Sin Eater

Iconoclasts, Book 2

By: Mike Shel

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

"I shall baptize you, sir, and my baptism will burn your folly and flesh away!"

A year has passed since Auric Manteo descended into the haunted depths of a Djao ruin to return a lethal artifact, only to face down a bloodthirsty, imprisoned god. Now, his daughter, Agnes, comes to bring him back to the capital with promises of hidden secrets finally revealed.

But the city decays, poisonous disorder is rife, and whispered prophecy foretells of cataclysm and doom. Summoned by their no-longer human queen, Auric and Agnes are commanded to carry out an impossible task, one that can be accomplished only with the mysterious blade, Szaa’da’shaela, gifted to Auric on a lunatic's whim.

Can Auric and his daughter survive a journey fraught with blood, menace, and madness? And can they pay the price demanded by a being every bit as evil as the Aching God?

©2019 Mike Shel (P)2019 Podium Publishing

Disappointingly predictable to the end

I was terribly disappointed. Not with Mr. Vance--- his vocal talents were superb as always. No, it was the story that left me ... well, I would say 'wanting' but I'm not at all wanting to continue with this series.

First off, the social issues of the fictitious day, were too modern in its approach (homophobes, 'woke' younger daughter, same said woke daughter sniggering at her not-so-woke-possibly-sexually-repressed friend and daddy-daughter issues). Yeah, I get that those things are as old as time itself, but plenty of good material out there, a lot of it I've read, and the first book had none of that garbage, so to put all that in this book was odd and frustrating. I read to escape such trappings. In this installment of what i considered to be a great start to a gripping series, it drove me to distraction. And made Auric's daughter wholy unlikeable.

Secondly, the ending. So predictable. I had hoped... desperately hoped it wouldn't go there. But it did. And not just for the loss of my favorite character, but because it was so predictable, and seeing what character I'd have to put up with in a 3rd book...? Nope.

Sorry to the author for the down-in-the-dumps review. And can I just add, when you have an androgynous character, rather than the constant "he or she" narrative, go with "it" instead, or just go ahead and call it "he" or "she". They aren't the focus of the story so it's really okay. It's fine to point out in the character's headspace that there was no way of telling the sex of the deity or whatever, but the "he or she" stuff got annoying.

Didn't enjoy it

I would have guessed two different people wrote these books i enjoyed the first one did not like this one.

horrible

narration was difficult to understand when voicing side characters. The story was horrible with huge plot holes. I really regret listening to this book. the first was better but not great so I hoped the second book would work out the kinks. That didn't happen.

another great book

not as good as the first book, but still an amazing read. the narrator is God tier and does a great job reading this book.

These books are intense!

Found this series off a random reddit thread searching for something new to dig into. when I saw there were audiobook versions I figured why not give it a go. So glad I did!

Superb

Every bit as good as the first maybe even better! I wrote a review of the first book so if you can find it insert text below.

Read it!

If you liked the first book in the series you'll love this one. Read it. I can't wait for the continuation.

3.5

if you liked Aching God, you'll like Sin Eater. it follows the exact same pacing but with a little more politics, which I actually thought was to its detriment. still a great book but I hope the finale to the trilogy is able to do something different.

Amazing read!

very good book for fantasy fans! Has a good element of horror like dark souls that I appreciate!

Great Follow Up

Overall this was a great follow up to Aching God. The story itself sends us on a new quest, one with a twist. The Queen we discover is possessed, her true spirit suppressed deep within the cavity of her decaying flesh. And she wants to die... Orrick, his daughter, Agnes, and a motley crew of misfits chosen from a dungeon below the Queen's city are sent into the hinterlands of the Empire to kill a living god... Listening to Simon Vance has been a joy. His ability to make each of the characters come alive is superb. The only weakness to this book for me was the incessant internal monologues, doubts, insecurity, and whining of the daughter Agnes. One who was trained in the League as a warrior she seems strangely weak in many ways, not physically as much as mentally. Just doesn't seem quite what I expected. The rest of the characters were gratifyingly interesting, and I appreciated Shel delving in to the rich tapestry of the history of the characters and their lives. I did feel disquieted that Sir Kennah did not survive. Seemed weird that he survived so many things and then just to be killed off. Most of all was the his thread was left hanging about his relationship with Ruben, something was revealed in the scene with the Sin-Eaters and Kennah almost tells Agnes but they decide to speak of it later. That will never happen. Kennah isn't even mentioned when they are coming home either, as if Agnes so concerned about her Father just forgets... These are just nitpicks, but for me such things matter. Little threads left dangling in a minor sub-plot, etc. Same for the broken sorcerer and the priestess Sira. I want go into. All in all this one is a 4 out of 5 for me. A good book that slowed a little in too many asides, monologues, and insecurity. But the them of the mad queen, the quest to kill a living god, etc. was a great storyline that for the most part kept me turning the page and listening to Simon Vance's narrative voice. I think Vance's abilities is what clenched it for me more than the driving force of the narrative itself.

In the best traditions of D&D fantasy

I came to this trilogy due to the narrator, Simon Vance, whom I have immensely enjoyed through his Dickens performances. So you may not think me a fantasy aficionado 🙂. However Mike Shel’s books are taking me back to my youth of fighting fantasy, D&D and adventure. He also takes the time to explore his characters and develop an understanding of their motivations and decisions. And perhaps there is some of his views on society and religion mixed in too. I hope he explores a little more of the other nations of this world in the third book.