Havoc Rising

By: Brian S. Leon

Narrated by: Dillon Siedentopf

Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

Eternal life. Eternal battle.

Steve - Diomedes Tydides to his Trojan War buddies - just had a bad day on his charter fishing boat in San Diego, but when the goddess Athena calls on her faithful warrior for another secret mission, he's ready. The bomb that exploded inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art isn't the crime American authorities think it is. Someone also stole the Cup of Jamshid, and Diomedes knows its fortune-telling abilities won't be used for anything benign.

Though Diomedes recovers the cup from a determined shaman holed up beneath Central Park, when he finds his allies slain and the cup taken once more, he knows he's up against a truly powerful enemy. Over a millennium has passed since Diomedes last contended with Medea of Colchis, deranged wife of Jason the Argonaut, but neither her madness nor her devotion to Hecate, goddess of witchcraft, has waned, and she intends to use the Cup of Jamshid to release across the world a dark brand of chaos unseen in human history.

Immortal since the Trojan War, Diomedes must once again fight for mortals he understands less and less, against a divine evil he may never truly defeat.

©2015 Brian S. Leon (P)2016 Red Adept Publishing, LLC

Information Dump

Information Dump, thy name is Havoc Rising. I got to chapter 11 and the dump hadn't stopped. Tell don't show is the theme of this book, seemingly. That's it. I have nothing more to say.

Not bad!!

The worse thing about this book was that fact there were so many fascinating characters in it but everything this was I, I, I, I. It's a shame that authors are such lazy writers that they write their stories in the first person, just to get the book out faster. You loose so much in a first person story. >>>>>>>>>>

Otherwise, this was a good story about an explosion and the hunt for the witch who started it, and the fact she wanted the world in chaos. The last 25% of the book was all about the battle with her and her strange creatures.
It was exciting, but long.>>>>>>>>>>>>

The only romance, if you could call it that, was a quick kiss. And the F-bomb was used 21 times.>>>>>>>>>>>

As for the narration: Dillon Siedentopf was just okay. I mean, really, when you're in a cave with a LOT of killer creatures you would definitely whisper. He did not whisper one time. That was just stupid. His voices for the characters were good, though. But, there's more than just voices in narrating, IMO.

an exciting start to the Metis Files

Havoc Rising is the first novel in the Metis Files featuring Steve, aka, Diomedes Tydides an immortal assigned to protect mankind.  He reports directly to Athena the Goddess of wisdom and war. If you know your Greek mythology, you'll recognize Diomedes from the Trojan war. Today, he lives among humans and owns a fishing business, that is when he isn't working for Athena.

When a suicide bomber attacks the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and an ancient artifact known as the Cup of Jamshid is stolen, Athena sends Steve to New York to retrieve the cup. The tale that unfolds was filled with mythological creatures, intense action scenes, and snarky banter.

I loved all the references to mythology, mostly Greek, but we do see others including Celtic and Arabian.  It appears each book in the series will feature a mission. The reader/listener will enjoy intense battle scenes, humor, magic, and tidbits on history, mythology and more.

The story is delivered from Steve's POV as we fought for the cup. If you love paranormal creatures, Loen's story will delight you with Fae, Jinn, Witches, and Titans. Leon vividly brought the creatures and scenes to life with detailed descriptions that flowed effortlessly as the action unfolded. You could hear the creatures slither, feel their hackles rise and smell the decay.

There is a hint of romance when Steve meets Sarah, a detective investigating the museum bombing. This is a small side thread, but Sarah does factor into the story, and I hope we see more of her.

Loen weaved the worldbuilding throughout the tale which kept the story fast-paced. After binging the Iron Druid Chronicles, I couldn't help but draw a comparison between Steve and Atticus. Fans of the chronicles will feel at home while reading the Metis Files. Steve is funny, easily annoyed and at times anxious to get back to quietly fishing. The stories and friendships he has made were fascinating and highly entertaining. I liked Steve but loved him when he began assembling a team. The back and forth banter between him and two ancient Fae had me laughing aloud. While he claims to like working alone, he was prime when surrounded by a team.

Dillon Siedentopf narrated and my thoughts regarding his performance are decidedly mixed. During action scenes, he brought Steve and the others to life, but in-between, his tone was dry, flat and filled with audible swallowing sounds. Ugh. However, I played with the audio speed and found 1.30X worked perfectly. I am not sure if I will continue on Audio, although it is my preferred method for urban fantasy.