Audio Book Review: Greatshadow

Greatshadow

By:  James Maxey

Publish Date:  January 31, 2012, Audiobook Release May 29, 2017

Format:  Audiobook - 13 hrs 20 mins
Narrated By:  Jake Urry

Genre:  Fantasy

Series:  1st in Dragon Apocalypse series

Impression:  Entertaining adventure entwined with characters lives.

Synopsis:
Greatshadow is the primal dragon of fire, an elemental evil whose malign intelligence spies upon mankind through every candle flame, waiting to devour any careless victim he can claim.
The Church of the Book has assembled a team of twelve battle-hardened adventurers to slay the dragon once and for all. But tensions run high between the leaders of the team who view the mission as a holy duty and the super-powered mercenaries who add power to their ranks, who view the mission primarily as a chance to claim Greatshadow's vast treasure trove. If the warriors fail to slay the beast, will they doom mankind to death by fire?

First Sentence:
When Infidel grabbed me by the seat of my pants and charged toward the window, I didn't protest.

Purchase At:
Amazon  /  Barnes & Nobles  /  Book Depository

Audible

My Thoughts and Summary:

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

A cool addition in listening to the audiobook for me, we get small sound effects! There's a noise that matches the waterfall, lightly in the background to give us the feel of the story with the narration. I enjoyed the sly or laid back, knowing voice of the clientele at Black Swan that he used. Very fitting of the characters! I found I really enjoyed Jake as the narrator for this book. He felt to bring life to the words and characters as he spoke. When listening to audiobooks, sometimes a wonderful thing happens - you don't even know you are listening. Yep, it happened here. Jake told the story with what felt to be the characters personalities and lived in their emotions. This brings a book to a whole fourth dimension that's enjoyable for us.

We start off with seeing Stagger and Infidel in their full character as they escape a lava pygmy temple. How they escape says a lot about their personalities and friendship. Also gives us a action start to bring us into the world with them. I totally loved it. I was sold on the daring characters from the opening.

Infidel is one brutal woman! I love it! She's magically strong and seems to have no fear with her strength as she does withstand some heavy events and keeps on going. Infidel comes to a realization early in the book and grows from it as we move through events. Infidel feels to have been a person in need of healing, and didn't realize it until she lost one person dear to her. Wonderful writing for Infidel and her growth.

I very much enjoyed the story from the beginning. It's told from Stagger's view of things happening. I was pleasantly surprised at how well everything fits as we watch and experience with him. We interact with many different beings from Ogre to dwarf and magic inclined people. And of course, dragons. Very interesting world.

The story plot has an overall slower pace like traditional fantasy. But it's what happens in those moments that are amazing. Even though the plot is slower, the story is far from it. We get to see the world and know the characters through adventure and danger. There is magic and different beings present that we get to meet through actions. I even found I got to smile and chuckle at this story. When you meet Reeker and get to witness what he can do, you'll be smiling too. lol.

I found it interesting how the characters on the journey to kill Greatshadow have their lives intertwined with this adventure. We learn a great deal about them and face dangers as we journey, and I didn't realize that we were still working to get to the dragon. I didn't feel as though the book needed to skip ahead or anything. I truly enjoyed the story from the view point we got it. 

****If you found my thoughts helpful, please click Yes at Amazon and/or Audible. Thank you!

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About the Author: James Maxey
James Maxey’s mother warned him if he read too many comic books, they would warp his mind. She was right. Now an adult who can’t stop daydreaming, James is unsuited for decent work and ekes out a pittance writing down demented fantasies about masked women, fiery dragons, and monkeys. Oh god, so many monkeys.
​In an effort to figure out how Superman could fly, James read a lot of science, books by Carl Sagan and Stephen Jay Gould and Stephen Hawking. Turns out, Superman probably wasn’t based on any factual information. Who would have guessed? Realizing it was possible to write science fiction without being constrained by the actual rules of science proved liberating for James, and led to the psuedo-science fiction of the Bitterwood series, superhero novels like Nobody Gets the Girl, and the steam-punk visions of Bad Wizard.
​In 2015, James was honored as the Piedmont Laureate by the United Arts Councils representing Orange County, Durham County, and Wake County. This is almost certainly a sign of the ongoing cultural decay gripping the nation.
​James lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina with his lovely and patient wife Cheryl and too many cats.
Website⎮Blog⎮Goodreads⎮Amazon

About the Narrator: Jake Urry
Jake Urry has been narrating and producing Audiobooks since February 2016, and in that time has released 17 titles, including The Cryptic Lines by Richard Storry, White is the Coldest Colour by John Nicholl, and the PI Harlan Ulrich series by Ambrose Ibsen. His narration work is often dark and suspenseful, and he developing a reputation for Mysteries, Thrillers and Horrors. In 2017 Jake will be working on more work by John Nicholl and Richard Storry, along with a sprinkling of Fantasy adventures.
Website⎮Facebook⎮Twitter⎮SoundCloud