The Raveling: The Complete Saga

By: Alec Hutson

Narrated by: Guy Williams

2016 Ink and Insights Competition – Judges’ Favorite

2017 Readers' Favorite Award for Epic Fantasy

Second in the 2017 SPFBO

#1 Amazon Best Seller in Epic Fantasy

Long ago, the world fell into twilight, when the great empires of old consumed each other in sorcerous cataclysms. In the south, the Star Towers fell, swallowed by the sea, while the black glaciers descended upon the northern holdfasts, entombing the cities of Min-Ceruth in ice and sorcery. Then from the ancient empire of Menekar, the paladins of Ama came, putting every surviving sorcerer to the sword and cleansing their taint from the land for the radiant glory of their lord.

The pulse of magic slowed, fading like the heartbeat of a dying man.

But after a thousand years, it has begun to quicken again.

In a small fishing village, a boy with strange powers comes of age....

A young queen rises in the west, fanning the long-smoldering embers of magic into a blaze once more....

Something of great importance is stolen – or freed – from the mysterious Empire of Swords and Flowers....

And the immortals who survived the ancient cataclysms bestir themselves, casting about for why the world is suddenly changing....

The complete, award-winning epic series in one volume.

©2020 Alec Hutson (P)2020 Alec Hutson

Decent story but it’s formulaic in places

This was a good story but just once I would like to read a fantasy story that doesn’t have abductions and maiming in it. It’s so formulaic. The magic system is inventive and the story is good but the author uses so many cliches that it almost ruins the book. I still recommend it though. I enjoyed it but it was very frustrating at times.

Over-descriptive and flowery

could have been a much better story if it had been less descriptive and spent more time story telling and character building.

Liked the story. Narrator sounded like Mario

Only problem I had with this book was that for some reason, the narrator thought it was a good idea to read a few of the characters like a bad imitation of Mario and Luigi. 50 hours of that got pretty old. Story was cool enough though

Awesome story, mediocre performance.

Overall, this was a very good story. Though there was little character development, the story didn’t fall into typical tropes, and remained entertaining throughout.

My main complaints are with the performance. There were only a few mispronounced words (specifically“winding” and “magister”) but they were used so frequently that it made the whole story pretty cringy. Also, giving Italian accents to main characters was jarring, out of place, and was off-putting. It’s hard to take a character seriously when they say “I hate-a tha woods!” in an accent comparable to “It’sa me, Mario!”

too many jumps in perspective for me

overall the story is interesting, the characters are good. The problem I had is every time they switch perspective it lost any momentum it had in my imagination. about halfway through the second book, I got to the point where I just stopped caring. That's where I left it. if you don't mind the constant change of point of view, this would be a good read for you. if you like me and you prefer a static narrator or point of view, then you might want to look elsewhere.

worth the credit

it is an enjoyable book, worth the credit. but the ending, it seems like the author chickened out of the ending the story wanted. as much as a happy ending is nice, the book would be 5 stars all around had he ended it about 5 minutes earlier

Great story

Fair warning, the narrator was terrible. The story grabs you & after awhile you deal with it but there were so many times I hated this narrator.
The story would be better actually read from a book.

Captivating!

Once I was 1/4 into the first book I was intrigued and then hooked. Wow Alec is a great writer! Excited for more of his works! I truly enjoyed the depth brought to characters. He did such a great job at making them feel real and human.
Performance was good as well!

Great concept, storytelling and narration

I like epic fantasy; this one is great. Also, the characters feel believable. Character bios are v not delivered in a landslide manner. I didn't have to put up with explicit sex, nor foul language. The world building is very well done. The concept is original; the storytelling is great.

The narrator is great, too. At first, the Italian-ish accent felt overwhelming, but there are several cultures in this story and the narrator does each one well. He was just as accomplished in portraying male and female, chiId and adult voices. The response to pacing is also well done.

I will be watching for more from this author and this narrator.

good book

Despite some of the other comments I think its a good book with a good story and the narrator did a good job.