Sin Eater

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

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.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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.

Great sequel to an amazing series!

I Shel's writing style and characters. Vance as always is masterful. Cannot wait to see what the next book brings us.

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.