Bloody brilliant

I don’t normally type anything but this was great. I love KA and all her books, I had trouble remembering who was who in the beginning but so worth the effort to remember everyone’s names 👍 got the next one downloaded already

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love love love

i found the books, the characters and the world created by the author was so imaginative and massive, that I couldn't stop listening!

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A Good Listen

This whole series so far is "A Good Listen", up to usual Kristen Ashley High Standard. Possibly to many separate threads to the story, making it a little hard to keep up with at times. Needs your full attention, rather than something to have on in the background. Not sure how any other format could have worked for these books though. Excellent Narration as always.

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Wonderful Narration

I've been waiting for all 4 of the audios to release so I could listen to The Rising series all close together. I'll be honest, I had to concentrate really hard for the first few hours of The Beginning of Everything. SO many different characters on top of the 4 main couples, the different narrators, the different accents. Some very graphic scenes as well.

I enjoyed the second half of The Beginning of Everything more than the first, from the perspective that I was more able to understand what was happening, I was getting to know all the different characters and the couples were starting to come together more. There was more of Elena & Cassius, and Mars & Silence than the other 2 main couples so I was enjoying listening to their relationship development. I'm wanting to see lots more of these couples falling for each other. Especially Mars - I want him to fall HARD, after what he told Silence towards the end!

There are multiple narrators, so it was a really good performance to listen to....... even more so once I figured out what was going on story wise.

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Disappointed and grossed out

**The following review contains spoilers**
I want to start this by saying I am the biggest KA Fan out there. I've been there since the beginning, gobble every single thing she puts out. I also want to say that I listened to every single minute of this series to ensure I wouldn't be premature in my critique.
That noted, let me just say that I severely disliked nearly everything about this series.
It contains gratuitous, unnecessary violence described in graphic detail. Every single "bad guy" was gay - which is hugely problematic and plays into a disturbing stereotype which I just cannot support.
The next issue is with the length of books themselves. There was little action occurring across the first three books, then in the final the action scenes happened in the last three chapters - and most of it occurred off-page. This entire series could have been one or two books long had all the extraneous descriptions and drawn out side arcs been shortened or cut. It would have been punchier, edgier, and less long-winded.
There was also a cacophony of characters. The narrators were excellent, really leaning in to the characters they were trying to embody, but there were far too many. It seemed, even in the final closing chapters of the last book, that new characters were still being introduced. And worse, they all spoke the same, used similar phrases, and had little to differentiate them from one another beyond the accents from the narrators. I'm not sure how many times the word "thus" was used in this series but it was far too often.
It also took me some time to decipher one character from the other because they blended together, the chapters were choppy due to changing perspectives, and there was little to no reference points when reintroducing characters. Often I needed to relisten to remember who was speaking and how they were connected to the rest of the novel.
My final concern wasn't with the premise, the numerous characters, or the long drawn out build up to a climax that fell flat. No, it was that the one interesting and unique character was fundamentally rewritten in the most disappointing of ways. Serena, the glorious princess and general, the strength of her people. a true warrior. She didn't want the crown and repaired her relationship with her sister, sure, that shows character growth. I could even work with the kink of being a sub because every strong woman needs an out.
But I hated how she went from being this dominant, kickass, amazing woman to complete pushover. You don't need to be one or the other, it is more than possible to be both a fantastic woman, strong and cunning while also being vulnerable and feminie. It killed me that this amazing character was dismissed at the end, resulting in a bittersweet ending to what could have been a wonderful story arc.
I'll say this - I'll continue to read and support KA throughout her career. She's an excellent writer and a wonderful human being, but this is a far departure from her normal brilliance.
I'll hold out for a new series.

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3 people found this helpful

Graphic Sex scenes, rape and borderline rape

The storyline is fast moving and it made me want to listen. I am interested in hearing or reading the⁰! rest of the books however I found the sex scenes difficult to listen too, mostly because of the violence and ambiguity of consent.

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8 people found this helpful

WHERE’S THE PRINTED VERSION

Like so many audio books, its necessary to refer to the written version for characters, names, places.
I got lost in the first chapter and cannot find a printed copy.
What’s the go?

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1 person found this helpful