Astonishingly Lousy

I am flabbergasted by the rave reviews of this book, which encouraged me to purchase it. I cannot believe anyone would think this book was anything other than totally mundane.

The first couple of hours are quite compelling because you think something is going to happen. It is not. When the angels finally speak they are so cliched and hackneyed with camp yet totally unfunny innuendo. The main character is spineless and has such terrible social anxiety that you want to slap him. If I was his room mate, I would prank him too.

I was expecting some demons and arcane action, and yet we encounter one demon briefly and some dogs from the bowels of the earth even more briefly. Other than that, there is no story, other than the repetitive badly written dialog between the angels and our boring hero. The endless recaps and explanations when nothing has actually happened to warrant a recap, pads out this 1 hour story to an astonishing 8 hours.

Kirt Graves, the narrator, is its only saving grace.

Utter drivel. Avoid!

2 people found this helpful

An interesting start to a series

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this novel. I don’t read many paranormal books, but the synopsis intrigued me, and I knew when the opportunity arose to listen to this book, I had to give it a shot. No small part of that was Kirt Graves. I love his narrations and his quality of work is always stellar. He definitely helped with my enjoyment of the story.

I also want to address thee myriad of trigger warnings – all of which are necessary and important. There were moments of great suffering for the main character, Riley. I was uncomfortable and I felt that pain. Now, I am an empathetic person. That being said, there were a few moments I struggled to keep going. The stories of the abuse Riley suffered as a child were devastating. The cruelty of his foster mother knew no bounds, and then he winds up with one of the most homophobic roommates on the entire campus. It often felt like Riley couldn’t catch a break, and anytime he tried to step out and have fun, his horrendous foster mother would intervene. You’d think being away and at college would have loosened her grip, but it didn’t. Her homophobia and puritanical views were unrelenting.

Okay, so now that the tough stuff is out of the way. The whole premise intrigued me. Two Guardian angels sent to protect Riley. They do just that one night and it becomes clear Riley is in danger. Now, I’m not familiar with this worldbuilding of angels, demons, creatures, and – frankly – violence. I could, however, relate to the tenderness and kindness of Jay and Noel. Even Gideon had his moments. Riley struggles with understanding what is going on around him. He planned a nice quiet education. He’s in for so much more than that.

Riley’s naïveté spoke to me. Not everyone experiences our sexualized culture the same way. He struggles with understanding his body’s yearnings versus the religious and zealous upbringing. There are no easy answers, but I like that he didn’t just jump into bed with anyone. There are more books and I foresee a sexual awakening, but I’m counting on it being done with decorum and kindness. God knows, Riley deserves to be treasured.

And so I hope the next book is available on audio soon. I’m so glad I listened to this one – disturbing parts and all. Finally I’ll mention the humor. Plenty of it to go around, lightening the piece. The powerful piece.

1 person found this helpful

So good

I’ve read these books and when I saw them being narrated by Kirt Graves I knew I had to listen to them too.
Riley, Jai, Noel and Gideon are beautifully written characters with their differences and personalities so clear and in depth. The story is intricate and exhilarating and full of hidden gems and folklore. When you then add the genius that is Kirt Graves’ narration it becomes something not to be missed. I love these books. Love his narration. Put together they really are something very special.

Amazing

Read the books a while ago and loved them Kurt Graves has done an amazing job of narrating the story and bringing out the characters.

Fantastic story and narration

I first enjoyed this story in the eBook format. I thought it was good but a little slow-moving to start. However, the audio version blew me away, and I have to credit narrator Kirt Graves with the increase in my rating of the story from 4 to 5 stars. The audio version brought an increased level of appreciation for the emotion and drama in the story. I could really feel Riley's emotions, his neurotic nature, and the effects of his abuse at the hands of his fanatic former foster parent. While there are certainly some painful, traumatic scenes, there is also a lot of caring and there is humor aplenty in the verbal sparing between the two seconds, Jai and Noel. I absolutely loved this audiobook and listened to the whole thing in one sitting. I am really looking forward to hearing more of the Scrolls on audio.

I received a free copy of this audiobook at my request and am voluntarily leaving this review.

Riley and his guardian angels...

This a very slow burn/finding you are gay romance. Riley has been instilled gay is bad, his foster mom Ms Janet is an overly religious woman who took care of Riley but also abused him mentally. When Riley is assigned 3 guardians he starts to understand some things he learned were not right and that he might like boys. He is super sweet and hates confrontation, so his roommate treats him poorly. I enjoyed the story. This first book is just the beginning. The narration was good, there are so many characters sometimes voices get mix up in my brain.

Great start

Great start to the series by Nikole Knight. Characters where interesting and the storyline felt good. Love the world the author created. Can't go wrong with book narrated by Kirt Graves. Can't wait for the second installment.
This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Slow burn, coming of age, polyamory, paranormal

This is a new to me author.
I absolutely loved this book.
Poor Riley has been put through the wringer, hurt left and right by those who should be protecting him.
He's such a sweet boy and people just seem to walk all over him.
He's slowly coming out of his shell, navigating life on his own with the help of friends.
When he discovers a hidden truth about himself and reality as he knows it, his whole world is shattered.
As he struggles to make sense of it all, he's plunged into a world of mystisicim fraught with angels, demons, and powers he has no idea existed, along with a ready made team of Guardians.
Noel, Jai and Gideon are all ploar opposites but each brings intrinsic value to the family they've built.
There is no discernable romance between them, but Riley is questioning everything he ever belived about himself and these men find themselves attracted to each other and they seem to be trying to navigate their developing relationship.
I am eagerly awaiting the continuation of this story.
Kirt Graves did an amazing job.

An intense story and great start to the series

Oh wow! This was completely unexpected and such a fantastic read. I'd say that the first book in this series is very much character driven as we meet and get to know Riley as he then becomes aware of those around him not of the human realm. His Guardians come into his life, really at the right time as he struggles at college and is someone so much in need of friendship and care.
Riley's character breaks my heart. He's so loving and giving but has learned behaviours from his foster mother and finds it easier to submit to others rather than make a scene or stand up for himself. He has social anxiety, shyness and a really negative self view. It takes weeks for him to become comfortable around the two men that he keeps seeing and talking to around campus. Jai and Noel start to be important to him without him really noticing and then they come to his rescue, also introducing Gideon to his life. Those three men are an enigma, have a really interesting dynamic between them. We get a little bit of history about their roles and relationship but I'm hoping for a lot more in book two.
Most of the book is focused on Riley and his relationships but towards the end we get more interaction with the demonic side and it leaves for a really interesting end to the book with so much left to explore and expand upon in the next book.
I really enjoyed reading this and would definitely recommend! It's a complete slow burn with hugs happening at most and the acknowledgement of feeling more than friendship. Looking forward to a HEA for Riley in this series.
I was looking forward to listening to this series and it doesn't disappoint. Kirk really brings the characters to life, especially Riley and, though at times it's hard to listen to, it is very worthwhile. I've read the whole series and know that the audio is going to be fantastically intense. My one thing would be to have maybe more pronounced/different voices for the main characters. There's not a lot to differentiate and knowing that so many characters are incoming with the whole of the series, it's going to get hard to pick them out specifically from other side characters.

A World He Never Knew Existed.

Book 1 in a slow- burn Harem/Poly Paranormal Romance series. Intense from the moment I started listening, didn't know what was going to happen next. I Absolutely loved every moment of it. Riley is a sweet innocent character who has had a horrific childhood. Kirk Graves did a great job of narrating this twisted tale.