The Tower of Zhaal

As a fan of the Lovecraftian Cthulhu, and all of the mythos and pantheon that entails, I was surprised by the level of dedication here. Not only did Phipps capitalize on the pre-existing characters, but he created plausible NEW Elder Gods, which made me question whether or not they were also pre-existing! Kafer is, as always, an awesome voice-actor, so there was no problem with listening vs. reading. I'll actually admit, I trust his pronunciations more than the ones my brain conjures up (not a hardship, though, as my brain tends toward pronouncing words phonetically, like: epitome...) Anyway, this was a very enjoyable read, with a really good balance of history, fiction, and fantasy!

I don't know why I didn't see a sequel coming from the first book, but I'm really glad that Phipps wrote one. The benefit of a sequel is that you've already had time to explain out certain characters and their characteristics, but it also allows you to explain the world a little bit allowing you to jump right into the continuation of a story.

Well, Phipps did that for sure. I thought that Cthulhu Armageddon was non-stop action. I would be wrong compared to Tower of Zhaal. Holy cow, I need to catch my breath from this one. Another thing that I really enjoyed was the addition of new characters. Phipps was able to weave new people into the story without them feeling like complete outsiders.

The story itself from the first book wasn't normally my cup of tea, but darn it did I still enjoy it. The Tower of Zhaal was the same way. I went into it with an open mind and having read the first book. I wasn't sure what was going to happen in this book, but I was bucked up for the ride. I'm glad that I was buckled up though because this one too me for a ride.

Anytime you can get the amazing Jeffrey Kafer to narrator your books, you already have an edge up on the competition. But when you combine Kafer's great narration of this book with Phipps great writing you have a winner.

The Tower of Zhaal was even more enjoyable than Cthulhu Armageddon and took me on a roller coaster ride that I wasn't sure I was coming back from. a

I was given a free copy of this audiobook, it has not affected my review in any way.

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