He is England's greatest knight, the man who saved the life of Alfred the Great and an entire kingdom from a Viking invasion. But when he is called back into service to combat a plague of monstrous beasts known as abominations, he meets a fate worse than death and is condemned to a life of anguish, solitude, and remorse.

She is a fierce young warrior, raised among an elite order of knights. Driven by a dark secret from her past, she defies her controlling father and sets out on a dangerous quest to do what none before her ever has - hunt down and kill an abomination...alone.

When a chance encounter sets these two against one another, an incredible twist of fate will lead them toward a salvation they never thought possible - and prove that the power of love, mercy, and forgiveness can shine a hopeful light even in history's darkest age.

Listening Length

11 hours
Author

Gary Whitta
Narrator

John Lee
Audible release date

October 11, 2016
Language

English
Publisher

Audible Studios
ASIN

B01L08K7TY
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	11 hours
Author	Gary Whitta
Narrator	John Lee
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	October 11, 2016
Publisher	Audible Studios
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B01L08K7TY
Best Sellers Rank	#215,486 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #1,412 in Historical Fantasy (Audible Books & Originals) #6,204 in Horror Fiction #6,288 in Classic Literature (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5

421 global ratings

5 star		31%
4 star		38%
3 star		24%
2 star		4%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Eric Juneau

Basic Medieval Fantasy

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 3, 2022

Verified Purchase

Who’s Gary Whitta? Why, he’s a screenwriter (The Book of Eli, After Earth, Star Wars: Rogue One), video game writer, and comic book writer turned novelist, which is my favorite kind of author (see Peter David and Neil Gaiman). What does this mean? It means don’t expect a boring book.

And this isn’t one. Right from the start, we are summoning demons in medieval times, hooking you right away like any decent book ought to do. We’ve got good noble warrior characters, bad evil zealots and sorcerers, and a clear objective. It’s basically the story of the Punisher if the mafia were demons and if King Arthur was Captain America (if that makes any sense).

It’s a simple story, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good story. The biggest problem, like most novels, is that there’s a sludgy middle where there’s lots of thinking and description. Then it speeds up at the end. This is the first time I’ve noticed the pacing of a novel and it’s upsetting. But it’s still a good book. I recommend giving it a try.

Helpful

N Pfeifer

Despite an interesting premise, "Abomination" quickly loses magick

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 7, 2015

Verified Purchase

It's 9th century England and King Alfred has much to worry about. After forging an uneasy peace with invading Danes, he stands ready to lose his country entirely as their benevolent king dies. Thankfully, Archbishop Aethelred has come across a magic scroll that will grant English casters the ability to turn ordinary creatures into violent and oily-skinned abominations. These horrifying creatures put the king on edge, but they're England's best hope in an otherwise unwinnable war. It's not long however before Aethelred takes his twitching, acid-spewing experiments on his own gory and unholy crusade and the good king has no choice but to recruit an elite squad of retired war heroes to rein this holy man in before he triggers an invasion that will be the end of them all. Unforutnately, just as the book reaches an early and satisfying climax, writer Gary Whitta slams the brakes.

To be honest, historical drama doesn't really beckon to me; neither does fantasy. I've been familiar with Whitta's work since he took over PC Gamer's US publication nearly two decades ago, after which he's had a hit-and-miss career as writer-slash-screenwriter. From his promotional materials, you'll know him as the scribe behind Denzel Washington's "The Book of Eli", but Whitta was also writer of Will and Jaden Smith's failed star vehicle, "After Earth" and first drafter of a new Star Wars spin-off flick. "Abomination" is now his first novel and while his track record's been checkered at best, I still hold out hope that the guy at the helm of my favorite childhood gaming publication has a hit in him. This isn't it.

It wasn't long into "Abomination" that I had flashbacks to Justin Cronin's "The Passage" and its lesser sequel, "The Twelve", a pair of books also about a government experiment gone wrong that releases a bunch of violent abominations upon the world. Where Cronin succeeds is that he takes his time, a space that's roughly the entire length of "Abomination", in its pre-flash-forward sequence developing characters and establishing a frightful reality. Whitta tucks all of the book's interesting and frightful ideas up front and blows through them, describing battles and flashbacks in passive text; a strict no-no under the rule of "show, don't tell". Combined with frequent head-hopping, Whitta often fails to connect with the reader, who's held two steps away from the action as great battles are described in synopsis, rather than moment-to-moment viscera. As soon as "Abomination" hits its hardest, its scariest, its most tense - a point only a third of the way into this rather breezy read - it slackens into a glacial two-hander between a master knight on the run and an up-and-coming monster hunter.

The book's everyman prose pulls you through the pages easy enough, but eventually I couldn't wait for it to end. Our two protagonists yammer back and forth for the remainder of the book, while an unconvincing double-cross serves as Whitta's only log on the narrative fire before the book reaches a soft thud of a conclusion.

Better luck next time, Gary.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Well Written, But Somewhat Dull

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 27, 2015

Verified Purchase

Well written book though lacked emotional depth to propel it into 4/5 star territory. Main character was just too altruistic to be realistic, the classic 'i killed many but I hated doing it type' which in my opinion is overused. He was honest and kind till the end, even after becoming a beast and killing his own wife and child (or so he thought).

I would have liked to see how becoming this beast, how the years of solitude, how committing suicide a bazillion times would have affected his psyche, because most would lose their minds completely, and a few would be scarred for life. He exhibited neither.

Other characters were bland and had little depth. His daughter was just some rebellious girl who can fight like a pro even against hardened bandits. Ridiculous.

The priest was meh. Just in the plot to provide answers to the arcane points of the novel.

The friend/villain was another dull character. No depth, just some guy who became a lord, knew the main character in the old days, then became some domineering father figure hellbent on destroying all the abominations for no reason really.

Also, introduction of the novel made it seem like the reader would get something of the world, but this novel was really shortsighted. Besides some war with some Northern enemy (enemies always come from the north I tell ya), nothing is mentioned of the outside world. Surely nothing that would lead you to believe that the Dark Ages were a part of this novel or why all records were destroyed. The scrolls surely didn't contain all the knowledge of Europe! Just some arcane mutterings.

Anyway, the novel was well written and flowed smoothly which is more than I can say about half fantasy novels I read so it definitely deserves a full 3 stars.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Thomas Chamberlain

a great holiday book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 16, 2015

Verified Purchase

Just finished reading this on the flight home from Rome, a great holiday book. It's very easy to read and has a steady pace that keeps you interested all the way through. A great first novel from Gary Whitta, I look forward to hearing what he has in mind for his next book.

One person found this helpful

Rob

Great story, love anything Gary Whitta does.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 15, 2018

Verified Purchase

Great characters and story.

Kindle Customer

A bloody and honourable read

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on March 15, 2019

Verified Purchase

I found the author through Star Wars, and heard of the book via a tweet. No regrets about the read, the idea of honour is a good one. It's a very simple story with rather shallow character development that might work better in a graphic novel or movie.

Amy Braun

Excellent Dark Fantasy

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 18, 2019

Verified Purchase

I loved this entire book from start to finish. Absolutely excellent!

Aaron M.

Four Stars

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on July 19, 2017

Verified Purchase

Great book, on time delivery.

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