Mantles of Power: Omnibus

By: Benjamin Medrano

Narrated by: Sarah Beth Goer

Length: 39 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's Summary

This collection includes Heaven's Fallen, Mortal Gods, and Hell's Ascendant.

Betrayed by those whom she trusted, Isalla was cast down from the heavens and into the heart of the hells. Bereft of her wings, the angel was rescued by Kanae, a demoness who challenges Isalla's belief of what demons should be. She has little choice but to accept Kanae's help, being so far from her homeland as she finds herself, and, slowly, she begins to understand, and even admire, Kanae. 

Unfortunately, the forces in the shadows have not forgotten Isalla, and they are willing to target anyone close to her, no matter how highly placed they may be. As their long reach threatens to snuff out Isalla's life, Kanae proves a stalwart ally, and willing to face any danger beside her. It's an immense surprise to Isalla that in the depths of the hells she can find hope, allies, and possibly even love.

This is the story of Kanae, Isalla, and their companions as they face a conspiracy among the very heavens themselves.

©2020 Benjamin Medrano (P)2020 Benjamin Medrano

A cute ride once you know what the ride is

Reviewing the collected edition. I'm currently in early book 2 and I struggled with finding a lens to view the story, but ultimately I rested on "high fantasy harem anime"; which does explain some of the unrealistic character motivations and the overall vibe of the story. After reading reviews for all 3 books separately, as well as some other works, it seems like the author has some character tropes, relationship dynamics and fetishes he likes to employ.

Usually mind control/manipulation, body modification, power dynamics and chiefly (at least for Mantles of Power) polyamory. The overall meta-story is pretty ok. A malevolent force has corrupted the "good guys" and now an ensemble of heroes from all sides works to thwart them.

Like most people criticize, it's the relationships that ruin it for me. The characters spend most of the time in an ambiguous state of in-lust but not "together", when splitting them into hard pairs while all being battle-bonded blood sisters would have been way more satisfying. Instead we get the chief complaint of the Rose/Kitana dynamic with "I slept with your mom and now I'm hot for you too". Not bashing polyamorous people, and they have a place in stories too, but it feels a little failure-to-launch here. Someone did point out the repetition of phrases and it's noticable once you hear it.

Still, once you know how to look at it, it's a cute and fun enough story to give a listen. Especially since you can just get the 3-in-1 collection for the once credit.

FUN !

Enjoyable, most definitely need more volumes. I would have liked it a bit more on the steamy side. the performance was wonderful!

Surprisingly Good

I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I bought this but it turned out surprisingly good. The universe is built in a way that people are waaaaaaay more open to same sex relationships which was fine and not super overbearing just kinda stuck as being weird if you compare it to real life. The books got progressively better with book 3 being my favorite and it all ended with a satisfying ending

Patiently awaiting more

beautiful world and amazing characters wrapped into and outstanding story.
loved it cant wait for more. 😄

love long books

love all of your books. I hope you do more compilations, they are great for long trips.

Fantasy Gold

If your enjoy demons and angels with lesbian romance your in the right place. Strap up for the long epic journey it’s an excellent one.

BUY THESE BOOKS

these are GREAT book all 3 of them we'll worth the money! I can't wait to read the rest of his books. well I listen to them. the narration on these was awesome A+!

Meet me in Hells!

These were 3 of the most interesting books I’ve ever heard. Personally, missed the Erotic sexual encounters, but rereading opened endless religious questions. New author to follow 🤔 with this series. Off to my next Adventure.

good read

this series is very good and mo es at a good pass. you will enjoy

Hard to listen to

The main plot of the story is interesting.

The love/romance aspect is vaguely intriguing, but poorly executed.

The characters are interesting, only if they're not the protagonists.

The main prot is a knight in shining armor without any flaws. She seems cool, but the narrator doesn't do her any justice. I.e. the narrator mistakes sultry for stoic, making the character very stiff throughout the entire series (and she sometimes jumps out of character).

The second prot, the maiden in distress, I keep wanting her to be something, but she's a pup following her guardian. The character seems to lack intelligence, experience and wisdom, despite having lived for quite some time.

The narrator does a very poor job, mispronouncing words and maintaining the same tone for a character throughout the series (i.e. The maiden in distress sounds like a highpitched child throughout - but an adult woman's version of a child, mind you).

Thanks for reading the review, hope it helped.