Compelling story brilliantly voiced

I started listening to this story before I had allowed myself to absorb any spoilers, teasers or any information about the plot at all. I hadn't even looked closely at the cover art (don't do that yet!) For a while I thought I was on a familiar journey, but a couple of hard turns and face slaps later and I learned different. If you want to experience that surprise for yourself then click to buy now rather than read anyone's spoilers and lose the opportunity.
I've not read any other reviews before writing this, but I assume most felt the same. I can't imagine how badly this story could have been butchered if it was voiced by anyone other than Luke. His willingness to commit to different characters' accents, inflections and personalities turns this book reading into an enthralling voice performance which adds to the vibrancy of the image of the characters the brain conjures. That said, although I created in my head a detailed image of each and every character, I can't imagine Fetch being cast as anyone but the author himself, so Luke please get that written into any film contracts :)
Can't wait to sink my ear-teeth into the next two books in the series!

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A new sub genre brilliantly voiced by the author

With this I believe Luke (the author) has invented a new sub genre of a fantasy world that has gone through a apocalypse and lost its magic. The complete reverse of all the post apocalyptic fantasy I have seen where our world goes through an apocalyptic event and gains magic.

2ndly authors reading their own work normally bring something extra to a performance. Luke does this in spades.

Finally the essentially detective storey is well deployed and provides a great vehicle to navigate the world and never feels forced.

Highly recommended, I am buying the next one

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Fantastical Expertise

Urban Fantasy for this generation! Luke Arnold does an exquisite job of building a gritty and under trodden fantasy scape with an even more compelling protagonist.

Narrated perfectly. And I mean perfectly with emotional depth given to scenes that only the author could elicit.

Perfect addition. No criticisms. It’s added to my favourites.

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Great!

Loved it and Luke has a very soothing voice. He does good character voices. 👏

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Incredibly well done!

Like the previous reviewer at first I felt like it was yet another already done story. But as it wove on the surprises hit and it became so much more. I’m a complete Fetch fan now, this is so well written and well performed by the author. Give him a chance, it takes a while to reveal itself, but it’s so worth the listen.

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A promising beginning

I’ve never heard of Luke Arnold before, as an actor or an author and this was a pleasant introduction.

I’m always weary of urban fantasy; I’ve found only Jim Butcher does it justice. This novel wasn’t really urban fantasy, but something adjacent. And the Arnold hit the noir stylings perfectly. There was a bit of backstory and world building to do in this novel, but it didn’t slow proceedings down too much.

I think the series is well positioned to be highly entertaining. Fetch Philips, man for hire. I like him. And look forward to joining him in more cases.

I hope Arnold continues to narrate his own work, too. The delivery was perfectly dry. Like Nicholson in “Chinatown”, Selleck in “Magnum, P.I” or even the unfairly maligned Deckard in one of the many cuts of “Blade Runner”.

This series has legs. Give it a go if you love 40s style noir with a solid shot of fantasy for kick.

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A pleasant surprise!

Luke Arnold dose himself proud as both author and performer.
I usually steer clear of audio books, particularly fiction, performed by their authors. In my experience they generally showcase the writers over estimation of their skills as a narrator, the narrators over estimation of their skills as an author or, all too often, both.
This is one of the occasional refreshing exceptions to that pattern.
What we have here is a playful salmagundi of genres, engaging characters and an author who has fun with language.
All presented by a genuinely talented voice actor.

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1 person found this helpful

Loved it! Funny & Clever.

I enjoyed the fantastical world the writer created, the gritty characters and the fantasy crime story. The writers’ performance in the reading was exactly what it needed, and reminded me of noir style Bogart movies. The descriptions are very clever & often hilarious. Well worth it. I’m off to read the next one now.

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Surprisingly Good

Took me completely by surprise. I was expecting a 6 out of 10 to wittle a few hours a way whilst at work but its a solid 8 maybe 9.

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Fine Fantasy Noir

wow, I really loved this. fantastic world building, that cool noir detective vibe, a Grimm dark world, conspiracies on conspiracies. all written masterfully. It reminded me alot in the spirit of The Dresden Files and Rivers of London, so if you liked those you may like this.

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