Synopsis
She was a shadow.
Forced into a life of serving the queendom before she was old enough to deny them, Brandi was a cultivator of death and the queen’s own blade, reserved only for the disloyal and the blasphemous. Crafted by the queendom and forged in blood, she was nothing more than a tool. She was never meant to have an opinion on whose blood she shed — never meant to question whose back she was pressed into or whose throat she was slipped across.
She was destruction.
But when Freya, the goddess of life and judger of souls, demands that she protect rather than destroy, Brandi has no choice but to obey her new orders. And while abandoning the queendom comes with its own set of problems, being hunted by the people she once called family is the least of her worries when the gods reveal to her an enemy who exists beyond the reach of their power. So, with a helpless princess in tow, she begins her search for a way to fight this impossible enemy and save the realm from destruction.
Because she is the wrath of the gods.
And it was foolish for anyone to forget that.
Review
I received this to review for the Indie Ink Awards for best narration. Aure Nash did a fantastic job that I really enjoyed. In particular, the voices she did for the gods had these larger than life, almost ethereal edits on them. And it’s always a big plus when a voice actor does male or female voices and nails them all.
This one features great representation as well. Black fantasy with lush character designs and cultures. Dreads and braids as well as great descriptors on the variety of skin tones really sells the world as diverse and rich. So not only is this indie, but it’s also representation, and I think we all need to read more.
I did listen through this one while going through some personal changes, so I am afraid I was a bit distracted. So let me just point that out, and maybe take some of this with a grain of salt. I feel like I may owe it a re-listen at some point.
However, I found myself slipping in and out of the story throughout. In the beginning I was locked in, but the kind of meandering pace and continued scenes of intervention from the gods kind of made this one lack stakes.
For me, the characters read pretty much the same as when they started. They may have come to some realizations, but I didn’t feel as if they actually grew. And the intervention of the gods kind of made what little action there was fall a little flat. I didn’t feel like I had to worry about the characters not surviving, and the action was cool when it happened, so I wish there was more.
I was a little upset that this one didn’t exactly work for me, I was excited for it, and the audio was well done. Still, it could be exactly what you’re looking for!
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