Cloaked in Shadow

Dragori Series, Book 1

By: Ben Alderson

Narrated by: Shaun Grindell

Zacriah Trovirn is concerned with two things in life: hunting and dodging Petrer, the boy who broke his heart.

Heartbreak becomes a distant concern when Zacriah is taken to the Elven capital of Thessolina, where he is forced into King Dalior's new legion of shapeshifters. But Zacriah isn't a shapeshifter. In truth, he doesn't know what he is.

Zacriah joins forces with new friends and they soon find themselves embroiled in a clash between the three Elven continents. With war on the horizon, Zacriah must learn to use his latent power to fight and protect those he loves before they are destroyed.

©2017 Ben Alderson (P)2018 Tantor

So fun!

Very fun and easy to fall into. I read another review that said the narrator sounded like William Shatner and wow I cannot unhear it. It wasn’t as noticeable in the second half and didn’t hinder my enjoyment that much.

Interesting story, awful narration.

The story is interesting and pulls you in. Not everything is explained, but it's good like that, making you wonder and guess and draw your own conclusions. I'm assuming they'll explain more about the Druids in book 2. Also, is the King controlling everyone, or are some characters just dicks? Really makes you wonder. The romance aspect of the story is tangental and well done in my opinion; not the focus, but still relevant to the overall story. The MC isn't annoying or awful, but he isn't amazing or anything. The star of the show is Prince Hadrian. All in all, I really liked this book. My only complaint is the narrator. He has a really annoying way of speaking that keeps breaking the immersion. Imagine someone doing a really bad impression of Captain Kirk from Star Trek - that's what he sounds like. It's grating. I have to keep forcing myself to ignore how he talks and to pay attention to the story, but then I'm back to only hearing how he talks and not to what he's saying. Oof. It gets really rough at times. I kept hoping I'd get used to it and zone out, but no, never happened. Stayed just as bad throughout the whole book. And it's weird because whenever he's voicing dialogue his voice goes normal and he sounds fine, so all the characters sounds perfectly great. Then the narration starts again and you're like, "Damnit Captain!" Either way, if you can handle the narrator, it's an interesting book.

very good read

loved the characters, especially main. Petrer confused me a bit. He seemed very protective and kind, though we knew he did something to hurt Zachriah from the start. but he became quite horrid. guess it does happen though.

A great book!

I really love everything about this book and it’s so cute because HE CALLS HIM PETAL!

Mostly feels like a prologue

I admit, my expectations for the book were somewhat higher. I always get excited about lgbt fantasy. The cover art is gorgeous and the review score is high. But it turned out to have a very slow start and be slow in general, until chapter 30, or so. Then, it's a whirlwind of things. That's why most of the book feels like a very long prologue. But I was determined to see it through.

The worldbuilding is not very rich or interesting for the bigger part of the story. But the romance turned out quite okay. It feels refreshingly ordinary, without dramatics, and entangles with the plot well, without overshadowing anything. The relationship is a comfortable one, without trying too hard. I liked that, despite a few flirty lines that fell flat.

The narrator, unfortunately, did not add to the experience. I don't think he was the best choice for this particular book.

The plot, writing and characters are mostly steadily average. All of it has a good foundation, but not much on top of it to engage the reader and evoke emotion. A lot of the things you can see coming from a mile away, but it takes so long for the story to get there.

A surprisingly good story but narration suffers.

This was my first foray into the realm of fantasy mixed with same-sex romance. What I expected was a decent story that was basically life support for a bit of male romance. What I got was a surprisingly engaging story that had me always listening "just a few more minutes" that just happens to include the kind of romantic entanglements you might find in many fantasy novels, just with an LGBTQ+ spin on it. The biggest problem I have with the audiobook version is the narrator suffers from Shatner-itis. That is to say, his pacing and emphasis on the middle and end of every sentence sounds very much like a parody of William Shatner's hammy acting. The thing is, he doesn't do this when he's reading dialogue so I'm not sure why he does it during the narration. Once you map out his patterning where he places emphasis right at the middle and end of every sentence, you can't unhear it. But, audiobooks are one of the best ways for me to take in some leisurely reading since my actual book reading is often for professional reasons. The narration isn't SO bad that it ruins the experience but it is enough to pull one star from the overall rating. All in all, it's a really engaging story and the flirtations between characters are delightfully adorable. If you're looking for a fantasy tale that includes male same-sex romance, definitely give this one a try.

Made a 10 hour road trip feel like 3

I loved this audio book so much!! I was on a 10 hour road trip back home after camping for a week and honestly the trip went by so fast because I was getting sucked in to this story. Definitely going to be getting the other books in the series

saw the author on tic tok and was not disappointed

I loved this book so much, i just wish we got more development between the two MC's. cant wait to see what happens in book 2!

Slow start but worth the wait

This story started slow, and I won’t lie I almost stopped it many times. However by chapter 10 I was hooked. The overall story building and world sucked me and now I’m currently checking out the other two in the series.

The romance

This was the best book I have ever listened to in the last four years