Hero Forged

By: Josh Erikson

Narrated by: Josh Erikson

Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's Summary

Gabe thought he had covered all the angles, but it’s tough to plan a contingency for accidentally trapping an evil god in your brain.

Gabriel Delling might call himself a professional con artist, but when walking superstitions start trying to bite his face off, his charm is shockingly unhelpful. It turns out living nightmares almost never appreciate a good joke. Together with a succubus who insists on constantly saving his life, Gabe desperately tries to survive a new reality that suddenly features demons, legends, and a giant locust named Dale - all of whom pretty much hate his guts. 

And when an ancient horror comes hunting for the spirit locked in his head, Gabe finds himself faced with the excruciating choice between death...or becoming some kind of freaking hero. 

Hero Forged is the first book in the new series, Ethereal Earth, a modern fantasy adventure that challenges the natures of myth, humanity, and what it means to be the good guy.

©2018 Josh Erikson (P)2018 Josh Erikson

Surprisingly Good

I usually don't like Author narrators but this author is actually good with the exception of the god villan . I hated the over the top way he was done.
The story itself was very good and a fresh take on urban fantasy. It is well worth an audible credit.
I recommend giving it a listen.

24 of 25 people found this review helpful

Yes!! Give me More!

Fast paced and enjoyable! A different twist and not the same ole same ole. Looking forward to more! I also think Josh should moonlight as a narrator for other books! Just finished a book and the narrator drove me nuts with the monotone reading and bad monster sounds and I thought, this would of been so much better if Josh would of read it.
Just my two cents.

16 of 18 people found this review helpful

Hero Forged

Ok , let me start with I had no idea what I was getting into with this book . That’s not always a bad thing, I didn’t realize that the author is also the narrator. It’s a good thing cause I probably wouldn’t have bought it .
I am very glad I did ! It’s a fun ride . I was expecting the tried ok overly tried hero stick . You know , shepherd/farmer chosen/ Prophecy meets wise old sage/master you all the tropes . That is not what I got . Too my delight this is better , refreshingly good story interesting an remarkably likable characters an a nonstop ride into a magical unseen world . Plus this world is full of possibly.. I Eagerly await the next step in the story!
I have too give kudos to Josh Erikson not only did he create a great story with his written words . He brought it too life with an outstanding Audio performance , which is no easy thing. So if your like myself and love a good story , give this a try you won be disappointed.

26 of 31 people found this review helpful

Next Book Please!

After listening to hundreds of audio books and never writing a review I felt like I should this time. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it has amazing characters, great pacing, as well as an interesting take on urban fantasy world building. The main character is interesting and can best be described as the lovable rouge who often finds himself way over his head. All in all I loved this book and can't wait for more.

7 of 9 people found this review helpful

Thank you Josh Erickson

I cant wait to see where the story goes from here. This is truely something fresh and new to science fiction fans. I hope the author keeps to his word and keep cranking out these books without too much delay in between.
I also love and admire an Author who narrates his own books. it's a sure fire way to make sure the listener hears the book the way it was ment to be.
And imcase the author ever reads reviews on his books I just like to say, Thank YOU for caring about the fans

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

enjoyable

I really enjoyed this book. had a great plot and leaves great potential for the next book. the performance was really good as well. an all around good book.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Hey this was pretty good!

It was good and better than a lot I’ve listened to here. Kudos for someone who writes and narrates. Mmm... waiting for Conscience though! :)

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

solid read.

good performance and story. looking forward to book 2 . I hope the author fleshes out the world/ system a good bit more. interested to see the Vista when we get more than puzzle pieces.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

slow to start but kept you going

it was a really slow start but it kept you going about a quarter of the way through pics of real quickly though if you can send to get through the start very good read

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great opening for an urban fantasy trilogy

Great opening for an urban fantasy trilogy! Can't wait for the next book in this series!

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

great book

This book is one of the best ones I have listened to in while. It puts a new spin on things that I enjoyed greatly.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Good start

Great start to a new series.
Often I findthe main character in these books to be painful to follow. This book had quite an interesting change in that regards.

When's the next one out?

Really enjoyable UF!

This sucked me in by having a really fun sounding blurb and, for once, I felt like the story really lived up to what the blurb promised! The was a really fun UF. I felt like the author got the balance spot on between the darker aspects of the story and the humour. It also really helps that the main character, Gabriel, was a charming and likeable lead character so it was easy to get invested in his story as he got sucked into some crazy supernatural happenings.

This was narrated by the author, Josh Erikson, himself. That is usually a big no no for me as most authors are TERRIBLE audio narrators. I took a chance on this one mostly because it had such a fun sounding blurb and because I got the audio for a bargain price. It turned out to be a great decision as Josh Erikson might just be the very best author/narrator I've encountered so far. He was not just tolerable but actually good and fairly talented! He did not have the typical deep baritone voice most professional male audio narrators have but he was clear-spoken and affable sounding. He was also good at dealing with both the character voices and the general narration. His voices were great for all the characters in the story and he had the ability to voice act and so could convey the correct emotions into the scenes he was reading. The best compliment I can pay him as an audio narrator is that if I spotted him narrating a book he had not written himself I'd still be happy to buy it safe in the knowledge the audio had excellent narration if nothing else! I'm rarely a fan of authors self narrating but in this case I do hope that Erikson sticks to narrating the rest of this series himself as he did a great job!

Overall great book!

Great book, great story and great narration.

I was a little sceptical at first with this book as the author, being a first time novelist, had no prior titles to go on in terms of credibility but I'm glad I gave it a shot. Strongly anticipating the next book of the series.