Eli

The Eli Chronicles, Book 1

By: Marc Alan Edelheit

Narrated by: Steven Brand

Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

A dangerous mission. A war of the Gods. An epic destiny.

When elven rangers Eli’Far and Mae’Cara are dispatched to hunt down the dangerous criminal Mik’Las, the mission seems simple enough. Mik’Las has committed the unthinkable crimes of murder and kidnapping, and though he’s a former ranger and skilled in the deadly arts, Eli is confident they will bring him to justice.

But after Mik’Las flees into the human kingdom of the Castol, Eli and Mae find their mission suddenly wrought with complications. Lord Edgun, an oppressive man grinding his people under the heel of his boot, has left its people desperate. Things grow even more complicated when the elves run into Jitanthra, a strange human girl being hunted by Edgun’s men and who has connections to a mystical outcast, an elf currently imprisoned by Edgun.

Soon, Eli and Mae find themselves unexpectedly drawn into the middle of a rebellion, a struggle between gods, and the opening stages of the dreaded Last War.

Elven ranger Eli’Far, first introduced in Stiger’s Tigers, rapidly became one of the fantasy genre’s standout characters. With The Eli Chronicles, Edelheit pulls back the shroud to reveal the shocking and exciting tale of how Eli starts down the path to a destiny he can scarcely imagine possible, a fate that sees him inextricably linked to Stiger.

©2022 Marc Edelheit (P)2022 Podium Audio

Good battle scenes

It is hard to gather what the overarching plot of the broader story is here. A pretty straightforward fantasy book.

Curious

Sometimes a little slow but I liked enough to go on to the next book.

Great Story & Action Packed

Eli a favorite character from COLO The Last War Series “Stiger” ties into The Karus Saga Lost Legeo IX. My all time favorites in this Genre. It will keep you busy and more to come. Marc has created a universe that is interesting. I’m a student of the Roman Empire read most of Non-Fiction standards. Went on to historical fiction and by accident found this fantasy writing now my guilty pleasure. I enjoy the heck out of this stuff and Marc Edelheit is great. I hope you find the enjoyment I have found in all of Marc’s books.

Great Listen. Would recommend.

Another great listen. ELI is spin-off of the Stiger series, and it does not disappoint, with new background info on ELI as well as some new and interesting characters. Eli’s whit continues to be true to form. Would recommend as I would for any of the other books by the author as I have read/listened to
them all.

Good plot and familiar character

I enjoyed the new characters introduced in this book along with the familiar Eli from the Stiger's Tigers books. Eli is an intriguing character and it was interesting to see his outlook on things before he met Stiger. Well developed plot and once again it was fun to see fantasy elements and historical Roman elements blended so well. Steven Brand is one of my favorite narrators. He isn't consistent with denoting female voices, but his reading voice is so pleasant to listen to that I don't mind at all.

On to the next!

Seemed a little slow on the start but soon warmed up to the expected excitement.

Eli's bored and so am i

The story is rushed and disjointed and very predictable. Also the main character Eli just kinda stands by narrating what's happening without really doing much of anything. He's not even interested in pursuing the murderer he's been charged with capturing.

This is one of those times when some of the side characters are actually more interesting than the main characters. Except for Mae who only exists to fawn over Eli.

Book 7 - Not a Stand Alone Novel

READ THIS BEFORE BUYING:

I had high expectations for this book given the high ratings on Audible and Goodreads. Little did I know, that the reason for the high ratings was because the readers are mostly those who see this as book 7 in Chronicles of an Imperial Legionary Officer. Thus, the readers who were rating this novel so high are all solidly invested in these characters and the series. I assumed this was a stand alone book, or the first in a new series. The main character, though, is a supporting character from that Chronicles story by Edelheit. This novel is that character's back story. It's an ok story, but certainly not impressive if you've never read the other novels in the series - which I haven't. I wouldn't recommend this to someone, though my opinion may have been different if I already knew the character. This might even be a three star book but I was just so jaded because of such high ratings on Audible and Goodreads, that I expected so much more from this. Its mediocrity was very disappointing.

As for the performance, Steven Brand didn't even attempt to alter his voice for different characters, and used the same voice for male and female characters alike. With so many talented performers doing amazing work for Audible, this type of bankrupt performance really stuck out.