The Complete Chronicles of Dar'ryn Series

An Epic Sci-Fi Box Set

By: Sam Whittaker

Narrated by: Khai Lannor

Four exiles are thrust into the wilds on a savage alien world. At first, it’s a simple matter of survival. But they are about to unwittingly be drawn into an ancient and forgotten war by a mysterious force.

Meanwhile, a sinister figure manipulates and murders his way to power. And he is far more than he seems.

None of the exiles know it, but they are connected and are about to be unwittingly swept into a heroic adventure spanning many worlds. If these reluctant heroes cannot come together and set aside their differences, a whole star system will be plunged into ruin and mindlessly enslaved to an ancient evil creature bent on destruction.

©2023 Sam Whittaker (P)2023 Sam Whittaker

Storytelling at it's best. Supremely narrated.

I found this book fascinating. it was hard to put it down once I started it. it was an adventure I could indulge in just by sitting in my easy chair at home or while driving on long trips in my car. I plan to read or listen to more stories by this author.

Too much introspection

This is a decent 15 hour story in a 42 hour book.

Much of the padding is DRAMA. For example, one character has a meal, and ponders eating. Should they just stop eating and possibly die of starvation? The character has that conversation with himself and decides to eat. Another character, a lizardman, is getting a drink of water from a stream. They have a long self-conversation about whether to drink with the snout or to dip in hands. A third character walks into a corridor for city walls. After getting to one turn, the character has a self-conversation about going left or right, then has an existential crisis about getting lost and dying of starvation, never to be found again. This is 20 feet into a well used corridor in a city after one random turn.

At the start, four different exiles all fight for survival, but their stories are all very similar, All are super-smart people being persecuted. All of them have long, similar stretches of introspection about their lot in life.

Fights for survival are interesting, but lose impact after introspection like Should I avoid drowning? or Should I defend myself in a murder trial when I'm Innocent? or Should I hide from a nasty monster? or Should I eat? If all of this padding got removed, this could be good, or at least better.