Dead Rising

The Templar, Volume 1

By: Debra Dunbar

Narrated by: Elizabeth Phillips

Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Solaria Ainsworth was born a Templar, destined to take up the mantle of responsibility and duty as her family's Order had done for hundreds of years. Except she refuses to take her Oath of Knighthood.

Barely making ends meet in Baltimore, Aria finds it difficult to obtain gainful employment with no work experience and skills in jousting and swordsmanship. Just before she's served an eviction notice, the Mistress of the local vampire family offers her a job - to research a magical symbol. It's an easy task for a woman who has spent every moment of her life either in armor, or with her nose in ancient manuscripts. The money's good, and the seven day deadlines should be no problem. But when her research reveals a sordid connection between the vampires and a mass murder, Aria needs to decide who is in the right and worthy of her protection. Modern Templars believe only God should judge, but Aria must do exactly that, or watch the Baltimore streets run red with blood.

©2016 Debra Dunbar (P)2016 Debra Dunbar

Not bad, but not great either

Any additional comments?

The narration is pretty good, Phillips does a great job. The story line is fair, but the vampire love interest is very annoying throughout. Dario, Mario, or Cheerio......whatever, the same boring Edward character. Less longing romance and more character development would've made this a better listen.

Could not finish...

Actually I made it through chapter 6 and couldn't stand to listen to another minute. From the description and reviews I was expecting an intelligent, strong, competent female main character. What I got was yet another needy, kind of stupid woman who attaches herself to an a-hole because he's so hot and she just can't help it. Really? She's drooling all over this guy that doesn't give her any reason to think he even likes her as a person let alone anything else and somehow in her head this turns into him being her friend. Why is it so hard to find an author who writes about women who have a modicum of intelligence and self respect and men who treat women well and as equals? I honestly don't know if the narrator was good because I was so annoyed by the main characters asinine behavior.

Fun new series!!

I’m so excited about this series and book one has started off with a bang! I like Aria as a main character. The rest of the characters are coming together nicely and I can’t wait to see how they grow.
I liked the narration for the most part except for weird pronunciation on some words (corporal and corporeal are two different words!!).
I’m excited for the rest of the series.

A Templar girl helps a Vampire save his Vampire family

Interesting characters and world building. So many disparate rules almost destroy a Vampire family and a rouge Mage

Good Book

What made the experience of listening to Dead Rising the most enjoyable?

Loved how Elizabeth Phillips passion and the way she made the book come to life. Can't wait to listen to the 2nd book!

What does Elizabeth Phillips bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Just made the book come to life!

A bit disappointing

A new series from Debra Dunbar is a wonderful thing. This is a great story.

Quick synopsis: our heroine is an almost Knight Templar, trained but not sworn. She's broken away from them and her family to make it on her own, She ends up getting tangled in a vampire feud, faces a necromancer with a grudge and gets the hots for a hot, dangerous vampire.

The story doesn't seem as well put together as the Imp series. Parts seemed disjointed, but that could just be because of frustrating interruptions to my listening! The character also isn't as fun as Sam, but that's' also not fair to a new character.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. The narrator was so-so. I'll probably get the next one, too.

Intriguing Premise, let down by narration

I like the set up, there's some humour and intrigue, but the narration just makes everything feel a bit flat. It's also a pretty slow start so the flat narration, plus lack of pace means I gave up only a couple of chapters in. It could get better, but I don't have the patience for it.

Fun, fresh and entertaining

I loved the originality of the story, and the completely different slant on vampires. The narration was good, the different temperaments and personalities clearly expressed. I’d have loved an epilogue. But I’m excited about diving into the next book instead.

what a great story

loved this book. well read and presented. the story was original and kept me listening not wanting to put it down

poor ending

story lacked deth thou easy listening .
story builds up to what I thought was a spectacular ending. but the story limps to a dribble. very poor ending,