BLAST, BLITZ, PROMOS, REVEALS, & TOURS . . . : TOUR Audio - EPIC FANTASY - THE STORM BELOW SERIES by JMD Reid Narrator Zachary Johnson

THE STORM BELOW
The Storm Below, #1-5
by JMD Reid
Narrator: Zachary Johnson
Length: 112 hours 31 minutes
Series: Released: January 12th 2022
Publisher: Dreaming Between Worlds Publishing LLC
Producer: Audiobook Empire
Genre: Epic Fantasy

The Book Junkie Reads . . . Review of . . . THE STORM BELOW SERIES . . . One entertaining journey for our young Ary. He dreams of love and his new life after mourning his dad for years. Now with the approach of the Stormriders. Their approach changes his goals for his life and those that he love. At the same time with his choice to move forward with protecting those he love and the land he has come to love he changes everything for everyone around him and beyond.

There were some interesting characters. Various species and surroundings to absorb. Each story brought something new and different to the forefront of the series set. The story was well over hundred hours of listening. Even at the speed I listen took over sixty. I could not listen to this one at my regular speed, so I had to settle on something in between. There were a few areas where the volume fluctuated but not enough for me to just stop listening.

Zachary Johnson has narrated many a stories that I have enjoyed. I felt a familiar connection with his voice(s) and the story. You had no issue determining which character of gender was speaking.

Above the Storm - This is where it all began. And where you come to love Ary and the journey he must take. Love triangle and war. Ary Lena and Vel.
Reavers of the Tempest - Contains more action, sky high adventure, more magic and myth, and let us not forget the love triangle that takes a twisted turn or maybe just the way it was always meant to be.
Storm of Tears - I felt this story focused a bit more on Chaylene/Lena. She had struggles and determination. She takes us on her own more personal journey to keep her friends and family safe. Ary becomes more. The story is a true journey.
Golden Darkness Descends - Some of our loved characters from the first three books take on a bigger role. The brightness of the world is not the goodness it portrays. There is also something lurking in the dark.
Shattered Sunlight - The longest of the five. I will give nothing away. You have travled this far. Jump in and travel to the conclusion and see how, when, and why Ary and Chaylene do the things they do.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Audiobook Empire. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

The Stormriders approach, certain to leave death and destruction in their wake.

Can one young man find a way to defeat them?

Ten years after his father’s death, the memory of the attack still haunts 19-year-old Ary. On the eve of the draft, he faces his greatest fear: being sent to join the marines.

He knows the cost of war.

Ary dreams of marrying his childhood sweetheart, building a farm, and starting a family. But the Stormriders threat of war puts his loved ones and his plans in jeopardy.

Wishing for peace won’t make it true.

For love, for his people, and for the life he desires, Ary makes a decision that will change everything. Thus begins The Storm Below.

This bundle contains the complete Storm Below Saga - that's five audiobooks of epic fantasy! Listen to:

Above the Storm
Reavers of the Tempest
Storm of Tears
Golden Darkness Descends
Shattered Sunlight

The Storm Below is a beautifully creative fantasy epic. Action-packed, dark, and intense, this fantasy series features characters you are certain to love...and others you will love to hate.

J.M.D. Reid has been a long-time fan of Fantasy ever since he read The Hobbit way back in the fourth grade. His head has always been filled with fantastical tales, and he is eager to share the worlds dwelling in his dreams with you. Reid is long-time resident of the Pacific Northwest in and around the City of Tacoma. The rainy, gloomy atmosphere of Western Washington, combined with the natural beauty of the evergreen forests and the looming Mount Rainier, provides the perfect climate to brew creative worlds and exciting stories! When he's not writing, Reid enjoys playing video games, playing D&D and listening to amazing music.

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Lover of mathematics, devourer of science fiction, and connoisseur of the dad joke. When he's not doing math for business or fun, he's devouring science fiction and fantasy, reading up on scientific advancements, going for a jog, or, on all too rare occasions, taking a refreshing swim at the beach. At your service, you shall have an able storyteller and gifted conveyor of information. Experienced in narrating fiction, from the romantic to the post-apocalyptic, and nonfiction, from the historical to the corporate, and armed with the tools to make it all sound great, Zachary promises that, no matter the job, you'll be read-iculously pleased!

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At Audiobook Empire, audio reigns supreme, narrators are hailed as heroes, and headphones are worn with pride. Marrying pomp and circumstance with quality you can count on, Audiobook Empire is a full-service production house that produces and promotes audiobooks with gusto. Give your audiobook the imperial treatment by producing it with Audiobook Empire.

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Author J.M.D. Reid's Top 10 Literary Inspirations

There are a number of works that have influenced me. They have left their marks on my writing and my choice of stories. How I tackle stories and what I inspire to write.

JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings
1. Here is where it all began. My love of fantasy came from reading Lord of the Rings. I had started with the Hobbit in the fourth grade, but it wasn’t until the sixth grade when my uncle gave me a hardback box set of Lord of the Rings for Christmas. I loved it. I fell in love with fantasy.
2. From there, I descended into more fantasy. David Eddings, Terry Brooks, Ann McCaffery, and more.
3. Tolkien has so much world-building and history to his world. He speaks of such elemental issues and gives an insight into the ideas and philosophies of more ancient men. And at its core, there are some great characters that pull us along.
Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time
1. Jordan has the biggest influence on my writing style. Back in 1993, I received Eye of the World from my mother as a Christmas gift. I read this book, and this series quickly captured my imagination. I read books 2, 3, 4, and 5. And that was when I became obsessed with it. I spent my Junior High, High School, and my twenties waiting on the next book, reading fan theories, debating the foreshadowing in his books.
2. The way Jordan uses foretellings and prophecy as well as how he blends our mythologies to make his own coherent world. He uses elemental symbology to tell his story that only adds to how compelling it is.
3. I also learned some lessons about controlling your characters and plots from the mistakes Jordan made in his later books. It is a shame he died before finishing his series.
David Eddings’ The Belgariad/The Mallorean
1. After Tolkien, I read Eddings. I had just moved, was in the sixth grade, and had no friends. My mom bought me a book to read. Pawn of Prophecy. She had been given it as a recommendation by the Waldonbook employee.
2. I fell in love with it. This is the perfect book for a boy. A coming of age story and an epic fantasy quest. What I really love is the dialogue. Eddings has great banter and back and forth between enemies and allies. I try to write dialogue like him.
R. Scott Bakker’s The Prince of Nothing/The Aspect-Emperor
1. I have never read anything like R. Scott Bakker’s Second Apocalypse metaseries which consists of The Prince of Nothing and The Aspect-Emperor series. It is a grimdark fantasy that has worked philosophy into the world-building and the magic system.
2. The way he weaves his philosophy into all his characters to tell his story is brilliant. It’s not for the faint of heart. This series does not shy from the darkness that lurks in all of us. His characters are flawed and real in ways that few fantasy series are. The influences of Tolkein are all over the series, but Bakker has made it his own
3. I try to write characters half as complex as his.
Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen
1. Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen might have the most extensive world-building of any series. As an archeologist, he understands how civilizations pile on and on each other and use it to make every bit of his world is steeped in history.
2. On top of that, he has great humor and a sarcastic take on the world. He has created a world that exists beyond the pages. There are things going on that have nothing to do with the grander threat of the Crippled God that threatens the world.
3. I want to build worlds as big as this and to feel like they breathe beyond the bounds of the story.
Frank Herbert’s Dune
1. Dune is a book that has stayed with me. I’ve read the others in the series, and while good, they are not as great as the beginning. Great villains and heroes and some wonderful world-building. But what I love is his names. He just gives some piece of tech a name and rarely gives more description than that. But the name is all you need to understand it.
2. I love that sparseness of his.
Brandon Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archive
1. I like Brandon Sanderson a lot, but his magic systems are what I find amazing. Not just how they work, but how they fit into the world. How it affects it. How it is integrated into the way civilization works. It has rules, and he finds clever ways to bend those rules or to use them in ways you didn’t think.
Walter M. Miller, Jr’s The Canticle of Leibowitz
1. A haunting book about preserving knowledge. About how the importance of knowledge must be maintained or we are truly lost as a species. I find this theme to be powerful. To be something worth fighting for.
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan Books
1. A weird choice, I’m sure, but I rather like the technical details of his book. How he explains complicated ideas to make the readers understand them. He weaves these technological ideas through his story to drive the plot.
Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers
1. I saw the movie of Starship Troopers when I was a junior in high school in theaters. My friends and I all loved it. So I was thrilled to find out there was a book. I read it. Loved it. Now Starship Troopers is the Bug Movie since it is only Starship Troopers in name only.
2. I enjoyed the military aspects. Adapting it to the sci-fi technology. It the sort of influence that Golden Darkness Descends has in its military aspects.