of editing. I enjoyed Kim Bretton’s narration but a handful of lines were repeated in the last book. This didn’t take away from my enjoyment but it was noticeable.

Awesome series

I really enjoyed this three book series. It was different. Interesting settings and characters. It was very well read also. Fun and enjoyable!

Such a great price for a wonderful set

This is a fantastic collection and the fact that you can get the entire set for a single credit is practically criminal! And $9.99 on kindle is nothing to balk at either. The narration by Kim Bretton is fantastic and unique and so fun.

1- Never Die. I was gifted a copy of the audiobook narrated by Kim Bretton to judge for the Indie Ink Awards for Best Audio Narration. Sad I don’t own it now because the cover is too damn good.

This was amazing. You get sucked right into a world utterly different from ours. It makes you want to know more and more. It’s transformative with action that lights up visually. The world is very Asian inspired. Kind of like ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’-esque with the action styling. But with vengeful reanimated spirits throughout!

The author does a great job with a group of completely different characters. They do learn and grow, but they are also so definitely themselves through the story. My favorite is ‘The Whispering Blade’, Itami Cho. Her character has personality and purpose and she was such a cool fighter.

The narration is absolutely top notch. The narrator’s accent and voices are perfect for the distinct characters she’s bringing to life. You can tell who’s talking right by the voice she’s doing and that’s pretty unique. I would 10/10 recommend going the audio route.

Personally a 5/5*. I need more. And again, I’m really loving this new age run of short fantasy books!


2- Pawn’s Gambit. I decided to continue on with the audio, as I received Never Die to judge for best narration from the Indie Ink Awards. Kim Bretton does a fantastic job bringing these novels to life.

This one follows the Art of War, now referred to as Yuu, as she hides from the repercussions of her miscalculation at the end of Never Die. It takes place five years later, but is written to be read as an entirely independent story. Which is good because it has been nine months in between them for me.

This is pretty unique as the author is giving us the same world, with a previously seen character, but it’s a completely different story. The tone, the plot, the pacing. Everything is different.

Yuu is wrapped up in a competition filled with merciless and vengeful gods, taking out their spite and boredom on those chosen to participate.

Personally a 4/5* for me. For me the story hit a little less than ND, and for the audio, calling the character Yuu got very confusing as your brain tells you they’re saying “YOU”.


3- Spirits of Vengeance. This is book three of the Mortal Techniques. They all function as standalone stories, but reading them in order does definitely add a bit to each as two and three feature side characters turned leads.

This one was a bit drawn out for me. The opening felt overlong and towards the middle of the book it still only had a singular plot point. I don’t necessarily think books need a reason to exist though, I just didn’t find the ‘why’ for a while.

Haruto is immortal and promises to rid the world of evil spirits. He uses ritual staffs to cleanse the world of them, and it’s a clever choice by the author to have the staffs get re-blessed in between each use. This allows for the main to not be all powerful. It also has some unfortunate repercussions for our hero.

Haruto is accompanied by an old, ornery poet, who may or may not have a familiar past. They go from town to town, removing spirits, destroying kimonos, drinking wine, and getting paid. They also pick up a couple more friends along the way. Additional connections everywhere!

The combat is great, unique, and thrilling. The use of so many different spirits keep things fresh along the way with different abilities and what it takes to stop them.

Personally a 4/5* for me, Never Die still hails as king.