Demon's Reign

The Bloodwood Saga, Book 1

By: David Estes, Ben Galley

Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds

Length: 22 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Tarkosi Terelta is a nobody. A nobody who will save his world from demons and the hellfire they bring.

The third-born of a shamed family, Tarkosi's lot in life is to spend his days as a worker, feeding temperamental lancewings under a harsh master. His days in the bloodwood city of Shal Gara are full of drudgery, tedium, and pain, his own ambitions cast aside in the name of order.

That is until demons from a broken world invade the forest realm of The Swathe, and an accident born of violence and dark magic intertwines Tarkosi’s fate with the greatest among them.

Forced onto the front lines of a war forgotten by history, Tarkosi must balance battling the royal demon bound to him with the rapid progression of the magical abilities its presence has bestowed. Risking everything, he will need to tread a thin line between hero and heretic to keep Shal Gara from falling into ruin and chaos.

Avatar: The Last Airbender meets Venom in this epic progression fantasy perfect for fans of Iron Prince, Cradle, and Kingfall.

©2022 David Estes and Ben Galley (P)2022 Podium Audio

Amazing world with Amazing story!

Despite being advertised by the Authors as a progression fantasy novel, this most definitely is not that. Demon's Reign is a slow burn, story driven narrative that hinges heavily on worldbuilding and character. And does it succeed? Most definitely!

I will start this off by saying that if you come to this book expecting a progression fantasy then you have been mislead, while the mc does get progressively stronger and a lot of the events occur because of that. The book does not make a big show of progressing or gaining new abilities. So as a progression fantasy advertised book, this is extremely weak.

HOWEVER! As a fantasy book, Demon's reign presents you with extremely well fleshed out worldbuilding and characters. There is a humorous undertone to most things that makes it enjoyable to listen to the first person perspectice. Not to mention that character relationships are extremely strong, and you really feel it. No character was ever irritating to listen to talking, you never wished that they would move on to the next one, and you never outright thought that this is a badly written character, moreso its the opposite! As it did catch me offguard more than twice with its subtle twists. Overall the characters in this book are extremely enjoyable and funny to follow. ESPECIALLY the relationship between the main character and his intertwined demon.

Now onto story. The story is good aswell, while it is definitely very slow at the start, the book takes that time to build up character and world. While I personally enjoy these moments, they can be frustrating for others, so if you go in expecting fast pace actions, you might be a bit miffed. There is however one less solid thing about the story, and that is the thing that sets it into motion. I do have to say a few things don't make sense and come way too abruptly, and while it is easy disgard it due to how good the book is overall, I do feel it necessary to address. The rest of the story however is great! It is straight forward and simple, but fun and tension filled!

The worldbuilding. Oh the worldbuilding. It is perfect, in every regard. The Authors decided to input small bits of lore inbetween each chapter and I love it.

My final personal score of the book is 4.8/5. Demon's Reign is a world filled with wonders and terrors alike, building on relationships and tensions extremely well. I highly recommend it to anyone who is into slow paced, character and story driven narratives with heeps of amazing worldbuilding.

don't waste your credit

im 3/4 way through this book and don't even want to finish. its slow , but I can deal with that ,there is no likeable characters in this book other than the beast master. I hate reading/ listening to books that just makes me angry cause the main just gets shit on the entire time.

Uh... Finished it only to finish

Terrible characters, terrible story, and yeah terrible plot.

1. Everyone is a buffoon. The men are incompetent or evil, nothing new there with recent fantasy political trash. The women are all in leader roles and yes also incompetent. No one ever seemed to think of sending scouts to check anything out.

2. The main character is unlikable and has no redeemable qualities.

3. Some side characters were likable but the incompetence really turned me off. A lot of them were just so stupid, and it just seemed to be a plot device to push things in a certain direction.

Pretty good

The character building wasn’t as good as normal Estes writing but the story line is decent. My one issue was I didn’t feel a lot of growth from Tarko. But in all I’m glad I read it. Not chomping at the bit for the second one though

Another excellent story from David Estes

Though Ben Galley probably had significant input. Estes has a history of teaming up with great authors. Like James Patterson. This series is quite different from Estes' Fatemarked and Kingfall. This one has a single plotline and is told in the first person. Same great prose but without so many plots and characters to remember. And the characters are lovable in their own way. Fabulous ending to this book with intriguing lead into the next book. I hope Estes wraps up Kingfall and puts his effort into this series. The audio performance is one of TJR's best. He has the material to demonstrate just how good he really is.

Really Enjoyed

I found this because of Estes, bought because Reynolds. He's narrated many of my favorites well. I enjoyed the premise, the characters, the world, and the story. I can't wait to read the sequel!

Awesome

Loved while book and it original work of fiction and quite enjoyable I love it

poorly writen

full of plot hols, and gaps in the logic. I got this book because of the good reviews. It's not terrible,but there not good at all. would recommend it.

Enjoyable

I really enjoyed this story. The relationship between the MC and his demon was very well written and fun. It had all the classic tropes of a fantasy novel but the world building was excellent and unique. I enjoyed that not every question was answered and leaves the story wide open for the next installment!

The Mc is young and needs approval KNOW THIS

The mc just forgets who his enemies are every time a new one shows up he cry’s about things that are shitty (I’d do the same except I wouldn’t forget my foes).
THE WORLD BUILDING is quite good and deep.
The side character are mostly jerks and two faced but very real.
I personally like the story

Not what I expected from the author

First of all Demon's Reign is great and I can't wait for sequel.

Secondly to explain the title: This author is known for writing very grimdark stories where everyone is miserable so I kinda expected demons to just destroy everything and enslave and use everyone however they see fit basically right after the intro was over.

Yeah that's not what this book is about, not at all.

Instead what we've got here is a really weird case of David Estes writing an actually hopeful story where the main characters family isn't even tortured and murdered right in front of his eyes.

We've also got my favourite trope going on here: forbidden power. As you can read from the book description the main character ends with a demon lurking in his soul and as a result his magical abilities grow at an extremely rapid pace and it's executed very well.

Also this connection doesn't give him a telepathic link to the demon, he still needs to talk to it out loud, which makes him appear a bit crazy at times. It's not all bonuses either, like it's still a DEMON inside his head and it's whispering does seem like it will affect him on the long run.

He doesn't just automatically become the best wizard ever, even if he does sort of pull magic out of his ass at first. He actually struggles with spell weaving even during the big battle and at no point in this book does it feel like he's super overpowered chosen one.

So yeah, pretty great book.

Slow burner, flashy finish

As other reviewers have said, it takes times to gain momentum, but when it does it hits you in the face like a steam train. Book 2 has a lot of routes to go down so will be really interesting to see which direction they go. Looking forward to it!

Terrible MC with no redeeming qualities.

I may have liked this story if not for the Terrible MC with no redeeming qualities or likeability.
Always deflecting, rude, hypocritical, dishonourable & childish. I lost count of my instinctual eye rolls.

Amazing!

You wouldn’t think a book of this length would feel like it took hardly any time to read, but the creative world building captured my attention from the start, and the combination of interesting characters and a perfectly paced plot held it throughout, so that the hours of reading melted away unnoticed; something the amazing narration helped with, I'm sure. I love how the characters and plot developed throughout the book, and can’t wait to read more from this world. If you’re a fan of fantasy stories, and looking for something unique and exciting to read next, you definitely need to read this!

Good story

the story seems great. I hate the narrator. I've had to stop with 8 hours left, keep trying but I just can't stand his voice. I was genuinely surprised that he has won audio awards before. its a personal preference but if you like his voice you will love the story. I'm a big Ben Galley fan so I'll just have to pick up the kindle book at some stage instead.

Super fun fantasy

Saw the authors promoting this in reddit, so decided to take a chance on this new series. Utterly fantastic story with some great world building and charactors. Be warned its really long but its time really well spent.

Special thanks to the narrator, he knocked this out of the park, i really hope there will be another in the series it really deserves to shine in a sea of books now days.

Good story

Waiting for the next instalment in the series.

At times the pace was a little slower than I would have preferred David did a great job building out this new world, or the tiny piece of the world that this story was anchored around. A couple of teasers for future betrayal and, I suspect, heart breaks. I do hope both magic systems are more thoroughly explored in the next book, as well as more of the wider world.

amazing

A little slow at the beginning, but quickly picks up to a great story with amazing characters and plot twists.

another fantastic book by Ben

I love this book
totally different to other books by Ben maybe it's because he is a Co author but yet again it's stunning.
wonderfully characters you fall in love with and want to know more about.
brilliant descriptions of scenery and settings makes you want to go for a visit.
A story like no other on the market that grips you throughout .
highly recommended want more.

Awesome New Series.

A fantastically new world created by two excellent authors, David Estes and Ben Galley have come together to bring us a new world of chaos for us fantasy lovers to get lost in. I absolutely love a good collaboration, the story flows so amazingly you can't tell who wrote what. Demon's Reign is the first book in new and exciting series The Bloodwood Saga. The worldbuilding, plot and characters are brilliant, it's so fast paced, action packed with battles and the magic elements is excellent. In this first book our main protagonist Tarkosi Terelta is a lowly third-born of a shamed family, Tarkosi's lot in life is to spend his days as a worker, tending to temperamental giant birds called lancewings under a harsh master. Clumsy and and always shuned by the highborns for his father's past, Tarkosi life is about to change and I mean possessively. Fire demons from a broken world invade the forest realm of The Swathe, an accident born of violence and dark magic intertwines Tarkosi’s fate with the greatest among them. Can Tarkosi finally become who he was always meant to be in the society of the bloodwood city of Shal Gara and help those he loves dearly to stop Shal Gara from falling into ruin and chaos from demons set on there total annihilation. Can't wait for the second book, if your looking for something new, I very highly recommend....🔥😁