The Swordsman

A Pulp Harem Fantasy Adventure

By: Zack Archer

Narrated by: Chris Graves

Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

A down-on-his luck screenwriter. The mythical warrior Beowulf. A harem of hot warrior women and monster girls. Joining forces to take down the bad guys in modern-day Los Angeles. Wait. What? 

Adam Fraser's coming home from an unsuccessful movie pitch when he nearly collides with Beowulf and a duo of powerful warrior women who’ve been catapulted forward in time by an evil alchemist named Mossheart. Realizing that each can help the other, they set off on an epic journey across Hollywood to track down the alchemist before he accomplishes his ultimate goal: the resurrection of the monster Grendel. 

What could go wrong? Lots. Tons. A crapload of things could and do go wrong, but along the way, Adam builds his harem, grows in strength and skills, gathers material for an incredible movie, and discovers how to defeat villains and become an expert, um...swordsman.  

Warning: Would it surprise you to learn this audiobook’s intended for those over the age of 18 who like fresh takes on old stories, sexy monster women, shape-shifters, adrenaline-fueled action, cool, snarky characters, and lots of haremy (yes, that’s a real word) adult situations? Probably not, so if you like those things, and I’m guessing you do, come and get swung with The Swordsman! 

©2018 Zack Archer (P)2018 Zack Archer

Fun Romp in the vein of Bill & Ted visit Conan

I like it when a book announces what it is and doesn't pretend to be something else. Pulp and Harem are pretty much all over this book, and at times I felt like Robert Howard might have written this if he had gotten really drunk while he was horny. I totally don't mean that in a negative way. That is actually a compliment, as I think Howard often wanted to go a bit farther than he did when he wrote.

Anyway, this is a fun romp that covers a few different genres. We have sword and sorcery, time travel, pulp fantasy, and even a little melodrama. The story focuses on a down and out filmmaker who accidentally meets a temporally challenged Beowulf and his beautiful bevy of buxom babes bumming about which kinda goes into his need for someone to star in his reality show.

Now, are there a few issues? Sure, no book is perfect, but here I think the only issue I really had was that the characters could have used some more development. There is plenty of snark, sex, battle, magic, and even some excellent relationship development but there were points where the characters sometimes came a cross as being 2D rather than 3D. Still I think the book had good balance and pacing, and I wish I could have reviewed this on my litrpg podcast since it was so fun. Still, it has to be LITRPG to get on there. So that's my loss.

I felt that Chris Graves did an excellent job on the narration, he did accents and made me like Mossheart just by the attitude that he put on when he spoke through him. He definitely adds grit to the story ans some extra impact that you don't often get from narrators nowadays.

Give this book a listen. It was fun and worth the 6+ hours to get through. It was an excellent way to pass the time. Even though I did receive a promo code for this review it in no way influenced my considerations of the material, and in fact, inspired me to be more honest. Getting a code generally makes me harsher as a reviewer as I am more often concerned what someone like Me will decide based on my review.

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loved it! just set your expectations right

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

So, this is one of those books that you have to go into with the proper expectations. If you go in expecting Tolkein or George R.R. Martin, you are going to be dissapointed. If you want a good action-filled, urban fantasy story with a harem, you'll enjoy the hell out of it like I did. I thought the narration was done well and I was HIGHLY entertained the whole time.

A Bit Too Haremy for My Taste

Ok, to start, this is entirely my fault for not understanding what a Pulp Harem would entail. Knowing what it is now, I would probably not have requested a promotional code and listened to this title.

The Haremy parts (and the author insists that's a word) really boil down to explicit sex scenes. Oddly, not as many as I would have expected once I realized what was going on. It's like there was this sc-fi, fantasy adventure that kept getting interrupted by pornography. Or maybe the porn was being interrupted by the story... not really sure.

The characters are all one dimensional, the plot is predictable and the women are all busty. But I guess that's what goes with a Pulp Harem title.

Now, don't get me wrong. I actually enjoyed listening to this, even if the explicit sex scenes made me a little uncomfortable while on my morning commute. It's fun popcorn fiction, reminiscent of sexploitation films that pop up in the B-movie world.

Adam Fraser is a screenwriter who gets caught up in his own B-movie when the legendary warrior, Beowulf, and his two busty companions are catapulted forward in time to Las Angeles and fall directly into Adam's lap. His crappy life soon becomes an adventure to become a swordsman and defeat the evil sorcerer, Mossheart. Yeah, it's that B-movie like.

But it's fun, so if you're ok with explicit sex in your books, give this one a try.

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

Beowulf's Bogus Journey

Anyone that has had high school English has heard the name. Beowulf, the first English hero. Even though He's a Dane. Adam doesn't really have time for history as he tries to make the rent and time with his beautiful next-door neighbor Sawyer. So when a time-traveling wizard brings the near-sighted warrior and his two companions to Hollywood he wants nothing to do with them. He somehow gets sucked into the mayhem as they battle Grendel, his Landlord, and Mossheart in order to get back in time. I had so much fun with this story that is part Bill and Ted and part Conan. I was given a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book

I really enjoyed this book. The book was an easy listen and I couldn’t stop listening. If you are on the fence about buying it I think it is definitely worth the credit.

Interesting Take on Beowulf

Adding extra color to Bewwulf is a novel idea, I love the glasses idea, struck me as quite funny. Its a good bit of escapist fun and I will be getting the next book when it becomes available. The Harem parts arent over the top, the characters are mostly believeable. The magic side needs a bit more fleshing out, when the bad guy just tells his new henchman what to say and voila he can conjure plasma balls was a bit meh to me. Overall I enjoyed the book, just a few nit picks here and there. IF you want an escapist urban fantasy to get your mind off your troubles this is a good candidate to help get thru your day.

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

LOVED IT!

I loved it! The narration is superb and gives the story that extra flair. It will keep you entertained. This author does a great job with the characters. I chose to review this book because of the talented narrator. This was not my first book by this author and definitely not my last. I read the Fiasco Heights Complete Saga and enjoyed it as well. I look forward to reading more of his books. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A fun reimagining

The Swordsman gives a time travel twist of some story elements of Beowulf and gives us a character to interact with all of these fish out of water elements in the form of Adam. The setup leads to a lot of different action scenes that were quite entertaining. The first book introduces a lot of elements that are hopefully delved into much further in the future books, but it does well enough setting up the world and its subsequent rules. It is first and foremost made to entertain and isn't looking to get bogged down in any crazy story elements, and it does just that for most of its length.

The narration by Chris Graves was overall pretty good. I think he is quite good at narration, and if the production alongside him were a bit better it would have no complaints by me at all. Hopefully, in the future, the production can get that little bit better and make it all work seamlessly.

Overall if you come into this looking for a fun little escape with some good action scenes you won't be disappointed. I look forward to seeing what happens in the next book.

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

The Swordsman

The Swordsman was a lighthearted time travel adventure set in L.A. This is a book that you read if you like guns, girls, and swords, or simply want entertainment. It is set in L.A. but is able to mix it up by putting in ancient magic, monsters, heroes, and villains from Beowulf. I must say I personally found the setting very unappealing; however, it seems that the second book will have a more exciting setting. The plot was simple and perhaps used overly stereotypical and contrived reasons to advance. The characters in this book, while they often had a decent backstory and their own motives, frequently acted in ways that seemed contrived and simplistic and I could not bring myself to really care about them or their problems. Although the storytelling simplistic, Archer is able to keep the story moving forward and fun. The overall feel is that of an author who is simply writing for the pleasure of it and, therefore, focuses on things he considers enjoyable: action and getting hot girls. While it was enjoyable at times, I am still uncertain whether I will read the next one.

I received this title for free in exchange for an unbiased review.
Morality rating- The Swordsman contains a threesome, explicit sex, language, and lots of violence.
#UrbanFantasy #Quirky #Adventure #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

Time Travel Harem Adventure

The Swordsman: A Pulp Harem Fantasy Adventure was written by Zack Archer. The audiobook is narrated by Chris Graves. The publishers summary really covers what the audiobook is about there should be no surprised listeners. This is pretty much straightforward male wish-fulfillment fantasy. There is nothing wrong with that. The time travel twist of dropping off the classic characters of Beowulf and giving him an evil foil who is an Alchemist named Mossheart makes for interesting adventures in Los Angles of 2018.

The story does hold the listener's attention but moves slowly through the first part of the audio performance. The main character Adam tends to slide from snarky over into complete waste of space at times. The other characters surviving out of their time were interesting. The harem part of the story was okay but not that big a part of the overall story. Just a scene tossed in here or there to keep Adam dragging along as there look to the next thing. The narration by Chris Graves was good this is the first performance that I have heard from this narrator and he did a solid job with the material he was provided with for this audio performance. There were some errors with the audio production it seemed like there were word breaks or missing words. It would draw me out of the story. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. Did you find this review helpful? If so, would you please take a moment and select the 'helpful' button below? Thanks so much!

think 90s action movie

I loved leaning back and relaxing to this book, it was nothing new, but it hit all the right spots to be an entirely enjoyable listen which is an art form in itself.
I will most definitely get the next book in the series :)

Chris Graves did s excellent job of voicing all of the characters and matching voices to personalities <3

I will certainly recommend...
reminds me of feeling I got first time I watched Expendables in the cinema, a wonderful action orgy that left me feeling jacked and content without setting any deep thoughts into motion