The Path of Flames

By: Phil Tucker

Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine

Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

The first audiobook in the new epic fantasy series listeners are comparing to David Gemmell and Raymond E. Feist.

r/Fantasy 2016 Stabby Award Finalist

2016 #SPFBO Finalist2016 Indie Spotlight - BestFantasyBooks.com

A war fueled by the dark powers of forbidden sorcery is about to engulf the Ascendant Empire. Agerastian heretics, armed with black fire and fueled by bitter hatred, seek to sever the ancient portals that unite the empire - and in so doing, destroy it.

Asho - a squire with a reviled past - sees his liege, the Lady Kyferin, and her meager forces banished to an infamous ruin. Beset by tragedy and betrayal, demons and an approaching army, the fate of the Kyferins hangs by the slenderest of threads. Asho realizes that their sole hope of survival may lie hidden within the depths of his scarred soul - a secret that could reverse their fortunes and reveal the truth behind the war that wracks their empire.

Unpredictable, fast paced, and packed with unforgettable characters, The Path of Flames is the first installment in a gripping new epic fantasy series.

©2016 Phil Tucker (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Fire well fueled!

What an awesome novella. It ushered me right into the purchase and ravenous consumption of the rest of the books in the Chronicles of the Black Gate. The stage is set here, but oooohhhh the journey is both unpredictable and masterfully woven throughout the series. The redundancy is minimal when reintroducing characters in each book. The narrator is amazing, with range beyond measure!!! I laughed, I wriggled in my seat with tension, and even cried a deep painful cry. So, so, so good!!!

Breaks the Mold on Common Fantasy!

I don’t even know where to start with this book. It is truly the new gold standard by which I will compare fantasy books. I just could not put this book down. It got to the point where I was hoping for more driving at work, just so I could put it on and listen to it some more. I wanted more work to listen to this book! The only thing I have with the book, which isn’t even a bad thing, is the multiple points of view of the various characters. It took me a while to get used to, but I wish some of the characters showed up more, and some showed up less. I’m particularly fond of Tharok and Audsley, but they didn’t really get much time in the book. Maybe in the next one.

Phil Tucker really broke the mold on common fantasy. I truly enjoyed reading all the fantasy tropes, that were twisted into something unique and fresh. There is everything from 1 on 1 duels, to big army battles in this book, with magic weapons, spells, and artifacts that no one understands, but it’s the way these things are written that really made this book for me. So many different characters, all with their own voice, their own personality, and their own morals. Phil Tucker has a very strong chance of becoming my favorite author with this series and I’m dying to start the second book in this series.

Hats off to Noah Michael Levine, This man brought this book to life. His variety of voices, everything from smooth caramel, to rough gravel, to soft and dainty, truly shows his mastery over narration. As long as he is narrating the Chronicles of the Black Gate, I will absolutely go out of my way to listen to them. Honestly, I want Mr. Levine to read me a bedtime story at night. There wasn’t any stuttering or stumbles over any of the many odd names in this book, and the audio quality was spot on. Overall, it was just beautifully done, from the writing to the reading.

In conclusion, this book, to me, was a work of art. I highly intend to collect all of this series on a physical copy and share it with all my friends that it might bring them the same joy that it brought me.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author/narrator/publisher.
Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog.
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Game of Thrones meets Lord of the Rings

Noah Levine brilliantly evokes and inhabits Phil Tucker's labyrinthine tale of knights, magic, and revenge

Lot of potential

I enjoyed the book. It took me a bit to get used tot he voice but it was still passable. The book starts strong but does get weaker till the end. My main issue is that the Main mc Asho has a powerful start but then is kinda cast to the back for the rest of the stories, I wanted more of him to I can figure him out. The other issue for me was the orc dudes story. I know it will connect some things later and is for set up but it does feel like a mood killer at times. Other than that it was a good book with great world building and unique world

Great start to the series!

As far as first book by an author goes, this is a 4.7/5. If I were to rate it soley based on how good of a fantasy novel it is, I would give it a solid 4/5. Which is a very high mark for me.

Entertaining Old School Style Fantasy

We should be recording an interview at some point on the Nerd Book Review podcast at some point in the near future and I will leave a more thorough review once I’ve had some time to think about the book a bit more.
First thoughts.
The novel reminded me of the older style of epic fantasy, maybe even the Forgotten Realms novels a little bit. There are some magical items that can greatly enhance skills as well as a bit of magic. There are also some non human sentient races and even a few demons thrown in for good measure. I think that the strength of the novel for me was the sense of suspense that Tucker was able to create with how he set his scenes up. The story was action packed and entertaining as well.
My only real problem was that I had a bit of trouble caring for several of the protagonists because of their deeply ingrained racism borne out of the religion that most of the humans follow. It’s hard to feel like a great injustice has been committed against them when they think nothing of openly discriminating against other races.
I had a fun time listening to the book and I do plan on reading the next book in the series.

super happy I found this series

I don't see what there's not to like about this series.i listened to the whole series on YouTube probably a year ago or something like that and I finally got around to purchasing them as I have a spectacular amount of free time due to the world temporarily coming to an end. I think about this book when I'm not listening to and and really feel like it would be an amazing open world video game with all the gates it could have a spectacular amount of dlc and be as good or better than elder scrolls... meh what do I know

It's ebon!!! not E-bon!!!!

so first it's a pretty decent story, it hops around a lot to multiple view points and kinda makes sense why, but the author didn't do the best at making sure you understand the start and end of view points. but all that can be forgiven for the most part, but what I can't forgive and pisses me off the most is the narrator, one of the biggest issues I have is his mispronunciation of words like ebon (short, read ebony as in black) and he does it every time!!!!

Awesome story, well performed

love it! well done, well written, great characters, lots of twists and turns, just read it!

Fast paced Fantasy

Phil Tucker has created a really gripping fantasy tale and I’m excited to move on to Book 2 of this series. The narrator is great overall, but there are some moments where I feel like the characters are too consistent, even as the plot is changing.