The Song of the Marked

Shadows and Crowns, Book 1

By: S.M. Gaither

Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky

Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

The old gods are growing restless. An ancient evil is stirring. Can they stop the coming storm?

Mercenary Casia Greythorne cares about two things: completing whatever her latest job is and earning enough coin to buy the expensive medicine that's keeping her mentor alive.

So when the king himself offers her a job, she can't resist the massive reward he offers - even if it means working with Captain Elander, the arrogant, mysterious right-hand to that king.

Her partner may be infuriating, but at least their mission seems simple and quick enough: investigate the origins of the strange plague that's been ravaging their empire, help find a cure, and then call it a day.

But in a land brimming with old magic and meddling gods, nothing is ever that simple, and nothing is ever what it seems.

As the bodies pile up and strange monsters begin to wreak havoc throughout the realms, Cas and Elander will have to work together to protect their world whether they like it or not. Because one thing is clear: Something ancient and evil is stirring in the shadows of that world.

And their empire will not survive its full unleashing.

©2020 S.M. Gaither (P)2021 Tantor

I need the next audio book ASAP please!!

I love Jesse vilinksky’s make accents and I can’t read the second book without having the audiobook to get that correct!

Loved it

Will be starting second book now. Also narration is great with different accents. Fast moving story

great story

Wow those plot twists got me at the end. very well done 👏 can't wait to read the second one

Binge-Worthy Fantasy

The writing is really well done. It reads so smooth, I listened to it all in one day! Fun new world, magic, deities, and great story along the way. Can’t wait to binge the rest of the series!

Ahhhh, love this series

I’d previously read this entire series. Now I’m going through the audiobooks. The narration is perfect. The storyline continues to draw me in and keep me engaged.

Okaayyyy

3.75/5. That ending??? Truly my first time being surprised in this book lol. The beginning was slow and as someone with anxiety it was a little difficult for me to connect with Casia. I think she made a lot dumb choices and her thought processes were stressing me outtt. But Elander>> A very fantasy cliche book with mediocre world building but i still enjoyed.

Fantastic narrator

I think the narrator is what made me like this book as much as I did. She really does an excellent job. Agree with other reviews that the story is slow at the beginning, and there’s probably too much detail in some of the fight scenes that make the action feel slower, but I ultimately liked it.

Wow!

This story was so good! And the narrator is amazing! Her accents for the different characters is so awesome! Love, love loved!

Another female lead who lacks the self preservation instinct

The book follows too many tropes about a headstrong young woman. Not in the romance aspect, that's fine. But she consistently does stupid things, that on their face are stupid, and given her background surviving in a rogue enterprise, you'd really expect her to have some goddamn common sense. That said, the story is reasonably passable and it's not a bad way to kill 15 hours. The narrator takes some getting used to but is fairly decent in voice and cadence.

Nice twist

Unexpectedly pulls you into a different world and throws in surprise after surprise. I’m not sure I like how the main character is portrayed but I’m definitely in for the next book to see what comes next.