Empire of Dirt

By: Philip C. Quaintrell

Narrated by: Steven Brand

Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

300,000 Copies Sold Worldwide

The Echoes of Fate Will Not Be Forgotten. The Words Uttered a Thousand Years Ago Will Come to Pass, and a New Age Will Dawn....

War is set to ravage Illian. The elves sail from the east. The savage Darkakin rise from the south. Valanis, the dark elf, is finally free of his prison and eager to see his work finished. Only then will he be free of the gods who still haunt him.

A new hope rises in The Red Mountains. There, the last remaining dragons have been discovered. Gideon and Galanör, human and elf, will have to work together if they are to convince Adriel, the last of the Dragorn order, to intervene in the coming war.

Devoid of hope and unsure what road to take, Asher and his companions must decide what role they will play as the realm unravels into bloodshed. The only weapon known to rival Valanis' power is in a place the ranger has avoided for a long time, a place where, until now, neither man nor elf would dare to tread.

Civil war has shattered the empire in The Arid Lands as the slaves make their stand against the highborns. But, while revolution brews, a greater threat looms. As a thunderous cacophony of steel and savagery marches through The Undying Mountains, who will stand before this army of death....

Empire of Dirt Continues This Unmissable Epic Fantasy Series.

©2017 Philip C. Quaintrell (P)2018 Podium Publishing

One of my new favorite books (not for teens)

Echoes of Fate, a book series by Philip C. Quaintrell, is a very engrossing story. At first I wasn’t sure I would like it because the story follows many different lead characters, all with weird sounding names. I didn’t think I would be able to follow the many different story lines. However, it was not long before the stories intertwined, making it easier and much more enjoyable to follow.

My favorite aspect about this story is the path for redemption that two of the characters – Asher, the main character, and Galanor – are on. Each of these characters has had a tumultuous past. Whereas Asher has already turned from his old life as an assassin when you first meet him, Galanor is conflicted between duty, which calls him to perform unsavory actions, and his desire to be a good person. While you get to see Galanor in the before-and-after stages of his path to redemption, you meet Asher after he has turned away from the life of an assassin. However, trusting and friendship are two things foreign to Asher, and it is fun to watch his relationship with the characters develop as he struggles to live life as a better person while carrying the guilt of his past life.

Due to the content of this series, I would say it is rated R. There is intermittent use of the F-word and some fairly graphic violence (at least by my standards). However, it is the scenes in which the Darkakin torture/rape the queen of the elves that is primarily responsible for my rating the book as R. It is hard to describe these scenes; they are not graphic but there is enough description and allusions to what is going on that it is bothersome. While this did not stop me from reading the book (as you can easily skip those scenes), it does make me hesitant to recommend it to anyone but a mature audience.

Note: I continued reading the book despite the scenes with the Darkakin because I am enjoying (I’m on the last book) the path to redemption of Asher and Galanor. I also enjoy the internal struggle of the other characters who, after experiencing horrendous torture or loss, fight to retain their virtues and moral beliefs. The characters in this book experience very real, human emotions. You see them struggle to be the people they want to be despite the torture they’ve experienced or the losses they have endured. For that reason alone, the book is worth reading as you see that no matter how horrible life can get, you should always strive to be the better person, even if you don’t always succeed.

P.S. I will be adding this to my favorite books for adults.

awesome

Can't wait for the next book. The story characters and pace of action is enthralling. The narration was excelllent

Torture!

Wow! How disappointing. The first book was awesome. This was literally torture...torment. I couldn’t even listen to it.

Where do I begin? The rape, the beatings, regular guy loser hero, the irritating changes to the characters, I cannot even list all the stupid irritating stuff in this book. It literally felt like torture to my ears!

What was the point? You messed up the entire series.

I really think this is it for me.

Again, very disappointing.

Great Story

Well developed characters. Narrator brought the story to life. Loved it. Hate for it to end.

What a story, what a ride

Very engrossing second volume in the “Echoes of Fate” series well performed by Steven Brand. Great characters, unpredictable tale, fast paced.
One of the better series of the last few years.

Eragon plus Avengers plus D&D plus LotR!! How?!?!

Going into this series, I was kinda skeptical. I been spoiled by other series such as The Land and other epic fantasies with major voice actors that put so much empathy into major characters with production teams that add little bits and sounds into their work. This book didn't have as much as I've been spoiled with.

However! What the production and editing lack is made up for in a truly fantastic story! The characters are great! I genuinely love them and can almost relate to some! The kicker is all these various characters making these decision and dealing with real consequences. Ive described this book as Avengers meets Eragon, meets D&D, meets Lord of the Rings (cliche to include LotR I know). The history of the world is amazing as well. This book fleshes out more characters than the first and makes you feel like you're watching a movie! Thats what good stories do, they dive into our psych and turn us into these magical and mysterious worlds.

I've read some reviews that said this sequel ruined some characters? Nah no way these characters are the exact same and the story follows the same formula that the first one showed. Magic? Who cares? Spells make you tired and elves are stronger and can handle more than men! Kinda like D&D ! (Also a comparison in terms of magic and spell usage in 5th edition). The story just got bigger in the one sequel too! Im so excited to see where this series goes!

Sadly the audio production does lack. BUT, that's not a bad thing, I understand there are many many factors that go into audiobook production and its understandable that not everything can be perfect. But trust me that it does not take away from the story. You gotta be listening/reading every line written. For everything can change in just one or two sentences and it just mind blown after mind blown. Love this series. It's a new favorite for sure!

Wow!!!

It’s getting harder for me to find good series that I can’t put down. This is a gem that I wish I had found years ago.
If you’re looking for Action, this series is a must.

Great series

The echoes is quickly becoming one of the best fantasy series. Excellent continuation and build-up to an epic storyline.

Wonderful World

I really loved the story, wish the narrator had more variety to his voice though.

Continuous action and suspense

Another great storyline that kept me not wanting to turn the book off. I am looking forward to the follow up book.

Can’t wait for Book 3 - Brilliant

Love the characters and pace of the book - please list the book three asap - Great books will try his other books nest

Brilliant Fantasy Series

Love these books, can't wait for the 3rd one to come on Audible. So exciting and all the characters so interesting. Journeying with them is awesome, wish I was there, although I would probably get killed but to see the dragons!!

Good listen

thoroughly enjoyed the book, felt a wee bit short compared to the last book but very enjoyable.

Fantastic second book in the Echoes of fate series

I was so sad when the audio book finished as I was so involved with the various characters the plots and the continual action, hardly ever a dull moment as with some long winded authors, from beggining to end its full of things to make you absorbed,as I said I did not want this one to end and cannot wait now for the third book that I pre ordered on Kindle but hope that they do an audio book version, listion to the first book before this as its a continuing story where the endings leave you hanging, one of my favourite audio books so far

A Great Series

So far I have listened to the first two books 'Raise of the Ranger' and this one 'Empire of Dirt'. The story plot by Philip C Quaintrell is really masterful and Steven Brands performance is good as well. looking forward to starting the 3rd book 'Relic of the God'.

The Saga goes from strength to strength.

With more twists and turns than a fairground waltzer. The story keeps you gripped with excitement. I have already purchased volume three.

Epic!

Really loving this series. Great characters, engaging story, funny at times, sad at times. It’s good.

Looking forward to the 3rd installment

Enjoying the story and looking forward to the 3rd book. Great characters and plot line

brutal and fantastic.

I absolutely love this series and can't wait for book 3. believable, endearing, hateful characters. fantastic settings, amazing fights, great magic. high fantasy but with a grittier finish.

Loved it!

A fantasy tale in the lord of rings genre but very different. Likeable and believable characters. I can't wait to start the next book. Great narrator.