Relentless Souls

By: Ryan Kirk

Narrated by: Andrew Tell

Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

A new threat has risen.

For years, peace has reigned within the boundaries of the empire. Monks, gifted with extraordinary powers, wander the land, keeping order by any means necessary. Their gifts make them invincible, or so most believe.

A lone warrior disagrees. Guided by a shadowy organization, Fang seeks to break the monasteries. Once left for dead by powerful monks, revenge has driven him to unimaginable strength. Only one obstacle stands in his way.

His name is Lei, and he is no hero. Exiled by the monasteries for an unforgivable crime, he’s more comfortable with a drink in his hand than a sword. But he’s about to be thrust into a fight he had no part in starting.

As destiny hurtles the two men into inevitable conflict, the fate of the empire hangs in the balance.

©2018 Ryan Kirk (P)2019 Ryan Kirk

Good story and narration

a well written story of redemption And revenge
The idea for energy attacks during fights was great
With likeable characters And excellent Narration By Andrew I’m glad I came across this one
I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review

Relentless Souls

I enjoyed most of this book. The narration was really good, and for the most part I liked the story/plot. There was some repetition in the way it was told and I was ready for the end when it came. I think it was the way the characters interacted that kept me from really enjoying the book to it's fullest. There were some really fun action sequences in there, and overall I had a good experience listening to it.

This story was given to me for free at my request for my voluntary and unbiased review.

boring, predictable, unsatisfying

This was a pretty mediocre book.

The main protagonist was a pretty unsympathetic idiot. He's basically compelled into each conflict by force for the most part, complains the whole time, overestimates his abilities constantly, and swoons for his ex the rest of the book. He also pretty much goes through every confrontation without any real plan, and doesn't seem to ever learn his lesson. After one failure, the main character reflects on his mistake, then makes the exact same mistake again in the next fight. Literally the only reason he's not dead many times over is because of his substantial plot armor.

The antagonist is worse. His actual reasons for killing people are both shallow and undefined. He wants to get strong, has a sense of loyalty to his master, sort of wants revenge, is working towards some sort of utopian future for the masses... take your pick. He pretty much switches reasons every time he does an internal monologue. Basically he's the protagonist without a love interest (he even has an annoying person ordering him around and showing up randomly).

The plot twists were all painfully obvious (I was actually getting frustrated that the reveal was taking so long because I was expecting it to lead to a meaningful change in the plot. It didn't.) The

The magic system is pretty annoying. It's meant to be a mystery, but it is never really defined enough to be all that mysterious. It changes when the plot requires and acts like a deus ex machina when convenient. I'm sure there will be further discoveries in the subsequent books, but the author failed to make the magic system interesting enough to warrant the effort.

Finally, the narration was fairly monotone. I ended up turning up the speed to 2.5x then finally 3x to get through aspects of the book that should have been fun but just didn't sound interesting.

Dojo-busting powerhouse

This ticked all my boxes, well-described exciting fights following what is basically a dojo-busting super fighter on a quest to fix things. It hooked me early and is so well-performed that I didn't want it to end.

You wont be sad about this one if you like the martial-arts fightsies. I was lucky enough to be provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator or publisher. I wouldn't have been upset if I had paid for it.

The fight is on.

*I was given this free review copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

It's been a while since I've listened to Andrew Tell. I've enjoyed his stories in the past and glad I got to one with his narration. Andrew did not let me down. He voices the story clean and clear through out. He tells the story of Lei and Fang in a way I don't know it's being narrated. This is credit to Ryan's writing as well since I can see the fights as the characters are experiencing them.

We start with a prologue that tells there is something coming, but the news doesn't make it back to the monastery. We learn a little about Lei, and how he's not part of the monastery anymore, along with his angry feelings toward his brother. This prologue is important as it sets the stage for Lei and his brother's relationship. But it also connects the trouble that's coming to our characters.

We get the chapters from Lei or Fang's eyes. It's easy to know who we are with as each chapter starts with naming them in the first sentence. The story is very straight forward and of a simple feel with the characters. We know what they want and what they are to do. Lei just wants to be left alone, but his life takes a turn when his brother dies. Lei experiences more than he expected and comes to have a respect for some things in life. Fang wants to please his Master.

Both men have a grudge against the Monasteries and monks. But it's what you do with that grudge and how you act on it that makes a difference. The two men have a few things in common, though the end results of their time with the Monastery is different. That end result is what formed the person they become. This is an interesting story of how what you life through influences your responses.

I enjoy the neat and orderly writing of Ryan's. I find the story is easy to follow and things are not overly hidden in the story. The feel of an oriental influence in the story is strong and very nice to read/listen to.

If you enjoy fighting, this book is for you. We are in the head of one of the fighters as they battle. You can see the fight and what's happening to the area around them.

Excellent.... I never heard Andrew

Narration was as good as the story. Highly recommended read. If you like this kind of book you will enjoy this.

Exciting read. Even better listen!

I am a great fan of Ryan Kirk's books. "Relentless Souls" was an interesting read but to hear Andrew Tell read it brought the fight scenes to life in a way reading them didn't. I was thoroughly wrapped up in the story. I will listen to the trilogy to learn more about Ryan's world.

It is weird that I really liked this book.

I normally will not read about Oriental Assasians or anything about the feudal times. Something got my attention while reading about the contents of this audible book. This book pulled it off and held my attention all the way through. The Mystic powers were not too overly pushed. Anyway, I recommend this book. Now for the obligatory: "I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review." "I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator.”

An order of warrior monks with special abilities

So when a world is guarded by a group of warrior monks with an ability to harness a special type of magic it should be pretty safe. Well.....something has changed. Some evil force is gathering and plotting against the order of monks. They are now taking their steps to fruition and have begun a slaughter of the monks. Their only hope? A disgraced monk who has been bonded with the spirit is his murdered brother. Will they be enough? Listen and find out. Great story. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator or publisher

Relentless Souls

Note: I was given this story at my request and have agreed to provide a voluntary and unbiased review.

Although enjoyable as a single read-through, the story was linear and predictable; leaving you feeling as though you started with the final book in a series.

The story focuses around the investigation of a murderer that kills with a power believed to only be known to an order of peace keeping monks.

The narration is well done and lends to the atmosphere of the world.

Great story

Overall I enjoyed this book, the characters are like able, the story is paced nicely with the story telling broken up with action scenes. The story had enough twists in it to keep you guessing all the way through and the narration was done to a high standard. The really liked the concept of the powers that they could wield as it was different to the standard offerings from other stories.

Please note that I was given a free copy of this audiobook to provide a non-biased review

Sometimes the best ones catch you by surprise!

I didn’t really know what I was getting into with this one except for knowing I like the narrator, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it was pretty great!
Great story, great fight scenes, great use of magic and fantastic narration. Definitely looking forward to hearing more from this combo!
This is my honest opinion of a free review copy.