The Tree That Grew Through Iron

The Panagea Tales

By: McKenzie Austin

Narrated by: Gerard Marquez

The world's end was his beginning.

Whole chunks of earth are withering away from the mainland and falling into the sea. Natural disasters are claiming thousands of lives. Prayers are no longer answered by gods. Prayers are answered by machines and the Time Fathers of Panagea.

Nicholai Addihein, one of the eight ruling Time Fathers, struggles to save the lives of his people. After a single moment of misunderstood treason, he must also save his own.

While running from the wrath of Panagea's other Time Fathers, Nicholai lands in peculiar company. Can a fabled immortal, a crew of societal rejects, and a silver-haired woman with a mysterious past breathe life back into a world on the brink of death?

With all of existence at stake, Nicholai and the others prepare to fight until their last breath to change the fate of Panagea. Who would ever guess that success might be just as fatal as failure?

©2018 McKenzie Austin (P)2019 McKenzie Austin

Such a well developed World!

so perfectly painted, you feel like you are actually there.. in the city, on the ship, walking on the island..... can't give away much more! fun to read, just couldn't stop.

Amazing!

What an epic book! The actions of one heartbroken man trying to save his dying daughter triggers events that literally change the course of humanity and time. The Tree That Grew Through Iron is one of my favorite books I've ever read! The author does a spectacular job laying out the world of Panagea and elaborating enough so that the reader truly feels like witnessing the events in the story. I hope that this one becomes a movie or series of movies!

The narration is also amazing. The narrator puts a lot of effort into creating emotion and giving characters their own voice (some sounded similar, but with a story this epic it would be impossible for one man to voice the entire cast and not sound similar).

I received this audiobook from the author/publisher/narrator in exchange for an honest review. Thanks so much, Ms. Austin!!!

That's a solid yes!

I loved this story! So much so that I will be spending a carefully hoarded credit on the sequel.

Join Kazawaki Hidataka, his crew, Nikolai Adahein, and Umbrial on a nail biting adventure to restore Panagaea to it's former glory, and try to save the lives of some loved ones. There's a Lesser God, men who think they're Gods, a loyal to a fault crew, and some people with completely misguided loyalties. High sea adventures, and frozen in time divisions.

My favourites were Kazawaki Hidataka and his loyal crew. Nikolai Adahein got frustrating at points, but his unwavering insistence on sticking to his beliefs and trying to save his love endears him to you. He's easily relatable in his efforts to hide a mistake made behind an ideal. By the time I got to the last 2 hours of the book I didn't want to "put it down"

I have one small complaint and it comes in the form of the narrator. While his reading tempo and voice assignments were very good, his mispronunciation of some everyday words and odd (what I'm assuming were breathing breaks) were a little grating. As a narrator overall he was not unlistenable though, and the annoyances were small enough to get over (mostly)

Magnificent, captivating fantasy

A rogue timefather. An immortal captain. A mythical earthmother. A dying continent. These are just some of the things you'll experience in The Tree That Grew Through Iron, as Nicholai Addihein joins Captain Kazuaki Hidataka and his grew in a quest to save the world, and hopefully, his love.

Austin has created a magnificent fantasy world, and the world-building stands out instantly. It will pull you in, captivate you, and take you on an amazing journey.

Much of the story, if not most, happens on board Captain Hidataka's ship, and I loved it. It's a kind of environment that makes for a lot of fun adventure, and bonding between the story's cast (of which there are many, considering there's a whole crew).

Austin's writing is beautiful and captivating, and most importantly, never boring. I found the pace to be a bit slow a times, this is a long book, and I have a tendency to feel like it's just a little bit drawn out at times.

I had the audiobook version, and as usual, I find it a bit difficult to keep track of names, and some of the things that are going on, especially when it's a story I don't know from before. I didn't for example realize until the end of the book how much time had spanned during the events of the book, even though I'm sure it was mentioned several times.

Also, I didn't feel like the narrator was a good fit for me. I say it that way, because he didn't do anything wrong, he was an excellent reader and did great work with all the characters, but I felt like something was missing. Something didn't quite click with me, and I noticed I sometimes lost interested a little bit. I don't know quite how to describe it, which is why I want to emphasize that it's probably me, not him. Also, perhaps particularly toward the end, there was often a noticeable drop and increase in volume, which made me have to turn it up and down occasionally. Not a big issue however, by all means.

Austin has created a wonderful fantasy universe, with unique settings, adventures and characters. A pleasure to have read, and I'm sure the next installment will be just as captivating. Recommended!

Adult Dystopian Fantasy

As a parent reviewer I feel the need to start out with a morality rating - Just in the first 30 minutes of listening alone there is a pretty descriptive near sex scene, 3 f-bombs along with other bad language, and violence - I would rate it in the "R" range and say it is definitely geared to an adult crowd. It is a beautifully descriptive story that does draw in the reader into a very complex dystopian world of fantasy and mythology. It was a bit out of my comfort realm since I prefer a cleaner read. The narrator did a wonderful job and was an asset to the story with his skill.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Good Read

I received a copy of this book from the author. I really liked the story and it did hold my interest. I am glad that it did have an ending to it.

Phenomenal story!

I listened to the preview of this book but it did not do justice to the phenomenal story inside. Technology has taken over Panagea and forest are destroyed so technology can advance. To this end, hypoxia and natural disasters claim thousands of lives. Enter Nicholai, one of several Time Fathers, who, in a moment of desperation, stops time to try and save his daughter. After fleeing his homeland, he joins up with the immortal Captain Kazuaki Hidataka and the rest of his crew. This sets off a series of events, some catastrophic, that will either save or destroy Panagea and the ones he loves. McKenzie Austin's engrossing tale has it all. Action, drama, love, loss, tragedy, not to mention twists and cliffhangers that will leave you breathless! McKenzie's writing evokes and conveys raw emotion you can both see and feel as the story unfolds. Gerard Marquez delivers a solid performance by breathing life into a masterfully crafted world and characters you will both love and hate. I look forward to learning more about the time fathers, earth mothers, their powers, and how they work. There is a reason this book was a Gold Medal Winner in the 2018 Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards. This award winning book should be on every listeners list. I highly recommend it and can't wait for the next audio book installment.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary honest review

I LOVE this

Even though it did take me a few tries to get into this, I really did love it. A lot of books like this nowadays are so short, I was so happy to listen to something that actually had some meat to it. And I am so happy that this is a series. I really look forward to listening to the next book! And the narrator fit the story perfectly. I highly recommend this one!

This book was given to me at my request. I am providing a voluntary and honest review.

Feel like I could've loved this, the narrator tho

Fantasy reads are generally my favorite. This story has some unique elements that I like and the characters are well written. I think if I read this rather than listening - it would have gotten my full approval. I rarely read the actual book because I have a long commute and so listening is necessary. The narrator has a really weird way of reading. I don't know if he struggles to breath or if it's supposed to infuse a semi-laugh into the speech, don't know, but it's super distracting. He did well with doing voices (hence the 2 stars) but accents were strange and even on 1.5x the cadence was...weird. I am not going to return it as I finished it and did enjoy the story - but I likely won't get the next installment because of narration and the way it affected my experience.
The story is fun and definitely geared towards hippies like me :)

Gritty, dark, and supremely imaginative

This was a pretty fun book. Although it was a bit longer than I usually prefer, the author managed to keep the story interesting throughout, filling the story with the most imaginative characters I've come across in some time. I particularly liked Kazuaki, with his gruff, all business exterior and loyal heart underneath. Not to mention his motley crew, who had no trouble lightening the mood when needed.

Overall, I'd say this is a great choice for anyone into deep stories and steampunk shenanigans.

Also, the narrator has an excellent reading voice. Very enjoyable to listen to.