jbronderbookreviews

Author: Susana Imaginário

Narrator: Sarah Kempton

Length: 11 hours 36 minutes

Series: Timelessness, Book 1

Publisher: Susana Imaginário

Released: Apr. 30, 2020

Genre: Fantasy

Chronos, god of Time, and creator of the Universe, wants to destroy Eternity. A mysterious immortal seeks vengeance. And a reclusive Olympian deity does what no god should ever do: She answers a prayer. As punishment, she is stripped of her powers and trapped in a mortal’s body. Now a Wyrd – a fated god – she is haunted by the memories and thoughts of her host and must hide her true identity in order to survive in Niflheim, the rival Norse Underworld. There she discovers the afterlife is not quite what it used to be. Niflheim’s new ruler threatens the precarious balance of a world overrun with outcast deities and mortals alike. To save her own sanity and find her way back to the stars, she must help the other Wyrd overcome their grievances to defeat this enemy, but those who would be her allies appear to have motives as hidden as her fragmented consciousness. And yet it seems the greatest threat to her freedom comes from within, and the prize it seeks is her immortal soul….

Susana Imaginário lives in Ireland with her husband and their extremely spoiled dog. Her hobbies include reading, playing board games, hanging upside down, poking around ancient ruins, talking to trees and being tired. Her work combines mythology with fantasy and psychology in a strange way.

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Sarah has worked on nearly 40 audiobooks to date across various genres, as well as other voice over work from corporate explainers to video games. She has been working as a professional actor for 14 years and is a comedy improviser having performed all over the place from London to Edinburgh to New York and even Luxembourg.

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Q&A with Author Susana Imaginário

• Tell us about the process of turning your book into an audiobook.
  • I used ACX. It was a fairly simple and straightforward process.

• Do you believe certain types of writing translate better into audiobook format?
  • Yes, definitely.
• Was a possible audiobook recording something you were conscious of while writing?
  • Yes.
• How closely did you work with your narrator before and during the recording process? Did you give them any pronunciation tips or special insight into the characters?
  • I knew from the audition that Sarah had nailed the overall tone of the story, so I just sent her a summary of the main character’s personalities, speech patterns and accents. She took it from there.
  • The recording process went smoothly. I would listen to the chapters as soon as they were uploaded and send feedback shortly after. This avoided the repetition of misspellings and jarring edits.

• Are you an audiobook listener? What about the audiobook format appeals to you?
  • Yes. I like the ability to multitask and rest my eyes for a bit.

• Is there a particular part of this story that you feel is more resonating in the audiobook performance than in the book format?
  • Pretty much every bit of dialogue and inner monologues.

• What do you say to those who view listening to audiobooks as “cheating” or as inferior to “real reading”?
  • Nothing.

• What bits of advice would you give to aspiring authors?
  • Just keep writing. There will be bad days and terrible days and completely wasted days, but as long as you love to write, it’s all worth it.

• What’s next for you?
  • Complete the production of the audio version of The Dharkan (Timelessness book 2) and publish Nephilim’s Hex (Timelessness Book 3) on July 1st, if all goes well.

• Can you share with us something about Wyrd Gods that isn’t in the blurb?
  • The main character is Psyche, the goddess of the soul. I keep her identity secret for most of the book (unless the reader knows who the goddess of the soul is, of course). It’s part of the mystery, but since so many people don’t know about her (and therefore miss out on a lot) and her identity has already been spoiled in several reviews, I’m seriously considering changing the blurb to include this.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7nPObNluxaYfBXdp2QOJm0?si=a6c74acd238346b7

A mysterious Olympian god has found herself trapped in a dryad’s body. It seems that she answered a prayer and wound up there. She has no idea where or when she is, all she wants to do is go back to her place among the stars.

What she finds is that Niflheim and Haddes has been joined together and the world tree cut down. The new ruler is bent on making this a place of punishment. The god has to hide her identity for safety as she travels the world. She has to be there for a reason but it’s unknown to her.

At the same time the other gods in this world are being punished in their own way but are scheming like normal. It’s up to the unknown god to stop the new ruler and save the other Wyrd. But how can she do this when she has no memories that can help.

This was an interesting read. I liked the variety of gods, not just from one culture. I admit that I did get frustrated with the unknown goddess. I understand she doesn’t know where she is but she sure was selfish and just wanted to go back to hiding in the stars.

I loved Sarah Kempton’s narration. I was drawn into the story and enjoyed how each character had their own voice. It was a good story and had a perfect twist ending. I am curious to read the next book to see where we end up next.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Susana Imaginário. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

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