Days Gone Bad

Vesik, Book 1

By: Eric Asher

Narrated by: William Dufris

Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's Summary

A crashed wedding. A scorned vampire. Here comes the blood…

Necromancer Damian Vesik is no hero. At least, not according to the magical community that turns a blind eye to his battles against evil. So he chalks it up as one more thankless mission when he’s forced to stop his vampire sister from murdering her ex’s entire bridal party....

Infiltrating the ceremony to protect the innocent, Damian uncovers something even more sinister than a massacre. With the help of his berserker fairy friend, he may need to prevent an unholy union between ancient demons and the walking dead. 

Damian has one chance to stop his sister and ruin the wedding before one hell of an afterparty dooms the world. 

Days Gone Bad is the first book in the savagely funny Vesik urban fantasy series. If you like gritty action, undead enemies, and plenty of snark, then you’ll love Eric R. Asher’s heart-stopping tale. 

Buy Days Gone Bad to dance with darkness today!                              

©2013 Eric R. Asher (P)2014 Eric R. Asher

Great Urban Fantasy

I received a free copy of this audio book from the author when I met him at Coastal Magic Con. My husband and I listened to it on the way home and were enthralled. This story grabbed us from the start. Mr. Asher has built a vivid picture of a world where vampires, fairies, witches, ghosts, Watchers, and others exist side by side with common folk. His is a world filled with magic and mayhem, humor and love. William Dufris did a fantastic job of bringing the story to life. This story is not for the weak of heart. It is often violent and is graphic in its depiction of the violence. But the story is well worth it and would be diminished without the horror of the violence. I will most certainly be checking out the further adventures of Damian Valdis Vesik.

Couldn't finish it

The author attempted to make the main character funny and witty but his continuous stream of sarcastic and snide comments quickly become annoying and we never get a clear explanation as to how magic works in his universe.
Another source of confusion stems from the fact that Vesik is supposed to be a necromancer and yet he comes off more as a mage and more akin to Harry Dresden's abilities than someone who deals with the dead.
Furthermore we never get a good sense of the large cast of characters that get introduced far too quickly to the point where it starts to become a little confusing. Indeed, the faeries and the various vampires that Vesik meets aren't given enough of a backstory to begin to care about them and lack any real substance to them.
I will say this though, the narrator's voicing of Vesik's century-old teacher is phenomenal as he gives her a rough southern drawl that is a surprising joy to listen to.

Phenomenal Start to an AMAZING series!

"Days Gone Bad," had me sucked in at chapter one. There is a wealth of characters with depth and mystery and wit that make you want to delve into each one of them to see how they tick! Mr. Eric Asher, took a genre that has been written and rewritten so many times and made it new and intriguing. For me the testament of an outstanding book is if when I put it down I'm ready to pick it back up again, well this audio version brought me to whole new level of fandom. The narrator has a way of bringing these outstanding characters to life and I certainly cannot wait for the second book in the series to be ready for consumption.

A promising start but not great

I wanted to like this book but somehow I did not feel interested in its characters. I think the book has a potential: a necromancer as the main character, vampires, faes, humour, etc. but then it gets a bit repetitive and boring. I think the main problem is that the writer tries too hard, and eventually fails. There are too many jokes and not enough dynamics. I will not continue the series but I hope that the writing gets better, keeping in mind this is the first book.
I liked the narrator and I think he is perfect for the story.

Don't be fooled by the title and artwork

Firstly, the author did not even remotely represent the consensus of what a necromancer is. Also, the main character was incredibly weak, with the supporting characters doing 90% of the work.

This book was very poorly structured. Repeatedly, information which seemed like it would be essential to the plot or character development was introduced and then promptly ignored e.g. the "vampire pit" doesn't like outsiders, but there are outsiders in and out of the house every other chapter. To that note, there was no character development except for that of the comic relief.

This book seems to be told from the viewpoint of a 13 year-old in an adult body with a sailor's mouth. For someone who, by definition, should have control of the dead and the "power of lay lines" Vesik seems incapable of doing any more than letting vampires punch his shield

So, if you have been into a series like the Dresden files where things fit together, make sense and a good plot develops, stay away from this book

Finally, the narration was mediocre. while DuFris has excellent diction, his expression of the characters' emotions seems wholly absent.

I would be willing to give this author another chance, but not if the word necromancer is anywhere in the book

not a great story

What would have made Days Gone Bad better?

Good potential story and character but the author wants to be funny and he is not

Narrator hurts the story

Is there anything you would change about this book?

There is a trend in this book with the author making a statement, followed in the same sentence with a "but" or"though" which leads to an attempt at humor. About one in every 5 sentences show this pattern. Only after listening for a while does it take on an aspect of being contrived as well as a habitual pattern of communicating. This process is emphasized by the vocal inflections of Mr. Dufris. Can't change the author. I would strongly encourage a different narrator. I am very close to losing all interest in this piece. I would NEVER consider another book in this series if the same narrator is used. Interestingly, he does a very good job with other character voices.

Would you be willing to try another book from Eric Asher? Why or why not?

Yes, with a different narrator.

Did William Dufris do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Good with all but the main character, Vesik (who, wouldn't you know it, has to talk throughout the book, or else there would be no story), comes across with a sarcastic or snide quality to his humor. This quickly becomes painful to listen to.

Do you think Days Gone Bad needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Why not? Very similar in subject material to the Dresden series.

Effusive reviews not deserved

Just don't get it. People VERY enthusiastic about this book (which is why I bought it). I found it uninteresting and banal. Not clever. Not funny. Not exciting. Not......

Better Days to Come

I listened to this and the narrator, William Dufris, did a phenomenal job with the sarcasm and giving each character their own personality with voice.

It was a rollicking tale taking the reader from one fight to another, with an ultimate showdown at the end. With this I wasn't sure in what direction the book was going. I knew who my hero was, but ultimately what he had to overcome wasn't clear at the beginning, in order for him to gain what he wanted. It seemed more like one incident lead to the next and we went from one conflict to another, with it building towards the end, but everything had to come before it in order for that to happen in the way it occurred.

Not A Bad Start 2 a Series

I wasn't exactly sure what to think, when I first started to listen to this book. The first few lines & a few beyond still had me unsure of how good or bad this might be. This isn't as good to me as say The Iron Druid Chronicles, but is will probably end up being a book series I work my way through irregardless.

Well developed characters good pacing interesting spin on contemporary fantasy

Loved it listened to it in 2 days downloading next book now couldn't wait for my audible credit