The Amulet of Alamin

The Shadows of Time, Book 1

By: Felix Alexander

Narrated by: Bess M. Perrier

Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

The veil between the heavens and the underworld has fallen.

Mesopotamia is a region with kingdoms at war. The desires of gods and men sweep across the Land Between the Two Rivers so frequently that peace is merely a memory of a forgotten time. Demons and shape-shifters lurk in the shadows, sorcerers and soothsayers warn of impending danger, and a demigod sits in the eye of the storm.

It has been millennia since the Tablet of Destinies fell from heaven. After the fall of angels and the emergence of the Watchers, the gods set out to destroy the Nephilim and retrieve the Tablet, but a piece of the stone chipped away before it was lost.

Fashioned from that piece of the Tablet, an amulet was gifted to Alamin in his infancy, but when he discovers the gods and angels want him dead he is forced to flee with it and only the Fallen Angel can protect him. Princess Safia is betrothed against her wishes and she flees with Alamin on a perilous quest across the Ancient World that blurs the boundaries of reality with the realm of myth until Alamin surrenders to the Fallen Angel.

Troubled by the prophecy, Inanna crosses oceans and deserts to find her son before she journeys into the underworld to retrieve his soul. The King of Kish names Sargon - the boy general - his Cup Bearer. Zagesi condemns his soul for immortality, but his deal with Mephitsophel is an ominous portent for the fall of kings. The fate of existence hangs perilously in the balance and the realm between the heavens and the underworld collapses into chaos.

©2013 Felix Alexander (Alex F. Chavez) (P)2018 Felix Alexander (Alex F. Chavez)

good

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! good overall

An Interesting Historical Fantasy

This book will be way better if you have at least a little Mesopotamian history under your belt (and can remember a good portion of it). In short, it was a fascinating fantasy that combines elements of ancient Hebrew stories with middle eastern myths and legends set in context of a war of aggressive expansion by the evil Zagesi. As the story unfolds, you get a veritable who’s who of famous names, Sargon, Enki, Abram et al with angles, demons, immortals (aka shape changers), nephilim, etc. In fact … it is the huge cast of main and supporting characters that is this story’s weakest link. There are so many that it is difficult to keep track of everything and main plot gets buried under extraneous side stories in a failed attempt to overcome the lack of character differentiation and/or character growth. It’s just too busy and it didn’t pull me into the story at all. This is more like an extended version of a short story than a novel … and this doesn’t work very well for me the reader. Add to that a tendency to add details that just take up space and don’t really add much to the story or advance the plot as far as I can tell.

This issue is compounded by an average audio performance where the narrator struggles to differentiate voices, especially when the story changes the PoV in the middle of the chapter (the prisoner escape and chase being a perfect example of swapping back and forth between the escapees and the pursuers several times in the chapter where it almost seemed like there were all in the same party). Other than that, the pacing and enunciation was good for what was happening within the story. Overall it was a fun distraction, but not a favorite.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#TheAmuletOfAlamin #TheShadowsOfTime #FreeAudiobookCodes

Interesting story

The plot is interesting which is the only reason I kept listening. The narrator wasn't that good tbh and the start is very very slow. But overall ok listen.

Decent

I didn’t find the author impressive, but he was decent enough. The story seemed to drag sometimes and information that seemed extraneous but still a decent read/listen

narration lacks

Couldn't finish the book. The narrator, though has a pleasant voice and a beautiful accent, is very very very flat and has a very slow diction. Can't really speak about the story since I was bored to death by the beautiful narration.

I didnt like the story

This was a very difficult book to finish. the characters had no depth and there were too many of them. the plot really wasnt there and the story had no hook. lots of random battles that had no bearing on the end. seemingly a waste of time. I didnt care what happened to any of the characters.

the narrator was not the best either. i had difficulty understanding her. maybe it was the accent but I doubt it. i think it was her tone. she put me to sleep more than once.

it sounded at the end that this was the beginning of a series. i have zero plans to listen to any more from this author. i cannot reccomend. this is the first time I'm writing a review for audible. i had to warn others.

enjoyed

loved it and loved the voice of the narrator. couldn't wait to hear what happens next.