Sins of the Past

The Darkness Within Saga, Book 0

By: JD Franx

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 1 hr and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Yrlissa Blackmist has been a high-ranking member of the Broken Blade Assassin's Guild for longer than most family lines have existed.

Such a long life of killing has left plenty of dangerous enemies in its wake. An ancient witch coven, a jealous assassin, and even a demon lord all have old scores to settle.

With one last contract to fulfill, Yrlissa hopes to be free from her past and her guild forever so she can disappear with her husband and young daughter. But the past doesn't forget so easily, and neither will a betrayed guild of magical assassins. Yrlissa's only concern is to keep her new family safe, but with enemies closing in on all sides, will they become a distraction she cannot afford?

©2013 JD Franx (P)2020 Podium Audio

Definitely not recommended

This book left me feeling like I came to a party and didn’t know any of the guests or the host. In an effort to be edgy, the author wrote this elaborate fantasy web with so many characters that I was concentrating more on making connections than the obscure story itself….if you could call it a story. It was basically a dumping of characters on the pages with this teaser storyline running in the background…and then it just ends. Definitely not going to get the sequel. Very disappointed.

Didn't grasped me.

This introductory book didn't present a good first impression of the story. It can lead to an interesting idea, but it has been done before.

I want more

is there more to this story?
slow to start but I am completely committed by the end.

Good insights into first book

This is book 0.5 of the series - a prequel - and it will make little sense if you haven’t read book 1 first. The first book stands alone very well without this, but it does provide further insight into one of the main characters, enhancing the storyline.

Loved this

This wasn't even two hours long. So many twist and turns. Failure, hopes dashed, loss, revenge and no shifters. Cool

It is fine.

I like the voice actor. Story is vague and simple. I need five more words.

boring

It's short and I tried to like it but got bored & didn't finish it.

A great introduction

It's a little bit convoluted but it's a fantastic way to open a storyline like this one

A fast paced, dark fantasy prequel.

*I got this included with audible and I wasn’t disappointed! Great narration.

This is a prequel to The Darkness Within Saga, and yet another free Podium Audio from audible. Free is my favorite price.

This one kind of falls in between my two most recent prequel reads. It does a great job of not being an exposition or lore dump (similar to Terry Goodkind’s Debt of Bones), but I feel like it kind of lacks a decent amount of world building, or explanation/thoroughness. That’s not to say that I think it’s bad in any way, it just referenced some things (or only mentioned people once) and it felt like it was leaving me hanging. But I guess that’s the nature of short prequels!

The story follows Yrlissa Blackmist, an elven assassin and overall badass. She’s been alive for an unbelievable amount of time, and as an assassin, she doesn’t have the best track record…some people are pissed. So as one does when faced with multiple enemies, she falls in love and starts a family. Read or listen for yourself to learn why (and it’s included from audible, the narrator is good!).

Something the author does really well with this one is the characters (that are the main feature in the prequel). They feel fleshed out and interesting and there was a certain amount of heart even with it being so short. The best take away for me though (very much like Shackled by Michael Wisehart) is it left me wanting more. I feel the draw, I am interested enough to grab the next. Luckily this one is once again a shorter series (although not finished yet), so I will probably continue with it at some point.

not bad at all

the narrator makes this story. I really don't have any complaints. it's like a story idk

Promising

The narration is very good, the story is interesting so far, but looking at the reviews of the next book of this series, it doesn't seem to be for me because I'd like more character development where for example if a character is a god or semi-god and lived for 10k so far, he/she wouldn't be beaten by some other characters who lived less than 200 years bcs he/she didn't paid attention.

Loved it

Have to get the next one
Really enjoyed it and the style of writing. Good

exciting start

looking forward to the next part.
very much enjoyed the performance and the story.

What happened there at the end?

The story is good to start, follows a fairly well known path for a fantasy novel. Interesting take on different factions and characters that are introduced. Unfortunately towards the end the brist in logic is disasterous and spoiled the book for me. I expect this was written after the series and the author got stuck and needed to align the end with the beginning of book 1, which I have yet to read.

“Trust no one and live forever. Trust someone and die yesterday”

Really enjoyable taster of the series. Would definitely like to hear more from the author!
Excellent narration, one of my favourites!
I listened as part of Audible Plus.

Sins from the Past

A fantastic and gruesome tale into the Darkness Within Saga, Yrlissa Blackmist has been a high ranking member of the Broken Blade assassin's guild member for Decades, after she betrayed the guild, Haunted by all the death she has dealth out, Her past is only thing in her way, and always has away of catching up, with a husband and a daughter to protect, she knows her life will always be threat to their safety, a jealous rival will bring a sentence that will set her future for her and a vengeance that will lead to even more death, grim, Dark In a world only the best survive, great preformence from narrator Simon Vance, perfect gravily voice for unruly characters, highly recommend...😁