Through the Last Door

Sacred Guardian, Book 1

By: J.A. Jaken

Narrated by: Dan Calley

Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

When Kaori Sansa’s father dies, he is forced to return home to claim the throne as the rightful heir of the country of Kazure. In the aftermath of his father’s death, he learns that the country he loves is riddled with corruption, and is hovering on the brink of war.

Will he be able to hold the kingdom together despite the odds that are stacked against it and, somehow, unlock the buried powers of Shinja, the Sacred Beast of Kazure?

Sacred Guardian, book one

©2018 J.A. Jaken (P)2021 J.A. Jaken

Perfection

The narration was amazing. The storyline of fantasy, intrigue and romance was top notch. I need the next one in audio format immediately please.

Fantastic

Epic fantasy at it best with intrigue and romance. Loved it! Dan Calley was spot on with the narrative!

Ye Olde Shogunate Japanese style Fantasy yarn

This epic offers a whole new fantasy world to explore. And this time we don’t follow a peasant or even a minor noble. Here the main character Kaori is the scion of the royal family. This epic initially had the feel of Dune, but as many reviewers have said… with a Shogunate Japanese aspect. That Japanese feel is muted quite a bit when read & voiced by Dan Calley in his variety of regionally English accents.

As a young and unproven sovereign, Kaori resolves to visit the outlying provinces of his new realm and assure the border lords that he understands and appreciates their interests. Accompanied by several of his friends and bodyguards, this trip soon becomes more than he expected.

To call this a slow-burn is a colossal understatement. It’s sixteen chapters (5+ hours of audio-book) before the phrase “relationships between men” is even spoken, and over 30 chapters before we get past a simple snogging. To be sure, there is a slow burning M/M relationship at the heart of this saga, but it’s not expressed primarily in the bedroom. Though rest assured it is finally achieved.

The world building here is superb, and woven into the tale seamlessly, seldom interrupting the present time action. Kaori, the main character, seems hopelessly naive and trusting at times, and yet it’s probably that quality that has surrounded him with such a supportive cadre of supporting characters. Yes, there ARE a few villains, but most of the main character’s trust is not misplaced.

Note: There are plot elements that deal with child slavery and some may find this harrowing, but its not outside the norm for this style of sword and sorcery style fantasy tale.

Dan Calley does his usual, capable job with both the narration and giving voice to the various characters in the tale. There were a few British pronunciations that seemed jarring to my fully American ear, but that is easily made up for with the wonderful voice acting for all of the main characters and supporting cast.

I’m not sure if he was even aware of it at the time, but Calley does manage to pick somewhat annoying, weaselly voice characterizations for the real villains. That gave an odd sort of foreshadowing to the tale.

At 13+ hours this is one of the longest audio-books I’ve listened to, and one of the first where I noticed the Audible Cloud reader hang up while “buffering” from time to time. I’m not sure if it’s common in longer books, but simply closing the audible reader and reopening it seemed to consistently solve the problems.

Knowing the nature of this tale, I think it would make an ideal road book for a long drive. I’ll be sure to bring this (or possibly the sequel if it’s been released on audio-book by then) along on my next long road trip.

*** Free copy of this title provided to the reviewer in hopes of a fair and impartial review***

Excellent Plot, Perfect Narration

I have wanted to read this book for some time now, but because of poor eyesight, I had to wait until it became available in audio.

It was definitely worth the wait. Dan Calley did a wonderful job of narrating the voices of the different characters. I love the world building here, along with a decent balance between plot and sex. I enjoy when an author can keep me guessing, too, as to who the traitor really is.

I don't like spoilers so I can't say too much more other than I am glad I listened to the audio. Reading the book would have been good, but the story came to life with Dan's narration. I highly recommend it.

And I can't wait to hear more of Dan's narration in this series.

Excellent narration, loved it!

Audiobook Review by Mel
Narrator Dan Calley will charm fantasy lovers with his deep baritone voice and his amazing ability to construe dark fiction, romance from epic fantasy. His gripping delivery of book one of four in the Sacred Guardian series by J.A. Jaken spellbinds and mesmerize at a steady, but steep incline through the kingdom. I listened at 1.3 speed. The main thread of the plot is about Kaori Sansa’s travels through the kingdom of Kazure to get the lay of the land. After his father died unexpectedly he inherits a sparkling new throne. Called back home, from university, instead of flopping into the thrown and being a useless puppet, he makes the brave and intelligent decision to go explore and meet the inhabitants of the country all the while securing and solidifying friendships while weeding out the foes.

The author wrote easy visualized scenes consisting of monster bugs, wars, and political upheaval. The world-building was amazingly detailed and the character development morphed with the plot, which intrigued as well as stir emotional investment. Other than the subtle slow burn romance between Kaori and Hunter, the main subject that drove my interest was Shinja, the dragon. The big reveal, especially the aftermath felt a little anticlimactic like it was just one of those things, nothing special. Another negative observation is that it seems Kaori left for university for fifteen years instead of just three. But, overall I appreciated the valiant attempt, we need more epic fantasy audiobooks in the male/male LGBTQIA+ genre.

I will definitely listen to the rest of the series.

I do recommend this audiobook to fantasy lovers.

Happy Listening

Amazing

Wow. All I can say is wow. This story is so amazing contrary to the rough coverart, I’m glad I didn’t pass over this one for it, the world just pulls you in. It was hard to get a good grasp of the characters and time period in the first couple of chapters. Honestly the time/era is never explained so you just kind of have to guess. That’s probably my only complaint. While I wish there was more romance overall , im glad the story focused on an actual plot and not just comedic smut. This is by far my favorite lgbt fantasy book.

Test of Valour

At over 13 hours, this book is epic. It tells of a young university student thrown into the role of leader upon the untimely death of his father. Kaori Sensa is ill-prepared for this position and had believed he had time. He quickly realizes he will be afforded none. As High Lord, he is expected to rule over a vast kingdom. This book is a quest of sorts – he must learn about his people. In the process, of course, he learns about himself.

His adventures are interesting as he solves riddles, solves crimes, and generally brings to light some of the criminal elements of his people. Sometimes it pushed credulity that this young man could find solutions no one else saw, but that’s part of the magic. There are fantasy elements, to be sure, but they aren’t as prominent than in other books I’ve read. There is a timelessness to this tale as all epic quests are.

Kaori’s one blind spot is his affection for Hunter. He knows nothing of this guard who is just always there. Hunter’s backstory is revealed as this book has the dual point of view and it’s tragic and disturbing to be sure. As the men spend time together, Kaori admits his attraction to his bodyguard. But how will that work? He is expected to marry and produce an heir. Well, there’s a clever solution to that which I really liked.

I love Dan Calley as a narrator, and he was one of the reasons I tackled this book. His voice worked in this story and I loved how he brought the words to life. Apparently this is the first in a series which surprised me since the resolution felt true. Ah well, I’m intrigued to see where it goes next.

J A Jaken

Both the book and the audio were great! I am so happy I found this author.

A Fantastic Book!

I loved this book. The narration was great. The story kept me interested all the way through. it was well worth my time.

Through the last door

Thank you for the ARC, I voluntarily give this book an honest review.  Listing to this story was made more entertaining with Dan Calley amazing talent at bring all the creative characters to life. Kaori returns home as the newly appointed High Lord with the title comes the wieght of the kingdom. corruption was all around in the form of the proper ladies are paraded by someone wanting something only his shadow Hunter was the one he could trust but could he trust Hunter in more then just protecting his life.  Ooh a mystical Beast to help save his home. Yes please and Thank you.