Ashwin Audiobook by Kit Rocha (REVIEW)

Posted by on Dec 26, 2018 in Reviews | 20 comments

Review of: Ashwin Audiobook
Audiobook:
Kit Rocha

Reviewed by:
Rating:
4
On December 26, 2018
Last modified:August 24, 2022

Summary:

Ashwin Audiobook

By: Kit Rocha

Narrated by: Tatiana Sokolov

Published by: Tantor Audio 10/23/18

Ashwin (Gideon's Riders #1) by Kit Rocha read by Tatiana Sokolov

4 Hearts rating image Hot Listens

Gideon’s Riders #1

8 hrs and 42 mins

Genre: Dystopian Romance

Ashwin Audiobook Sample

Ashwin Audiobook

4 Hearts

I read this book as an eARC back right before it was first released in 2016. I was excited to revisit the series that Kit Rocha has created. I’m a huge Kit Rocha fan. I have been going back to when I read the first book from them, Beyond Shame, in 2013. Gideon’s Riders is a spin off series from the original Beyond series. You can start reading with Gideon’s Riders without having read, the Beyond series.

This series is a post-apocalyptic dystopian romance series. It is set with civilization back up and running after a large solar flare took out technology. Some things are back up and running and even running better than prior to the flares. There is some genetic manipulation of people’s DNA to make them smarter, etx. There is also some increases in medical technology, with a med gel that helps in healing and regeneration machines which speed healing as well.

This is the first book that takes place mostly in Sector One. The war between the Sectors and the City/Eden is over. The corrupt leaders of Eden have been removed from office. The military is still in place, though there is a little more chaos. Ashwin is a Makhai soldier. He was created by the military to be the perfect soldier. He was not taught any emotions. Things like fear and empathy were beaten out of him. The Makhai have a reputation, so people are scared of him as soon as they learn he is a member. He has been charged with infiltrating Gideon’s Riders (they are the personal soldiers of Gideon Rios the leader of Sector One. The Rios family is also the leaders of a religious group in the sector).

Kora is a doctor. She was raised by adoptive father who was also a doctor. She got the best training and became the best doctor in the region. She worked on base and treated the soldiers, including the Makhai and Ashwin. He has been fascinated with her ever since he met her.

My favorite thing about this series are the characters. The Kit Rocha writing duo are great at creating characters that I love. They can be flawed, but that only makes them better and more real. In this story, they take two flawed characters, Ashwin with his lack of empathy and looking at everything in a strategic way, and Kora, who has so much empathy it overwhelms her at times. Surround them with a great group of secondary characters and you have the perfect mix of everything. They are great at balancing out the romance, action and plot to make for a great overall story for everyone.

If you haven’t tried their work, I highly recommend it. FYI, the first book of the Beyond series, Beyond Shame, is, at the time of this posting, free as an ebook. Oh, and have you seen this cover. Isn’t it amazing (my favorite, that I’ve seen so far, is for Hunter, which hasn’t been released yet). You can see more of the covers on their website.

Ashwin Audiobook Narration

4 Hearts

This is my first listen with Tatiana Sokolov. I don’t often review an ebook and then review the audiobook too. But I love this series so much, I had to. It took me a little bit to get used to Ms. Sokolov’s voices for the characters (which isn’t anything new when you’ve already created your own voices for them in your head). It didn’t take me long to get used to the voices she’d chosen for each character. I found that I really liked her narration and voices. There are a lot of different men (more men than women), and she did a great job with all the different voices. I will continue to revisit this series on audio. `

Author: Kit Rocha

Bree & Donna met while writing X-Men fanfic in 2000 and became BFFs 4Evah. When Bree’s fallback job as a salesperson for non-denominational angel paraphernalia could no longer support her California rent, Donna invited her to move to Alabama and live with her. After meeting their husbands in a table top RPG at the local comic book store, they served as each others’ Maids of Honor in 2004. In 2007 they decided that they should return to That Writing Thing they’d always loved, but this time writing original characters–together. The rest is history.

They currently live in the backwoods in Alabama, three miles apart, and spend their non-writing time caring for their combined 9 cats, 3 dogs and 15 chickens. (Oh, yeah, and Donna’s kids.) You can follow their Kit Rocha twitter account or keep up with their individual adventures at @mostlybree and @totallydonna. They have a Patreon where they post behind-the-scenes glimpses of their life, a Facebook page and a reader group where they hang with all their favorite readers.

In their free time, they make jewelry and crafts and sell them on etsy.

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Narrator: Tatiana Sokolov

Tatiana Sokolov narrates a variety of fiction but especially likes saucy romances. She lives in the Midwest with her menagerie of pets.

Audible    Website

I like to thanks Tantor Media for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Reviewed by:

ML Simmons Reviewer

  • 4
    editor rating
Melanie Simmons
I’m Melanie and I live in Ohio. I have two horses and a dog. I’m an animal lover, avid book reader and audiobook listener. I like to live vicariously through fictional characters. I enjoy reading and listening to mostly fictional books in the paranormal genre, including Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance and Horror. My favorite paranormal creatures are shifters, doesn’t matter the flavor.