WITCH KING

Narrator Eric Mok makes this wonderfully inventive and diverse fantasy eminently accessible. Kaiisteron, a demon prince of the underearth with the power to possess other bodies, wakes up imprisoned and confused. Kai and his dear friend, the witch Ziede, escape and, along with a growing motley crew, set off to find Ziede's missing wife. The story jumps between the present time and years earlier, during a terrible war with the invading Hierarchs. We slowly learn more about Kai's history and how the close bonds between his found family came to be. Mok's Kai is appealing and relatable--he sounds simultaneously young and resigned, weary of death and pain and betrayal and yet still hopeful for something better. Listeners will hope we get more of this fascinating world. J.M.D. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2023]