Vengeance of Hope: Can Freedom Ever Be for All?

Silrith, Book 1

By: P. J. Berman

Narrated by: Christopher Dukes

Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Vengeance of Hope, P.J.Berman’s explosive debut novel, marks the beginning of the Silrith series, a new power in the world of epic fantasy.

This opening book pitches you head first into the intense and unrelentingly dangerous Kingdom of Bennvika, a world of strong, powerful women and ambitious, ruthless men. As a bitter power struggle surges through the land, you are just as likely to die in a devious political plot as you are in the carnage of a great, bloody battle.

Your ears will ring with the clang of steel on steel. Your heart will tremble at the thundering of charging hooves. You will feel the cut and slash of blades as you follow three very different rebels in their desperate fight against a tyrannical King.

Silrith, the exiled Princess of Bennvika, stands shoulder to shoulder with her followers, sword in hand, ready to defend those in need of her protection. Yet, she knows that if she falls, thousands more will also perish.

Ezrina, of the Hentani tribe, burns with desire for revenge against those who oppress her people, but more than anything she must fight to protect the woman she could be executed for loving.

Zethun, an ambitious young politician, yearns for a fairer world with a greater voice for the poor. However, for him and his followers, to speak the word republic could be a fatally dangerous move in a land ruled by a despot.

Will the rebel factions succeed? Or in the indiscriminate butchery of war, will their disunity prove to be their downfall, bringing about the destruction of their world as they know it?

With vivid imagery, a punchy writing voice, detailed worldbuilding, and an unapologetically fast pace, Vengeance of Hope has everything an epic fantasy novel needs.

©2018 P.J.Berman (P)2019 P.J.Berman

Loved it

I was interested in this listen I loved the female character she was strong loved narration and am looking forward to the next book

Great read!

Narrator really reeled this book in for me. It took me a few days to finish this long read but it was worth it in the end! The strong female characters and
Awesome storyline was very nice to listen to. I highly recommend this book if you need something to sink into.

Interesting, well performed epic, but not clean

I really enjoyed the beginning of this book. The narration is excellent, the main characters all have distinct and believable voices. The plot is interesting - I want to find out what happens ultimately to the characters. The author did an excellent job of intertwining the separate storylines, so that you are following several separate people and seeing how their stories are interacting, although separately.
-BUT- I prefer clean reads, and this story had too much innuendo / sexual content for me to finish listening to after the first third of the book. I didn't see anything in the description or other reviews that mentioned this, and realize that many people don't mind the "adult" content, but it is more than I am willing to listen to. If it was a movie, I would expect it to be rated at least PG13 for the sexual content. If it weren't for the adult content, I would definitely look for other books by this author, as I really enjoyed the first portion of the story.

good start

The narrator for this story did a really good job. I had a hard time with the names at first remembering who was who but the story was read well.

This book is very heavy with the political storyline, and I think could have used more substance outside of the battle for the throne. There were some parts that seemed repetitive or didnt quite seem to mesh with the characters. But there are alot of characters involved so that usually makes for a more complex story line.

I am looking forward to seeing how the prophecy plays out and who its actually about!

A Great Read For Fantasy Fans

There were great characters in the book, strong characters, characters to look up to. And there was a great backbone to the story: the desire to right the wrongs done and do what is right for the people served. While there were many characters to keep up with and the story difficult to follow at times, I look forward to where the sequel will take us and the characters.

a good introduction to new author

First to get it out of the way, "I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."
That being said, this a satisfactory beginning to a new series and a new author. While maybe not the best fantasy book you will ever encounter, it is very far from the worst. P. J. Berman shows a lot of potential it in this story.
If you like Game of Thrones you will probably like this one. The character development is good, and the story flows fairly well.
There's really nothing excessive in the story, so there should be no problems with a younger teen listener.
The narrator Christopher Dukes is a good solid choice for this book.
While Vengeance of Hope didn't draw me in as well as I might have hoped, I in no way felt my time had been wasted. I look forward to more from P. J. Berman.

great adult fantasy book

Intense, fast paced, well written.
It is more of an Adult than YA book I think. Love how well written the characters were. The LGBTQ+ representation was lovely too.

the author was kind enough to send this to me and I am very glad he did so. I am a fast YA reader who likes easy going books with a splash of romance if possible. I'd probably wouldn't have picked this up myself. But now, I've read it and I really want to read more of the author. Definately worth the read!

3 strong female characters

i really enjoyed this novel, definitely straight to the point and the plot was well written

Great start to a series

This story had so many plots being woven in some meeting up and others not meeting yet. The politics were very important to this story and the three women at the core of most of it are so strong and have such different desires and view points. It was also fascinating to find how each person twisted a prophecy to fit their goals and desires. These people were so complicated and how they fought for what they wanted. Each has their people they want to do right by but who’s desire is the most pure or the one who should have their people thrive. The author did a good job keeping track of each of the different plots and keeping them interesting. This story ended on a cliffhanger that I want to know what will happen next.

Can’t wait for the next book!

Fantastic new world to explore with plenty of conflict and intrigue. I definitely recommend it.