The Gutter Prayer

By: Gareth Hanrahan

Narrated by: John Banks

Length: 16 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

"The Gutter Prayer is captivating and complex. Guerdon is a city that seethes with history, horror, and hidden secrets." (Nicholas Eames)

A group of three young thieves are pulled into a centuries-old magical war between ancient beings, mages, and humanity in this wildly original debut epic fantasy.

Enter a city of saints and thieves....

The city of Guerdon stands eternal. A refuge from the war that rages beyond its borders. But in the ancient tunnels deep beneath its streets, a malevolent power has begun to stir.

The fate of the city rests in the hands of three thieves. They alone stand against the coming darkness. As conspiracies unfold and secrets are revealed, their friendship will be tested to the limit. If they fail, all will be lost, and the streets of Guerdon will run with blood.

"A groundbreaking and extraordinary novel.... Hanrahan has an astonishing imagination." (Peter McLean)

The Gutter Prayer is an epic tale of sorcerers and thieves, treachery and revenge, from a remarkable new voice in fantasy.

©2019 Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan (P)2019 Hachette Audio

amazing！

Now in one of my top 10 favorite book. An amazing dark fantasy, if HP lovecraft and joe ambercomie wrote a book together this would be it.

Brilliant.

Fast, lyrical and passionately delivered.

What a fabulous world. There are so many layers to this story and it's mythology that I had to listen to it twice. I LOVE THAT!!

I was fully invested in the trio of friends from the very beginning and that ending. I will NOT spoil.

This was one of the hardest books to finish

this felt like an early draft for a series that they forgot to expand on

underrated

so good, a little hard to get into but once you grasp what's going on it's great.

Something different

I was a little unsure about this book after reading the reviews, but had been looking for another series with John Banks as narrator after listening to the Tower of Babylon books. My trepidation continued for a few chapters, but I eventually began to enjoy the book.

This story is different than the usual fantasy book with its unique setting in a semi industrialized world with trains, subways, powered boats, and guns. The characters are equally different, with one of the main POVs a stone man and another a cannibal ghoul. There is a wide variety of people and creatures.

While the originality of the setting and characters are a strength of this book and kept it interesting throughout, sometimes the details of the story became a little confusing. The author also relied a little too much on the (magic?) created by the city’s foundries as an explanation for how anything convenient would work. The trains, guns, lights, or anything else needed, works on this magic. It was a bit too convenient.

Overall though, Gutter Prayer was a good listen and a nice alternative to the usual sword and sorcery fantasy. There were a few hiccups, but not unusual for a debut book, and nothing that should stop you from giving this a listen.

Update: The third book of this series (The Broken God) has been released for more than a year now. The author's website indicates there are no immediate plans on releasing that book in audiobook form. If you are beginning the series you should be aware that audio versions of future books in the series may not be available.

WOW!!! To think I almost missed this book!!!

I bought the audiobook because I didn’t have enough time to read this book! And, I’m glad I did! Thieves, scholars, elite, law enforcement, and magic users working out a puzzle of myth, legend, and religion!!! Great story, wonderful characters, a believable world, and, of course, great narration!!! I can’t wait for Book 2!!!

A full review will be available on my blog I. Due time!!!

brutal and imaginative.

It's like Bloodborne meets the Avengers.


(and some more words until the quota is met)

Pretty Unique

I like a few titles better, but the characters were unique, memorable, and the story wasn't predictable.

It’s worth a listen if you’ve worked through everything great

Let me start by saying that this is a very good book and that my frame of reference for my somewhat unenthusiastic review is that of someone who has read and reread the fantasy greats (Malazan, WoT, King Killer, The Dark Tower, First Law, Stormlight, etc.). Additionally, I only listened to the first book in this series. The story is fine, though it can be a little choppy (while Malazan started that way for me it had resolved by the end of Gardens). Parts drag while others felt rushed. My major reason for my not loving this books, was just that, I didn’t love it. I didn’t devour it like I have other series. There were stretches where I did, but I never found myself thinking on the characters between putting on the audiobook. After listening to the first book, I’m now in search of a new series. If you haven’t read/listened to one of the series I mention above (and you like High Fantasy) or some others that are often praised, then throw this on your wish list and come back to it if you can’t find anything else.

Real potential bogged down by excessive concepts

While a fun story on its own, the gutter prayer falls a little short in terms of characterization, immersion, and pacing. While the exposition is well managed by informed characters the way those characters are written makes them seem a bit flat. Like they only exist for that exposition, Ala an NPC in a video game who shows up later.

The story is engaging but not truly gripping, and could have been better if it had focused on its stronger magic systems rather than trying to overload us. Quality over Quantity.

Will definitely read the next one to see how it improves.