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The Beginning of Everything

The Rising, Book 1

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The Beginning of Everything

By: Kristen Ashley
Narrated by: Liz Thompson, Dina Pearlman, Stella Bloom, Joniece Abbott Pratt, Esther Wane, Gemma Dawson, Robin Miles, Clara Francesca, Lance Greenfield, Jakobi Diem, Ralph Lister, John Hartley, Rupert Channing, Sarah Coomes
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About this listen

Once upon a time, in a parallel universe, there existed the continent of Triton....

The land was filled with beauty, but it was also splintered by war.

Out of the chaos grew a conspiracy to reawaken the Beast, a fearsome creature who wrought only tragedy and devastation. The only way to stop him is to fulfill an ancient prophecy: Triton’s four strongest warriors must wed its four most powerful witches, binding all nations together and finally bringing peace to the land.

This is the beginning of the story of their unions: the quiet maiden Silence and the savage King Mars. The cold warrior Cassius and the fiery witch Elena. The steadfast soldier True and the banished beauty Farah. And the pirate King Aramus and his mysterious Queen Ha-Lah.

Their unions will not be easy, but each couple must succeed....

The fate of their world is at stake.

©2019 Kristen Ashley (P)2019 Audible Originals, LLC. Fantasy Emotionally Gripping Feel-Good
About the Creator - Kristen Ashley

About the Creator

Kristen Ashley is the New York Times bestselling author of over 80 romance novels. She’s a hybrid author, publishing titles both independently and traditionally. Her books have been translated in 14 languages and she’s sold millions of books. In March, she released the The Girl in The Woods, the second in her romantic thriller series, Misted Pines. And her latest audiobook is Perfect Together, a second chance romance that will break your heart and then put it back together stronger than before. She also published Too Good To be True, her first-ever murder mystery romance in an episodic format on Kindle Vella. Kristen, born in Gary and raised in Brownsburg, Indiana, and was a fourth-generation graduate of Purdue University. Since, she has lived in Denver, the West Country of England, and she now resides in Phoenix. She worked as a charity executive for 18 years prior to beginning her independent publishing career. She now writes full-time. Although romance is her genre, the prevailing themes running through all of Kristen’s novels are friendship, family and a strong sisterhood. To this end, and as a way to thank her readers for their support, Kristen has created the Rock Chick Nation, a series of programs that are designed to give back to her readers and promote a strong female community. You can learn more about Kristen and the Rock Chick Nation on her website: www.KristenAshley.net
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This was the first installment of a longer series based around four couples who must marry (although one pair had already secretly wed) and fall in love to break an ancient curse. In the background, a secret cult are determined to help the Beast succeed in bringing darkness and desolation to the land. The premise sounded interesting but the author chucked in too many couples and secondary characters in an attempt to cover as many tropes and character cliches as possible. There's the quiet maiden, the witch, the warrior, the tough king, the loyal men at arms, a pirate, etc. - all strong and gorgeous (naturally!). I was only invested in Cassius and Mars' relationships and even they were the usual, run of the mill 'alpha' type this author trots out (and they were done well here - growly, confident, rough and warrior-like). There was plenty of chemistry and smexy times but a lot of it seemed jammed in gratuitously, including MM and non-con. I think it's tried to be a bit of an epic and had the skeleton for one but fell flat by trying to make it too much. A found the two of the couples a bit bland so while I enjoyed parts of the story, it wasn't enough to make me invested in finding out what happens next, especially when I'm pretty sure I'll only read half of the characters' stories in the book. The next novel, going by reviews and the blurb, centres around a lot of more of the same and a stack of misunderstandings about the couple so I'll be giving it a miss.

While the story didn't grab me for the entirety of the book, the narration was excellent for all characters. Great cast, loved the variety and each shone in their parts.

An overly busy attempt at a fantasy epic

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The storyline is fast moving and it made me want to listen. I am interested in hearing or reading the⁰! rest of the books however I found the sex scenes difficult to listen too, mostly because of the violence and ambiguity of consent.

Graphic Sex scenes, rape and borderline rape

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I don’t normally type anything but this was great. I love KA and all her books, I had trouble remembering who was who in the beginning but so worth the effort to remember everyone’s names 👍 got the next one downloaded already

Bloody brilliant

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i found the books, the characters and the world created by the author was so imaginative and massive, that I couldn't stop listening!

love love love

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I've been waiting for all 4 of the audios to release so I could listen to The Rising series all close together. I'll be honest, I had to concentrate really hard for the first few hours of The Beginning of Everything. SO many different characters on top of the 4 main couples, the different narrators, the different accents. Some very graphic scenes as well.

I enjoyed the second half of The Beginning of Everything more than the first, from the perspective that I was more able to understand what was happening, I was getting to know all the different characters and the couples were starting to come together more. There was more of Elena & Cassius, and Mars & Silence than the other 2 main couples so I was enjoying listening to their relationship development. I'm wanting to see lots more of these couples falling for each other. Especially Mars - I want him to fall HARD, after what he told Silence towards the end!

There are multiple narrators, so it was a really good performance to listen to....... even more so once I figured out what was going on story wise.

Wonderful Narration

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