Cloaked in Shadow

Dragori Series, Book 1

By: Ben Alderson

Narrated by: Shaun Grindell

Zacriah Trovirn is concerned with two things in life: hunting and dodging Petrer, the boy who broke his heart.

Heartbreak becomes a distant concern when Zacriah is taken to the Elven capital of Thessolina, where he is forced into King Dalior's new legion of shapeshifters. But Zacriah isn't a shapeshifter. In truth, he doesn't know what he is.

Zacriah joins forces with new friends and they soon find themselves embroiled in a clash between the three Elven continents. With war on the horizon, Zacriah must learn to use his latent power to fight and protect those he loves before they are destroyed.

©2017 Ben Alderson (P)2018 Tantor

Cloaked in Shadow

Cloaked in Shadow opens the Dragori series with Zacriah, a hunter with latent power, pulled into Elven legions where hidden magic and shifting loyalties set the stage for a larger war. The growing bond between Zacriah and Hadrian adds a steady emotional pull, even if their connection takes its time to deepen. Alderson’s worldbuilding is vivid and full of tension, lush exposition, and steady momentum. It’s a compelling start that promises higher stakes, sharper magic, and real evolution for its conflicted heroic couple!

very good read

loved the characters, especially main. Petrer confused me a bit. He seemed very protective and kind, though we knew he did something to hurt Zachriah from the start. but he became quite horrid. guess it does happen though.

Interesting story, awful narration.

The story is interesting and pulls you in. Not everything is explained, but it's good like that, making you wonder and guess and draw your own conclusions. I'm assuming they'll explain more about the Druids in book 2. Also, is the King controlling everyone, or are some characters just dicks? Really makes you wonder. The romance aspect of the story is tangental and well done in my opinion; not the focus, but still relevant to the overall story. The MC isn't annoying or awful, but he isn't amazing or anything. The star of the show is Prince Hadrian. All in all, I really liked this book. My only complaint is the narrator. He has a really annoying way of speaking that keeps breaking the immersion. Imagine someone doing a really bad impression of Captain Kirk from Star Trek - that's what he sounds like. It's grating. I have to keep forcing myself to ignore how he talks and to pay attention to the story, but then I'm back to only hearing how he talks and not to what he's saying. Oof. It gets really rough at times. I kept hoping I'd get used to it and zone out, but no, never happened. Stayed just as bad throughout the whole book. And it's weird because whenever he's voicing dialogue his voice goes normal and he sounds fine, so all the characters sounds perfectly great. Then the narration starts again and you're like, "Damnit Captain!" Either way, if you can handle the narrator, it's an interesting book.

So fun!

Very fun and easy to fall into. I read another review that said the narrator sounded like William Shatner and wow I cannot unhear it. It wasn’t as noticeable in the second half and didn’t hinder my enjoyment that much.

druids are the bad guys?

it's a good book. some things I'd do differently but that's normal. it was a good listen. narrator is great