The Cult of Sutek

The Epic of Andrasta and Rondel, Vol. 1

By: Joshua P. Simon

Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer

Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's Summary

His life has no purpose. She's out to prove hers. An unlikely alliance forms. Their legend is born.

Rondel a once famous minstrel is crippled and rotting away in prison. He has nothing to live for until Andrasta, a mysterious warrior, gives his live meaning again. The pair escapes prison and in the aftermath, form a partnership they hope will lead to fame and fortune. Their journey is a long one, filled with peril, adventure, and even failure.

The ancient Cult of Sutek grips the land of Iget. Framed by the cult for kidnapping and attempted murder, Rondel and Andrasta help a young noble rescue his sister in order to clear their name.

The Cult of Sutek is the first volume in a planned series of standalone adventures in The Epic of Andrasta and Rondel.

©2014 Joshua P. Simon (P)2015 Joshua P. Simon

Something new for the Sword & Sorcery genre.

Another addition to the ever-growing Swords & Sorcery genre, this is a tale not to be passed by. Oh, all the expected elements are there, they just aren’t quite what one is expecting. We have our warrior, Andrasta, who is a a well-muscled, highly trained half-breed woman with almost no sense of humor. We have our near useless (at the beginning) comic relief – Rondel. He use to be a great bard and something of a fop. However, he starts this story off mutilated and having spent too many years in prison. These two make an unlikely alliance, and the adventuring begins with an escape!

Every time I thought this book would take a turn and head down the often-trod trail of mediocrity, it surprised me. Are there maidens who need rescuing? Well, yes but they are also willing to stab your eyes out if you turn out to be with the bad guys. Is there an untried young magician in the group? Well, yes but Andrasta puts him through some really tough & rough training before he has to do any actual battle. Is there a horrendously evil cult that everyone must try to escape from at the end? Well yes, and not everyone makes it.

Plus, there is all this other great stuff going on in the book. Like Andrasta has his huge chip on her shoulder that only she can knock down. But until she is ready to do that, she will just pound Rondel into some semblance of a fighter. There’s this horrible place called the Blood Forest. Yeah, it’s creepy and hungry, evil things lurk with in it. Of course I want our heroes to have to enter it! So, that was awesome, twice over because they had to go through the forest twice.

Our two main characters had excellent story arcs for a first book. We met them and then they slowly changed through out the book. Rondel is the more compassionate of the two and he rubs off on Andrasta, even as she teaches him to use the sword and make shim run laps to build up his endurance. Then the author takes it one step further and has a few of our side characters also grow and change through out the book. I think I will miss two of our side characters, as I don’t expect them to be in the next book. On occasion, there is a minor character that happens by at the right time who provides critical info to the heroes. While I understand this is done to help move the plot forward, and it was decently done, it was also obvious that was the character’s entire point. If I have to have a criticism about this book, that would be my tiny, little one right there.

By the end of the book, we have plenty of murder and mayhem because the Cult of Sutek is full of evil people who need to die. Hopefully, the good guys got them all. While there is plenty of death, it is not particularly gory and the author doesn’t linger of spilled guts or the blood rituals the cult practices. Enough details are given to make you want the cult dead but not so much that your lunch will revolt on you.

I am very much looking forward to the next installment in this series. Andrasta is a fascinating character because she pounds against boundaries until they break. Rondel has also earned a warm little place in my heart with his mix of practicality and compassion. The two make a great duo!

Narration: Jeffrey Kafer was a good pick for this book. Much of the tale is told through Rondel’s eyes and he Kafer makes a very good broken bard turned sellsword. He also had a plethora of female and male voices to fill out all the other characters. He had a good young male voice for the untried magician. The book does talk of accents from time to time, and I couldn’t discern much of an accent given to any of the characters, to that would be my only quibble. If the book hadn’t mentioned accents as much as it did, I wouldn’t have noticed the lack of them.

It's not a great book, but it held my interest.

It's an easy listen, nothing complicated about it. There's a little elemental magic in it, but thats not the focus of the novel. Its really about two unlikely allies, who plan on stealing a gem, and early on they get sidetracked into taking a rescue job, because they need cash to support themselves until they can steal the gem they want. And, that's about it. I'll probably listen to the others sometime.

Grabbed me by the ears and wouldn't let go!

Seemed like an interesting concept to knit to. Two disparate people who learn to work together while learning to help others. In the course of events, they each learn more about themselves. Plenty of action, suspense, mayhem, and strange creatures.
Audio performer, Mr Kafer, does a great job of enhancing all of the characters and their actions. And saved me the problem of how to pronounce correctly!

The Cult of Sutek

Any additional comments?

This was a really good book.The plot was interesting and well written.A minstrel who can no longer perform and a warrior maid team up to break out of jail and a few heads on a quest that turns into many different quests.Jeffery Kafer was the perfect narrator for this book..I look forward to the next book in the series.

Good High Fantasy

This audiobook took a while for me to get into, but once it got rolling the story was pretty good. It's high fantasy where a former bard, a warrior and royalty eventually journey to stop the dangerous cult mentioned in the title. I especially liked how the male protagonist didnt start off as being worth anything. he was essentially useless in a fight, but bu the end of the book he was holding his own against other warriors (all thanks to a strong female lead). the characters are fairly simple, but it works for the book.

Good start, kept my interest...

The Cult of Sutek (The Epic of Andrasta and Rondel, Vol. 1) by Joshua P. Simon and narrated by Jeffrey Kafer turned out to be a good and easy listen. Would recommend if you’re looking for something new in the genre.

What to expect: Andrasta and Rondel escape prison and end up pairing up to search for a jewel. They need money before the search can begin. One thing leads to another and they need to help find a princess who has been taken by the Cult of Sutek. You get a variety in this book- sorcery, fighting, weapons, a crazy cult (sacrifices, cannibalism, and more), lots of action, treachery, some twists and turns that help make it not the same old song and dance, nobles, violence, The Blood Forest. It kept my interest throughout and found myself going back to the book to finish the story. Decent character development and the story flows nicely. The only thing I didn’t care for the was the cliché of the fat older woman being the comedy relief.

The narrator, Jeffrey Kafer, did a great job with this one. Voiced Rondel perfectly.

I will likely be checking out the future installments.

Parental guidance/trigger warnings: a cult who does things such as human sacrifices/rape of virgins/torture/cannibalism (these are mentioned but not discussed in detail), violence (fighting), kidnapping, death, suicide, and body shaming (MC makes comments about an older woman’s body as she’s gained weight since they last saw each other. Happens multiple times.)

*I was given a free review copy of the audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. Thank you for allowing me to listen and review the book!

Fantastic fantasy adventure

I picked this book up as part of a promotion. It’s an entertaining fantasy adventure. The narrator brings the story to life.

Great story!

Great interaction between all of the characters. I'm really looking forward to the part of the story.

The cult of sutek

Any additional comments?

This is a great start to the series, I totally engaged with both Rondel and Andrasta and look forward to meeting them again in a new adventure!! Looking forward to listening the rest of the series.