The Infernal Age: Flameborn

By: Anson Joaquin

Narrated by: John Pirhalla

The world is in ruins. But when one age ends, another begins—and this one is born in fire.

The Earth is broken. Cities lie in ash. Strange storms swirl over forsaken deserts. And from the breach known as the Demon Gate, mankind’s end pours forth.

Gabriel was changed by the Gate—touched by its flame. Haunted by a link with the demons that he cannot deny, he clings to his humanity and his mission with all the strength he can muster while the laws of nature unravel and magic—raw, unstable, and deadly—awakens.

Traveling toward Los Angeles on a mission to try to stave off the end of humanity, Gabriel and his growing team pass through a land where demons walk the earth—and fly the skies. But the farther they go, the clearer one thing becomes: this was never about saving the world. This is about surviving what comes after it ends.

Blending post-apocalyptic horror with the birth of a new magical epoch, The Infernal Age: Flameborn is the explosive second entry in a series for fans of The Stand, The Broken Earth, and Shadow of the Gods.

A dying Earth. A rising magic. And the last survivors standing at the edge of a new age.

©2025 Anson Joaquin (P)2026 Anson Joaquin

Probably won’t finish

Idk if I’m impressed or disgusted by the fact that you can’t get even 3 chapters in without one of the characters going in on how white men are bad, especially White American men, how they’re responsible for global warming, insert bad thing etc. Again, like my review of book 1, if these viewpoints were offset by characters with competing views it would feel like depth rather than the author stuffing his political views into his book (which sure, it’s his book, so go off I guess), but at this point I’m not even sure if the author would be capable of creating a character with an opposing view that isn’t made into a caricature or an obvious villain. If you’re dead set on incorporating political views into the story, at least run the spectrum and create some nuance within a character’s perspective of the world they’re living in.
I want to like this series, it has so much potential, but good lord it’s hard to do when you’re ripped from the story over some activist talking point.

Its the people you met along the way

Nothing is as we knew it, the world has irrevocably changed, almost everyone is dead, but we don't have to be alone as we face our demons. The ones inside and the ones who want to eat our souls.

Joaquin's second installment delivers on the adventure. Pirhalla's narrative style brings the listener along as the characters try to make sense of who they now are. While many of us never figure it out, (we are all still cookie dough baking in the oven,) it's impressive the strength of self the characters possess as they navigate the horrors that are now life.

Is this book for everyone? No. take the description and warnings seriously. but if you like post apocalyptic insidious horror with some sexy times and lots of bike riding, this is the book for you!

Hell on Earth

Somehow, at the end of the world, at a time when people are willing to kill for half a bottle of water, when there are man-eating demons lurking behind every corner and death is a constant, imminent danger, we can still accommodate a sexually ambiguous "They/Them" who brings nothing to the table except whining. 80% of the population has been decimated, but she still cares about illegal aliens being deported. The author respects his fictional character's pronouns in his writing, which confuses the text. "They" is annoying, and I found myself hoping that the demons would get them next. No, not all of them, just them. They are a good cast of characters, not including them. This is stupid.

Please just write a good story, and leave the political activism to the news anchors.

Better than the first

I think this one was even better than the first! The characters and the story continues to develop and really leaves the reader curious. I really hope it becomes a movie

woke nonsense

the first book was pretty good, but with a few chapters that were basically erotica, then a character lecturing everybody about their gender assigned at birth this woke garbage became a DNF at chapter 26.