Death's Mantle

By: Harmon Cooper

Narrated by: Andrea Parsneau

Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's Summary

Lucian North is supposed to be dead.

Suffering from a rare heart condition that doctors say should have killed him over a year ago, Lucian is playing a video game when Death finally comes.

Rather than give in, Lucian pulls a gun on the Grim Reaper.

As the two stare each other down, terrible demons known as injuresouls swarm into the room in pursuit of Death.

Summoning courage he never knew he had, Lucian comes to Death's aid. And for his troubles, he is awarded Death's Mantle.

Transported to a spiritual world he could have never fathomed, Lucian finds that he is instantly powerful, able to conjure weapons from scratch and perform incredible feats. He introduces game mechanics to his new role, develops a carefully curated inventory list, and modifies a HUD system that allows him to better track his targets.

It isn’t easy being Death, and Lucian will need just about everything he can get as he faces off against fallen angels, appalling parasites, demon-born injuresouls, and savage Death Hunters.

Regardless of his sudden strength, his newfound enemies, and his gamer ingenuity, Lucian can't communicate with the living, which wouldn't be a problem if he hadn’t discovered something terrible about his family....

Lucian’s brother is scheduled to die, and only Lucian has the power to do anything about it.

Death’s Mantle is a dark fantasy GameLit novel that LitRPG, metaphysical fantasy, occult sci-fi, and thriller listeners will love. Death’s Mantle is written by Harmon Cooper, best-selling GameLit author of Way of the Immortals, House of Dolls, Cherry Blossom Girls, The Feedback Loop, and Monster Hunt NYC. It was inspired by the anime Parasyte, the comic book series Sandman and Spawn, the books On a Pale Horse and the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

©2019 Boycott Books (P)2019 Podium Publishing

Loving Death more than ever

Welp, Carmon Hooper has really upped his game. When I first saw that this book had elements from thigs like Sandman, Spawn, the books On a Pale Horse and the Tibetan Book of the Dead I knew I was going to be a fan. The only thing I really am unfamiliar with was Parasyte, and that is only because I rarely watch television any more. In fact, the book does an incredible homage to the first Incarnations of Immortality novel by Piers Anthony, On a Pale horse with Lucien pulling a gun on death. Granted the two tales are incredibly different, but that one scene told me that Cooper valued that series as much as I did, and if you think I don’t respect Gaiman’s Sandman, lemme show you my tattoo. I’ve been reading Spawn since McFarlane left Spidey, and so I can see here Harmon was getting his influences from. Point is, they are only influences and this story stands all on its own. Sorry, that is to say that it stands out all on its own.

I have been a Cooper fan since I first heard Quantum Hughes fast talk his way out of a time loop, and I have enjoyed every book he’s put out since but I have to say that this is by far his best book ever. I loved the concept, the mechanics, the characters, and the Mcguffin that actually drives the story. I can see where someone might think that Lucien is overpowered, but in the overall scheme of things he is fairly powerless and it bites him in the ass constantly as to how weak he is.
I sat and listened to this book in a single run through. It was a perfect length and in the end it only left me wanting more. My only complaint about the book is that Cooper didn’t talk to his friendly neighborhood funeral director, ME, for the scene where Lucien went to his own funeral. Just as an example, we don’t really use coffins any more, we use caskets. There is a major difference between the two. Also, there were some minor things about the family arrival that only someone who has attended a lot of funerals or is in the bizniz like me would realize were off, but that is a point of professional pride. The story left me absolutely speechless and wanting more. All I can say is bring it on Mr. Cooper we are ready for your best.

I’m not even going to talk about Andrea Parsenau and her narration. It’s getting to a point where I am sick of having to tell you how utterly brilliant she is. Really, her talent, vocal skill, emotional infusion, and acting are just off the charts. Blah, Blah, Blah, you’ve heard it everytime. Don’t you just hate it when someone is so good at their job entertaining you that you literally burn out talking about them over and over again? How many times can I say that I felt Lucien’s pain when he was yelling at Denara about his brother’s plight, or that she added so much power and speed to the fight scenes that I actually had a tentacle whip passed my ear? Too many times. Geez, Andrea, can you let up so you don’t make most narrators look bad by comparison? It’s like comparing a gold bar to a mud pie. Not fair. Seriously, Andrea, you are just amazing. Loved your work here.

Final score 8.5 stars. Cool book + intense narration = mind blowing storytelling. Get this book.

Couldn't finish it.

Lets write a story about Death, but instead of him guiding the souls of the departed to the afterlife, or taking peoples lives when their time is up, instead lets have him try to kill random parasites that prolong the humans lives. Also, you are not THE death, you are juts one of many, and lets not forget that you are sort of immortal, but not really and if you dont kill enough parasites, you will probably die. This book was all over the place, but somehow never in any of the good places. (some) CONS: -The only social interaction in the first 3 hours are between MC and a depressed sleepy old man. -MC not being able to interact with the "human world" gets old really fast. -MC went from being a man with such a weak heart, that the shock of seeing a man in his house literally killed him, to being a hunk of a man with all the skills of a trained fighter, and the reason we got for that was "probably magic". PROS: -Andrea Parsneau

This whole book just felt hollow

Ok, I have quite a few issues with this book.

One mc is a noob who is constantly competing against super powerful beings and I never really felt like he was ever in real danger.

I can't tell you how bored I was when the MC played video games.

I have no idea how the world works or when the MC is in danger, basically, he regularly loses limbs, but all the battles felt the same. He never had a strategy going in, he just survives by luck all the time.

How are new Deaths created? IF Deaths get hunted, then they need a way to reproduce.... how?

The dialog in the story mainly falls into two categories, people explaining things to the MC, or just random conversations between people that the MC can't interact with.

The abilities that the MC just feel stupid. He can basically create anything he wants, so he makes a bunch of guns he saw in video games which let him fight way above his weight class.

All in all, there weren't enough constraints on the MC. He never seems to be able to go out into the world without being harrassed even though others like him have been doing his job for centuries. If we put this book into another context, the MC would be like a level 1 character fighting level 100-500 characters with no plan, or real ace up his sleeve, other than the weapons from video games he has created. It is like his enemies have no creativity nor have they spent any time really working on leveling themselves up.

Top tier imagination!!!

This book is has such a different taste to it! Unlike anything I have listen to before! Highly recommend it! Can’t wait for the next one!

a great new take on the gamelit genre

they say it's all fun and games until somebody dies. but that's a lie. apparently that's when the real fun begins. there are some adult issues that are touched upon like someone struggling with addiction. The book has good action and a creative story. A really fun listen.

Another great Harmon Cooper novel!

I've always had a soft spot for Harmon Cooper gamelit novels. The quality of Andrea Parsneau's narration is really good so far as well.

great author

with an author like Harmon Cooper you cant go wrong. looking forward to digging into it!

Don’t miss this one

What a great story, a fresh new spin on the grim reapers role. Harmon really captures the essence of loss struggles with addiction and a new spin on the story of creation despite the dark undertones there’s lots of comedic action and bad ass crafting . This was such a fun book to listen to .Andrea Parsneau really brings the characters to life I would recommend this book to everyone.

epic just epic

loved it from start to finish as always another phenomenal series by Harmon cooper I cant wait for more to come

Very cool take on LitRPG.

Harmon did a great job bringing LitRpg elements into a story about reapers. Very unique and he uses issues that all of have experienced first hand or second without being preachy or judgemental.

Highly recommend this one. I'll be picking up the next 2 in the series shortly.

Absolutely brilliant

Harmon Cooper has done it again and written an excellent book and Andrea has narrated it brilliantly.

We follow Lucian who has a rare heart condition, and the grim reaper comes for him. He’s playing a video game at the time and discovers that he sees things that he shouldn’t. He can see Death & Injuresouls, and Lucian helps death escape these monstrosities and it’s found that Lucian is much stronger than the reaper gave him credit for, so Lucian becomes the new Death whether he wanted it or not.

He updates the old notebook that the old Death had, so that he has the information and stats just as he did in his video games, so he knows when he needs to walk away from a fight. Lucian creates ravens and a “Dr Strange” cloak to help him fight the parasites that are changing the balance.

The fight scenes are well-choreographed, and the characters are realistic with their beliefs, demons, angels (life), and family secrets, and some of these scenarios will tug at the heartstrings.

Harmon has a touch of Terry Pratchett in him for portraying Death in a way that makes him a likeable character.

A well-paced listen and I’m looking forward to more like this.

another epic

having previously read this book I was excited to see Andrea parsneau was the narrator.

she took the words and brought them to life

An Amazing Gamelit experience

Not since Terry Pratchett has Death been so well portrayed and so ingenious a character. In an increasingly mature and in depth writing style ,this audio covers real world problems in a new and novel way.
How we see Death and Life may be forever changed as an entire realm of possibilities of Angels, Deaths , Demons and Parasites are shown in an emotional rollarcoaster of fun, excitement and unrepentant reader participation. Add in the professional talents of Andrea and this can be nothing less than 5 stars all the way as she brings us ever closer to living this story.
This is Coopers finest work to date and i hope the beginning of my new listening obsession.

another great series

deaths mantle is another great series from Harmon Cooper.if your a fan of his other works you'll like this one too!

another great one by a great author

great book loved it .great story with great characters and the narration is awesome as always