A Warrior's Path by Davis Ashura

Two millennia ago She thundered into the skies of Arisa: Suwraith, a demon bent on Humanity's extinction. Into this world is born Rukh Shektan, a peerless young warrior from a Caste of warriors, devoted to the sanctity of his home and his way of life. He is well-versed in the keen language of swords but all his courage and skills may not save him. A challenge comes, one that threatens all he once thought true and puts at risk all he holds dear. And it will enter his life in the form of one of Humanity's greatest enemies - and perhaps its greatest allies. Worse, he will learn of Suwraith's plans. The Sorrow Bringer has dread intentions for his home. The city of Ashoka is to be razed and her people slaughtered.

Meh. Gave up halfway through second book. Bored me.

I picked the audio book up in the recent Audible sale for $2, because why not? I'd heard a little bit about this book online and did not really know much going into it.

The book starts out with the main character taking part in his first Trial, guarding a caravan across the deadly wasteland between the few remaining cities. We then get a flashback scene and some pretty heavy exposition to set the scene and give the reader a background understanding of the world. Normally, this puts me off of a book, but the worldbuilding was just so INTERESTING.

Humanity has divided itself into a rigid caste system, with each caste playing a unique role in society and having access to its own, unique system of magic. This is the state of the world 2000 years after a demonic goddess rose to power and destroyed most of humanity overnight with her army of chimeras. This alone was enough to grab my attention, but after the initial info-dump, Ashura slowly doles out more tidbits about the world in a way that kept me hungry for more, as well as providing a few twists along the way.

The magic is epic, flashy, and completely over-the-top for some of the castes (in the most fun kind of way). There was no gradual introduction to it, either. We go from a quiet scene where members of the warrior caste are conversing with each other and immediately cut to a scene with 20 ft. leaps and enormous fireballs being thrown. Awesome. I particularly like how Ashura makes this all make sense, with common ties between each magic system and limitations set in place to prevent deus ex machina scenes further in the book.

There's political intrigue, murder mystery, epic fight scenes, a demonic goddess, and a definitely non-European setting. All in all, this book was impossible to put down. The fantastic narration by Nick Podehl was a plus, as well.