Revolt

Godsknife, Book 1

By: Timothy C. Ward

Narrated by: Stephanie Neff

Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's Summary

The rift between Iowa and the Abyss is thinner than it seems. Modern society meets the power and reality of myth in the new war between Chaos, Order, and Maker. A priestess of Order seeking godhood unleashes a virus to mutate and enslave the human race. Those who survive will face the height of her power, but will they bow before it?

A fleet of enlarged praying mantises has invaded Des Moines, Iowa. Swarms of cicadas are turning survivors into winged soldiers. Orchestrating the warzone is a priestess of Order, who's pursuing godhood, and the nation of followers who'll get her there.

Caroline's new friendship parts the veil between reality and myth, as a recruiter of Order needs her to hide him from capture. In their escape, the boss she's loved like a father reveals his elevator into the Abyss.

In this new world, Caroline finds a usurped god and an angry ghost eager to make her their getaway back to power. What if the person her friends will need is heartbeats away from becoming the real threat?

Evolved Publishing presents a chilling, horrifying look at a world gone mad, with this first book in the Godsknife series.

©2016 Evolved Publishing LLC (P)2017 Evolved Publishing LLC

Not for me.

I tried twice! I tried really hard to like this but unfortunately I just didn't. Here is what I wrote on Goodreads:

I'm going to put this aside for a bit. I'm 36% done and I've no idea what is going on!! I'll come back to it at some stage when my head isn't fried.

2nd time reading edit: Got to 29% this time and I have to put it aside again. I'm just not connecting with the story and haven't a clue what's going on. Not for me unfortunately.

I picked this up twice and tried to get into it, but I felt like the author expected us to know his world from the start. I felt like I missed something and went to see was there a prequel or something. I just couldn't get into the story nor connect to the characters.

BUT, I do have to commend the author on his world building. Even though I was confused (and I totally put the blame of that firmly on my own shoulders. I'm going through some personal issues and this was just too convoluted for me at the moment) I do think a lot of people will love this. The author really put time and effort into his world and his writing was eloquent and richly detailed. I just couldn't connect to the characters to care about what happens to them.

It wasn't for me, but I urge you to try it and see. This author is one I will try again as I loved another book by him. And you never know, I might revisit this one day.

The narrator was OK. I found that she didn't have enough different tones to differentiate the characters and that she didn't give enough of a performance to make it interesting. She read the story, but didn't breath life into it.

I was voluntarily provided this free copy by the author, narrator, or publisher. This in no way affected nor influenced my thoughts.

Exciting from the start!

This story centers around three groups. The Order is driven around order. They carry an Ordan worm inside them that bonds with the individual who then begins to think in terms of order and logic. I admire the authors ability to relate to that order and create individuals who think in terms and use order to define their every move. Chaos is as it sounds. Their world is changing, unordered and crazy. Then there's Maker.

The amount of world building the author did to create this story is phenomenal. One minute the characters are living in the US. The next they are taken into the Abyss becoming nightmarish. The next moment they are back in normalcy and can't exactly remember that only moments earlier they were living a nightmare.

Action scenes followed action scenes without leaving any dull moments and left me curious what horror would befall the characters next and how were they all entangled in the story.

The narrator Stephanie Neff had great pacing that mimicked the speed of the story. Author and narrator were a perfect combination for me!

I recieved this book free through Audiobook Boom.

Confused and just lost

Any additional comments?

I tried really really hard to get into this audio but the author lost me after the first few pages. This plot just didn’t really make any sense for me, it is a little far out there and I do not feel it is at all realistic. I felt lost and did not understand what is going on. I did not understand how the priestess became what she is. I do not understand the worm who decides if you live or die if you get the number correct but even if you get it correct it might kill you anyway. None of this made since to me. Who decides what that number is and what does the number mean? I didn’t understand just what these people were doing and why they were building soldiers. I am sorry I just could not finish it. Maybe I will give it a try later on.

I thought the narrator was very good, I enjoyed her character voices. You had no trouble knowing who is talking and just what they are feeling. I thought at times her voice was a little shaky but felt she carried the story off well. I did not hear any background noises or any places where the volume had changed. (Now this is on the parts I listened to) There are no repeats of words just a clear clean audio. She puts a lot of emotion into the characters when they were confused you could hear it in her voice, if they were excited she really put that in her tone. I thought she did a great job and would love to listen to more of her work.

I think the author did put a lot of time and thought into the plot even though I felt it was confusing. I would try another of his books to see more of his writing style before I make up my mind about him. This is the only book I have read of his work. There are people who loved it and some who didn’t. Please make up your own mind but my mind can just not wrap round the plot.

I have mixed feelings about this book

Would you try another book from Timothy C. Ward and/or Stephanie Neff?

Yes

Any additional comments?

Overall, I enjoyed listening to this book. The story was a bit uneven. There were times when I was really engaged. Other times, I zoned out. It did leave me interested enough to find out what happens next. I recieved this audiobook for free through Audiobook Boom for my unbiased review.

Enjoyed it.

Kept me entertained and engaged. I'd recommend this.

“I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.”

Worth your time and credit

Any additional comments?

Wow…how to describe this book? This is one of the most creative, unusual, entertaining and original books I have read in a long time. What a great start a series. The story is well written, interesting and a very engaging. The world the author has created is very complex and unique.

Even though I finished the book I'm not sure I completely understand everything that just happened. This is one of those stories that has so much going on you will listen to it more than once just to understand everything. Honestly, the book blurb gives a better outline of the story than I can.

The story hits the ground running and never lets up. When I say the story is fast paced and constantly moving I'm not kidding. I spent much of this book saying wait, what just happened? There is so much going on you have to pay attention.

I can say I am really looking forward to the next book in the series.

I will never look at cicada's the same way again.

Every time Neegan was said it threw me out of the story. I couldn't help but think of that other Negan.

Stephanie Neff did a fantastic job with the narration. It looks like this is the first book she has narrated. If that is the case, she did an awesome job. She's a natural. Not only the narration but with the numerous sound effect. Pleasant voice easy to listen to for long periods of time. Clearly spoken with a nice even pace. Great character voices. All of them. She brought the story and characters to life through her narration. Very enjoyable

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator or publisher.

An interesting read

Would you listen to Revolt again? Why?

Probably not, but it's not because it's bad. I just don't have time to reread/relisten to anything, to many books out there I haven't read. :)

What did you like best about this story?

The giant Cicadas, I am more of a horror fan than science fiction and so I thought these giant bugs killing people was pretty cool...lol. I know I am bad. :)

Any additional comments?

So this isn't what I might normally read but the author asked me if I would like to review it so I said sure. I was pleasantly surprised that I really liked it. It has strong characters and I thought the storyline was pretty interesting with the different factions in the story. Sheila is one crazy lady! :)

I really enjoyed the narration as well I thought that Stephanie Neff did a great job. Can't wait to see what happens next.

Great start to the series!

Any additional comments?

This is a great start to the series. It's very exciting from the start and continues throughout. The narrator did a great job with bringing the characters to life. Can't wait for book 2!

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Magic fantasy

Crazy magic that is good verses evil. Leaves you wondering what is going to happen and wanting to read next book to hear the conclusion.

It just didn't stick with me.

I don't know if it was the story, characters, narrator or something else. But it just didn't grab me.

Bizarre but not in a good way

From beginning to end very little of this novel makes sense The plot is jarring and erratic, the characters interact and behave in a manner so bizarre that I doubt the world's greatest psychiatrists could decipher their motivations. When the ending arrives you're left wondering if this is actually book 2 of a trilogy and there is an entire novel you've misplaced somewhere. Ultimately I can only describe this book as an acid trip gone bad.

Stephanie Neff's narration is reasonable given the fitful prose she had to work with but there is little variation between some of the main character voices and the attempts at vocalising bug sounds had me grinding my teeth.

I received a free copy of this audiobook for an unbiased review.