Against the Unweaving: Shader

First Trilogy, Volume 1

By: D P Prior

Narrated by: Bob Neufeld

Length: 41 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

The entire epic fantasy trilogy in one volume and now including the totally restructured and revised book one, Sword of the Archon.

Plague strikes the city of Sarum, and the dead rise from their graves. The liche, Dr. Cadman, has discovered a long-hidden artifact and perverted its power for his own selfish ends. But an ancient evil from beyond the stars is drawn by its use and turns hungry eyes upon the Earth. These are the times of Unweaving, the times Deacon Shader has been prepared for since the day he was born. A man of prayer, deeply troubled by a contradictory faith, he is also the deadliest warrior of his generation. As events spiral out of control and creation itself hangs by a thread, the paradox at the heart of Shader's life may just be the last desperate hope of all the worlds.

©2014, 2015 D.P. Prior (P)2015 D.P. Prior

Great world building of epic proportions

What made the experience of listening to Against the Unweaving: Shader the most enjoyable?

The different character viewpoints

What did you like best about this story?

How the characters are flawed but still good

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The ending, but no spoilers!

Make Me Care

If I don't actively like at least one of the point of view characters, I won't like the book. The quickest way to make me walk away from a story is to ask me to spend a lot of time following the point of view of a character I actively dislike. And I discovered while trying to read the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, that if you ever ask me to identify with the point of view of a rapist, I don't care what he thinks his excuse is, I will drop your book cold.

The first point-of-view character in this story was vaguely likable, but he was soon left behind to follow the point of view of a series of truly despicable characters. Spoiler alert: it was while following the third of these characters that I dropped the book cold.

Clearly, the author put a lot of time and thought into his world building. He cared a lot about his setting. But he didn't put any effort into making me care about the people in it.

The story i wanted to write

This book is a scifi/fantasy mesh that crosses gods, templars, necromancers with a dash of high fantasy and a sprinkling of Warhammer 40k . The narrator was difficult to get used to at first as he is very monotone and chapters kind of blend to the point i was often saying "wait what, i thought we were on this character." But grew on me as the story progressed and he went from just reading words to getting a bit into character.

Overall fantastic read.

Love this book

What made the experience of listening to Against the Unweaving: Shader the most enjoyable?

The narrator's characterization is first rate and the story is fantastic.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Cadman because he is so brutal with his thoughts

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

Yes, Nameless Dwarf. This is one is even better

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

Cadman's thoughts are hilarious

Any additional comments?

Wonderful book

Great Series. Dark, Very Dark

Excellent series. Deep and distinct characters. Unpredictable timeline and story. Multi-realm apocalyptic story managing to weave humanities future into future tech, magic, and fantasy.

Was confused over listening to The Nameless Dwarf first. Some chapters from The Nameless Dwarf are repeated in the last book of The Shader. To find out I'm not crazy was satisfying. The Nameless Dwarf is being re-released in 2019.

Shader is an awesome character. Although, Shader is absolutely dwarfed by Nameless the Dwarf....

D P Prior has accomplished something few authors have accomplished. Dwarves are awesome under Prior's work. Homunculi (sorta Gnomes) are awesome as well. Shader is too much of a Paladin for me honestly, but well written. Great work! I hope to someday create something as unique and dynamic as Prior's work.

just not my kind of book

i can't put my finger on it, but this one just doesn't do it for me. after 28 chapters, of which i slept through more than half of, i had to quit trying. the narrator isn't bad, the story could have been engaging, but it wasn't. this is my favorite genre, so that isn't the problem...but nothing about it held my attention.

what a load of shite

just a diatribe of nonsensical garbage with a very weak story... made it a couple of hours in but cannot recommend unless you want to be bored to sleep!