The Last Smile in Sunder City cover art

The Last Smile in Sunder City

Fetch Phillips, Book 1

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The Last Smile in Sunder City

By: Luke Arnold
Narrated by: Luke Arnold
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About this listen

The Last Smile in Sunder City is a brilliantly voiced contemporary fantasy for fans of Ben Aaronovitch, Rotherweird or Terry Pratchett's Discworld, and the debut novel from high-profile actor Luke Arnold.

Fetch Phillips fought on the wrong side of a war between humans and magical creatures, and his actions helped to drain the world of enchantment. Now he works on the streets of Sunder City, taking what odd jobs he can while trying to help those whose lives he ruined.

His first case is to find a missing teacher. Professor Rye is a 400-year-old vampire with a heart of gold in a husk of a body. In a world without magic, most vamps have already crumbled into dust, but Fetch is happy to go looking for some dirt with pointed teeth if it gets him his drinking money. Then, when a young siren disappears, Fetch finds out that this dark world still hides some monsters - and he'd better clean up his act before they come into the light.

©2019 Luke Arnold (P)2019 Hachette Audio UK Action & Adventure Fantasy Fiction Paranormal Funny
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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

A new sub genre brilliantly voiced by the author

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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.

Fantastical Expertise

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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!

Compelling story brilliantly voiced

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This was a fantastic telling, Luke Arnold does an amazing job narrating this story, his acting talents shine through. And as the Author is the narrator, his deep understanding of the characters and world shines through.
Fetch isn’t a hero and makes no apologies for it. What unfolds is an adventure born of guilt.
This is a fantastic start to a series with a great introduction into a newly non-magical world.
Fetch is a man for hire who’s made a lot of poor decisions, but he is an endearing character with a complex moral code and this story held me from start to finish.
I can’t wait to start the next in the series.

A flawed hero in a great story

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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.

A pleasant surprise!

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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.

Loved it! Funny & Clever.

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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.

Surprisingly Good

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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.

Fine Fantasy Noir

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

Great!

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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.

Incredibly well done!

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