Becoming a target is never great, but it’s a little worse when the people trying to kill you are technically the good guys.
Gabe escaped the Ether with the ultimate prize, and he thought that meant he was done with deadly cosmic games. But the nightmares infesting his life have different plans, and they’re not asking nicely before dragging him back in. It turns out holding all the power in the … power in the universe doesn’t mean much if you have no idea what to do with it.
So together with Heather, he embarks on a frantic race to collect the remaining six Iglas and stave off the coming darkness. And in the process, they discover just how much deeper their problems go. With new threats lashing at them from every side, and old ones tightening their grip, it becomes a contest against chaos to see who will dictate the future of existence: the assorted protectors of Earth, an all-consuming darkness…or a conman who would really rather not.
Blight Marked is the third book in the Ethereal Earth series, an ongoing story about reality, illusions, and all the ridiculous crap in the gray space between.
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A stand out Urban Fantasy series. A+ I can’t get enough. Lots of super powered beings both good and evil (even on cosmic levels), epic battles, twisting plot lines and lovable characters.
Well holy $#!+
Josh Erikson has already proven himself to be at the absolute top of the urban fantasy game, yet once again he has outdone himself and blown away everything that’s come before.
If you only read one urban fantasy series in your lifetime, this should be the one!
Now, I’ve said this before but it bears repeating. I am normally 100% against fiction authors narrating their own books. For most, the author’s brain gets in the way of the narration and they just can’t let go of their ideals, so end up trying to do things their voice just isn’t capable of doing.
The end result, of course, being an audiobook that just sounds terrible. I know of maybe 3 or 4 authors who can pull it off.
So with that thought in mind, I cannot overstate this fact. Josh Erikson is one of the most skilled narrators I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. Easily in the top 5 of all narrators ever.
Each and every one of his voices is unique, perfectly crafted, and fits the character like a glove. His female voices are every bit as believable as the rest. His control of vocal inflections is phenomenal, and his shifts in tempo to indicate tension in a scene just might be the best I’ve ever heard.
I would give the performance ten stars if I could.
Now, the number one thing that has struck me about this series from the very beginning is the voice. Although the book is written in third person, the voice feels very much like Gabe (except the parts that aren’t Gabe, and those have a totally different voice) throughout.
The second thing that blew me away from the start was the depth of the characters. Even the ones we don’t see very often or for very long just have this depth of personality that makes them feel completely real.
On a side note, I have to give the author props for writing what is without a doubt the most intense, exhilarating, breath taking (and simultaneously non-graphic) sex scene I have ever read in any genre!
There’s one aspect to this series that I’ve undergone a dramatic shift over, and that is the chapter introductions. It’s these little first person excerpts from the fictional book the main character is writing.
Honestly, when I started the first book I wasn’t fond of them. It felt like unnecessary departures at best and telly spoilers at worst.
But somewhere between the second book and this one my opinion changed. I can’t say if they just grew on me or if I started seeing more value in them or if the content of them changed. But somewhere along the line I started appreciating them and by the time I got to the end of this book I actually found myself looking forward to them!
Now, let’s talk for a minute about the single thing that sets these books apart from every other urban fantasy I’ve ever read.
While, yes, there is the voice. There is the general lack of a “cheese” factor. There is the lack of a teenage protagonist, and therefore no ridiculous “coming of age” romance and no story of growing up, which lends it a maturity absent from most UF. There is the totally unique mythology and magic system. And there is the lack of the author trying to throw every mythical creature under the sun into the story.
All of that is true.
But none of it is the BIG THING.
The big thing, which is present from the very beginning of Hero Forged, is the sheer EPIC scale of this story.
It’s the reason I have a hard time classifying the Ethereal Earth series as urban fantasy. For me, it’s more like epic fantasy in an urban setting. That’s how big it is. The scope is massive, it has a gigantic cast of characters, and the stakes are universe-shatteringly huge.
It’s almost like The Wheel of Time but in the real world (ish). That’s how big it is (at least, it seems that way to me).
Now, in general I’m not a huge fan of books written with as big a focus on comedy as these. I can’t be certain, but I suspect the reason I’m good with it in these books is because the humor style is so similar to my own. In so many ways, Gabe seems like a guy I’d love to know in real life, in large part because he’d be the guy constantly making me crack up while also cracking up at the ridiculously sarcastic jokes I tend to make.
Okay, let’s talk criticisms for a moment.
Anyone who follows my reviews will know that I always have them, even in the books I love.
So let me surprise you for a moment.
While yes, there is some (a lot of) slightly awkward phrasing, passive voice, etc. in the writing, it just doesn’t bother me because it’s 100% consistent with Gabe’s voice. There is, perhaps, an excess of “happy coincidences” or luck that drives things on, but again, it’s all so consistent with the characters and world the author has built that it just doesn’t bother me.
There’s not a single thing in this book that jarred me out of the story. Nothing made me stop and question WTH when I should have been reading. There was not one instance of feeling something didn’t make sense or needed to be explained better. Similarly, nothing was so on the nose that I had to roll my eyes at it.
In short, this book continues with a brilliantly epic story built on phenomenally real characters that I have grown to love as deeply as my best friends.
Josh Erikson is one of the extremely few authors who can bring me to tears, both happy and sad, for the sometimes terrible and sometimes wonderful things happening to his characters.
This book makes 3 for 3 that he has successfully done so, and in this one he did it multiple times!
Which brings us, I think, to the ending.
I know from previous experience that this author knows how to put together a fantastic ending, so I was definitely expecting something incredible.
But nothing prepared me for the pure amount of EPIC, the sheer level of AWESOME that is the end to this book. In a way, things sort of come full circle between a couple of the characters, which was amazing to see. And the author has definitely mastered the art of building in escalating climaxes that build and build until it seems there can’t be anything bigger coming. And then completely blowing away your expectations to give you an ending that leaves you feeling utterly breathless.
Bravo, Mr Erikson. Bravo.