Funeral Games

By: Colin Heintze

Narrated by: Nigel Peever

Ingerval is the Country of the Dead. Despised by the wider world, blighted by history, since the beginning of time, it has honored one law: the Dead rule, and the Living submit. No one remembers why Ingerval nobles return as ghosts after their deaths. To enjoy a brief life of pleasure and plenty, followed by an eternity of reigning from beyond the grave, is the fate of all Ingerval lords. All but one.

As the youngest son of the King's third wife, Syphax never thought he would amount to anything. He is content to live out a contemplative life free from the scourges of power and politics that infatuate his peers. But after answering a summons to the Palace, a sprawling, ever-expanding repository for Ingerval's ghosts, he finds himself at the heart of a dynastic struggle centuries in the making.

Funerals are happy occasions in Ingerval, and the King is planning for his to be the most decadent in the country's long memory. He does not know that, unlike every lord before him, he will not return to rule alongside his ancestors. He will die the true death, sparking a succession crisis that throws the noble families into chaos. Amidst the violence and intrigue, Syphax alone asks, "What really happened to the King?" The deeper Syphax digs, the more he realizes these events are connected to others dating back to the founding of his father's dynasty.

Let the games begin.

©2019 Colin Heintze (P)2019 Local Hero Press

An unusual storyline

This book by Colin Heintze has a unique storyline. It took me a few minutes to grasp it because aren't really sure you heard correctly. But is an awesome book. One that I couldn't quit listening for I stayed intrigued.

As expected, Nigel Peever did an exceptional job with narration and performance. His various voices for the characters was natural and believable. Great Job!!!

Keep reading

Okay this was so hard to get into at first and then all of a sudden I didn’t want to put it down! The fight scenes, the love story, and the mystery got me! Be aware!!! I had the word catacomb in my head for days!!!

wondrous, enchanting, intriguing

This was pure genius and kept my rapt attention throughout the story. I didn't want to miss a single thing. The characters and storyline are skillfully brought to life by the narrator and the wonderful sound effects. I felt like I vwas in a theater watching it all play out. Very well done author and narrator. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review.

Funeral Games

I received this Audible book for free in exchange for a honest review 😎 I enjoyed reading this 📚 and love the narrator. I highly recommend this story👍😎

Unique context for a supernatural mystery

This was a very interesting audiobook and one that I'd recommend to fans of this genre. By the time you get to the end of the story, you realize that the underlying plot line, conflicts, and character development aren't particularly mind-blowing (which is why I didn't give this audiobook five stars). However, the setting around which the plot is developed... THAT is very compelling and worth 4 stars. The story feels like a medieval fairytale, where the living and the dead co-exist. That's one of the main things I enjoyed about this story - typical ghost stories involve an individual relationship between one living character and one or more ghosts. Because only one person encounters the ghost while others don't, that's a source of tension (e.g., if the person doubts his/her sanity, if no one believes the person when he/she says he/she saw a ghost, etc.). In this story, all of the living characters perceive and interact with the palace ghosts - there's generally nothing mystical or frightening about ghostly encounters with dead ancestors. Some are creepy, some are nuisances, and some are sources of wisdom. The author constructed an interesting world here.

Two lingering takeaways from this story, for me: First, the story made me thoughtful about how we deal with death and all of the emotions that are associated with it (and how different the experience is for the characters in the story). Second, the story prompted me to reflect on the way that histories and legends get can get distorted by those doing the writing. History books are written by the victors and their supporters. Because there are no living witnesses as time passes, people rely on what they read in books or what is passed down through oral histories. However, in the world of Funeral Games, there are ghostly characters who can verify or dispute what is written in history books and legends because they are the very subjects of those legends and stories. Imagine living in a world like that, where it is possible to know the truth about a past event because you can ask the ghost of someone who was actually there. I liked how the author dealt with this.

The narrator was a very good fit for the story and I enjoyed the various sound effects that helped engage me with the story. The only reason why I deducted a star for performance is because sometimes the background sound effects were too loud and distracting, sometimes drowning out the voice of the narrator. I've listened to hundreds of audiobooks over the years, and only a handful are produced with sound effects (reminding me of old-time radio dramas). It felt like a story-telling performance, like a great deal of effort was made by the producers to sweep me into the tale.

My final thought: The author could have made this story more dark and horrific, but he didn't. Thus, I wouldn't consider this to be a horror story, even though there is lots of death and ghosts are central to the plot and setting.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Different but Interesting!

Death is a central theme of this story, of course, but I loved the author’s take on it. The ability to talk to our ancestors, to understand the world as they did is a fantastic thought. Prince Syphax was a very relatable character coming into himself slowly as the story moves along. He’s the only one who sees something is wrong and does what he can to right the wrong, navigating through the Living and the Dead to do so.

Though it had a slow start, this mesh of genres picks up in intensity toward the end of the book. While the ending was a bit of a letdown, I could understand the author’s reason for it. I’m not a fan of typical happy endings anyway.

Narration is good and so is the background music and sound effects.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Cool story..Great performance!

I wasn't sure about this audio book in the beginning...but it just kept getting better and better.

I really liked the characters..Fina was one of my faves and well..you just had to love Syfex (sp). I couldn't believe people or nobles were just willing to sleep and die away..but then again the never REALLY left.

My favorite parts of the story were actually when Syfex was just traveling through corridors meeting all the ancestors. I loved how he was honorable enough to keep his word each time he made a promise to someone..for instance the carousel for the baby. He was just a good guy. I also really liked his half brother and I can't even begin to spell that one.

Best of all was the narration. How will I ever go back to hearing plain old reading after THIS! The sound effects were perfect..from the horses hooves..to the man spitting..to the baby screaming..to the clanging of swords. it just kept getting better. I enjoyed the different voices used and so distinct they were! No trouble telling who was speaking..I can't say enough..the story itself is bizarre... but very very good! One more thing.. I thought Ainsley was too cute!

Better off dead??

This is an interesting take on death in medieval times, you will laugh and smile at the antics of the dead as well as the living. Starts out slow but picks up. I received a free audio of this and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Peever piles perfection on top of practically perfect

This is not a book that you would say, is typical or average in any way. In fact, I would say it’s even beyond above average, but maybe just off to the side. It is wonderfully creative, funny and hold your attention like a giant squid wrapped around a ship.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. It was absolutely amazing, but I have to say is good as the writing was the narration only proved to make it all the more succulents.

Nigel Peever has rapidly become a favorite of mine when it comes to narration. He not only does voices, and brother does he have a grab bag of those support from you? You oughtto hear him do some old time movie stars like Lori, Karloff, or Humphrey Bogart. Astoundingly it’s not just his amazing voice that carries this book but he adds in sound effects and music from time to time but let’s not underestimate his ability to for the year and I thinking there’s more than one person reading the book. Also, I will say the man can inject emotion into a reading like no other narrator I’ve heard. It’s truly a wonderful thing to hear.

This is a fantastic book and I guarantee you will not be sorry that you read it. In fact, you might be stunned that something like this is out there.

5 Stars Isn't Enough

The story is quite humorous, the dialogue constantly made me laugh. Even with its humor, the story is epic and tells a grand tale. The over arching story, with all its little pieces, is a really fantastic story and reminded me of so many famous epic tales. Totally original, but this feels like it grabs some of the best parts of other stories and through the delicious imagination of Heintze, turns it into a completely unique tale that will hold your interest the entire time. I really can't stress how awesome I thought everything was.

There are quite a few characters, especially the dead ones, so from time to time I felt like I strayed a bit. I was always brought back on track and would say for those who like to listen to books at a faster speed, you need to bring it down for this. Not only do you want to enjoy the overall production, you will miss some of overall plot and it is important to pay attention to who everyone is. That said, the characters were great, specifically Syphax, although they all had a great part to the story and I loved all of them. This had the same epic feel of Beowulf, the first great epic, but with so many more interesting characters and a lot more plot. Throughout the whole story I kept thinking, Tim Burton could absolutely make this a wonder stop motion animation.

I have never heard anything by Heintze before, but I hope to hear more. The writing, imagination, and overall story was perfect. I don’t say this often and the reason is that I don’t come across such a fun, artistic, and worth while story like this. The whole time I listened I thought, Tolken doesn’t have anything on this guy. With the length of the story you get both a good plot and great character development. The dialogue, which seemed to be written for me, was sexy, it was dirty, it was romantic, and it was a lot of fun.

This is a fantastic production. It came off as a full production with sound effects and different people playing each character, however there is only one narrator. Nigel has a huge range of character voices and did an amazing job. He doesn’t just read the words, but acts out the entire story. The background sound effects really added to the overall mood and plot. I know some people aren’t big on having them, but I think they really added to this narration. It would have been a completely different story without him and the added sounds. Ives entering Syphax’s body and interacting with his subconscious was brilliant, and Nigel absolutely nailed the interpretation of that event with his sound effects. I can’t imagine the energy and effort that was needed to put into this narration, but you owe it to yourself to listen.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.