The Mountains Rise cover art

The Mountains Rise

Embers of Illeniel, Book 1

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The Mountains Rise

Written by: Michael G. Manning
Narrated by: Alex Wyndham
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About this listen

**A note of warning from the author;

I waited until the book was finished before writing this foreword. Now I find it difficult to encapsulate the book in a short summary, but I felt the need to forewarn you, The Reader. Many of you have probably read my previous series, Mageborn, which is set two millennia after the events in this book, so you may have some misconceptions about what you’ll find here.

Unlike Mageborn, this story encounters more adult issues. The main character does not always do the ‘right’ thing, and in fact, cannot be called a hero. Events conspire to darken his future and twist his morality, but his choices are his own. Most importantly, the story delves into some topics of a sensitive nature, particularly sexual abuse and violence, though there is nothing graphic in the telling.

I didn’t set out to write a book about those things, but they came up as part of the course of this tale, and I couldn’t avoid them. Before allowing some of the situations in this book, before writing them, I sought advice from a number of friends; people who have confided in me over the years. Several of them have been through experiences that correlate to a surprising degree with some of the darker elements within this tale.

Fortunately, they had much better outcomes, and in fact, I doubt any of them would condone the choices that the main character in this story makes. My main purpose in writing this foreword is to make sure that my audience understands that I don’t take the subject matter lightly.

- Michael G. Manning

©2014 Michael G. Manning (P)2015 Podium Publishing
Dark Fantasy Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction
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topics in this story

topics in this story touch on subjects that should not be acceptable in any society.

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a grate book

this is a grate book a little out there but it's better then the rest of his work

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Not bad, not great

It was ok. The story has me engaged at some points and listening painfully at others. Some things are dragged out far longer than they should be, but there are good points. I'd give it a 3.5 if I could and would be satisfied with that rating.

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Amazing Performance but the Story… Ugh.

I am rating the full Embers trilogy so this book and the two that follow. The performance is absolutely outstanding and masterful the voice actor is amazing. 5 stars for Alex Wyndham his amazing voice acting is the only reason this isn’t a 1 star review.

What’s wrong with the story? It’s highly problematic…I always buy all the books in a series because I hate investing the time in a world just for one short book. So I’ve read and purchase all 3. I understand that writers can have characters who do or think bad things without endorsing those actions obviously but I also believe that when it comes to certain things like sexual violence, slavery, oppression etc. writers have a responsibility not to cheaply exploit those themes for the purpose of sensationalism or worse: jollies. I think that when considering the overall story arc this falls into the male fantasy column, so jollies.

This reads like an incel fantasy crafted for the express purpose of building a world where the hero has a licence to completely dehumanize all of the female characters including or maybe especially the one he allegedly “loves”. I know that the writer has given a disclaimer (“this is not a hero or typical hero“ or somesuch) but to me it’s made very clear that deep down the writer IS giving his main character a hall pass for all kinds of gross behaviour. The use of disturbing themes feels cheap when considered over the narrative arc of the trilogy and there are certain deeply tired cliches that I am sick unto death of seeing and that I grow impatient with when they drool from the pens of writers contemporary enough that they ought to know better. I feel sickened by this trilogy… Why?

SPOILERS:

It’s the story of one more abusive rapey dude who is, deep down, just a misunderstood scared little boy with a good heart. Women are wombs and doormats and the hero is redeemed by the love of a good woman (spoiler: “a good woman” = doormat) who puts up with decades of horrific abusive behaviour always desperately looking for the smallest shred of evidence that the hero isn’t completely evil or cares or whatever. I grow tired even just explaining it. Just… UGH. I hate the fact that I’ve given this writer my money. I kept hoping the writer would redeem himself but the story only kept getting worse in its absolutely disgusting treatment of female characters and tiresome, gross male lead. This writer clearly has a pattern of writing female characters that are always just a thing or a device for the male lead to use and his evil female characters are always women with desire. He sure seems to find female desire evil when it isn’t expresses in the bounds of a compliant response to male desire because there’s a very noticeable pattern in his work… I’ve noticed it before and here it is again. He seriously could broaden the scope of his cliches just a little this is just tiresome and nauseating.

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