Revenant Winds

By: Mitchell Hogan

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 17 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's Summary

From the Aurealis Award-winning author of A Crucible of Souls.

In a world devastated by a series of cataclysms over millennia, where the followers of different gods vie for ascendancy, mankind carves out a precarious existence among the remnants of a desolated past. Cities and civilizations are built atop mysterious and oftentimes menacing ruins, and the unforgiving wilderness beyond is filled with inhuman creatures and races from before the dawn of history. Sorcery is seen by some as a gift of the gods and by others as their curse. And the demon-ravaged past has all but been forgotten.

As a secret cabal schemes to awaken an evil thought defeated millennia ago, the lives of three unlikely heroes are fated to converge:

Aldric, a veteran priest and sorcerer, who seeks acceptance from the church that shuns him. On the brink of their approval, he receives a mission that brings him face to face with a long-buried evil.

Niklaus, master swordsman and slave to his goddess, who plots to split the veil between life and death and ascend to become her equal.

Kurio, the runaway daughter of a noble family, now turned to thievery, who stumbles across a disturbing secret that binds her future to infernal designs.

Drawn toward a horrifying endgame by an unknown force, Aldric, Niklaus, and Kurio find themselves in a battle not only for their lives but for the beliefs that have come to define them.

A wrong decision, an overreaching ambition, or the failure of an already tormented faith is all it will take to plunge mankind into an eternal dark.

©2017 Mitchell Hogan (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

I struggled to connect all the stories together

Revenant Winds by Mitchell Hogan is the first book in a series called the Tainted Cabal. The world is a devastated place, with followers of different gods attempting to obtain the most power. Side by side with divinely granted power sits sorcery that is often seen as a curse. Mankind is eking out a living in a world that has been damaged by cataclysms that occurred millennia ago, but a secret cabal works to bring back an evil that everyone thought had been defeated. The lives of three people Aldric, a priest and sorcerer, Niklaus, a master swordsman, and Kurio a previous noblewoman and now thief, slowly converge in a battle for their lives and their beliefs to fight the evil that may be wrought on the world once again.

This was an okay story. While each of the individual characters’ internal struggles were well developed, I struggled to connect all the stories together in a more than superficial way. I think stronger world building and more background could have helped with that. It took a long time for me to understand how the sorcery and the divine powers exist together in the novel and also who exactly the tainted cabal was made up of. Having both divine power and sorcery simultaneously is a new concept to me, though. Perhaps later books will help with connecting the characters with the world better with more information introduced. The novel had both action and a lot of introspection on the part of the three characters, which I liked. I was under the impression that this would be a story about a band of three characters off on a quest to defeat evil, but this was not the case. This is a story about three individuals that accidentally cross paths in an effort to prevent evil from reentering the world. There are hints that this is predestined, but that remains to be seen. This concept was not something I’ve seen often, which was refreshing. The fight scene at the end was climatic and exciting, leaving open the story for future development.

The narration by Oliver Wyman was okay. While his pacing was well done, the characterization could have been better. Sometimes when the chapters switched, I lost track of who was speaking. The production quality was good. I would recommend this story to anyone who likes epic fantasies with a focus on fighting inner and outer demons.

Audiobook was purchased for review by ABR.

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7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Oliver Wyman has a mesmerizing voice.

The story is slow. But I am anxious to see where the characters go N the next book. I loved the Sorcery Ascendant Series so I am hopeful for the Revenant Winds. On a high note Oliver Wyman's voice is perfect. It helps with the characters.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Fan of the author not the book

I am a fan of the author. The book was a bit of a letdown. I’m OK with character building, but the entire book was a set up for the sequel. The story moved too slow, and I was still unsatisfied with character and plot development. Considerable time was spent on character storylines that were never tied in to the ending of the book. With the lack of progress for the storyline, I may not be interested in the sequel.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

In the end everything came together.

It took a while for the book to get its feet under it. At times I had ask what is the point of this chapter. The narrator was good so that made up for much.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

good read, but not a "stay up all night book"

I listened to the book all the way through and was entertained but didn't really connect with the protagonists.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Feels like a lumberjack doing surgery with an axe.

I've enjoyed Hogan's previous works years ago, but this book just felt childish. Emotions had no subtlety, they were basically shouted in everyone's face. The love story was a middle schooler's rendition of how romance works. The actions of the protagonist and his party just leave you with a headache due to your just having bashed your head into a wall due to the stupidity exhibited. It feels like a much worse writer wrote this story and put Hogan's name on it. I would not recommend this unless you are new to reading fantasy.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Started Off Good, ended awful.

The Only reason I read this story was because the other books this author wrote were pretty captivating & kept me on my toes. We were 18 minutes away from the ending & this guy just "Gave Up". Call it a Brain Squeez, I don't care, I just wish that it had ended ANY OTHER WAY than the way it did end. Sad.

I think this Author went on a mental hiatus. He couldn't think of anything to use for his ending so he threw so much crap in it for filler & played it off as a cliffhanger. This book was an immense disappointment and I wanted to get my credit back.

Enjoyable

I like the story. I love the narrator, but I keep hearing Monster Hunter international lol.

Splinters merging

Took me a bit to sort out the characters and their diverging threads then I got into the story. I originally sought the piece for the voice actor, one of my favorites. Looking forward to the next one.

The author accidentally reference a bible story.

The author uses the phrase returning like the prodigal son. A term that only makes sense if your culture has had exposure to the bible. The story also hops around a bit too much away the beginning. Not enough build on one character before adding another perspective.

2 of 4 people found this review helpful

Revenant Winds Fill Hogan's Sails!

A few days ago when I reviewed the prequel novella Tower of the Forgotten I had high hopes for this series. If the first full book is anything to go by it is going to be an absolute ripper! With his debut series The Sorcery Ascendant trilogy I thought that Hogan had produced a bit of a gem, but possibly a flawed one. The key problem being the lead character's constant internal monologues and some inconsistencies in his behaviour.

With Revenant Winds Hogan ditches any suggestion of a coming of age tale and delivers three excellently rounded characters. Aldric was a clear favourite to me having the most depth and his internal conflicts felt genuine and extremely three-dimensional. The other two also have potential to become long-term favourites and Niklaus's relationship with his rather racy and unique god felt extremely original. Even Kurio who could have developed into a cliche had hidden depths. In addition to the excellent characters this series once again features a magic system of no little depth and originality. The world-building is less pronounced but still has good depth to it as this one is more about the characters, religions and factions.

The story itself does dance to a similar tune with a relatively slow but never boring start which creates the backdrop for a quite stunning climax. If I'd offer listeners one bit of advice it would definitely be to set aside a good long session to take in the last couple of hours (or more if you're up to it!). This last section of the book is something that a lot of us will find hard to put down and each time I had to interrupt it I put my headphones down with great reluctance.

Oliver Wyman is of course beautifully suited to this genre and there aren't many who could deliver that final section with such aplomb, no-one does rumbling demon tones any better.

So, Revenant Winds has put down quite a marker for the rest of the series. The last section of this one is brutally exciting and left me wanting more . . .

7 of 10 people found this review helpful

it okei book just not for me.

This book is okei. it is fun and good fantasy world.
but it was just not working for me.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Meeh..

This book felt like a really long prologue. Sometimes in the book it's like the characters are being contrary to what they are described as. (To me this is really annoying, but it could just be my interpretation of the writing that does not mesh). It has a good premise but the build-up is way to long. And the climax makes the whole book feel like it's just a looong build-up towards the story the author really wants to write.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful