Saltblood

By: T C Parker

Narrated by: Gina Marie Davies

Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

A remote island. A group of prisoners. And an evil as old as time.

Robin didn’t mean to break the law. Didn’t know at first what law she’d broken. And now she’s on her way to Salt Rock - a new-model prison for a new kind of criminal, way out in the remote Northern Isles of Scotland.

On Salt Rock, she'll meet other prisoners like her - men and women from all over the world, spirited away from the lives they knew for crimes they didn’t know they were committing.

She'll uncover the complex web of conspiracy that connects them all, confronting some of the darkness of her own past in the process.

And she'll come face to face, finally, with an evil as old as the land itself.

It’s hell in those waters.

©2020 TC Parker (P)2021 Fireside Horror

Fusion of fantasy, sci-fi and dystopia

This is an incredibly simple and yet highly complex book, and I am really torn on its review.

It has everything I like…but also what I do not. I’ve listened twice (just because the review I had promised never got done and I wanted it to be fresh). Both times I was drawn by the mystery of “what did they do wrong” as well as the “what the beep is going on here” (both in the sense of the connections and the location). On the other hand, I felt a form of “message overload” – there were perhaps one too many style-threads that competed in my mind.

I have difficulties reconciling the fantastic/spiritual aspect of the book to the more sci fi / dystopian part. On its own – the mystery in the fantastic sense is exciting and could easily be a standalone novel. So could the more obvious prison story, which incidentally reminds me in a very nice way of “Papillion” (albeit the similarity stops quite quickly – and is likely more thematic in my mind than general). BUT it gives the book and edge and a level that is not quite common and raises the bar for the genre. That is quite cool.

There are some very interesting themes – what is the level of crazy our cancel culture could conceivably achieve? How are relationships formed – unexpectedly (and graphically, I might add)? There is also a heavy undertone of societal cohesion – what happens to a society that is disrupted?

Character-wise I like this book a lot. I love the interactions, the way the characters are brought to life in the narrative, and I love the way the different cast gravitate to/from one another for different reasons...

Gina Marie Davies lends a vibrant voice to the book.
Lots of credit for working to give each character a …character…which is not a mean feat, given the characters range from young female to gruff old men. Especially the way differences in age and socioeconomic situations shines through in some neat nuances of inflection.

I love the way GMD creates different tones in different situations, which help me personally to immerse myself more deeply into the story. As it should be…I guess.

The way pitch, speed and tone come together across the board is quite good. Granted – a book set in Scotland might raise expectations to a UK-English – but then: Who can understand a proper Scot anyway? (No offence to the Scots – I love you heaps 😉). I felt the narration came with a nice “surplus” – other narrators sound breathless or rushed – this one was on the spot.

Overall, I do like the book for all its elements, but somehow it doesn’t quite -- come together -- for me.
Still – a solid listen which I would recommend.

Great book, not so great audiobook

It isn't that this book has a bad reader, just to be clear. However Gina Marie Davies can only perform with an American accent. This wpuld not be issue except this particular book not only has a main poit of view character with a British accent, all accross the book there are many many others speaking English with various accents and dialects and every time the attempts to capture how they would sound were... well attempts were made. I def. give her credit for trying, even if the book would have been served by her just reading everything with her own accent

Different...

I listened through to the end even though I'm not much into spiritual fantasy. So, it was good enough to make me want to see the conclusion. I would think that if you enjoy fantasy, you are most likely to enjoy this book. Nothing really wrong with it, just not something I normally would purchase. Narration was good

great book

strong story line it kept me listening right to the end. this was a very enjoyable listen for me

Not quite horror, but… It all comes together in the end…

Saltblood follows the story of a couple of “guests” (prisoners) that get shipped off to an island enclosed by a metal cage. They are told that “islanders” live on there, too, but not to interact with them at all.
Later it turns out that there is so much more to the local people and beings than the “guests” are told…
It’s not quite horror, as it is a mixture of thriller, suspense, fantasy with a hint of romance. The supernatural creature that terrorizes the inhabitants of the island seems to be quite scary, but I didn’t quite feel the horror.

Additionally, at times the story and backstories felt a bit confusing and out of place. However, it does come together towards the end - turns out, it is all connected.
Ancient legends meet modern high tech.

Gina Marie Davies did an excellent job narrating. She captured the story and the characters & their interactions and motions really well, which made it a lot easier to follow the happenings.

I think, if you go in with an open mind and with no particular set expectations, and instead just letting yourself be guided through the story, just going with it, you’ll have a very enjoyable time altogether.