The Song of the Marked

Shadows and Crowns, Book 1

By: S.M. Gaither

Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky

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

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.

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.

premise of story is good, but... SLOOOOOW......

holy cow this was boring at the end. thought stories were supposed to pick up at the end. I DNF'd at about 75%.

FMC is so predictable. and the love story is achingly boring. even slow burn romances have more spice because there is a build up of anticipation. These two are like watching wet cardboard slowly fall to the floor.

and wtheck... she's taken prisoner by the king, has a convo with him and is suddenly in a swnaky appt and all of her friends (criminals also) are cool with shaking up with the king who kills anything magical. and then it's like they just sit around waiting for him to be the bad guy with NO PLAN for survival. just a bit peeves king won't see her. this is just dumb FMC behavior.

again, it was a DNF FOR STORY ALONE, NARRATOR WAS GREAT

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!