Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: The Soldati Prince
SERIES: Soldati Hearts #1
AUTHOR: Charlie Cochet
NARRATOR: Manuel Pombo
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 3 hours, 27 minutes
RELEASE DATE: January 2, 2018
BLURB:
One moment, Riley Murrough is living a normal life working in a coffee shop, and the next, he’s running for his life from demons, learns he bears the mark of a shape-shifter king from a magical realm, and – worst of all – he’s destined to become the mated prince to the arrogant tiger shifter he would rather strangle.
Khalon, the shifter king, is equally distraught at the idea of being bound to a human prince, and along with his Soldati warriors, he sets out to return Riley to his own world where he belongs. On their journey, they might discover why the priestess brought them together – if they can escape the demons and make it to her alive.
REVIEW:
I think my main feeling after listening to this book is confused. I mean the premise of the book was super-interesting as was the world Cochet created. However, there was so much going on in such a short time that I didn’t quite have the time to really explore it all, it felt rushed. I’m not sure if that was the audio or the writing or a combination of the two. In the end it wasn’t a relaxing listen, I needed to be too focused on the book for that. Added to that I just couldn’t get into the Riley and Khalon’s relationship, it feels wrong to me to even call it a relationship. Fated mates or not, I needed something more.
Manuel Pombo is a new narrator for me and I found his accent to be very refreshing. I couldn’t begin to try to place it, but I enjoyed it all the same. As for his overall narration, there were things that really worked for me and others that didn’t, and some a mix of both. His pacing is slightly faster than the average narrator, which on the one hand I really do like. On the other, it also caused a lot of his narration sound like a reading of the book. Other times though, he lived the story with great feeling and the listener was swept away. At times, his performance didn’t quite ring true and was off the mark just a bit. The characters were very clearly distinguished and consistently so. And as a whole I’m torn.
The Soldati Prince is the first book in a new series, but at this point I don’t think it’s likely that I’m going to continue with the next one.
RATING: 
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