Audio Book Review: Earth's Requiem

Earth's Requiem

By:  Ann Gimpel

Publish Date:  March 1, 2015, Audiobook November 12, 2015

Format:  Audiobook - 10 hrs 4 mins
Narrated By:  Caroline McLaughlin

Genre:  Urban Fantasy

Series:  1st in Earth Reclaimed series

Impression:  Sex is the motive and drive for everything.

Synopsis:
Resilient, kickass, and determined, Aislinn's walled herself off from anything that might make her feel again. Until a wolf picks her for a bond mate and a Celtic god rises out of legend to claim her for his own.

Aislinn Lenear lost her anthropologist father high in the Bolivian Andes. Her mother, crazy with grief that muted her magic, was marched into a radioactive vortex by dark creatures and killed. Three years later, stripped of every illusion that ever comforted her, twenty-two year old Aislinn is one resilient, kickass woman with a take no prisoners attitude. In a world turned upside down, where virtually nothing familiar is left, she’s conscripted to fight the dark gods responsible for her father’s death. Battling evil on her own terms, Aislinn walls herself off from anything that might make her feel again in this compelling dystopian urban fantasy.

Fionn MacCumhaill, Celtic god of wisdom, protection, and divination has been laying low since the dark gods stormed Earth. He and his fellow Celts decided to wait them out. After all, three years is nothing compared to their long lives. On a clear winter day, Aislinn walks into his life and suddenly all bets are off. Awed by her courage, he stakes his claim to her and to an Earth he's willing to fight for.

Aislinn’s not so easily convinced. Fionn’s one gorgeous man, but she has a world to save. Emotional entanglements will only get in her way. Letting a wolf into her life was hard. Letting love in may well prove impossible.

First Sentence:
Aislinn tried to stop it, but the vision that had dogged her for over a year played in her head.

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My Thoughts and Summary:
*This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com, at my request.

Aislinn has come to the attention of the Dark Ones for her unique blend of Mage and Seeker blood. They want her to produce their offspring. The Lemurians, who use the people with magic remaining on Earth to their needs, offer to help Aislinn. They open their doors to their city to Aislinn, which they don't do to humans, to help prepare her against the Dark Ones. Through the journey to Taltos, Aislinn starts to evolve into more. The Lemurian leave her on the land to allow her more time to discover her talents, as she's starting to show evidence of all five magics present in her.

This is my first time listening to Caroline's narration. At first I thought she was speaking a bit fast, but I think it's the information we get at diving into a new world. I have to pick up what the world is like and the "rules" at which people live by here. Caroline does slight tone differences to easily differentiate those that are speaking. Caroline's voice became Aislinn and Finn for me. She did a few different tone differences for males and females, and also to sound different for Rune the wolf and Bella the Raven. There is personality and attitude when they start to heighten.

We have two prologues. I thought it was a bit strange, but with telling the story of two character's histories it leads to two prologues. One of Aislinn and what happened to her father and then mother. The other is of Rune's previous bond mate, which we learn later what we don't know at this time.

I feel like a lot of information in the beginning, but we got some pieces of the information yet again in the first chapter. Like Aislinn's alive because she can do magic. I figured so with what we were told of the human race then again in the first prologue of Aislinn and her mom.

The story is a blend of Celtic fantasy with dystopian feel to the world as alien beings, Gods, took over. Aislinn is one that finds herself more than she ever imagined and with Celtic gods that help pull the humans remaining together to fight for their world. All this, and blend in sex as the undercurrent to everything.

This story has more of a sexual content than I was expecting. Ugh. The whole book is all about sex. And not necessarily good sex to boot. The gods sleep with woman and did experiments on them when first emerged. The dark gods presence are strong in the sexual sensations to all around them when they are near. Aislinn fights with her bodies wants when they are around. Even when come cross the ghost of skeletons of the dead humans, one gropes Aislinn. I didn't think this was needed. Even a line when she sleeps with one man, it's cheesy. A dragon and minotaur? In the midst of finished battle. Yes. Granted the Dark God was stopped for now, but he could return at any time. And all the friends are missing. But the desire of not being laid in hundreds of years had to be sated at this moment.

This isn't a bad thing, but definitely not what I was expecting when going into the book. I feel like the sensual moments the characters spend together are just that. Moments of sex. I didn't feel the build up and connection between them. Just wham bam thank you ma'am. The first few sex scenes felt clunky and not to have a smooth lead in. They feel as though they were put in because sex was needed. Fine, the gods use sex to entice and take peoples lives and there's a lingering need after the spells touch that Aislinn needs to sate. Aislinn and Finn, the connection grows to be more. But with the Dark Ones, there are other ways to convince people to do as they want, other than magic to spike their sexual drive. Well, I guess the Old Ones (the Lemurians) are known to use those other methods. It didn't work for me. Others it may work well for as many people loved the book and story. Check out Goodreads as there are many.

The second half of the book is when things took off for me, for the good. The story deepens as we learn of connections and potential plans of the Lemurians and their connection to the Dark Ones. There is sex but it feels as it fits now.

As the storyline and potential has a great grasp, this isn't my kind of read. The fact that everything is about sex just puts me off because there could be so much more here in this world.



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