What I Think about An Echo in the Sorrow by Hailey Turner (Narrated by Gary Furlong)

An Echo in the Sorrow – Soulbound, Book 6

Author: Hailey Turner

Narrator: Gary Furlong

Themes and genres: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Mythology, Romance, LGBT, magic, mages, pack, werecreatures, demons

Length: 11h 28m

WARNING: Mature Content

Blurb:

Forgiveness is a hollow prayer you only hear in your dreams.

Patrick Collins has spent years handling cases as a special agent for the Supernatural Operations Agency, even as his secret standing in the preternatural world has changed. He should have confessed to his role as co-leader of the New York City god pack when he and Jonothon de Vere took up the mantle months ago, but he didn’t. Now, that split loyalty will cost him at a time when he can least afford it.

Outmaneuvered, framed for murder, and targeted by the Dominion Sect, Patrick has to face a past full of lies to regain his freedom. Revealing the truth means he’ll need to give up the life that has defined him. Everything he’s fought to build with his pack is at stake, and losing them isn’t a price Patrick is willing to pay, but some choices aren’t his to make.

Jono knows they can’t cede any more territory if they want to win the god pack civil war spilling into the streets of New York City. But the souls of werecreatures are free for the taking when demons come to town and angels sing a warning no one can ignore. When Jono’s worst fear comes to life, and he loses the one person he can’t live without, the only option left is to fight.

Facing down the demons of their past and the ones in their present, Patrick and Jono will learn the hard way that some sins never wash away clean.

What I think of the book:

I can’t believe I haven’t reviewed any Hailey Turner books on my blog yet. Read them – yes; recommended them – yes, reviewed – no… But that’s about to change.

An Echo in the Sorrow is the sixth book in Hailey’s Urban Fantasy series Soulbound. All of the novels are connected and should be read in order. Knowing this, I was hesitant at first as I’m notorious for not finishing series and then feeling bad about it, but a sneak peek from the first book – A Ferry of Bones & Gold, and I was hooked.

So I read, and read, and the more I did, the more I wanted to continue reading. An Echo in the Sorrow is the first Soulbound book I actually listen to and the experience is just as intoxicating.

The familiar characters are there just as fleshed out as before, we have action, we have romance, we have magic… And not just the one the characters wield. Hailey’s writing style will surely put a spell on you.

With so many books, there are naturally some repetitions, a few déjà vu moments where you think “Hasn’t she written this in the exact same way before?”, but those do not lessen the pleasure you get from the story. In fact, some of these repetitions help jolt your memory on events from the previous books.

As for the narration…

The reason why I usually read not listen to books is that most of the time the voice of the narrator doesn’t match with the voices of the characters as I’ve imagined them in my head and because some narrators can’t seem to grasp the tone of what they are reading. A bad narration can spoil an otherwise good book.

But Gary Furlong… Guys, I’m in love!

His narration is one of the best I’ve heard. He does plenty of voices, some with accents; I can tell which of the main/recurring characters is speaking just by the voice alone. One chapter in and I was pausing to check what else this guy has worked on. I’m actually thinking of buying audiobooks by authors I haven’t read anything from because of him.

So, so good, and worthy of Hailey’s amazing creation!

Who would I recommend this book to? I’d recommend not just An Echo in the Sorrow, but the whole Soulbound series to Urban Fantasy lovers in search of a more epic than casual read.

My rating for the book: 5/5 blue fireballs