By: Harmon Cooper
Publish Date: September 25, 2019, Audiobook Release December 17, 2019
Format: Audiobook - 10 hrs 25 mins
Narrated By: Andrea Parsneau
Genre: Fantasy
Series: 1st in series
Impression: Light and dark in gamer view.
Synopsis:
Lucian North is supposed to be dead.
Suffering from a rare heart condition that doctors say should have killed him over a year ago, Lucian is playing a video game when Death finally comes.
Rather than give in, Lucian pulls a gun on the Grim Reaper.
As the two stare each other down, terrible demons known as injuresouls swarm into the room in pursuit of Death.
Summoning courage he never knew he had, Lucian comes to Death's aid. And for his troubles, he is awarded Death's Mantle.
Transported to a spiritual world he could have never fathomed, Lucian finds that he is instantly powerful, able to conjure weapons from scratch and perform incredible feats. He introduces game mechanics to his new role, develops a carefully curated inventory list, and modifies a HUD system that allows him to better track his targets.
It isn’t easy being Death, and Lucian will need just about everything he can get as he faces off against fallen angels, appalling parasites, demon-born injuresouls, and savage Death Hunters.
Regardless of his sudden strength, his newfound enemies, and his gamer ingenuity, Lucian can't communicate with the living, which wouldn't be a problem if he hadn’t discovered something terrible about his family...
Lucian’s brother is scheduled to die, and only Lucian has the power to do anything about it.
Death’s Mantle is a dark fantasy GameLit novel that LitRPG, metaphysical fantasy, occult sci-fi, and thriller readers will love. Death’s Mantle is written by Harmon Cooper, bestselling GameLit author of Way of the Immortals, House of Dolls, Cherry Blossom Girls, The Feedback Loop and Monster Hunt NYC. It was inspired by the anime Parasyte, the comic book series Sandman and Spawn, the books On a Pale Horse and the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
First Sentence:
Any day could have been Lucian North's last day on Earth.
Purchase At:
Amazon
Audible
My Thoughts and Summary:
*I was given this free review copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
Andrea does a great job of voicing each character with different voices. Wow. There's great differences and great detail in each characters voice. I enjoyed the variety found between the characters. I did listen at 1.4 speed, which felt to go well with the narration. The audio sounded clean and clear and full of life with the characters emotions.
Lucian has a rare heart condition. He's lived beyond his time the doctor gave him, and his last day arrives. When he sees Death's arrival he is ready to stand up to him, and ends up helping to save Death. Lucian is the given Death's position. Now Lucian gets to help people pass on by removing the parasite that's feeding off of them and prolonging their life.
This is a very interesting concept! I like learning the basics with Lucian as he learns what Death does along with those that will try to kill Death. The twist of being Death and seeing things as a gamer's view is very interesting. I really enjoyed this creation.
The story starts right in with Lucian and how he gets to the LitRPG world. No delay in learning, we get there ASAP. There were moments I wasn't sure where the story was going as we see Lucian visit his family and go through moments with them as he's in his new position. I know he's worried about his brother, Connor, and wants to help him. But I feel as though we are living through life's moments and not in a story. We then get direction, to help Connor and to find Old Death and bring him home.
Along the way, Lucian powers up and learns about the parasites in the world. Lucian also learns about other beings; Deaths, Lifes (angels), Fallen Angels, and more that can harm him. Lucian has a way about him to make a few friends along the way too. I enjoy these friends and what they bring to the story with information on how things work.
As I listened to the book, I started to feel as Lucian does about death. I understand his questions, and I had my own start to pop up about the position of death and details. It felt like death was turned into a job and wasn't personal, or even a game. When I started to think about this I wondered if the gamer style detail view Lucian makes is what brings it to feel this way. Maybe the gamer view isn't the best for something that feels so personal.
I found I wanted to be with these people in their last moments, as they pass on. It feels like death is so lonely.
I liked the concept of using a gaming system setup with what is a reality for the character. If there's more in the world, I'd be curious to see where things go with all the characters.
About the Author:
Harmon Cooper is a prolific Amazon best-selling author of 50 science fantasy books and counting. He was one of the earliest authors to bring GameLit to the West. His most popular series include Way of the Immortals, House of Dolls, Cherry Blossom Girls, The Feedback Loop and Monster Hunt NYC. Originally from Austin, Texas, Cooper was a musician before transitioning to world traveler and writer, spending five years in Asia honing his writing skills, wanderlusting, studying languages, and teaching English. He now lives in New England (and loves it!) with his wife. www.harmoncooper.com.
Andrea does a great job of voicing each character with different voices. Wow. There's great differences and great detail in each characters voice. I enjoyed the variety found between the characters. I did listen at 1.4 speed, which felt to go well with the narration. The audio sounded clean and clear and full of life with the characters emotions.
Lucian has a rare heart condition. He's lived beyond his time the doctor gave him, and his last day arrives. When he sees Death's arrival he is ready to stand up to him, and ends up helping to save Death. Lucian is the given Death's position. Now Lucian gets to help people pass on by removing the parasite that's feeding off of them and prolonging their life.
This is a very interesting concept! I like learning the basics with Lucian as he learns what Death does along with those that will try to kill Death. The twist of being Death and seeing things as a gamer's view is very interesting. I really enjoyed this creation.
The story starts right in with Lucian and how he gets to the LitRPG world. No delay in learning, we get there ASAP. There were moments I wasn't sure where the story was going as we see Lucian visit his family and go through moments with them as he's in his new position. I know he's worried about his brother, Connor, and wants to help him. But I feel as though we are living through life's moments and not in a story. We then get direction, to help Connor and to find Old Death and bring him home.
Along the way, Lucian powers up and learns about the parasites in the world. Lucian also learns about other beings; Deaths, Lifes (angels), Fallen Angels, and more that can harm him. Lucian has a way about him to make a few friends along the way too. I enjoy these friends and what they bring to the story with information on how things work.
As I listened to the book, I started to feel as Lucian does about death. I understand his questions, and I had my own start to pop up about the position of death and details. It felt like death was turned into a job and wasn't personal, or even a game. When I started to think about this I wondered if the gamer style detail view Lucian makes is what brings it to feel this way. Maybe the gamer view isn't the best for something that feels so personal.
I found I wanted to be with these people in their last moments, as they pass on. It feels like death is so lonely.
I liked the concept of using a gaming system setup with what is a reality for the character. If there's more in the world, I'd be curious to see where things go with all the characters.
About the Author:
Harmon Cooper is a prolific Amazon best-selling author of 50 science fantasy books and counting. He was one of the earliest authors to bring GameLit to the West. His most popular series include Way of the Immortals, House of Dolls, Cherry Blossom Girls, The Feedback Loop and Monster Hunt NYC. Originally from Austin, Texas, Cooper was a musician before transitioning to world traveler and writer, spending five years in Asia honing his writing skills, wanderlusting, studying languages, and teaching English. He now lives in New England (and loves it!) with his wife. www.harmoncooper.com.
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