The Hammer: An Epic Fantasy Harem Adventure

By: J. A. Cipriano

Narrated by: Nick Podehl

Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

Armed with his trusty hammer, the King’s Champion Gharrik Anzar is known for two things: slaying his enemies and conquering women. But when a portal to another world opens in the middle of his homeland and monsters begin to pour through, he’ll have a new mission. Step through the portal, kill everything that stands in his way, and stop whoever is sending the monsters through.

There’s just one problem.

He can’t bring anything through the portal, and the technology on the other side is - well, lacking. In order to win, he’ll have to build an army out those he finds on the other side, outfit them with weapons and armor they’ve never seen before, and then march them through a battalion of undead, orcs, and ogres. It sounds impossible, but if it didn’t, they wouldn’t send the hammer.

Please note: This novel contains a harem.

©2018 DDCO Publishing, LLC. (P)2019 DDCO Publishing, LLC.

Got sudden urge to learn warfare and portal magic

Truth be told I looked at the book cover and judged it, I know there's a saying against it, but the title and cover art made me snicker so I dove in, and what an adventure it was!

Amaxing

Nick podehl may be one of the best narrarators I've had the joy of listening to. He has a huge range of voices and really brings out the passion and drama of this book. There was a couple times in the book where I actually cheered on the protagonist, so engrossed in the book as I was.

Liked it

Very Conan the Barbarian with a mix of LOTR and bad assed females making the fellowship. Excellent descriptions and world building. Looking forward to the continuations

Great read

The. only problem I have with this book is that there doesn't appear to be any evidence for a sequel. I don't want the characters or the loot to just fizzle into the abyss.

Not a Underdog Tale

Humility is a concept unknown to the Main character in this story. He is unmatched in everything and knows it. The action was great and I'm a big fan of the narrator Podhel but I dislike the copious amounts of machismo and arrogance in this book. The MC could theoretically destroy the enemy on his own but then it would be a very short tale. He often refers to himself as a hero or the champion and seems to smugly regard himself as better then everyone else.The other characters in this book only exists to bolster the MC and juxtapose their skills against his. There is barely a plot or any world building and I grew sick and tire of all of the internal bragging and unnecessary "sex" scenes. I gave up on this book less than halfway through.

Quite Good

[MINOR SPOILERS BELOW]

PROS:
*Main character is really over powered, (just how I like it) but he could use a touch more humility.

*Excellent narration.

*Mostly likable characters.

*Interesting variety of fantasy races.




CONS:
*The main antagonist felt lacking. Almost no info about him, I never learned what drove him, why he did what he did. (might learn more about him and his reasons in the next book)

*Most of the combat felt rushed, especially the last big army battle.

* No matter what character it happens to, or however small part of the book it is, I don't like hearing about people being sexually abused. I understand it is a medieval(ish) fantasy book, and it might have been common in those situations, and that it might add to the story, but still.

Overall I really liked the book, and I'm looking forward to the next one.

hammer

this was an excellant story but is a beginnig to a greater story or just a standalone story.

Wish I could the rest of this series on audible!

I really liked this entry and wish i could buy the rest of the series on audible.

Had a hard time with this one.

OK. Picture this hypothetical situation.

You are watching an episode of Futurama, it is an episode with Zapp Brannigan.
Brannigan is telling a story of how with only a hammer he saved entire kingdom and won over all the women. None of it is believable. He portrays himself as the invincible hero.

Thats it. That is the story. The narrator even sounds like it is Brannigan talking, the way he speaks, his inflections...I had to double check who the voice actor for Zapp was.

So. The main character has zero weakness. There is no real challenge for him ever. He can't be defeated. I think he had blood drawn on him like, twice in the book? Maybe a broken rib or two.

The Novel contains a harem, but that aspect of it is dry and lacking.

To be honest. I had a hard time finishing this story, The whole time picturing Zapp trying to seduce a random woman by telling of his exploits.

After a certain point I could no longer take it seriously. I wont be reading any of the others in the series.

I really wanted to like this one

I really really wanted to like this one. I did. Especially after Cipriano had been kicked off of Amazon for some reason or another, to see one of his book on Audible made me grab it right away. He's one of my favorite popcorn lit authors after all.

Sadly this is easily his worst book, at least of the ones he's published on Amazon/Audible. I don't think I'll even be able to finish it. It's a far step down from his usual work, which is a shame since this book could have been used as leverage to get Amazon to let him back in.

Sadly though the book is overly contrived, mean 3 sex scenes or lead ins in the first hour is a bit much, especially given how shallow each was. I wish he had kept the prologue to a flash back rather than the first 30-40 minutes of the books given that two of said sex lead ins, shallow and pointless as they were, happened then. Is the character over powered, yes, but that usually isn't a problem for Cipriano but it is this time as it just lends even more to a sense of shallowness which his books typically avoid.

In all this is not a bad book, especially for the genre of harem fantasy, but it's not particularly good either. If you are a fan of the author or want a simple shallow book go ahead and pick it up. Other wise if you are new to Cipriano, or the genre you should probably pass on this one.