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The Epic of Andrasta and Rondel #1
The Cult of Sutek
His life has no purpose. She’s out to prove hers. An unlikely alliance forms. Their legend is born.
The Cult of Sutek is the first volume in the high fantasy series The Epic of Andrasta and Rondel.
Rondel, a once famous minstrel is crippled and rotting away in prison. He has nothing to live for until Andrasta, a mysterious warrior, gives his live meaning again. The pair escapes prison and in the aftermath, form a partnership they hope will lead to fame and fortune. Their journey is a long one, filled with peril, adventure, and even failure.
The ancient cult of Sutek grips the land of Iget. Framed by the cult for kidnapping and attempted murder, Rondel and Andrasta help a young noble rescue his sister in order to clear their name.
The Cult of Sutek is the first volume in the high fantasy series The Epic of Andrasta and Rondel.
Rondel, a once famous minstrel is crippled and rotting away in prison. He has nothing to live for until Andrasta, a mysterious warrior, gives his live meaning again. The pair escapes prison and in the aftermath, form a partnership they hope will lead to fame and fortune. Their journey is a long one, filled with peril, adventure, and even failure.
The ancient cult of Sutek grips the land of Iget. Framed by the cult for kidnapping and attempted murder, Rondel and Andrasta help a young noble rescue his sister in order to clear their name.
- GenresFantasy
268 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 21, 2014
45 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
Joshua P. Simon
13 books65 followersJoshua P. Simon is a Christian, husband, father, CPA, fantasy author, and heavy metal junkie. He currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia and hopes that one day he can leave the life of a CPA behind and devote that time to writing more of the ideas bouncing around his ADD-addled brain.
He has completed and published one epic fantasy series (The Blood and Tears Trilogy) and is now working on several new projects.
You can find out more about him at www.joshuapsimon.blogspot.com.
He has completed and published one epic fantasy series (The Blood and Tears Trilogy) and is now working on several new projects.
You can find out more about him at www.joshuapsimon.blogspot.com.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 2, 2015
Big fan of the Blood and Tears series by this author. That series was a great military fantasy. Here, the author delves into an entertaining buddy series involving a good dose of sword and sorcery.
Established warrior meets well educated ex-bard. Along the way they pick up a young mage coming coming to grasps with his powerful potential.
The author is independent and may not have an established following, but the book is right up there with well established authors.
If you are looking for your next fantasy sword and sorcery read, this book is worth a shot. (If looking for a military fantasy, I highly recommend his Blood and Tears series.
Established warrior meets well educated ex-bard. Along the way they pick up a young mage coming coming to grasps with his powerful potential.
The author is independent and may not have an established following, but the book is right up there with well established authors.
If you are looking for your next fantasy sword and sorcery read, this book is worth a shot. (If looking for a military fantasy, I highly recommend his Blood and Tears series.
September 16, 2019
Good start, kept my interest...
The Cult of Sutek (The Epic of Andrasta and Rondel, Vol. 1) by Joshua P. Simon and narrated by Jeffrey Kafer turned out to be a good and easy listen. Would recommend if you’re looking for something new in the genre.
What to expect: Andrasta and Rondel escape prison and end up pairing up to search for a jewel. They need money before the search can begin. One thing leads to another and they need to help find a princess who has been taken by the Cult of Sutek. You get a variety in this book- sorcery, fighting, weapons, a crazy cult (sacrifices, cannibalism, and more), lots of action, treachery, some twists and turns that help make it not the same old song and dance, nobles, violence, The Blood Forest. It kept my interest throughout and found myself going back to the book to finish the story. Decent character development and the story flows nicely. The only thing I didn’t care for the was the cliché of the fat older woman being the comedy relief.
The narrator, Jeffrey Kafer, did a great job with this one. Voiced Rondel perfectly.
I will likely be checking out the future installments.
Parental guidance/trigger warnings: a cult who does things such as human sacrifices/rape of virgins/torture/cannibalism (these are mentioned but not discussed in detail), violence (fighting), kidnapping, death, suicide, and body shaming (MC makes comments about an older woman’s body as she’s gained weight since they last saw each other. Happens multiple times.)
*I was given a free review copy of the audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. Thank you for allowing me to listen and review the book!
The Cult of Sutek (The Epic of Andrasta and Rondel, Vol. 1) by Joshua P. Simon and narrated by Jeffrey Kafer turned out to be a good and easy listen. Would recommend if you’re looking for something new in the genre.
What to expect: Andrasta and Rondel escape prison and end up pairing up to search for a jewel. They need money before the search can begin. One thing leads to another and they need to help find a princess who has been taken by the Cult of Sutek. You get a variety in this book- sorcery, fighting, weapons, a crazy cult (sacrifices, cannibalism, and more), lots of action, treachery, some twists and turns that help make it not the same old song and dance, nobles, violence, The Blood Forest. It kept my interest throughout and found myself going back to the book to finish the story. Decent character development and the story flows nicely. The only thing I didn’t care for the was the cliché of the fat older woman being the comedy relief.
The narrator, Jeffrey Kafer, did a great job with this one. Voiced Rondel perfectly.
I will likely be checking out the future installments.
Parental guidance/trigger warnings: a cult who does things such as human sacrifices/rape of virgins/torture/cannibalism (these are mentioned but not discussed in detail), violence (fighting), kidnapping, death, suicide, and body shaming (MC makes comments about an older woman’s body as she’s gained weight since they last saw each other. Happens multiple times.)
*I was given a free review copy of the audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. Thank you for allowing me to listen and review the book!
August 7, 2017
Very Nice
A fast-paced, well-written (and well-edited!) story introducing us to a couple of characters dealing with enough emotional baggage and a host of other issues as to make any heroics or partnership Very Unlikely, and yet...
Recommended!
A fast-paced, well-written (and well-edited!) story introducing us to a couple of characters dealing with enough emotional baggage and a host of other issues as to make any heroics or partnership Very Unlikely, and yet...
Recommended!
September 30, 2018
4.5 stars. Good book with interesting characters
March 17, 2015
Another addition to the ever-growing Swords & Sorcery genre, this is a tale not to be passed by. Oh, all the expected elements are there, they just aren’t quite what one is expecting. We have our warrior, Andrasta, who is a a well-muscled, highly trained half-breed woman with almost no sense of humor. We have our near useless (at the beginning) comic relief – Rondel. He use to be a great bard and something of a fop. However, he starts this story off mutilated and having spent too many years in prison. These two make an unlikely alliance, and the adventuring begins with an escape!
Every time I thought this book would take a turn and head down the often-trod trail of mediocrity, it surprised me. Are there maidens who need rescuing? Well, yes but they are also willing to stab your eyes out if you turn out to be with the bad guys. Is there an untried young magician in the group? Well, yes but Andrasta puts him through some really tough & rough training before he has to do any actual battle. Is there a horrendously evil cult that everyone must try to escape from at the end? Well yes, and not everyone makes it.
Plus, there is all this other great stuff going on in the book. Like Andrasta has his huge chip on her shoulder that only she can knock down. But until she is ready to do that, she will just pound Rondel into some semblance of a fighter. There’s this horrible place called the Blood Forest. Yeah, it’s creepy and hungry, evil things lurk with in it. Of course I want our heroes to have to enter it! So, that was awesome, twice over because they had to go through the forest twice.
Our two main characters had excellent story arcs for a first book. We met them and then they slowly changed through out the book. Rondel is the more compassionate of the two and he rubs off on Andrasta, even as she teaches him to use the sword and make shim run laps to build up his endurance. Then the author takes it one step further and has a few of our side characters also grow and change through out the book. I think I will miss two of our side characters, as I don’t expect them to be in the next book. On occasion, there is a minor character that happens by at the right time who provides critical info to the heroes. While I understand this is done to help move the plot forward, and it was decently done, it was also obvious that was the character’s entire point. If I have to have a criticism about this book, that would be my tiny, little one right there.
By the end of the book, we have plenty of murder and mayhem because the Cult of Sutek is full of evil people who need to die. Hopefully, the good guys got them all. While there is plenty of death, it is not particularly gory and the author doesn’t linger of spilled guts or the blood rituals the cult practices. Enough details are given to make you want the cult dead but not so much that your lunch will revolt on you.
I am very much looking forward to the next installment in this series. Andrasta is a fascinating character because she pounds against boundaries until they break. Rondel has also earned a warm little place in my heart with his mix of practicality and compassion. The two make a great duo!
Narration: Jeffrey Kafer was a good pick for this book. Much of the tale is told through Rondel’s eyes and he Kafer makes a very good broken bard turned sellsword. He also had a plethora of female and male voices to fill out all the other characters. He had a good young male voice for the untried magician. The book does talk of accents from time to time, and I couldn’t discern much of an accent given to any of the characters, to that would be my only quibble. If the book hadn’t mentioned accents as much as it did, I wouldn’t have noticed the lack of them.
Every time I thought this book would take a turn and head down the often-trod trail of mediocrity, it surprised me. Are there maidens who need rescuing? Well, yes but they are also willing to stab your eyes out if you turn out to be with the bad guys. Is there an untried young magician in the group? Well, yes but Andrasta puts him through some really tough & rough training before he has to do any actual battle. Is there a horrendously evil cult that everyone must try to escape from at the end? Well yes, and not everyone makes it.
Plus, there is all this other great stuff going on in the book. Like Andrasta has his huge chip on her shoulder that only she can knock down. But until she is ready to do that, she will just pound Rondel into some semblance of a fighter. There’s this horrible place called the Blood Forest. Yeah, it’s creepy and hungry, evil things lurk with in it. Of course I want our heroes to have to enter it! So, that was awesome, twice over because they had to go through the forest twice.
Our two main characters had excellent story arcs for a first book. We met them and then they slowly changed through out the book. Rondel is the more compassionate of the two and he rubs off on Andrasta, even as she teaches him to use the sword and make shim run laps to build up his endurance. Then the author takes it one step further and has a few of our side characters also grow and change through out the book. I think I will miss two of our side characters, as I don’t expect them to be in the next book. On occasion, there is a minor character that happens by at the right time who provides critical info to the heroes. While I understand this is done to help move the plot forward, and it was decently done, it was also obvious that was the character’s entire point. If I have to have a criticism about this book, that would be my tiny, little one right there.
By the end of the book, we have plenty of murder and mayhem because the Cult of Sutek is full of evil people who need to die. Hopefully, the good guys got them all. While there is plenty of death, it is not particularly gory and the author doesn’t linger of spilled guts or the blood rituals the cult practices. Enough details are given to make you want the cult dead but not so much that your lunch will revolt on you.
I am very much looking forward to the next installment in this series. Andrasta is a fascinating character because she pounds against boundaries until they break. Rondel has also earned a warm little place in my heart with his mix of practicality and compassion. The two make a great duo!
Narration: Jeffrey Kafer was a good pick for this book. Much of the tale is told through Rondel’s eyes and he Kafer makes a very good broken bard turned sellsword. He also had a plethora of female and male voices to fill out all the other characters. He had a good young male voice for the untried magician. The book does talk of accents from time to time, and I couldn’t discern much of an accent given to any of the characters, to that would be my only quibble. If the book hadn’t mentioned accents as much as it did, I wouldn’t have noticed the lack of them.
March 9, 2015
I decided to start reading the epic of Andrasta and Rondel after enjoying immensely the Blood and Tears series, which made Joshua P. Simon one of my favourite authors.
Again a very good decision.
It is a different kind of fantasy, a classic sword and sorcery, so not as epic as the Blood and Tears, so you do not find a lot of world building nor great battles to conquer nations filled by political intrigues.
That is why I gave it "only" 4 stars, nonetheless I really loved it and I could not stop turning the pages.
What makes this book so good in my opinion are the characters and I must say that Simon is excellent at creating characters you love after few pages.
The 2 main characters are just wonderful and the development of their partnership, which is slowly transforming into respect, and probably later into friendship, is described extraordinarly.
The adventures of Andrasta and Rondel are without a pause, as it should be in a classic sword and sorcery story, so you have fighting, both against people and monsters, magic, princesses to rescue, travelling into strange and dangerous places, including the final dungeon, and the style of Simon is so perfect that at the end of the several runnings in the book, you feel just as exhausted as the characters.
Then I really appreciated the humor which makes the whole story lighter to read but for me much more enjoyable.
Of course we do not have the philosophical debates of Erikson, but this is pure and fast-paced entertainment.
Besides, as I pointed out in my review of the Blood and Tears series, I really love the fact that we a story where the heroes can be simply the good ones fighting against the evil just because it is the right thing to do.
And they can do it without a world where everybody is a bad guy ready to kill you or betray you, everything is dark and poor and without explicit violence or language.
I love Abercrombie or Lawrence and I just enjoyed last week Age of Iron of Angus Watson, but sometimes it is also refreshing to read something with a completely different style and atmosphere.
I really hope that Joshua P. Simon can reach the big audience he deserves.
Again a very good decision.
It is a different kind of fantasy, a classic sword and sorcery, so not as epic as the Blood and Tears, so you do not find a lot of world building nor great battles to conquer nations filled by political intrigues.
That is why I gave it "only" 4 stars, nonetheless I really loved it and I could not stop turning the pages.
What makes this book so good in my opinion are the characters and I must say that Simon is excellent at creating characters you love after few pages.
The 2 main characters are just wonderful and the development of their partnership, which is slowly transforming into respect, and probably later into friendship, is described extraordinarly.
The adventures of Andrasta and Rondel are without a pause, as it should be in a classic sword and sorcery story, so you have fighting, both against people and monsters, magic, princesses to rescue, travelling into strange and dangerous places, including the final dungeon, and the style of Simon is so perfect that at the end of the several runnings in the book, you feel just as exhausted as the characters.
Then I really appreciated the humor which makes the whole story lighter to read but for me much more enjoyable.
Of course we do not have the philosophical debates of Erikson, but this is pure and fast-paced entertainment.
Besides, as I pointed out in my review of the Blood and Tears series, I really love the fact that we a story where the heroes can be simply the good ones fighting against the evil just because it is the right thing to do.
And they can do it without a world where everybody is a bad guy ready to kill you or betray you, everything is dark and poor and without explicit violence or language.
I love Abercrombie or Lawrence and I just enjoyed last week Age of Iron of Angus Watson, but sometimes it is also refreshing to read something with a completely different style and atmosphere.
I really hope that Joshua P. Simon can reach the big audience he deserves.
September 9, 2014
Honestly I really wasn't expecting much from this book. I downloaded it on a whim and when I finally pulled it up to read it was to kill a little time before I went to sleep. Well it ended up keeping me up all night because I couldn't bring myself to put it down.
The plot went in some many directions I didn't expect that I was really getting excited to see what would happen next. The world itself wasn't anything great at first to me, but somethings are added in that made it very interesting and everything got resolved very neatly in the end. No cliffhanger here.
The character were very interesting. Though in the beginning I wasn't to fond of Rondel but by the end he had really grown on me. Andrasta held my attention right from the get go, and it will seem like she is the same as she was in the beginning if you don't pay care attention to her thoughts, cause she does grow just not as obviously as Rondel and the other characters do. The one thing I wanted more was to find out more on her background.
I really enjoyed this read and it always makes me happy when I get more than what I thought I would. Once I'm done here I'll be moving on to the next book. I really want to find out more about Andrasta and Rondel and see what new adventure they will go on.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, like I mentioned earlier this was a surprisingly good read.
http://zephyrbookreviews.blogspot.com/
The plot went in some many directions I didn't expect that I was really getting excited to see what would happen next. The world itself wasn't anything great at first to me, but somethings are added in that made it very interesting and everything got resolved very neatly in the end. No cliffhanger here.
The character were very interesting. Though in the beginning I wasn't to fond of Rondel but by the end he had really grown on me. Andrasta held my attention right from the get go, and it will seem like she is the same as she was in the beginning if you don't pay care attention to her thoughts, cause she does grow just not as obviously as Rondel and the other characters do. The one thing I wanted more was to find out more on her background.
I really enjoyed this read and it always makes me happy when I get more than what I thought I would. Once I'm done here I'll be moving on to the next book. I really want to find out more about Andrasta and Rondel and see what new adventure they will go on.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, like I mentioned earlier this was a surprisingly good read.
http://zephyrbookreviews.blogspot.com/
April 17, 2015
Seemed like an interesting concept to knit to. Two disparate people who learn to work together while learning to help others. In the course of events, they each learn more about themselves. Plenty of action, suspense, mayhem, and strange creatures.
Audio performer, Mr Kafer, does a great job of enhancing all of the characters and their actions. And saved me the problem of how to pronounce correctly!
Audio performer, Mr Kafer, does a great job of enhancing all of the characters and their actions. And saved me the problem of how to pronounce correctly!
March 29, 2015
This was a really good book.The plot was interesting and well written.A minstrel who can no longer perform and a warrior maid team up to break out of jail and a few heads on a quest that turns into many different quests.Jeffery Kafer was the perfect narrator for this book..I look forward to the next book in the series.
April 15, 2015
Great continuation of the series. Will definitely read more as it continues as it is getting better all the time.
April 22, 2015
Not exactly award winning stuff, but a decent fun adventure. I will certainly be reading the next book and likely more.
December 29, 2015
Great start
This series has started out at a fast pace and continue d throughout the book. Simply put. Outstanding story line
This series has started out at a fast pace and continue d throughout the book. Simply put. Outstanding story line
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews