The Path of Flames Audiobook By Phil Tucker cover art

The Path of Flames

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The Path of Flames

By: Phil Tucker
Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine
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The first audiobook in the new epic fantasy series listeners are comparing to David Gemmell and Raymond E. Feist.

r/Fantasy 2016 Stabby Award Finalist

2016 #SPFBO Finalist2016 Indie Spotlight - BestFantasyBooks.com

A war fueled by the dark powers of forbidden sorcery is about to engulf the Ascendant Empire. Agerastian heretics, armed with black fire and fueled by bitter hatred, seek to sever the ancient portals that unite the empire - and in so doing, destroy it.

Asho - a squire with a reviled past - sees his liege, the Lady Kyferin, and her meager forces banished to an infamous ruin. Beset by tragedy and betrayal, demons and an approaching army, the fate of the Kyferins hangs by the slenderest of threads. Asho realizes that their sole hope of survival may lie hidden within the depths of his scarred soul - a secret that could reverse their fortunes and reveal the truth behind the war that wracks their empire.

Unpredictable, fast paced, and packed with unforgettable characters, The Path of Flames is the first installment in a gripping new epic fantasy series.

©2016 Phil Tucker (P)2017 Audible, Inc. Action & Adventure Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Historical Sword & Sorcery War
Engaging Characters • Rich Worldbuilding • Diverse Cast • Exciting Action Scenes • Unique Magic System • Perfect Tempo
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What an awesome novella. It ushered me right into the purchase and ravenous consumption of the rest of the books in the Chronicles of the Black Gate. The stage is set here, but oooohhhh the journey is both unpredictable and masterfully woven throughout the series. The redundancy is minimal when reintroducing characters in each book. The narrator is amazing, with range beyond measure!!! I laughed, I wriggled in my seat with tension, and even cried a deep painful cry. So, so, so good!!!

Fire well fueled!

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I don’t even know where to start with this book. It is truly the new gold standard by which I will compare fantasy books. I just could not put this book down. It got to the point where I was hoping for more driving at work, just so I could put it on and listen to it some more. I wanted more work to listen to this book! The only thing I have with the book, which isn’t even a bad thing, is the multiple points of view of the various characters. It took me a while to get used to, but I wish some of the characters showed up more, and some showed up less. I’m particularly fond of Tharok and Audsley, but they didn’t really get much time in the book. Maybe in the next one.

Phil Tucker really broke the mold on common fantasy. I truly enjoyed reading all the fantasy tropes, that were twisted into something unique and fresh. There is everything from 1 on 1 duels, to big army battles in this book, with magic weapons, spells, and artifacts that no one understands, but it’s the way these things are written that really made this book for me. So many different characters, all with their own voice, their own personality, and their own morals. Phil Tucker has a very strong chance of becoming my favorite author with this series and I’m dying to start the second book in this series.

Hats off to Noah Michael Levine, This man brought this book to life. His variety of voices, everything from smooth caramel, to rough gravel, to soft and dainty, truly shows his mastery over narration. As long as he is narrating the Chronicles of the Black Gate, I will absolutely go out of my way to listen to them. Honestly, I want Mr. Levine to read me a bedtime story at night. There wasn’t any stuttering or stumbles over any of the many odd names in this book, and the audio quality was spot on. Overall, it was just beautifully done, from the writing to the reading.

In conclusion, this book, to me, was a work of art. I highly intend to collect all of this series on a physical copy and share it with all my friends that it might bring them the same joy that it brought me.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author/narrator/publisher.
Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog.
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Breaks the Mold on Common Fantasy!

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Noah Levine brilliantly evokes and inhabits Phil Tucker's labyrinthine tale of knights, magic, and revenge

Game of Thrones meets Lord of the Rings

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I enjoyed the book. It took me a bit to get used tot he voice but it was still passable. The book starts strong but does get weaker till the end. My main issue is that the Main mc Asho has a powerful start but then is kinda cast to the back for the rest of the stories, I wanted more of him to I can figure him out. The other issue for me was the orc dudes story. I know it will connect some things later and is for set up but it does feel like a mood killer at times. Other than that it was a good book with great world building and unique world

Lot of potential

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Phil Tucker has created a really gripping fantasy tale and I’m excited to move on to Book 2 of this series. The narrator is great overall, but there are some moments where I feel like the characters are too consistent, even as the plot is changing.

Fast paced Fantasy

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Any additional comments?

I've received my copy of the Path of Flame audiobook in a recent giveaway done by the author. Take that into consideration as my opinion may be painted by the fact that I didn't pay for this book.

In all honesty, the Path of Flame is exactly the kind of book I wanted to write at 14, right after finishing A Game of Thrones. Thankfully, Tucker shows far more restraint than my 14-year-old self and keeps his story grounded within only a handful of locations and maintains a minimal number of secondary characters. It is pretty obvious that writing this book was a labor of love for Tucker, and it shows on every page.

The path of flame labels itself 'epic fantasy' in the blurb, and so you can expect all the familiar elements of epic fantasy such as pseudo-medieval-European setting, magic, monsters, sword fighting, etc. However, while the worldbuilding hints at a large, deep world, we only get to explore very little of it in this book, dimming the feeling of overall epicness.

The scope of the book is much smaller than that of ASoIaF. Not just the number of characters being introduced, but also the story itself, at least for this first book. There is no allegory, no politics, and five out of the six POV characters are at the same location together throughout the entire book. This has the benefit of letting Tucker drip-feed us the rich mythology and theology of his world while keeping our eye focused on one major plotline, but it does make it hard to see what sort of big-picture payoff he's aiming for. I also found the head-hopping from one POV to another distracting, especially at the start. I think regular third-person omniscient would have worked better for writing style.


The characters are the main reason to recommend the book. Each is different, and the variety of backgrounds, goals, and motivations between them leads to many interesting interactions. Tharok is the breakout star. He's an original take on the barbarian trope that's just so fun to read. His modes of thinking have put me in mind of Taylor from Worm - if Taylor was a six-foot-tall orcish brute. If you, like me, feel that the Horde is the best part of the Warcraft universe, then Tharok is the protagonist for you.On the other end of the spectrum, I couldn't get behind Asho at all. I felt like over half of his chapters were him whining about something or wondering if he should react, while others are actually doing stuff.


Despite the hints of a greater plot and the worldbuilding, the book suffers from "first book in a series" syndrome, in that it barely goes anywhere and spends a good chunk of the book establishing the location of each character as preparation to the real story that would probably be told in later installments. It's a shame because Tucker's writing is good, but at the end of the book, I still don't know if this is a story of a revolution, of a world in need of saving, of political scheming, a group of heroes on a quest, or anything else.

Another issue is that this is an indie book, and it shows: there are many continuity mistakes that should have been caught by an editor, especially when it comes to numbers. I swear Kethe's age changes like three times throughout the book, and at one point one character sees a dozen of some creature running away, then, in the next sentence, he tries to recall if there were five or six of them. These are small, but if you’re the type of person that can be taken out of a book by something like that, take it into consideration.


THE BOTTOM LINE: I'd recommend this book to any reader who's looking for a good time in a fantasy land, but not for those who enjoy fantasy as an allegory for the human condition like in Tigana for example. It's lighter in tone and scope than ASoIaF, but a shade darker than, say, the Belgariad. I'm a big proponent of books as a form of entertainment, and this book certainly supplies that, but not much more. For a debut novel and a start of a series, it shows a lot of promise.

High Fantasy Good Stuff

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I enjoyed this book as a whole but there were moments when I got so frustrated with the characters that I had to walk away for a bit before continuing.

was well written

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Even though I found it kind of slow to start , by the end i started to enjoy the characters. I will go on to the next book. The narrator is good, not Luke Daniels good however better than a lot of others I've heard. Overall I would have only given it a three star but it had a strong ending.

Slow start

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so first it's a pretty decent story, it hops around a lot to multiple view points and kinda makes sense why, but the author didn't do the best at making sure you understand the start and end of view points. but all that can be forgiven for the most part, but what I can't forgive and pisses me off the most is the narrator, one of the biggest issues I have is his mispronunciation of words like ebon (short, read ebony as in black) and he does it every time!!!!

It's ebon!!! not E-bon!!!!

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love it! well done, well written, great characters, lots of twists and turns, just read it!

Awesome story, well performed

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