Tales from Ashen Falls cover art

Tales from Ashen Falls

A Prelude to the Eighth God

 Preview

Get 30 days of Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30-day free trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £6.99

Buy Now for £6.99

About this listen

Monsters are on the rise and Gods walk the streets of Ashen Falls in four stories that serve as a prelude to The Eighth God.

"Melress and The Fading Man"

A young half-elven boy is kidnapped by a children's nursery rhyme.

"The Doves Head Inn"

Someone wants to get their hands on The Doves loot, but they have to get past two bouncers to do it.

"Melress Investigates"

Something is killing residents of Ashen Falls, and a young Melress is found standing next to a body. Can the Battle Mage find the real culprit?

"The Scarecrow"

It's a foggy night in Ashen Falls, and soon monsters walk the streets led by a man with one thing on his mind - revenge!

©2016 Paul S. Lavender (P)2017 Paul S. Lavender Anthologies & Short Stories Dark Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction
All stars
Most relevant
Tales From Ashen Falls is an interesting collection of 4 short stories which serve to introduce various characters from Paul Lavender’s novel, The Eighth God. The stories in this collection are easy to get into, and each is a small slice of fun. Particularly amusing are the brothers Pock and Cock, who feature in the last 3 of the 4 stories. Their actions and banter make them something of a comic relief, and are ever so slightly reminiscent of R.A. Salvatore’s dwarf brothers, Ivan and Pikel Bouldershoulder (although Pock and Cock are far from dwarf-height and are considerably more foul-mouthed). If you don’t take these stories too seriously, and don’t get your knickers in a twist over the occasional questionable motivation or slight hiccup in the narrative, you should enjoy these stories if you like a bit of mystery, action, magic, and murder. As for the audio narration,
I expect I would have preferred to read the stories rather than listen to them, due to a string of very slight but frequent blunders by the narrator. That being said, the dialogue and narrative delivery did at times shine, particularly in the cases of Pock and Cock, so don’t be dissuaded from giving the audiobook a try for yourself.

Summary: If not for my issues with the narration (possibly subjective), I would likely have given this book 5 stars rather than 4, but it is certainly an enjoyable introduction and sets the tone for the series. The Eighth God is on my listen-to list, and I hope that the narrator has given more polish to the novel than he did to the short stories.

An enjoyable introduction to the series

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This collection of short stories had me laughing aloud one minute and gripped the next. Top notch. The narrator is very good - not so much that he overshadows the writing (as some of the top ones do) but a good range of voices that don’t detract from the great narrative.

Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Wizards

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
So this is the first audiobook I've listened to since I was a kid that wasn't a Postman Pat adventure. Gotta say, I'm extremely impressed, I'm not really one for audiobooks (probably the Postman Pat association) but Lavender's stories kept me gripped throughout. Although I would describe his writing primarily as epic fantasy, I found Lavender's writing to be heavy on the black comedy end of things, and considering the kind of setting for this collection of stories it works awesomely. Humour is extremely difficult to pull off in fantasy, or in any book really, but Lavender does a brilliant job with Tales from Ashen Falls, and I found myself skipping back to listen to certain lines. My favourite was 'The Dove's Head Inn', purely for the banter and dialogue between two characters. In short, this is a collection of grimly hilarious little fairy tale-esque stories that, if you're like me, will have you giggling as you listen to them unfold. The quality of Lavender's humour and writing is astounding, and does a solid job of hinting at the wider world of his work. Also worthy of note is Damien Brunetto, the narrator - very professional reading from him, and it contributes to a well rounded product. So, overall? 5/5, couldn't be anything else, it's been far too long since a book has made me laugh so much.

'And not because he had a footlong sub'

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.