Chronicles of Empyrea: The Omnibus Edition

Empyrean Chronicles

by Michael Dalton

I don’t know who I am. I only know what I need to be.

I awoke in a tomb. I had nothing but a big sword and uncertain memories from uncertain lives.

I was a great warrior who wandered this land before being killed by an ageless tyrant wizard-king. I was a warrior of a very different sort, who lived in a city of steel and glass.

In this life, I’m more than I was – stronger, more powerful, more dangerous. But that wizard-king still lives, and he’s still hunting me.

All I have is my sword and my skills. So I’ll gather the gold, weapons, and women I need, and if that wizard gets in my way again . . . our next meeting will be very different from the last.

Mercenary of Empyrea is an isekai fantasy adventure in the theme of classic barbarian pulp fiction, and contains graphic violence and unconventional relationships.

Genres: Fantasy

1981 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 17, 2024

About the author

Michael Dalton is a professional journalist and editor.

Michael wrote his first piece of fiction in third grade, for which he was immediately accused of plagiarism by his teacher. Since then, he has been writing more or less steadily, interrupted only by occasional demands of work and family.

Michael lives with his family and multiple pets in Southern California.

Reviews

[GrumpyOldMan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This omnibus was good, but not great. It started off decently strong, and slowly became a lot more predictable and thus less interesting.

The MC was originally from Earth, but was suddenly in a sarcophagus in some desert territory. He's had his soul merged with a famous hero from this new world he finds himself on. He gets out of the tomb, and eventually runs into some orcs. Using his skills as an apparent lawyer or deal-maker from Earth, he ends up with an orcish wife that hates him. And thus his adventures begin.

The harem was ok, but they all had too much in common with each other. They were all virgins when they meet the MC. They all fall quickly under his presence. While their personalities differed somewhat, they all started to blend together. Pregnancy is a theme in this book, but none come to delivery during its time.

Overall, the writing was really good. It just started to lose some steam once it becomes apparent the MC will become a living god of sorts. And the series antagonist is more a bogeyman than a real adversary. Even the penultimate battle was pretty anticlimactic.

[Dom Hil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lite and enjoyable

BOOK
-Overall easy listening between more in-depth titles.

-Much more adult than necessary

-generic material but still consistently interesting

NARRATOR - Byron Ormond

-Great reading, my first time hearing this guy

-Fluid and natural

NARRATOR - Kat Riley

-Great reading, my first time hearing this gal

-Fluid, natural, and diverse!

-Exceptional expression**

--I likely won't be seeking more from this author

--I will, absolutely, be looking for more from these narrators, even if it's not my preferred genre!

**Many...ahmm.. (Don't make it a thing JS, being delicate) readers... tend to low tone, low voice, or elongate words until they no longer have a meaning, in the name of being expressive and completely fail in the process

[Cody Hatch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the individual books in the series and liked them; I decided it was worth a re-read and ended up grabbing the omnibus. Obviously my positive review of the individual books apply here.

Basically, if you like Michael Dalton's stuff in general, or if you're at least open to the idea of a story about a guy who gets isekaied into a magic world, gains power, ends up with a bunch of women, defeats the antagonist, and lives happily ever after, then uh...well, this is one of those.

You can call it a pulp novel, or a "mens adventure", or a blatant power fantasy; none of those would be unfair. And the dialogue is a bit clunky; I think because the author is leaning a little too hard into the whole "barbarian" tropes.

But...whatever. It's fun.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice read, though I found that the end was kind of sudden and that part of the story seemed to be a bit of an afterthought to me. The story starts with storyline A, then continues with bits of A popping up sometimes, and suddenly goes back to A to finish. Weird, though the book was a nice fantasy. One thing I was happy about is that, while there are a lot of explicit scenes, they are not making up most parts of the story.

[Jeff Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superlative

Michael Dalton has upped bar for character development, action scenes, intimate sequences to the highest level. Like his other books I highly recommend this.