The Necromancer's Light

Radiance, Book 1

By: Tavia Lark

Narrated by: Kai Rubio

He'll die without touch.

As a necromancer, Shae loses a little more of himself every time he uses his magic. Always cold, always touch-starved, the only thing that helps is human contact. But that's hard to come by when those same dark powers scare everyone away from him. Nobody likes a necromancer.

Especially a paladin of the Radiant Order.

Arthur's still bitter and broken after his last lover stabbed him in the back, and the last thing he needs is another brush with evil. When he agrees to escort the wandering necromancer north, he's just doing a public service. But he never expected Shae to be so clingy. Or distractingly attractive.

Shae has never felt an aura as warm and safe as Arthur's. He craves the man's touch—and more. But everyone he's ever known has left him, and it's just a matter of time before Arthur leaves him too.

Assuming the soul-stealing monsters don't kill them first.

Contains mature themes.

©2021 Tavia Lark (P)2022 Tantor

Sweet and entertaining

This was a sweet and exciting fantasy romance that I enjoyed, though I find myself wishing I'd read it ranter than listened to this narration. Mr. Rubio made it difficult for me to stay engaged because of his frequent pauses and intakes of breath. The writing and character development were solid. I would have appreciated more details about Shea's backstory. I like the author enough to perhaps read the other books in this series.

Good story. Good narration

I enjoyed getting to know the characters. The story had some interesting moments. The narrator's voice was pleasant, but he tended to have excessively long pauses. The story and the narration could both use a little bit of polish, but they were engaging enough that I will try more of their works.

Nothing groundbreaking, but entertaining

The Necromancer’s Light is decently entertaining. The world building is strong, even though it does just feel like re-skinned dnd most of the time. I really enjoyed Shay’s story. Arthur’s less so.

The narration was alright. Cringey at certain points. He really shines with Shay, and not many other characters.

Decently enjoyable, but I’m glad I didn’t spend any money on it

I loved the narration.

Once the narrator found his footing, I think he did a great job! The story is sweet and fun.

Excellent story

I loved the characters. The narrator did a good job. I was distracted by the long pauses, an issue with editing. I look forward to book 2, and other books by this author.

Great story, poor performance

I love this book. The themes of feeling unwanted, abandonment issues, and first love all made me teary. The story is fantastic. I just wish it didn’t sound like the narrator did this all in one take and said “I don’t do second takes- it’s good enough.” This book would’ve benefitted greatly from a better storyteller, like Greg Boudreaux or Gary Furlong, or many, many others who don’t pause for ridiculously long periods between paragraphs.

Overall interesting and well-written

A young Necromancer aimlessly searches for something, some path or direction since getting his powers at a young age in exchange for the ability to bring his parents from the grave. Only problem is, he can't travel alone. He needs the 'essence' of another body to keep him going, even just simply walking besides a person or around a town is enough.
As he looks for another escort to the next town, he meets a strapping solider-like guy. They get off to a bit of a rough start, but slowly they see past their differences and begin to create a connection with eachother.

There are some detailed sex scenes between the two of them as they journey to free the necromancerfrom his powers.

Overall well-written, especially for a book in this genre. It's not just detailed sex scenes but actually had a good storyline; although a bit more towards a YA classification.

The author remained pretty consistent throughout with character development and the such.

The narrator at times was a bit off. They seemed to struggle with keeping the accents in line with the characters but overall did a good job.

Story was ok

The premise was good. I liked the story but I wish there was more backstory and fleshing out of the characters.
To many sex scenes are boring and monotonous. If necessary one or two is fine but there had to be atleast six.
The narrator wasn't the best and some of the voices sounded undeveloped and fell flat.

Great story, audio could be better.

This was a reread for me, so obviously I love the story. It checks all my romance boxes while having enough fantasy plot to provide pacing and structure. Tavia Lark's worldbuilding is also a treat: deceptively simple on the surface, but there's depth to it. You can tell it's thought-out.

The narrator wasn't great though. He makes large pauses between paragraphs sometimes, and even sped up it makes you wonder if your headphones just glitched before he starts again. He also puts too much emotion into narration. This isn't graphic audio, I want the story read to me, not acted out. He also read smut chapters so much more slowly that I had to adjust the speed back and forth. I did like his interpretation of Shae and Arthur's voices though.

Enjoyable little story

Reading some of the harsher reviews I was a little hesitant, but I had a credit burning a hole in the proverbial pocket so I figured what the heck.

Story was cute, I love fantasy and the world building while not grandiose was solid. The characters are ok, you dont really get a lot of depth from either of them, and the story beat is kinda basic. But the flirting is cute and the sex scenes are nice if a little rushed.

The narration was ok, I see what a lot of people meant about the pauses that he takes in between sentences. I did notice it, but for the most part it didnt bother me. He had a nice, steady voice and decent accents for one or two of the characters.

All in all, if your looking for a lightly fantasy flavored M/M romance this will work for you.