
Amalina and the Secrets of the Wailing Castle
The Count at Play & Slaughter Series, Book 1
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Narrated by:
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Andy Stevenson
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By:
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C.L. Holmes
About this listen
Abducted by an ancient, evil entity to his castle and into his service, what is one to do? Amalina is about to find out. The darkest, most dangerous time in her life begins...
With dark humor, suspense, and new takes on genre tropes, this dark fantasy series quickly grows to surprising, epic proportions, but it starts here in the first novel: Amalina and the Secrets of the Wailing Castle.
Bad Hound Press
©2019 C.L. Holmes (P)2025 Clifton HolmesListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
Winner of the 2021 Indies Today Best Horror Novel Award
Listener received this title free
This book is billed as a horror, but the violence is so limited and handled in such a manner that I think it fits Dark Fantasy, or perhaps Gothic Fantasy, though there is a little too much comedy for either of those categories to truly fit. Indeed, though the material, the setting, the characters, the storyline - indeed, most of the aspects of the book - are dark, the author uses comedy and comedic timing in such a way as to prevent the tension from getting too high.
I was thankful for that, because I do not typically enjoy really dark fantasy, and I typically eschew all things horror. I enjoy my sleep too much to allow it to be disturbed by nightmare-inducing horror stories. LOL.
I liked how the mystery of who the Count is was revealed a little bit at a time through his interactions with Amalina, and then his interactions with other people when the visitors arrive. Through it all, though, Ginatti (again, unsure of spelling) has a theory as to who his master is, I don't know whether I believe that theory, but he surely believes it.
Even knowing this book was the first in the series, I was still frustrated by the ending. For Amalina to be so close, and yet so far, and then to find out what Ginatti really meant... disappointing and frustrating.
For this book, I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by Andy Stevenson. Stevenson gave a wonderful performance, using different voices that made it easy to tell who was speaking, and injecting wonderful use of tone for the build-up and dispelling tension, as well as great comedic timing. I will definitely be listening to the audiobook for future books in the series if I get the chance.
I surprised myself by loving it!
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Listener received this title free
I checked out another review because I wasn’t sure if I was the only one who was hesitant to jump into another vampire story – but there were other reviewers that felt the same way. That being said, this wasn’t one of “those” books. It was well thought out and done in a way that felt honest and true to the older vampire stories that we’re familiar with. (I say that knowing that I love the vampire series from C.T. Phipps because it was the opposite of that – funny and almost blasphemous to the genre).
I think the thing that surprised me the most from this one was that it was much more of an epic tale than a horror story that most vampire stories are. Holmes did a great job of building this world and the characters in it to epic proportions and really made the whole thing as much about the lore and the history as it was about the horror and the “bad” things associated with them.
Overall, I thought that this was an interesting and unique story. One that I definitely enjoyed.
An Epic Tale
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Fair Story, but I Will Not continue Series
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Captivating Voices, Engaging Slow-Build Plot
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Listener received this title free
Andy Stevenson did a masterful job in his narration.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
Amalina
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Listener received this title free
Pretty good story
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