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Forging Hephaestus

Villains' Code Series, Book 1

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Forging Hephaestus

By: Drew Hayes
Narrated by: Amy Landon
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About this listen

Gifted with meta-human powers in a world full of capes and villains, Tori Rivas kept away from the limelight, preferring to work as a thief in the shadows. But when she's captured trying to rob a vault that belongs to a secret guild of villains, she's offered a hard choice: prove she has what it takes to join them or be eliminated.

Apprenticed to one of the world's most powerful (and supposedly dead) villains, she is thrust into a strange world where the lines that divide superheroes and criminals are more complex than they seem. The education of a villain is not an easy one, and Tori will have to learn quickly if she wants to survive. On top of the peril she faces from her own teacher, there are also the capes and fellow apprentices to worry about, to say nothing of having to keep up a civilian cover.

Most dangerous of all, though, are those who loathe the guild's very existence. Old grudges mean some are willing to go to any length to see the guild turned to ash, along with each one of its members. Even the lowly apprentices.

©2016 Andrew Hayes (P)2017 Tantor Fantasy Fiction Humorous Superhero Comedy
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Good solid story and performance but nothing that makes you go wow. I use these books for when I am driving and this worked perfectly in that context.

Easy to listen to and generally quite entertaining

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This book really surprised me, I wasnt expecting much from it but every so often you stumble across something that really drags you in and Hephaestus really deliverd

Loved it

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I've only recently noticed that a large percentage of my library is populated by his books. good show indeed.

Another great by Drew Hayes

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I'm going to start here by saying that I don't really like the superhero genre. Definitely not my favourite, although I had nothing against it. However, as I'm a fan of Drew's other series and his work with the Authors & Dragons crew (and am in the middle of a huge crochet project that leaves me far too much time sitting on the sofa when I can't actually read), I decided to give this a shot.

BOY, AM I GLAD I DID. The main characters were relatable and likeable, somewhat surprisingly for villains, the bad guys were equally despicable, and the good guys were complex enough to not be boring, which is my usual quarrel with this genre. The story was compelling and well told, with a very satisfying conclusion and hook to future tales in the same world (which is awesome because they're already available and I'm only halfway through this damn blanket!) The narration was also excellent (although I would like to mention that "chitin" is pronounced "ky-tin" and not how it's spelt). Each character was given their own distinctive voice and tempo of speech which made dialogue really easy to follow, which I very much appreciate in a narrator.

All in all, I enjoyed this book immensely and highly recommend it to anyone who is either already a fan of the superhero genre, or a fan of other fantasy looking to broaden their horizons.

I did not expect to love this and I WAS WRONG

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It’s rare that a male author can write a realist female character or characters without over sexualizing them. It’s such a breath of greasy air to read a book about a badass woman who is multifaceted and likable. Fantastic writing, world and character building. This book will leave you wanting more.

Must read

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drew hayes has done it again ! he has become my new favorite author. can't wait for the sequel

amazing story

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Drew's series "Super Powereds" was a great coming of age series, but Villans Code is where it's at.
The main character Tori is snarky and wicked smart, and stuck as a office drone with the most dangerious villan in the world as her manager makes for an amusing setting, particulary with a sword of damocles hanging over her head if she doesn't perform in her villan identity.
If you want humorous super villan/hero,with believeable characters and without the gratuitous smut so many other titles have, then this is the series for you.
It's difficult to find intelligent books like this that fit in the middle ground between cheesy teen novels and the basically R Rated trash that is out there.
This book / series as far as I can tell is a unicorn of the Genre. Bring me more Unicorns please.

Most dangerious villan on earth an office manager

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I cant wait for the next book in the series.
I dont want to oversell it, but its my favorite book. (By an author who already have a star struck line of books in my library) The chararters are made with care and wit, the universe is interesting.
I (literally) threw this book after my friend, and now he is GMing 3 tabletop games set in this universe.
I'm also just happy how many cool ladies are in this book.
This book makes me want to be a writer myself. Because I can find no books (by other authors) that compare.

I keep re reading this book

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was a bit weary of starting this due to marvel/DC burnout but it quickly grew on me as it turns the tables. Cleverly written with characters I actually was interested in. The narration was high level too.

great twist on superhumans

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