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Aching God

Iconoclasts, Book 1

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Aching God

By: Mike Shel
Narrated by: Simon Vance
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Summary

Winner of 2019 Voice Arts Award, Audiobook Narration - Fantasy

"Closer, mortal. You are here, finally, to feed the Aching God...."

The days of adventure are passed for Auric Manteo. Retired to the countryside and isolated with his scars and riches, he no longer delves into forbidden ruins seeking dark wisdom and treasure. But just as old nightmares begin plaguing his sleep, he receives an urgent summons back to that old life.

To save his only daughter, he must return to the place of his greatest trauma: the haunted Barrowlands. Along with a group of inexperienced companions and an old soldier, he must confront the dangers of the ancient and wicked Djao civilization. He has survived fell beasts, insidious traps, and deadly hazards before. But how can he contend with the malice of a bloodthirsty living god?

©2018 Mike Shel (P)2018 Podium Audio Action & Adventure Dark Fantasy Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Sword & Sorcery

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Loved this. Was searching for ages for a dungeon crawl story that didn't sound like bad LitRPG. This is great. Well written, good characters. Can't wait for part 2. If you like D&D, Heroquest or Warhammer Quest you'll love this.

Well written, classic D&D adventure.

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Amazing! it's great to see a story that heavily uses classic RPG tropes but breathes life into them and makes them feel... genuine. All of the characters fit neatly into D&D classes- Sorcerer, Alchemist, Fighter and so on, but their characters are distinctive and likeable, and they all have organic places in the world. And there's also a heavy focus on dungeon delving, at least conceptually, but it makes sense within the setting and is really enjoyable to read about.

The writing style is also great- I love the colourful and often disturbing descriptions of characters and places, and the setting is wonderful, full of danger and mystery in a way I haven't really seen before.

As for the narrator, he has excellent gravitas, but not a great deal of vocal range, so the characters' voices all end up sounding a bit too similar for my liking but his voice is still great to listen to overall.

Highly Recommended!

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I finished this in only a couple of days. I would describe it as a dark twist on classic middle/high fantasy such as dungeons and dragons, which often can be a bit childish. I can't understate how gripped in the welfare of the characters written I was as they crawl through tomb and countryside , as well as the narrative in general. I was surprised to learn that the book is not well known or appreciated in niche circles, though it exists in my own now. I should also state that the book had very good world building which added to the narrative and character interactions beautifully. Not only that, it also paints wonderfully vivid characters, though I thought lumaris fell a little flat but it could be because she wasn't stand out by nature. Some of the characters actually had me giggle to myself at the dead of night, but the humour was so well balanced with gripping stakes. That would be the highest accolade I can assign the author as it must be very difficult to do so consistently. This book towers with and above any other that I have read, and if the author ever were to read this review I would have him know what a blessing he has created.

Surprised by its quality

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Good fantasy adventure story that thankfully lacks the cynicism a lot of modern fantasy writers feel they need to add. Simon Vance is excellent as ever. Will definitely continue this series.

Very enjoyable

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The Aching God was a fantastic book. I'd heard some really good things about it but hadn't had a chance to read it, so when the audiobook released last week I jumped on it straight away. First off, Simon Vance does an amazing job with the narration. Second, Mike Shel does a fantastic job writing the book.

The Aching God is set in a world where people frequently visit ancient temples to find treasure and ancient artifacts. One such expedition bought back an ancient artifact which is now causing a plague. A retired adventurer, Auric Manteo, is called back to return the artifact because basically everyone else is deathly ill, and thus begins the journey.

The world itself seems to be against Auric and the band of adventurers. At every turn, something or someone fights against them, and the journey to the ancient ruins is long and difficult. As such, the plot pretty much follows the adventurers on a quest sort of story, but there are plenty of twists, turns, and intrigues to keep the reader very interested in the book.

One of the really amazing parts of The Aching God is the worldbuilding. Mike Shel does some really great stuff here. Most people have a patron god who they call on to give them strength, magical abilities, healing powers, and a multitude of other things depending on which god they follow. There are some very interesting political machinations going on in the background: churches vying for more power, insane royals, and plenty more.

The characters are also really interesting. Some have previously experienced horrors in the tombs of ancient gods and it has seriously changed the way they view the world. It's quite evident how the characters change over the duration of their journey.

I really enjoyed The Aching God, and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys:

* Quest fantasy
* Worldbuilding
* Tomb Raider
* Grimdark fantasy

I also highly recommend listening to this book if you enjoy audiobooks. Simon Vance is an amazing narrator and my only issue with any of the narration is that it would occasionally remind me of characters from Lightbringer which Vance also narrates.

Great Story, Amazing Worldbuilding!

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