Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Cloaked in Shadow

  • Dragori Series, Book 1
  • By: Ben Alderson
  • Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
  • Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (8 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Cloaked in Shadow cover art

Cloaked in Shadow

By: Ben Alderson
Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Heir to Thorn and Flame cover art
A Betrayal of Storms cover art
The High Mountain Court cover art
Bow Before the Elf Queen cover art
Heart of Night and Fire cover art
A Touch of Fever cover art
Prince of Flowers cover art
Frey cover art
Scales of Ash & Smoke cover art
Thief of Sorrows cover art
A Place Between the Stars cover art
The Witch Collector cover art
Sins of the Father Omnibus cover art
Shattered Kingdom cover art
Lacuna cover art
The Aspect: The Complete Series cover art

Summary

Zacriah Trovirn is concerned with two things in life: hunting and dodging Petrer, the boy who broke his heart. 

Heartbreak becomes a distant concern when Zacriah is taken to the Elven capital of Thessolina, where he is forced into King Dalior's new legion of shapeshifters. But Zacriah isn't a shapeshifter. In truth, he doesn't know what he is. 

Zacriah joins forces with new friends and they soon find themselves embroiled in a clash between the three Elven continents. With war on the horizon, Zacriah must learn to use his latent power to fight and protect those he loves before they are destroyed.

©2017 Ben Alderson (P)2018 Tantor

What listeners say about Cloaked in Shadow

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Owsome

i've loved this story and can't wait to listen to the sequel! the romance is well built and is not too intrusive in the story, the fantastic world depicted is original and vary interesting to discover. I also really enjoyed the narrator.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

The story was just soo bland and borning

I was really hoping I was going to like this book however It was just bland and I had to have the speed of 2.90 just to finish it... the narration probably didn't help things either.

The dialogue is one of the things I struggle with most as it felt Stiff in many places. The humour fell flat for me not only that, Zac delivers what are supposed to be ‘sick burns’ at a few points, which I just found uncomfortable to listen to. There was also a weird mix of formal ‘old- fashioned english’ intertwined with moden slang which was so jarring as it felt so out of place. Which made the dialogue as a whole just seem really off to me, mainly because it didn't feel authentic. It was as if Ben had completely forgotten what a real conversation between people sounds like, and then just mashed a whole bunch of words together and assigned them to different characters at random so none of the characters had any different traits or personalities as they all just morthed into one.

All the conversations that happened in this story just didn't flow naturally. It feels like watching children in a school play rehearse their lines which they have written themselves.

The first few chapters were agonizingly slow. As Zacriah was literally just sitting in a wagon observing everyone around him for two chapters. However, I was willing to push through as I know it is quite hard to start off a story, and I thought that it would pick up in just a bit however to me dismay it didn't.

The characters were so bland. The main character, Zac just didn’t have enough personality for me. We’re meant to be rooting for this guy but he's nothing special. Zac actions are not those of a protagonist, but rather those of a side character whose every movement is little more than a way to progress the plot. Honestly, I get that the writer wants their character to be relatable and realistic, but it just flopped so hard. Usually you care and want to be the best for the main character but I honestly couldn't care what happened to any of the characters whatsoever.

Hadrian is a stereotypical Prince as he's a typical prince trope, he's handsome, 'snarky' , full of sexual innuendos, and ready to sweep the protagonist off his feet and obviously it's love at first sight. He's another character that you don't know anything about besides the fact that he's a Dragori, a prince and he cares for Zac and the fact his mother died.

However because of the dialogue the snarky' funny prince didn't come across that way at all as Hadrian's supposedly snarky attitude never came through was because Ben doesn't write dialogue with adverbs to express the emotion with which a line was said, so many of the sexual innuendos and jokes just ended up falling flat. For instance when Zac is describing a book as 'huge'. Zac's literal quote is "It's huge" which then the prince proceeds to respond with "That's not the first time I heard that... Oh you meant the book". I never rolled my eyes so hard at such a stupid reponce or attempt of flirting (?)


He instantly falls for Zac for reasons unbeknownst to me as Zac has no noticeable characteristics or charming traits. Other than the fact that he did not shift as he consumed something that is supposed to knock you out if you aren't a shifter but it didn't affect him even when he informs them he can shift they don't know why the position didn't take affect , what was so remarkable about him that made Hadrian oh so desperate to spend time with him? Literally that main factor for the prince to be so entranced by Zac is his looks alone. And possibly the fact that he's a Dragori just seemed to work as a plot device to drive he and Zac together, something that they could bond over (though they hardly did).

Don't even get started on Zac's and Peter's relationship. There was literally no need. For whatever reason Peter is under the impression they are still together when it's clear that Zac isn't interested in what he is acting towards him.

Later on we find out that even though Zac knew that Peter cheated on him, Zac never told Peter that he knew. But even when Zac finally comforts him nothing happens. What was the point?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!