Bastion

Immortal Great Souls, Book 1

By: Phil Tucker

Narrated by: Nick Podehl

Scorio will rise from the ashes to conquer the 10 layers of hell.

Reborn without memories, Scorio learns that he is a Great Soul, a legendary defender of the ancient city of Bastion. That within the hallowed halls of the Academy and under the stern eyes of the underworld’s greatest instructors he will enjoy enormous privilege, rediscover unique and wondrous powers, and one day return to the millennium-old battle against their infernal foes.

Until he is betrayed. Singled out and sentenced to die for crimes he can't remember, Scorio is hurled to his doom - and forgotten.

But from even the dimmest spark an inferno may one day rage.

Clawing his way back from oblivion, Scorio vows to return to the Academy at any cost. To emerge from the ruins and within those golden walls defeat his elite classmates in a quest to ascend the ranks and change the course of history. For only then will he learn about his forgotten past and why his enemies have rightly feared him since the day he was reborn.

©2022 Phil Tucker (P)2022 Podium Audio

There is such a thing as too much adversity

So I'm rewriting this review after finishing the book. I want to stand by my initial assessment of this being a hard read to finish.
For the most part, the Scorio is whipped by the circumstances of his forgotten past. He spends the majority of this book facing adversities one after another. Absolutly nothing goings his way, despite all of his planning, efforts, or contingencies. Every step he took forward towards his goals resulted in 3 steps backwards and 1 step to the left. While revenge was his initial goal, it changed as the story progressed and became nebulous until the final couple chapters.
Scorio is also prone to making terrible decisions, fueled by his emotions, mostly to his own detriment, often putting his friends at risk as well. It was frustrating. It was incredibly frustrating.
In the end, I liked this. I'll probably pick up the sequel, but after the huge personal growth shown in the end of this book, I pray I dont see him repeating the mistakes I've heard here. If he ultimately reverts to the imbecile he started this book as, I'll probably just drop the series.
For now, this has my recommendation. It starts strong, stalls heavily in the middle, but pulls off a suitably strong end.

The best value for a credit in a long time

Nick Podehl was outstanding as usual. He has always been one of my top 3 favorite audiobook voice-actors. While the story has some weak areas it is still entertaining. Overall, 38 hours of audiobook combined with a great narrator and interesting plot make this a must-have in any Fantasy-lover's library.

Excellent new title in progression fantasy

While the book may be a bit slow at times, it's extremely well written. The performance was absolutely stellar.

I highly recommend giving it a try!

Great story overall. Only a few complaints.

I loved the story, and the performance was very well done. But there were some vocabulary choices that bugged me. But I'm picky. Overall it was just some fancy word choices used incorrectly or excessively, like "cyclopean," or "dark arterial blood" (that is supposed to be bright red).

Great book but in need of an editor

Phil, I beg you, take the word 'immediately' and put it out to pasture. It has deserved the rest.