Flamespitter

Elemental Gunslinger, Book 1

By: Jonathan Smidt

Narrated by: Ryan H. Reid, Andrea Parsneau, Jeff Hays

A gunslinger with four affinities is a myth.

It's the kind of story whispered in frontier saloons one drink before closing and around campfires in the dead of night. For the heroes and villains in those tales, that impossible power is a boon, a gift.

For Mr. Jones, it's a curse.

Of course, that's not his real name. He's had many.

Changing names is necessary when you possess a power that every lawman and outlaw would kill to obtain. To survive, you keep your head down, kill when you must, and never stay in one place too long. It's a life governed by rules and hard lessons, drilled into him from a young age after his parents were murdered because of his gift.

Since then, the trail of bodies has only grown longer.

But all that is about to change. After years of chasing two-bit bounties, honing his skills, and growing his core, he's finally caught the scent of the man he's been searching for the first of four bodies that will end this carnage once and for all.

Now, it's time to put his cursed powers to use.

It's time for revenge.

©2024 Portal Books (P)2024 Soundbooth Theater

Breath of fresh air

I enjoyed this one! It was a good twist on an old concept. It was classic western but with supernatural elements.

The only minor thing was that each chapter seemed to be built like an episode of a series. So often the same motivations and goals was repeated to remind listeners. Most times this was unnecessary I feel since I'm listening to it as a full book. It didn't make me take of any stars though.

The story is self contained but with a lead in to the next book in the series. No big cliffhanger witch I liked. I'm looking forward to the next one. Narration was ace and fit the story well.

Well that was som'min else!

Well that was som'min else. To me it wasn't quite on par with Jonathan Smidt's other books, but it's really good. And it goes ta' show ya how creative Jonathan Smidt really is. And how versatile gamelit can be when someone as skilled as Smidt is, when he wielding his craft... In this book a young man goin by the name Jones is motivated by vengeance. His plan is to not only stop the men that killed his mentor but to end them and their ilk. Things seriously go pear-shaped.
But you're gonna hafta get the book to find out what happens! And I say be sure to grab the audiobook! Because Soundbooth Theater Productions are simply AwesomeSauce. No matter which narrators they choose, you always get a top notch performance.

Western and cultivation, not western cultivation

This is a great fun read. It feels like a wild west gunslinger story first and foremost. The magic elements are not exactly shoehorned in but they seem to be limited to combat. Otherwise I suspect the tone of the book would have gone total fantasy + guns.

It's worth a try if you want a break from the typical LitRPG book. The MC is still OP through an accident of birth but there is a measured pace to his growth. The scope of the story looks pretty limited to a revenge plot line but the author has dropped enough hints that show he could step on to a world apocalypse scale stage.

Magic bullets in the Old West, love it!

A fun imagining of what the old west would be like if guns used mana-produced bullets. Great framework and background set up for future adventures while still completing a crucial story line. LOVE the voice acting! Did a wonderful job of keeping me in universe and added a lot to the experience.

Great new world

I love Weird West storytelling, and this is an excellent example of the genre. The action is great, the character grows as the adventure progresses, and new wrinkles are added in a well paced manner. The author is already one of my favorites, and this new world only reinforces that. I can not wait to see what book 2 and onward bring.

Arthur?

Great story and it makes me think of a magical Arthur Morgan minus the tuberculosis

Surprisingly fun

I enjoyed this book even more than I thought I would. I was wary as the author had written LITr… which I don’t like much. This book reminded me of old time western books. It isn’t overly funny but I liked the main characters “voice”. Just a bit old fashioned and from simple times. I really enjoyed the world building which is mostly explaining how “manna” works. A great melding of fantasy powers and a familiar setting. I am looking forward to more in this series.

Fun listen

Powered through the book that left me wanting more .i will be downloading the the next one.

More western than LitRPG…

I don’t usually listen to westerns but do listen to magic stories so I wanted to give this book a chance. Also I immediately thought this was a crossover between Avatar the Last Airbender and Red Dead Redemption which caught my interest.

There was a lot of monologues which I was not a huge fan of but overall the book was good. I definitely preferred the second half of the book and would read the next book in the series.

The narration and music was excellent as I have come to expect from SBT.

western litrp.. sort of

Honestly this a solid 4.5 but can't give half stars. very interesting premise as there is no system no external reason they can use elements. it's just a part of their every day lives. However the path of power is like a type of cultivation.

the narration is fantastic and fit the theme very well. and perhaps slightly spoilerish but at first your going to think the mc is some bad@ss and maybe a bit op but youll soon learn that really isnt the case. I mention that to then say there is a clear sense of the mc's growth mentally and physically.

only complaint i have is due to how long fights took because we was in the mcs head instead of the fight. sometimes I felt like i was watching an old anime where the entire episode is 98% tslk and 2% fighting despite them having been in battle the whole time. but instead of talking it's thoughts or flash backs. it really wasn't to bad but just a thought i had while listening. i do feel like this gets better as it progresses.

will definetly be getting the next book