Ash Forest

And the King's Gold

By: Stephen R. Pratt

Narrated by: Stephen R. Pratt

Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Magic is dying. And without magic, the sleepy town of Ashville is conquered with ease by a tyrannical king whose obsession with finding gold soon becomes a devastating campaign to enslave mankind. There is only one problem with this plan: an orphan boy with no name, a child of the woods who has learned to survive among man-eating plants and giant spiders, but whose greatest obstacle yet remains.

The king with everything will be challenged by the boy with nothing - and on the path where courage and selflessness meet, the boy with no name will inspire magic to return once more.

Ash Forest (and the King’s Gold) is a tale of bravery, devotion, and family that will lead listeners on a perilous quest full of adventure, epic battles, and legendary feats of heroism.

©2020 Stephen R. Pratt (P)2021 Stephen R. Pratt

Slower start/build, but a LARGE payoff

I was in the mood for a nostalgic fantasy novel, and (I’ll admit it) I bought this book based on the kindle/physical book cover (and the fact that it was available in audiobook - hopefully the current audiobook cover will be replaced with a version of the kindle/physical book cover soon). This is actually a book you can judge by that cover (in a good way).

It’s a standalone story, so you don’t have to worry about getting sucked into a series. My best estimate is that the entire story takes place within about a 50–60-mile radius of the starting point (which includes a village, forest, lava river, blighted desert, and mountain). The flora is more of a threat than the wildlife (if you don’t count the giant spiders). The villains are caricatures, but they lean into that role (and certain areas of villainy from grittier series are subtly off-limits). Every member of the unlikely adventuring party has an essential role to play, with multiple moments to shine as an individual and as part of a team. There’s a prophecy with a suitably clever fulfillment, plenty of personal growth, a hint of nascent romance, and a suitably satisfying ending and denouement. I expect a faithful movie adaptation would be PG13, maybe Disneyfied down to PG (the PG13 version would be better, though).

If you’re looking for something like Game of Thrones, The Wheel of Time, or The Stormlight Archives, keep browsing, but if you want something more like The Princess and the Goblin or The Black Cauldron, this book might scratch that itch. I thought the start was on the slower side, but that being said, the payoff down the line was worth it. The finale starts sooner than you would expect and just doesn’t let up. The tone of the book has an unusual, occasionally discordant combination of levity and dark elements (for anyone who takes the time to think about them). The narrator is occasionally anachronistic, and there are a surprisingly small number of onstage fatalities given some other bits of the worldbuilding backstory.

For me, the moment this book reached five stars was the protagonist’s choice about 75% of the way through, and I realized I actually cared and was cheering him on. The protagonist is a better man at age 13 than I was at 26. So are his companions. Sometimes you just want to read about people like that.