• A Thunder of War

  • The Avalon Chronicles, Book 3
  • By: Steve McHugh
  • Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
  • Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (530 ratings)

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A Thunder of War  By  cover art

A Thunder of War

By: Steve McHugh
Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
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Publisher's summary

There’s thunder on the horizon, and the lightning of war is about to strike.

After years of struggle, Layla Cassidy has finally mastered the dark powers that threatened to control her and turned them to good. She’s ready to fight, but the next battle will be her greatest test yet.

The forces of Avalon are growing ever stronger, reinforcing their dominance with almighty displays of brutality. When Abaddon comes close to crushing Layla and her friends, it’s clear that the thunder of war is about to give way to lightning—and that they have no chance of surviving it alone.

The final battle against Abaddon is drawing closer. Now Layla and her friends must fight for themselves—and the future of the world. To win, they will need every power and ally they can muster. But even with all their strength, will it be enough to stand against the impending doom?

©2018 Steve McHugh. (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

What listeners say about A Thunder of War

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Great trilogy ending!

Brilliant way to end a phenomenal trilogy. The voice work is amazing and fits each character nicely.

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2 people found this helpful

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loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is the best story reading that I've heard in a very long time... love you Steve for your magic!!!!!

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Loved it

Once again it was a great book I love😍 these books of Steve and can't wait for the new📙. Thank you Steve couldn't stopped listening.

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Better than I expected.

I truly appreciate how all of the characters were brought together. I REALLY love the cliffhangers on a few stories. It gives me hope that the stories will continue for Nate, Laliah and the new Shadow Elf (Tarryan/if it's misspelled, my apologies). Arthur his followers need to be stopped.

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another great book

I have read all the books leading up to this one. it didn't disappoint me. I enjoyed reading this book. I look forward to the next one.

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I really enjoyed this book

I really enjoyed this book and hope Lalyas journey continues. she has turned out to be a great character.

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names

There were a few horrendous name pronunciations. Abadon, Chiron, and Cerberus. It threw things off a little.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Good book, but poor pronunciation by narrator.

Nice story, but the narrator has a very hard time pronouncing certain words. It's almost comically bad. looking forward to starting the next Nate-based book and getting back to that perspective!

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Narrator makes a drama queen story worse

Were it not essential to listen to the Layla books to continue the Nate storyline, I would never have finished the 1st. There is nothing I like about Layla—it’s all overblown drama expressed in extremely overused language. This is one of those characters who everyone in the story loves and I really can’t understand why-there are much better and believable female characters who would have made better leading characters.

I’ve just finished listening for the 2nd time (as reminder for the new Nate book) and realize that some of what I dislike is due to the extremely badly done narration. the completely over the top emotional and breathy reading is accompanied by inability to give the characters unique voices so half the time I had no idea who was supposed to be talking. There is also no gender differentiation and so many of the male characters sound like little girls or vapid teens. And almost every bloody sentence ends with heavily breathy words and an overly dramatic pause.
I suggest skipping the audio book entirely.

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A very engaging action thriller.

The author does more than just create great action suspense, he pulls you into the action with charismatic characters. You feel their emotions and desires as strongly as your own.

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  • Teresa
  • 01-19-19

great story but bad narration

Outstanding story.
Amazing writing.....with an awesome end that got me excited......
Major downside is the terrible narration.
Unfortunately this narrator has limited voices and those she does are incredibly similar to others in the story.
biggest downside and an insult to the writing is her lack of correct pronunciation of the characters who's names are NOT just part of this writers work but many are well known and simply pronounced wrong.

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3 people found this helpful

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 11-09-18

EPIC I LOVED it sad it ended

LOVED MORDRID IN A BOAT WITH HEL
LOVED the whole book and Remi is awesome

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  • Áine OB
  • 08-17-19

Amazing series. Not so good narrator!

I initially struggled to get into the Avalon Chronicles, being a huge Nate Garrett (Aka Hellequin from Steve McHugh's amazing Hellequin series). It was strange reading from a female POV and I did struggle to relate to Layla who initially irritated me no end with her see saw whinging and wonder woman acts! I now believe this was Steve McHugh's intention to show her growth. The series isn't as easy to read as the Hellequin series and did take me a bit of effort to stick with it but wow am I glad I did. I was literally jumping up and down with excitement, laughing, crying and a full gamut of emotions. I feel strung out now after finishing this last book! I think I need a lie down now lol!

The only thing to say is that I resorted to the kindle edition in the end. I think the narrator was a poor choice for this book. One of the main male characters Modred sounded like the narrator had taken a hit of helium before speaking his part. It wasn't always certain who was actually talking as some of the character's voices sound very similar but the main thing that caused me a huge amount of annoyance and ultimately why I changed to the written copy was the narrator's pronunciation of some of the character's names. Abadden I've heard pronounced as ah-ba-don in the Hellequin series was pronounced ah-bad-en. Cerberus was pronounced as kerr-bear-us with a hard K as in 'care' rather than a soft S as in 'ceramic'. Sometimes it is difficult to get used to another narrator's pronunciation and their vocalizations of characters when you have been used to a different narrator. I think to keep the continuity going the same narrator that did the last few books of the Hellequin series would have been so much better. I've never written badly about a narrator before as I can only imagine it's a long and arduous task to narrate a book but on this occasion it seriously interfered with the enjoyment of the book!

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  • Mr P E Riordan
  • 11-07-18

great end to am awesome series

loved it. Steve McHugh delivers once again! can't recommend his books enough, great action and humour

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  • Becky Spencer
  • 06-28-22

Amazing book

My only issue is the pronunciation of some names like Cerberus other than that I have no issue

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  • Katie Mae
  • 05-27-22

Unbearable narrator

Listening to Mordred explain to Hel how he loved her in that ridiculous plummy voice made me want to weep. I adore Steve McHugh books and sped through the Hellequin Chronicles and subsequent novella's with glee, but it has taken me forever to finish this set of books purely due to needing regular breaks from the narrator. Why anyone thought she was a good idea for these audiobooks I will never know. She made Layla whiny and extremely unlikeable. Chloe is supposed to be a badass sassy warrior but sounds soft, meek and girly. Don't get me started on Tommy's accent again. Urgh.

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  • alistair armes
  • 07-18-19

fantastic end to the series

Fantastic end to this series. can't wait for the next book. Steve once again creates great characters you can get behind.

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  • Kindle Customer
  • 07-12-19

absolutely brilliant

What a fantastic book could not stop listening, need need the next one. Layla has grown into an awesome charecter

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  • Andrew R.
  • 05-20-19

excellent seroes

I cannot wait for the next series to be released! between this and the hellequin chronicles I have been hooked!

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  • surreywench
  • 04-18-19

thank god it's an audio book

one of the worst written books I've ever heard. the author uses the word rage about every other line and can't describe his characters with anything else really but they've created a good world (I'll give them that). the only reason I listen is because it's mindless entertainment that I can listen to in the car as I don't really need to focus on it so therefore can dip in and out of the story while concentrating on driving.

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  • Greymatter314
  • 11-07-18

Awesome finale to a brilliant series

Loved this book, nearly listened to it in one sitting. Layla was again a relatable character and Reny was as always awesome.

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