The Beginning of Everything

The Rising, Book 1

De: Kristen Ashley

Narrado por: Liz Thompson, Dina Pearlman, Stella Bloom, Joniece Abbott Pratt, Esther Wane, Gemma Dawson, Robin Miles, Clara Francesca, Lance Greenfield, Jakobi Diem, Ralph Lister, John Hartley, Rupert Channing, Sarah Coomes

Once upon a time, in a parallel universe, there existed the continent of Triton....

The land was filled with beauty, but it was also splintered by war.

Out of the chaos grew a conspiracy to reawaken the Beast, a fearsome creature who wrought only tragedy and devastation. The only way to stop him is to fulfill an ancient prophecy: Triton’s four strongest warriors must wed its four most powerful witches, binding all nations together and finally bringing peace to the land.

This is the beginning of the story of their unions: the quiet maiden Silence and the savage King Mars. The cold warrior Cassius and the fiery witch Elena. The steadfast soldier True and the banished beauty Farah. And the pirate King Aramus and his mysterious Queen Ha-Lah.

Their unions will not be easy, but each couple must succeed....

The fate of their world is at stake.

©2019 Kristen Ashley (P)2019 Audible Originals, LLC.

At last!

I am not finished reading. In fact I’m only on chapter five, yet I felt the urge to stop and write this review. The Fantasyland series is one of my favorites of the Kristen Ashley creations. So I am thrilled that this is more of that world.
My only complaint is that it is not also available in Kindle. I frequently buy both and switch back and forth as the story progresses depending on my surroundings.
That being said, the performances of the narrators so far have been excellent. Their voices add to the emotions and dimensions of the story.

Great build up, a bit dark and different for KA

I've read a few other Kristen Ashley (KA) books but nothing like this... I'm not sure I've ever read anything like this. Really I've been sitting on this review for a bit over a week, I wasn't sure what to say, and even now, I'm not sure what to say. The creativity level is through the roof and her writing is top notch, like she has to be stretching both while creating The Beginning of Everything.

So we start the story with a major event. We go in quickly and it's a bit hard to keep up with everyone we're introduced too and meeting. However, KA takes her time, she always does, but with this story she goes step by step holding your hand. I'll be honest, I needed the hand holding. This isn't an easy story and I mean that in every way possible... the storyline is so engaging... it's disturbing, really but I couldn't stop.

The story was different. The cast of narration was seriously amazing. There's really only a few narrators that I recognized. This is just a harmony for the ears. I enjoyed the voices, the accents, the emotions and feelings they put into Kristen Ashley's words. I nearly had a stroke when we reached that cliffhanger... I knew I should have waited a bit longer to listen... like a day before the next book releases. I'll take only waiting a month between installments though.

Game of Confusion

There’s a lot going on in this story or shall I say blended stories. It has a good premise, in that a prophecy deems these four warriors take these 4 witch’s from different territories as their mate in order to yield enough power to defeat a dark force, BUT it’s a lot crammed in and way too many characters for audio only. Hard to keep up with who is talking and about what and most painful is the switching of narratives from first person to third person to thoughts and so on. I will stick with it for now although it felt like a clumsy attempt on a game of thrones type series. I like KA so am willing to deal with a lot of stuff to to get better stuff, so to speak. There’s a lot of weird sex and barbaric behaviors. I try to fast forward through. I skipped her Honey series because that’s not my kind of novel. I am no prude, butt(pun intended) this is a bit much for my taste.

My Thoughts on The Beginning of Everything

What a truly epic start to a series. There were several characters involved with there being four couples this series surrounds and some other one offs. But the way it was all laid out was fantastic. I slowly got to know and connect with each person as individuals and couples. In hindsight it made sense why this story is longer than average. All the time was needed and put to good use.

I really enjoyed the narrators. There were quite a few of them as well. It seemed like all the main characters had their own narrator, and if that wasn't the case then bravo to anyone who doubled up because I couldn't tell. I just really enjoyed hearing the different tones and accents for each person. And they all gave really good performances. I was especially fond of Cassius and Mars' accents.

I cannot wait to get started on the next book.

Awesome New Series

I swear this narration is half as long as listed. This book FLEW by and I am having withdrawal symptoms until book 2 is released in a week and a half. All of the hallmarks of an epic fantasy by one of my favorite authors. If I have one criticism, it’s the stereotypical virgin female hero.

Excellent beginning

I enjoyed the beginning of this 4-part saga. The storyline is exciting and I love KA’s Fantasy stories so, needless to say I can’t wait for the next installments.

I am hooked!!

WOW! I have not heard an audible I like yet but this was amazing!! I of course am an avid KA fan but this blew me away!!!

World-Building

As soon as I heard "green sea" and "Frey Drakkar," it was confirmed. The Beginning of Everything is the first title in a series that is a spin-off of the Fantasyland Series, a wonderful series by Kristen Ashley (The Golden Dynasty being its best edition, I think).

In any case, I get in my head and I have to get names, clans, countries, and continents straight. But wait, not only does KA set The Beginning of Everything in the parallel universe, she goes with pairing destined couples who will stop the apocalyptic threat. This happened last time, the stark difference is that, as I understand it, no one of the couples is from the Earthbound-realistic world. All characters are from the fantasyland and this land is very different from the ones in the previous series.

So, KA's imagination went further into diversifying characters with accents and cultures, ones that feel similar to those of the past, like ancient Sumerian, or even those in our present who carry lore, like Scottish or East African, but there's a good enough spin on each which makes it unique, colorful, and exhilarating to the imagination.

Only thing is, there are so many voices and accents and names that I had to stop and start again several times, and I had to make the connections of who is who, who is potential foe, who has the most direct connection to characters from the other series, and who has progressed with his or her lover (important).

If one is not used to Kristen Ashley, her man-characters' speak and somewhat convoluted, but excellent way of description and characterization, this installation, with the availability only in audiobook with umpteen narrators, may confuse, aggravate, excite, and tease the hell out of you, so maybe wait until all parts of the series are out before diving in.

Wow!

The story had me so entranced I binged all night to hear just the first book. The voice actors did a great job. I just love this story.

Excellent Title

At the very beginning I was able to understand the plot, however as more characters were introduced to the story, it got a bit complicated and it was difficult to understand who was who. I had to go back and forth a bit, but once I had most of the characters in hand, it was easier to understand.

This is the first of a series, and had I known it wouldn’t have a completely full ending, I would have waited for the rest of the books to come out.

Once you get a handle of what’s going on, it is a very interesting story.

The full cast of narrators was simply excellent.

I can’t wait for the whole story to be complete, so I can binge listen to the whole thing.