A Ritual of Bone

The Dead Sagas, Book 1

By: Lee C. Conley

Narrated by: RJ Bayley

Only valor and steel can stand against the rising dead.

Arnar is a land of warriors, its people as stalwart as the stones themselves. In a land of dark forests and ancient hill forts, a forgotten evil is awoken by curious minds.

The great histories and the sagas say nothing of this evil, long passed from the memory of even the studious scholars of the college. For centuries, the scholars of Arnar have kept these records and preserved the knowledge and great deeds of a proud people. The story of these people is, forever, chronicled in the sagas of the great histories.

But now, the evil spreads, and the dead walk in its wake. Terrible creatures roam the night, and even the spirits are restless. The Dead Sagas could, perhaps, be the final chapters of these great records.

Many threads entwine to tell this saga, interweaving the tales of those who played their part in the search for answers and, ultimately, their fight for survival. Amid plague, invasion and terror, the inexorable rise of the dead sends a kingdom scrabbling to its knees.

This dark fantasy epic combines dark malign horror and gritty survival adventure as the dead sagas unfold in a world where honor and renown is all, where beasts and savages lurk in the wilderness, and where sword, axe, and shield are all that stand between the living and the grasping hands of the dead.

©2018 Lee C. Conley (P)2020 Lee C. Conley

Solid Fantasy/Horror Mishmash

Rating: 7.5/10

Thanks to the author for a listening copy of A Ritual of Bone (The Dead Sagas #1) for review consideration. This did not influence my thoughts or opinions.

A Ritual of Bone is very much a fantasy/horror mishmash that sends The Elder Scrolls and The Walking Dead on a date, and brings Vikings on as a third-wheel. It is an enjoyable romp that has several flashes of brilliance, boasts an enjoyable cast of characters, and is perfect for those looking for more necromancy on their fantasy sundae.

Like everyone else reading this novel, Conley is a new author to me and I had no clue what I was getting myself into. We have followed one another on social media for some time and I believe SPFBO has something to do with it, but I grabbed his debut on Amazon some time ago and it has unfortunately been sitting on my shelf since. When I received the opportunity to give it a listen (which always pushes books up the TBR for those wondering), I jumped in straight away.

Now, since this is Lee’s debut, I did go in expecting some “rookie” mistakes when it comes to writing style, editing/proofing needs, etc. While I do believe A Ritual of Bone could have been a bit higher on the rating scale had it been professionally edited, I can understand how expensive that can be for a self-pub author. I’ve seen cost estimates for cover art, design, proofing, edits, and so forth; they aren’t cheap. That being said, there were several times certain tidbits of info were repeated rather closely to one another, leading to sections of the book being a bit too wordy. I did like enjoy his prose style with that exception as it really gave a sense of tracking through a dense, fog-ridden forest with a constant feeling of unease and being watched.

Lee also really gives you a connection with his characters through vivid portrayal of themselves, their motivations, and their plights. Bjorn is probably the character that stood out the most, but each storyline kept me intrigued as they all began to culminate the further you ventured in the novel.

Lastly, I really enjoyed RJ Bayley’s narration. A new name to me but one to keep an eye on. My only critique would be that, if you are going to narrate several POVs in one novel, make sure to differentiate the voices enough to where they don’t begin to mesh together. I do hope he continues to narrate the rest of this saga as he does have an excellent voice for it.

Highly Recommend

Mysterious, filled with horror, and suspenseful as hell. It also had a great narrator!

Phenomenal!!

This is an absolutely terrifying and grisly twist on the zombie genre from Lee Conley. The pacing was perfect and the ever-present suspense kept me from wanting to listen after dark! The world-building, depth of characters, and writing style is especially impressive for a debut novel. Each scene was expertly choreographed and gruesomely vivid. The constant presence of hope and heartbreak only adds to the tension. The details involving necromancy, disease, and how these things can begin to spread were well-thought out and executed. RJ Bayley is a very good narrator, lending his range of voices and well-timed cadence to the audiobook. I was drawn in by this story and have many questions that I hope will be resolved by the end of the saga. I’m already on Book 2 and anxiously awaiting Book 3.

Fanasty with Zombies!

Medieval Fanasty with Zombies! What's not to like. I loved this book! You Must Read It!

really enjoyed this book

really enjoyed this book. i love the fantasy/horror genre mash up. the characters are great but the story is even better.. highly recommend if you like dark fantasy or grimdark

Zombies in a Norse style fantasy!

The audiobook is narrated by R.J. Bayley, who has an excellent, dramatic voice which conveys tension brilliantly. I really appreciated all of the different voices he gave the characters. Trude, Nym and other females were just high pitched and feminine enough to be believable and my favourite was the rich throaty accent given to Bjorn the hunter/tracker. Occasionally the narrator sounds like Sean Bean – particularly at one point when he spits out the word “Bastard!”, which made me chuckle. I prefer fantasy narration to be with a British accent – I tend to get more distracted when the narrator has an American accent. So R.J. Bayley was perfect for this.

Zombies + Vikings = worked for me

Honestly, I don’t read much zombie fiction. I know I have a pretty low tolerance for horror, so I tend to avoid certain elements that could be lurking to scare me. Saying that, I am glad that I read A Ritual of Bone by Lee Conley. That is not to say that it was not scary. Heavens no!

Given my limited perspective on zombie lore, this book felt like a comfortable blend of several aspects that might be under-represented: 1) the origins of the outbreak, 2) existence among those infect of a spectrum of change, and 3) the possibility of morality and communication on the part of the zombies. Maybe I’m naïve and these are all somewhat common, but for me as a zombie novice, they were a welcome departure from what I was expecting. These (and more) are what kept me turning the pages though the scary bits (figuratively, since it was an audiobook, which was well done, but I digress …)

1. I enjoyed hearing the tales of the university masters and their apprentices who are exploring the use of dark magic to reanimate life. To me this gave a greater context for what was going on. It also gave me a clear person toward which I could direct my anger.

2. The story explained that a person injured by a zombie (by bite or otherwise), might never show signs of changing, while others might have changed more quickly or slowly than expected. This was an intriguing twist that created a high amount of uncertainty and suspense.

3. Similarly to the last point, it seemed that some of those infected held onto more of their humanity and resisted the savage nature. Some could communicate or express some morality. Why is this? Can they be redeemed? This opens it up for a lot of possibilities.

I also don’t reach much Viking-type stories. This is more of a preference. So, while I am not (in general) a fan of zombie or Viking stories, they strangely seemed to fit in this book. I certainly stayed engaged and curious all the way through.

I would certainly recommend this for anyone who is looking for something a little different. 4.2/5 stars.

(Thanks to the author for sending a copy of the audiobook. Very generous and appreciated.)