Sins of the Past

This is a prequel to The Darkness Within Saga, and yet another free Podium Audio from audible. Free is my favorite price. 

This one kind of falls in between my two most recent prequel reads. It does a great job of not being an exposition or lore dump (similar to Terry Goodkind's Debt of Bones), but I feel like it kind of lacks a decent amount of world building, or explanation/thoroughness. That's not to say that I think it's bad in any way, it just referenced some things (or only mentioned people once) and it felt like it was leaving me hanging. But I guess that's the nature of short prequels!

The story follows Yrlissa Blackmist, an elven assassin and overall badass. She's been alive for an unbelievable amount of time, and as an assassin, she doesn't have the best track record...some people are pissed. So as one does when faced with multiple enemies, she falls in love and starts a family. Read or listen for yourself to learn why (and it's included from audible, the narrator is good!).

Something the author does really well with this one is the characters (that are the main feature in the prequel). They feel fleshed out and interesting and there was a certain amount of heart even with it being so short. The best take away for me though (very much like Shackled by Michael Wisehart) is it left me wanting more. I feel the draw, I am interested enough to grab the next. Luckily this one is once again a shorter series (although not finished yet), so I will probably continue with it at some point.