The Ruling Elite, and Other Stories

By: Xina Marie Uhl, Janet Loftis

Narrated by: Xina Marie Uhl

This is a collection of short fantasy from Xina Marie Uhl and Janet Loftis.

You'll find a slave-mercenary struggling to save the life of his mistress, a palace guard defending his city against the destroyer of prophecy, a wanderer who brings more than past grief into the lives of four sisters, two men who go on a dangerous hunt to kill the witches destroying their village, an outcast trying to outwit the village oracle and get justice for her murdered mother, and a captain who discovers how high the cost is to return the dead to their rightful homes.

©2014 Xina Marie Uhl, Janet Loftis (P)2015 XC Publishing.net

Lyrical, haunting fantasy

This is a beautifully written, evocative collection of fantasy stories. The writing is so lyrical that these tales read like a cross between prose and poetry. The authors chose their themes from many sources, including, in the case of Xina Marie Uhl, classical mythology. Anyone familiar with the myth of Demeter will delight in what this author does to expand and slightly rearrange the that myth, although she remains absolutely faithful to its essence. The rest of the stories are exquisite, if haunting and strange to those used to more modern themes and presentation.

I must say, however, that the narration is an excellent example of why authors seldom make good narrators. Audio book narration is more than just reading aloud to children, friends, or even small groups. It requires certain skills that were not present in this performance. Although the narration was adequate, it was barely so, and I would have enjoyed this lovely book more had it been presented by a true professional in the field.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for this unbiased review via the courtesy of AudioBookBlast dot com.