Steel, Blood & Fire

Immortal Treachery, Book 1

By: Allan Batchelder

Narrated by: Christopher Selbie

Length: 18 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

On the march, around the campfire, and in the taverns, they tell incredible stories about Tarmun Vykers, the Reaper - how he's never been cut in battle, how he once defeated hundreds of men by himself, how he exterminated an entire people over an insult. These stories make Vykers seem like a god, but he is a man, an arrogant, ruthless, and bloodthirsty man. For all that, he may be the only thing standing between the human race and utter annihilation at the hands of the mad wizard who calls himself the End-of-All-Things. Against this backdrop, smaller, lesser folks struggle to fulfill their own destinies, folks like Aoife, burdened with a secret so dark she is driven to do the unimaginable and seek an alliance with fey powers no mortal has ever encountered.

Are you a fan of Joe Abercrombie's First Law series, Steven Erikson's The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Glen Cook's Chronicles of the Black Company, or Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicle? If so, grab your copy of Steel, Blood & Fire now!

Author Q&A

Is this audiobook appropriate for children?

No, only 17+ please.

What types of creatures are in the book?

Several original creations, plus a few you know. There are ghosts and wizards, but not the typical ones found in most ghost novels and mage books, and the Fey here are more dangerous than in your average fairy books. If you enjoy edgier fantasy novels, then this is for you!

Is this a stand-alone novel, or part of a series?

This is book one in the Immortal Treachery series. It tells a complete story on its own, but subsequent books help tell a larger story.

©2018 Wendell Allan Batchelder (P)2019 Wendell Batchelder

finally an adult book.

fast paced, but still developed a good storyline. not deep, but not over thought. light humor. finally a story that gives the women character their due, without emasculating the males!

Good book!

This had no reviews. So I thought I would give it one. The narrator did a overall good job. He has some weird delays while talking though. But I really enjoyed the story and figured this book needed a positive review. Well done!

great story could have done with better narration

lots of background audio, story was good though narrator gave almost everyone a stutter for some reason. still worth the credit though.

Great story...bad narrator

Great story. Incredible really.

However...

weird mouth noises and bad recording. was all I could hear really

Unique Protagonist!

Love the way the main character Tarmun Vykers is portrayed. As the story develops over we get some strong side characters as well that become significant parts of the storyline. Dark, with a surprising amount of humor. The audio book narrator does a great job keeping the characters separate and engaging. Allen Batchelder will definitely be on my short list of authors to keep an eye on.

Good news/bad news. NO SPOILERS

Good news, this is too tear grim dark fantasy. Not quite Joe Abercrombie, but close. The Bad news, books 2-5 are not on audible...

Editing of the audiobook is rough

There are multiple spots in the audiobook that repeat entire sections at random. The story itself is fun and I enjoyed it. The voice performance was also fine but the audio quality (humming of the mic and background noises/clicking) and the re reading of entire sections force me to rate this lower than I normally would.

Narration

Selbies voice isn't bad, but his style of reading makes the story difficult to follow with continued interest. It sounds if he himself has been drinking while he talks about the wretched. Also, some editing mistakes.. Should've got Joe Abercrombie narrator.

great world and characters

you'll enjoy if you like Abercrombie. very grimdark. well fleshed out world and the characters were all very nuanced and well balanced--- enjoyed the arcs of the characters; each turn surprised me yet was also believable. my only complaint - just so you know im not some paid shill - was the antagonist (while fierce and had a gripping goal) was sometimes a bit petty--- when a villain is cruel for the sake of being cruel it gets a bit redundant. that aside, this was a really great story with an ensemble of characters that were all intriguing. surprised i had never heard of this book before, only stumbled across it as it was suggested in a reader's group i belong to. just finished, and am literally buying book 2 right after i write this.

Audio issues in recording.

Narrator was fine, but for a technical issue that somehow caused several passages to be repeated! was a bit distracting.