amazing

A little slow at the beginning, but quickly picks up to a great story with amazing characters and plot twists.

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Not what I expected from the author

First of all Demon's Reign is great and I can't wait for sequel.

Secondly to explain the title: This author is known for writing very grimdark stories where everyone is miserable so I kinda expected demons to just destroy everything and enslave and use everyone however they see fit basically right after the intro was over.

Yeah that's not what this book is about, not at all.

Instead what we've got here is a really weird case of David Estes writing an actually hopeful story where the main characters family isn't even tortured and murdered right in front of his eyes.

We've also got my favourite trope going on here: forbidden power. As you can read from the book description the main character ends with a demon lurking in his soul and as a result his magical abilities grow at an extremely rapid pace and it's executed very well.

Also this connection doesn't give him a telepathic link to the demon, he still needs to talk to it out loud, which makes him appear a bit crazy at times. It's not all bonuses either, like it's still a DEMON inside his head and it's whispering does seem like it will affect him on the long run.

He doesn't just automatically become the best wizard ever, even if he does sort of pull magic out of his ass at first. He actually struggles with spell weaving even during the big battle and at no point in this book does it feel like he's super overpowered chosen one.

So yeah, pretty great book.

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Mediocre

The narration was great, really enjoyed it. The overall story is serviceable, nothing new or ground breaking.
What i did not like was the main character, I found him to be an insufferable man-child that complains about everything. Plus his weapon of choice in a very violent war is a SLING.... he is literally chucking pebbles on the battlefiled.
This whole book felt like taking Shaggy from Scooby-Doo and droping him in a LOTR story as the main character. Off-putting.

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another fantastic book by Ben

I love this book
totally different to other books by Ben maybe it's because he is a Co author but yet again it's stunning.
wonderfully characters you fall in love with and want to know more about.
brilliant descriptions of scenery and settings makes you want to go for a visit.
A story like no other on the market that grips you throughout .
highly recommended want more.

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Awesome New Series.

A fantastically new world created by two excellent authors, David Estes and Ben Galley have come together to bring us a new world of chaos for us fantasy lovers to get lost in. I absolutely love a good collaboration, the story flows so amazingly you can't tell who wrote what. Demon's Reign is the first book in new and exciting series The Bloodwood Saga. The worldbuilding, plot and characters are brilliant, it's so fast paced, action packed with battles and the magic elements is excellent. In this first book our main protagonist Tarkosi Terelta is a lowly third-born of a shamed family, Tarkosi's lot in life is to spend his days as a worker, tending to temperamental giant birds called lancewings under a harsh master. Clumsy and and always shuned by the highborns for his father's past, Tarkosi life is about to change and I mean possessively. Fire demons from a broken world invade the forest realm of The Swathe, an accident born of violence and dark magic intertwines Tarkosi’s fate with the greatest among them. Can Tarkosi finally become who he was always meant to be in the society of the bloodwood city of Shal Gara and help those he loves dearly to stop Shal Gara from falling into ruin and chaos from demons set on there total annihilation. Can't wait for the second book, if your looking for something new, I very highly recommend....🔥😁

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Super fun fantasy

Saw the authors promoting this in reddit, so decided to take a chance on this new series. Utterly fantastic story with some great world building and charactors. Be warned its really long but its time really well spent.

Special thanks to the narrator, he knocked this out of the park, i really hope there will be another in the series it really deserves to shine in a sea of books now days.

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Amazing!

You wouldn’t think a book of this length would feel like it took hardly any time to read, but the creative world building captured my attention from the start, and the combination of interesting characters and a perfectly paced plot held it throughout, so that the hours of reading melted away unnoticed; something the amazing narration helped with, I'm sure. I love how the characters and plot developed throughout the book, and can’t wait to read more from this world. If you’re a fan of fantasy stories, and looking for something unique and exciting to read next, you definitely need to read this!

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Good story

the story seems great. I hate the narrator. I've had to stop with 8 hours left, keep trying but I just can't stand his voice. I was genuinely surprised that he has won audio awards before. its a personal preference but if you like his voice you will love the story. I'm a big Ben Galley fan so I'll just have to pick up the kindle book at some stage instead.

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Slow burner, flashy finish

As other reviewers have said, it takes times to gain momentum, but when it does it hits you in the face like a steam train. Book 2 has a lot of routes to go down so will be really interesting to see which direction they go. Looking forward to it!

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Good story

Waiting for the next instalment in the series.

At times the pace was a little slower than I would have preferred David did a great job building out this new world, or the tiny piece of the world that this story was anchored around. A couple of teasers for future betrayal and, I suspect, heart breaks. I do hope both magic systems are more thoroughly explored in the next book, as well as more of the wider world.

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