The Beginning

The Mythical Universe, Book One

By: Alicen Scott

Narrated by: Cassandra Hoyt

Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Fresh out of an abusive relationship, Aria moves in with her twin brother, Alex, ready for a new start. He offers her a job working with him as a paranormal investigator, which she reluctantly agrees to. Aria is a skeptic of anything she cannot see with her eyes. Alex, on the other hand, has always been a believer in anything and everything paranormal. When Aria and Alex go to California to help investigate a large building where strange things are happening she has no idea how her world is going to be turned upside down.

When they arrive, she meets Tyler, one of the biggest mysteries she never saw coming. He’s a tall and sexy man, but her attraction to him is more than that. She can’t explain why she can feel the energy pulsing from him. During the investigation, things start to unfold and very quickly, Aria comes to realize she isn’t who she thought she was. She may not even be human.

Together with Tyler and Alex, she goes on a pursuit to find out the truth. Traveling through planets and dimensions, meeting creatures she only thought existed in fantasy stories, she will have to question everything she ever believed. When she finds out the truth what will that mean for her and Alex? And what about Tyler? How does he fit in with all of this?

The Mythical Universe: The Beginning is an action-packed story full of time traveling, hybrids, aliens, vampires, fairies, and so much more.

©2020 Alicen Scott (P)2020 Alicen Scott

master plan

Tyler was almost too good to be true. He seeemed so sweet to Aria's needs. So many secrets and realities come to light. A plethora of characters human and otherwise. Great world building. So much betrayal and backstabbing, greed, jealousy, and few with integrity. What a huge cliffy, but my guess is Aria's assumptions are wrong!!! Anxiously waiting for the next book. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator did a great job.

An enthralling fantasy adventure

A beautifully intricate story filled with bits and pieces that will appeal to a wide range of readers: paranormal and mythological characters and imagery, sci-fi, well-developed family/ social dynamics, and romance, all placed in an alternate version of our modern world.

I would say this book falls hard into the New Adult category, as it contains regular use of adult language and several very tactfully done sex scenes, as well as frank and open discussion around the main characters past toxic relationship.

I found this an absolutely enthralling novel/ audiobook (I own both), and I look forward to reading future volumes of The Mythical Universe series.

Very enjoyable!

Great world building! Very enjoyable. And the narrator does a wonderful job. I listened to it sped up a little bit and it was perfect. Lots of great mythology cross overs in this universe!

Pleasantly surprised!

The Beginning, the first book in The Mythical Universe, is a brilliantly written sci-fi fantasy. The storyline and characters are captivating, adventurous, and utterly fascinating with substance. This book is definitely worth the listen; I was drawn in from the very beginning, right to end. Alicen Scott is a terrific author with an incredible imagination; her words blended beautifully, and the world-building was phenomenal.

Cassandra Hoyt narration was outstanding, she captured the characters and narrative, bringing the story to life. Overall, this was an enjoyable listen, and one I strongly recommend. I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook at my request, and my unbiased review is voluntarily given.

Great way to enjoy a wonderful book!

I have all the versions of this book, Kindle, paperback and audiobook.

The audible version has been my favorite so far! It is great to hear the author's words come to life.
The narration help play out the scenes in my head as I listen.
I know this is geared towards young adults, but I can tell you as someone in their mid forties, I can not wait for the other audiobooks from this author.
You care about the characters. You hate the villains. You root for the heroine!
Even though this is a fantasy/sci-fi book, the author does a wonderful job of blending reality and fantasy, so much to the point that maybe what she writes about could be true?!

Juvenile story

Story should have been listed as young teen romance, not syfy. Story too close to movie Jupiter Ascending. Editor should have paid better attention to prose and verb tense. Narrator speaks as if talking to 8 year old children. Definitely not worth the purchase.

Not for me

The story has potential, but I just couldn't get into it. The narrator didn't help with the story. Everything fell flat and seemed so wholly implausible.

"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."