The Last Emperor Audiobook By Maxime J. Durand, Void Herald cover art

The Last Emperor

A Progression Fantasy Epic

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The Last Emperor

By: Maxime J. Durand, Void Herald
Narrated by: Peter Kenny
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He has a year left to live... unless he gains the power to kill the Gods first.

Each year, the Nightlords choose a new Emperor to rule Yohuachanca. Delicious food graces his palate. The realm’s most beautiful women fill his vast palace. Four priestesses counsel him in all matters. The life of an emperor is good, luxurious, and short...

For at the year’s end, he is sacrificed to the Nightlords under the light of the Scarlet Moon.

Iztac is the piss-poor orphan chosen to be this year’s emperor. A sacrifice bound for the altar.

But the Nightlords have made a mistake this time. For Iztac is a sorcerer, whose soul journeys into the secret underworld to plunder the secret spells of the dead. There, in the darkness, hides the power to drag the Nightlords off their throne.

He has a year to find it, or perish for good.

Iztac may not be the first emperor, but he will be the last.

Don't miss this action-packed Progression Fantasy saga with a unique spin from Maxime J. Durand, bestselling author of Vainqueur the Dragon, The Perfect Run, and Apocalypse Tamer.

©2024 Aethon Books (P)2024 Aethon Audio Action & Adventure Dragons & Mythical Creatures Fantasy Sword & Sorcery
Intense Tension • Solid Worldbuilding • Well-portrayed Teenager • Superior Writing • Unique Setting • Dark Tones
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I’ll start this out by saying this book won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. Its themes and tone are very dark and the main protagonist might just be in one of the worst situations imaginable, from a moral standpoint at least. There are no right choices for him. All he can do is pick between lesser and greater evils. That being said, his shift throughout the series from an optimistic boy to a cruel and calculative man is expertly written and very interesting to see. He’s up against complete and total evil, and that makes every choice he makes, no matter how heinous, seem reasonable in comparison when the end goal is the defeat of that evil.
I’m currently well past book 1 and am reading book 3 as the author posts it chapter by chapter. I can say with confidence that it only gets better. I highly recommend checking it out.

One of their best books yet

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Listener received this title free

I found this book really slow, and it did not keep my interest. I will keep reading this series mostly because I want to know if it gets better.

Slow and steady

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I just finished apocalypse tamer and was about to write off these authors, but this book made me think again. Its more closer to kairos with the dark and edgy story which i really like and appreciate. Im supprised this book doesnt have more of a following. The mc has to find out a way to survive his sacrifice by the 4 vampire overlord sisters, which is planed to be at the end of the year. He chooses to take the easy way out and finds himself in communication with the soul traped, severed heads of all the predecessor emporors designated for sacrifice each year by the vampire nightlords. While dead/undead he travels to the afterlife learns of his magical blood/nature and understands that he is bound to the sacrifice ritual and will not die till the time of his sacrifice and is revived by a nightlord. Denied his own death till the day the nightlords take him he discovers that in his sleep he can return to the underworld and starts to plan a way to survive the 4 nightlords and their unending demand of blood of as much as 10,000 bodies a year. In the process he discovers of his mother who passed down his magical abilities and other secrets which will involve him decending ever lower in the stratums of the underworld each night to discover. From whom the nightlords pay worship to and serve to how he may gain more power to survive them.

This book has a really nice take on ancient mezoamerican gods and lore. I am interested in seeing how it all plays out and how this story develops. 5 stars definately worth the credit.

Better than most of their other books. SPOILERS

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I loved "The Perfect Run," really liked "Vainquer the Dragon," but "Apocalypse Tamer" was a bit too silly for me. To give you an idea of my tastes. I thought this book was pretty ok, but probably not "for me."

I had a really hard time with the Aztec names of characters, deities, places, etc. especially when listening to the audiobook without the text in front of me. This book was basically a love letter to Aztec mythology like the Percy Jackson books are for Greek mythology.

It starts off really slowly, but by the end of the book I do want to know what happens next. Not enough to immediately buy book 2, but I will likely get it later when all of my favorite series are out of new books.

It’s a Maxime J Durand book alright.

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I'm not very familiar on aztecian mythology or whatever the correct term for it would be but this falls deeply into that territory and luckily maxime does elaborate on the gods purposes in the book but going in I was pretty confused. I don't know how deeply I'll go into this series, it's a bit dark for what I want to listen to right now, but the writing is great. A deeply more serious tone than the likes of the perfect run and vainquer but with just as good if not superior writing. I definitely enjoyed the writing here more than Vainquer. Also, even though the author mentioned in Vainquer that he was mocking harems in that series, harems and concubines are a important part of this stories plot so 🤷🏻‍♂️ I'm starting to think Maxime just can't help himself lol.

Also the choice of narrator has me off slightly, he's not bad. I've heard him from the songs of chaos series, and he plays the coming of age teenager voice well but as I am no longer a teenager I feel sort of disconnected from the character in both cases. But the narrator does do the character justice in his role of emperor and the dark tones underlying every action, as it's easy to forget our MC is only 16.

Although I gave this book overall a 4 it's only because of personal gripes that may not apply to you.

unique concept

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I know that doesn't sound good, but the author does a great job of really building a super intense tension in almost every chapter along with solid world building pulling from meso america.

Highly recommend!

Top notch dark edgy harem???

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Despite loving Maxime J Durands other works, my problem with this book is manifold to the point of returning.

First, is the culture of the book being Central Native American inspired. This isn't a problem in itself, but more in how Maxime uses it. In a series like Sanderson's Stormlight Archive, the culture is introduced slowly, and you're not expected to memorize a bunch of names you've never heard before all at once. Meanwhile, I've never heard so many Aztec names all at once. I have never realized how watching so much anime and listening to so many cultivation books has helped me remember Chinese and Japanese names until this book.

Second is I just don't like the protagonist. Someone who lusts after power to the point using his first spell causes him to lose sight of everything else might be fun in some books. Someone with strong morals who lets his heart guide him might be fitting for many books. But a book that requires you to survive by playing delicate political games while being unable to die but watch a whole bunch of friends be tortured instead... I just feel like I know how it's going to go, and I don't want to go there.

Third, this is one of my least liked narrators. nuff said.

Fourth, I don't really like the casual nudity or sexual stuff. I'm not a prude, but rape, blood, violence, polygamy and more are all better done one at a time, I think.

asd

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The setting of this book is novel compared to most progression fantasy. The names can be a little hard to remember but the Aztec like environment is a nice and interesting change from the medieval style fantasy setting.

Good story and interesting characters

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I really tried to finish this, I wanted to like it because how good the perfect run series is
but it's sbo ring the narrator speaks in old English at time saying Aztec type of names . it

couldn't get into this

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I felt horrible reading this, the nakedness, rape and gore was absolutely horrific and the main character became drunk with power at his first taste of it, this story has no reason to be this dark, it will leave you with a taste of bile in your throat. to the author these elements are best used sparingly with restraint to detail and not liberally thrown around without regard, so as not to torture the audience with your sick twisted mind.

a deplorable read

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