Guardian

Hidden: Soulhunter Book 1

By: Colleen Vanderlinden

Narrated by: Julia Knippen

Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's Summary

Eunomia. Right hand of the Angel. Guardian.

The last of her kind, is now....

Death's hunter.

And the thing she most desperately needs to find is herself.

For thousands of years, the Guardians collected the souls of the dead, bringing them before the God of Death for their final judgment.

It all ended when Eunomia's sisters, the other 12 Guardians, betrayed the God of Death and his daughter. In the blink of an eye, Eunomia's reason for existing ceased to be.

Now, Eunomia is the last of her kind, and she has no idea what to do with the rest of eternity.

Everything changes the day her best friend, the new Goddess of Death, comes to her with a problem only Eunomia can solve: "We're having a problem with lost souls. Find them, and bring them back to me."

Of course, nothing is ever as straightforward as it seems, and what at first appears to be nothing more than a simple soul collecting job turns into an around-the-world journey that challenges Eunomia at every turn. All she has to do is find 27 lost souls, keep her friend sane, and solve a mystery...all while trying not to lose herself in the arms of a man thousands of years of experience tells her she should avoid.

©2015 Colleen Vanderlinden (P)2015 Colleen Vanderlinden

A fantastic story with a great read.

I was not familiar with the world of "Hidden", so I'll admit that I was a little lost at first. Vanderlinden's writing made it so that I didn't have to be familiar with that world to enjoy this story. The world building in the other books must be grand in scale, because there is a lot to this, but with just a few "flashback" descriptions or conversations, I easily figured out what was happening.

I liked the world that is built here. The characters are solid, the pacing is well done, and the scope of the story is awesome. The main character, Eunomia, is a strong female lead, and done in such a way that you believe she is a strong female lead, not just a female in a male role.

Knippen simply nails this read. The pronunciation is perfect, the inflection and emotion between character changes are so well done that you don't get stuck trying to figure out who is saying what, and the pace of her read was easy. I will be looking for other audiobooks she has read.

Though slightly outside my normal wheelhouse, I think I'll learn more of this "Hidden" world by going back a few books, then pick up with the "Soulhunter" again.

Guardian

Any additional comments?

Eunomia is an amazing, loyal, caring friend. Molly sends E on a mission and it sets the path for E to find her new life's purpose. With all that's happened to her, she needs it Very good story and was narrated well.

Was No One Else Bothered by the Gasping Narrator?

The narrator gives a decent performance apart from the fact that she audibly inhales for another breath after every damn sentence. It sounds like she's gasping for breath and is very distracting. I tried my best to ignore it, but ended up just reading the kindle version instead. Listen to the audio sample. It'll give you a good idea of what you're in for before buying.