Ashes of Orialis

By: Frank Crawford

Narrated by: Ella Epstein

The empire died in fire. Its ghosts are waking.

Cael Draven is a scavenger living on the fringe, content to pick through the ruins of a war long buried. But when he unearths a dormant AI core—once part of the Orialis Pact’s most dangerous weapon—his past catches up with him in fractured memories, violent hunters, and voices that don’t belong to him.

The Erebus Protocol was meant to end rebellion before it began. Now it’s reactivating sleeper agents across the galaxy. Some obey. Some go rogue. And one of them might be Cael.

Hunted by syndicates, zealots, and the ghosts of a technocratic empire, Cael must decide whether to run, fight, or become the very thing he was programmed to destroy.

Ashes of Orialis is a gritty, cinematic space opera about identity, memory, and the high cost of control—perfect for fans of The Expanse, Blade Runner, and Andor.

©2025 Frank Allen Crawford (P)2025 Frank Allen Crawford

Exciting story, great characters, amazing narration

The story, a space-opera update on "The Manchurian Candidate," with sleeper agents, clever drones, and deep interior landscapes with "Expanse"-like battles, is tense, engaging, and filled with deep ideas including the ethics of AI.

The pacing is action-packed; this novel feels like it could be a movie.

The narration, with multiple voices, accents, and a great knack for building character and evoking tension, really brings this story to life — and it’s astounding that one person did it all. Ella Epstein's voice work, jumping from a gruff space-salvage anti-hero to an innocent girl in a training VR module, is impressive. I hope to hear more.