Winds of Strife

The Dawnless Night, Book 1

De: U. G. Gutman

Narrado por: Amanda Leigh Cobb

They burned me and mine. I'm not done until I burn them and theirs in return.

Witch hunts have plagued the kingdom of Olyanath for decades. Thousands were slain due to the king’s paranoia of women who practice Senspiritic magic. No more.

Nye and his companions have seen enough of murder and misogyny. Fifteen years have passed since he joined the witch hunters, and now, at long last, an opportunity to destroy them from the inside reveals itself. An opportunity to overthrow the king and end his reign of cruelty. But 15 years of pretense have taken a toll. The strive for vengeance has steered Nye toward a path of violence and villainy. His hands are stained by the blood of countless innocents, his heart is scorched by grief, and his sanity hangs by a thread.

Even if he can kill the king and see this revolution through, it may not suffice to purge the voices from his head.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 U. G. Gutman (P)2021 Podium Audio

Deep, magical, a world to discover

I loved it.

it was deep and heavy with a full world to immerse myself into.

every character has a dark side or an unknown depth that is slowly discovered, and as the story progresses, they change and evolve.

amazing.

A Great debut for both the author and the series!

I really enjoyed this one.
The world building and magic system were top notch (very Sanderson-esque) and gripped me from the very start.
The morally grey (dark grey) characters were interesting, if somewhat one note.
The ending was not as climactic as I may have hoped, but that left me wanting to know more about what's going to happen next, and I'll definitely check out the next one.

All in all, a great debut, and a great first book in the series. Hope the author builds on it to reach even higher.

Fantastic Fantasy Debut!

This audiobook was a great listening experience! The story was great, and the narrator did a fantastic job of bringing the story and the characters to life! Looking forward to the sequel!

Awesome magic system and characters, recommended

There’s an intriguing balance of the magic system in this one. While many characters and powers can seem overpowered, the author did well to show us just how limited they actually are.
Take Diane, for example. She’s incredibly powerful, she can beat anyone, but she can’t force people to think the way she wants them to think. And this is her goal. Her powers can’t magically bring her that goal, and that’s cool. Also she can’t really use her powers to defend herself from Nye because that will only make things worse, and that’s just sooooo real!


I also liked the system of rock-paper-scissors between the different powers. Felt a bit reminiscent of gaming, in a good way.
The characters are very deep. Nye with his mental disorder, for example, all the voice-hearing thing, it was really intriguing to follow. And I love how it was contrasted with Glitter’s attitude.

I did have some issues with the plot. Some of it felt a bit forced or coincidental, but it was always in the small stuff.
The big, pivotal moments were all planned with cause and effect in a satisfying way.
But the small stuff… eh, some of them were a little weak.

Overall I give Winds of Strife 5 stars because of the reading experience. The book isn’t perfect, but most of it is A LOT of fun to read, and I hardly felt the length of it. Only in a few chapters. Looking forward to book 2! The epilogue really leaves the reader on the edge of the seat!!

A Great Debut

I am a little late writing my review here. Winds of Strife is a great debut for an author whose career I look forward to following very closely. The Story we get here is one of madness, darkness, and the struggle to be better. Nye is a character that you want to root for but struggle with to justify his actions. I supposed my biggest suggestion to all is that If you are looking for a book that tackles emotional, mental, and physical abuse through the eyes of fantasy look no further.
In this book, we deal with many issues on morality and if the ends do justify the means. The magic system alone is unique and well developed. The characters are well fleshed out and highly dynamic and there is a little something for everyone in this story. Overall this was a solid 4/5. I really enjoyed this book. I have the physical and the Audio. With a fantastic narrator and high quilty physical copies. Any way you consume Winds of Strife promises to be an enjoyable experience.