The Adventure Continues

Ancient Shadows is the second book in the Ancient Secrets Series of paranormal mysteries by best-selling author Joanne Pence and after I reviewed the first one, Ancient Echos, a few months ago, I was really curious to see what new adventures await our hero, renowned archeologist Michael Rempart.

The action picks up about one year after that of the previous book and it follows our main character and one of his close friends, as they try to uncover the secrets behind an ancient artifact, a pearl that gives its owner powers beyond belief, but the stone is evil and the price asked might be too high.

When a series of brutal murders leave dead a few well-known figures in the United States, the FBI gets involved in the investigation and one of the investigators has a serious reason to look beneath every unturned stone for connections between the deaths. The answer is in a photo taken long time ago and has to do with an old myth, a dying priest, the old Silk Road, and at the middle of all this is Michael Rempart and a few of his old and new friends. What follows is a breakneck race through some exotic locations and at every step their endeavors are foiled by malefic forces. I will not spoil the rest of this great story for you, as I think that you should discover it on your own.

Author Joanne Pence manages to deliver another unputdownable adventure, filled with lifelike characters, vivid locations and a few plot twists that will make you appreciate her writing style even more. I enjoyed very much the continued character arc for Michael Rempart and I am looking forward to the next books in this series.

The Audiobook version of Ancient Shadows is 8 hours and 31 minutes in length, and it is performed, like its predecessor, by talented voice over artist and narrator Tim Paige.

He delivers another solid narration, switching between voices with ease, keeping the characters well differentiated in the listener’s mind. Now he is a dying priest, now a frightened woman, now an excited guide or an maleficent spirit.

Tim Paige is great for this series and I hope to listen to him again performing the upcoming audiobooks.

Fans of Clive Cussler, James Rollins, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child should find these two adventures in the Ancient Secrets series very entertaining and satisfying.

Please vote helpful below if you liked this review and find more of them on theAudiobookBlog dot com
Thank you,
Victor

19 people found this helpful

Overall 3.5 rounded up to 4 :)

Well, the story is 3.5 stars, really...
I liked the first book in the series a lot - it was action- and mystery-packed; this installment feels much slower, in comparison.

The main plotline itself is well thought out, the mystery intriguing - an ancient pearl which turns out to be a powerful philosopher's stone comes into Michael's hands and now he's the one who has to fight powerful demons... Sounds great but there are some small things that make me rate the book 3.5 for the story. What are they? Well, there are a lot of dangers to escape, a lot of discoveries into the ancient history to make and a lot of journeying to do but somehow all of these don't feel as rushed and as urgent as the story in the previous book was. There are parts that simply drag on a bit, with all the explanations of the history and legend behind the pearl and Genghis Khan, and Marco Polo...There's also a woman character in tow - but she's not Charlotte; Charlotte was Michael's equal partner, this time the woman character seems to be a burden rather than help, at least for most of the time. Also, the demons, though truly cruel and vicious do not feel as bad and unpredictable as I feel they should (the unredictability of the previous book's otherwordly horrors turned out really hard to match, even for its creator:)).

But, with all these weaknesses, it's still a very good, engaging and gripping novel. We get to know a bit more about Michael and his partner, and about the pain Michael carries in his heart and soul. We travel around the world, getting to know some bits and pieces of ancient history, myths and legends of different nations (which I always like), and all that in a very good interpretation by Mr Paige. As with book no. 1, he's very good at conveying emotions, differentiating voices and taking the story to a higher level altogether.

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

4 people found this helpful

Ancient Shadows

This was a really good book!A bit of history and a lot of adventure! Tim Paige was a fine narrator. I was given this book by the narrator,author or publisher free for an honest review.

3 people found this helpful

Ancient Shadows review

The author Joanne Pence tells a unique story in Ancient Shadows. It's interesting, with unique characters and well worth the time. Five stars.

2 people found this helpful

A Review

Hmmmmm......
Involved. Deeply involved. Yet, seemly well researched, if most of the details are correct. It’s not a terrible or boring story. It just seemed to take a bit to get somewhere and there seemed to have a large number of characters involved in getting there.

1 person found this helpful

pretty good

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

So, I'll preface my review by saying I am starting the series with this book. That said, this book seems to be able to stand on its own fairly well. I suspect each book is an individual adventure centered around the main character. I'm sure there are elements that build on the previous book, but I was able to enjoy this book without it. The narration is done well and the story and characters were engaging. All in all, I enjoyed it and would definitely be open to more in the series.

1 person found this helpful

great adventure

Joanne Pence write a great story. It's starts strong and continues until the end. There's plenty of action as the story takes the main character to different parts of the world. Tim Paige does a very good job in narrating the story.

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

1 person found this helpful

Not bad, kept my interest.

nice follow up to first book. nice ending.
characters were interesting.kept me guessing.
easy listen.

Good story

The book started off a little slow but then the story picked up. In the end I enjoyed the story.

Great 2nd Book

The second book is a action pack adventure, easy to follow storylines. I highly recommend this book.