Requiem's Song Audiobook By Daniel Arenson cover art

Requiem's Song

Dawn of Dragons, Book 1

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Requiem's Song

By: Daniel Arenson
Narrated by: Paul J. McSorley
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Weredragons, men call them. Monsters. Cursed ones. People who can turn into beastly reptiles.

In an ancient world just rising from darkness, they are everywhere. Some wander the plains with clans of mammoth hunters. Others are born in riverside huts. Some live across the ocean, where seafaring tribes are discovering the secrets of bronze and writing in clay. Everywhere their curse is the same - they are people who can grow wings, breathe fire, and take flight as dragons.

And everywhere, they are hunted. They hide in forests and caves, dispersed. Many are alone, unaware that others exist. They are shunned, afraid, dying...until a group of these lost souls binds together and stands tall.

A blacksmith in a world of stone tools. A mammoth hunter exiled from her tribe. A traveling juggler and a wandering warrior. An elderly druid and an outcast prince. They are weredragons. They are cursed and hunted. Together they will forge a new tribe, a home for their kind. A dawn of dragon rises. The nation of Requiem is born.

©2014 Daniel Arenson (P)2015 Daniel Arenson Classics Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Dragons Outcast
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While I enjoyed the story I did not enjoy the performance. Technically it was well performed yet some of the characterizations got on my nerves. Definitely not a book for children yet the Lyra characterization was, to me, done in a childish sounding manner. This is the one that bothered me the most.

On to the story...It is a great portrayal of self loathing and disastrous consequences. It is a portrayal of struggle and triumph. It is a portrayal of persecution, perseverance, the search for family and carving out a niche with others like one's self and making a place in the world.

Good story

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Let me start by saying I really did not enjoy the narrator. He is skilled, with a good assortment of voices, but I think his character voice choices were not very good. Particularly the female characters. One of the main characters, who does have a legitimate reason for her voice to sound... Impaired, actually sounds like an adolescent male orc with huge tusks affecting the voice rather than the actual physical explanation.

Okay, story.
I could be wrong, but I believe this is the first book Daniel wrote in this world. With that in mind, I was expecting shallow characters, random, dead-end sub- plots, and clumsy, sloppy prose.

I'm very happy to say this book has none of those problems!

What it does have is a big, sprawling cast, a deep history, and complex characters.

In many ways, I'm reminded of A Game of Thrones, but that I feel there wasn't enough time spent on any one thing.

Just from the way its written, I can see there is a wealth of history and character motivations and magic and I just wish more of it had made it into the book.

As it is, it feels like I've just watched a film adaptation that hints at all these awesome things but doesn't actually explore any of them.

I expect much of this is built on with successive novels, but again, I feel that this story was too big to have been told in a 100k word novel.

Now, for my one true gripe about the story:
The Dragons.

Now, I understood going into it that the story was about were-dragons and not true dragons, so, okay, weird idea, but I get it.

But

Where are the true dragons?
There's not a word in the entire book even mentioning true dragons.

Do they exist?
If not, how can you explain the existence of a were-dragon? It just doesn't make sense to me.

Now, the bigger issue I have, is why would plain, ordinary rope stop a were-dragon from transforming into their dragon form? It doesn't make any sense. The change is magical in nature, how does ordinary rope prevent it?

I kept expecting an explanation, but none ever came.

And why can humans kill them so easily?

I could go on about this, but the short version is I have tons of questions about the Dragons that were not addressed in any way, shape, or form in the book.

In the end, I'm glad I read it, but I don't know if I'll be continuing the series.

Decent story, too many unanswered questions.

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I enjoyed the story. Narrator is good for the most part, wasnt a fan of some of his voices for female characters, my only real gripe. Came for the dragons and the author delivered. The characters did spend a lot of time in dragon form though they were too scared for half the book. No overbearing or eye rolling love story that you usually find in these types of "people shifting into dragon" books. Every protagonist and antagonist in this book gets agency and is tortured in their own ways and to be honest half the book is them having a horrible life, even the demon has a current tortured life. WARNING The book is graphic which includes abusive sexual themes, psycological and physical torture (not gorey though), extreme pain and deaths. There is the mention of rape but its not detailed. The NEAR rape scenes get detailed and very suspenseful but the act is not followed through, just so the listener is aware that this is in the book. A character is also sexually manipulated. Some people do not want to have this in their books which is fine but you have been warned. It did not ruin the book for me and added a very realistic and believable layer of suspense that, the way this book was written, you truly believed something horrible would happen to any of the main characters (good and bad) no mary Sue's here and most of the main characters do end with their version of a happy ending. Not all doom and gloom.

This one was good, onto the next book for me.

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I own this book as well I love it. it has a good plot a week made story line.

good book

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Always LOVED any paranormal books...this book is no different! Awesome to hear it tho! Goes by faster than my reading lol. Definitely advise anyone who loves dragons & paranormal to read and/or listen to this book/series! 👍🏻👍🏻

Requiem’s Song by Daniel Anderson. Narrated by Paul J. McSorley

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it's ok. The reader is annoying, but tolerable. The story is interesting enough, but I like my dragons... you know....
powerful? He always talks about their scales covering their bodies, but even still simple arrows are enough to take them down? At every turn the dragons just seem... wimpy. It's frustrating. Also the author seems focused on grossing out the reader with every passing chapter. Don't get this if you've got a weak stomach.
A positive would be, I do like the character of Lyra, and there's decent action.

Wimpy Dragons, Gross-out story

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just plain terrible. this could have been a good story. the writing style wasn't any good. the reader wasn't any good. the storyline was aweful.

bad

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The synopsis does not warn you about not leaving anything to the imagination. The graphic filth in violence & pornography is beyond belief.
I have found that the human imagination can be far more scary than knowing all. Once you know everything the fear & suspense/ anticipation goes away.
This author leaves nothing to the imagination. He dwells on his sick explanations & then quickly moves the story along till he gets to the next putrid part where he lingers while probably performing unnatural acts on small animals.
I have been taught all my life to be ACCEPTING (tolerance is different) of people's personal choices. It is when they try to shove it in my face that I have a problem. This trash needs a warning so people can choose for themselves whether or not to read it. I was not given that choice & that is why I am so annoyed. The author has the right to publish his garbage, but white washing the synopsis is despicable.
From the reviews I was unable to find any mention of off - color material. On radio & TV I can always change the channel. The problem here is that I was suckered into BUYING it. Even the Audible sample was white washed. I see that people gave 5 stars & if this is the type of material that they like then that is fine because it's their freedom to choose. I was not given a choice, but I did make it half way hoping for something to make me keep going. It just kept getting worse. If it said, "Contains unnatural extremely graphic pornography and violence", I would have quietly moved on.
NOTE to author: First seek help. Next leave just enough to spark the imagination. If a person has to think about what is happening then it is far more effective. Imagination can bring up a person's greatest fears or delights & leave them needing to find out more. Your writing is disgustingly boring.

Written by a very sick Psychopath

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What disappointed you about Requiem's Song?

I'm a fan of Terry Goodkind. I read Daniel Areson's post on facebook which said, more or less, "if your a fan of Terry Goodkind.....you'll love this series". I listened to the first half hour and turned it off. My day is full of regret now. There's one credit i'll never get back. BAHHHHHH

Would you ever listen to anything by Daniel Arenson again?

I would give Daniel Arenson another shot if the reviews were positive.

No.....just NO!

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This is the first story I've ever read in which dragons, DRAGONS, are the weakest amongst literal Stone age tribes. The author painstakingly describes the transformations that seem powerful ( rippling muscle, shield like scales, claws like swords, etc.) yet these "mighty dragons are brought down by normal arrows and (literal) sticks and stones? DRAGONS. It makes for a frustrating listen.

Decent narration for a bad story

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