Dreams of the Dying: The Dark Corners of Our Minds

The Twelfth World, Book 1

By: Nicolas Lietzau

Narrated by: Ben Britton, Dave Fennoy

The Music Edition edition of this audiobook comes enhanced with the occasional and subtle use of a soundtrack specifically composed for this novel by German film composer Marvin Kopp. For the non-music edition, please buy the Standard Edition instead.

Years after a harrowing war experience, ex-mercenary Jespar tre Moreste has taken to drifting. It’s a lonely existence, but barring the occasional bout of melancholia, he has found the closest thing to peace a man like him deserves. Life is “all right.”

Or so he believes. Hoping to turn the page, Jespar accepts a mysterious invitation into the beautiful but dangerous archipelago of Kilay—and everything changes. Plagued by boiling social tensions and terrorism, the tropical empire is edging ever closer to civil war. Kilay’s merchant king is the only person able to prevent this catastrophe, but he has fallen into a preternatural coma—and it’s Jespar’s task to figure out what or who caused it. As the investigation takes him across the archipelago and into the king’s nightmares, unexpected events not only tie Jespar’s own life to the mystery but also unearth inner demons he believed to be exorcised long ago.

Battling old trauma while fighting for his life, his sanity, and the fate of Kilay, the line between dream and reality blurs until only one question remains: If your mind is the enemy, where do you run?

A slow-burning, riveting blend of fantasy, mystery, and psychological horror, Dreams of the Dying is a deep exploration of mental illness, morality, and the dark sides of humanity.

©2020 Nicolas Lietzau-Schreiber (P)2023 Nicolas Lietzau-Schreiber

Voice acting was impeccable, especially The Man

I stalked this book for a while and expected it to be good. It was not.
It was bloody marvelous!!!

Powerfully haunting, worth several re-reads

An epic tale exploring everything from philosophy, class, culture, deep psychology and putting a powerful spin on supernatural horror. I cannot recommend this story enough. The performances and music in the audiobook make for a cinematic feeling to the colorfully painted 12th World.

mostly good

This book was pretty good, but it stayed to close to one of my most hated tropes/ genre. 4/5 were good but the 100 pages were from a sloppy romantasy,

Really good

I love is writing style the pacing and the way that twists often happen he did it in the game and in the book unlike most worlds almost anything can happen in the world of Vyn

Fantastic

Really great story nuanced and compelling characters very dark not for the weak or the soft.

Wow

Such a beautiful story about persevering, even though how hard and crooked the road is, rather than giving up. The performance by both narrators was spectacular (I often find myself getting too carried away during work, lmao). My only regret is that I should’ve read this book sooner.

Brought here by Enderal

I found my way to this book because of the author’s involvement with Enderal, and it was just as good as I’d hoped. Will define getting any other books in this series.

As good as Enderal

Never expected the characters to have such depths to their personality especially with regards on how the writer made the main characters appear both selfish but relatable.The story is just as interesting as Enderal which makes you wish for Enderal 2.0.

A gripping, if somewhat flawed, story

An entertaining and engaging a story which I would highly recommend reading, despite some literary short comings. For instance, swearing is used so commonly as to lose its poignancy and begin seemingly childish (e.g., EVERYTHING "hurts/stings like a *****") and certain twists/revelations were so obvious as to feel cliche, whereas others are so convenient they felt very "deus ex machina". Again, despite this it is still a fantastic read with deep philosophical undertones about morality and the nature of free will and includes a tastefully done foray into aspects of mental illness

great story and great audiobook

Nicolas's writing is out of this world, even with its new disconnection from its original source material, it's an amazing story with engaging characters and awesome world building. I love it. Ben's narration as well, he IS jespar and I can't imagine someone else taking his place. 10/10 for me. Can't wait for the next one