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The Strandling

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The Strandling

By: James Brogden
Narrated by: Marisa Calin
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About this listen

An ancient evil arises.

An ancient power awakens.

Nineteen-year-old Megan Howatt lives in a house on the edge of a crumbling sea cliff, waiting for her life to fall into the North Sea. Her mother is dead, and her father has lost his mind, obsessively hoarding the junk that he salvages from the shoreline. Her only friends are Lou, the eccentric owner of a beach-side cafe, and Kelpy, the large black dog that she rescued from the sea as a puppy. Desperate to escape, but unwilling to abandon her father, she scratches a living working at the Dry Dog Inn in the nearby village of Salwick.

A violent storm hits the village, and the killings begin. A flock of sheep is torn apart, and suspicious eyes turn towards Kelpy. The owner of a local antiques shop goes missing. Something prowls the village streets at night—something that smells of rot and endless hunger. Megan finds herself drawn to the story of Mad Annie, a local woman accused of witchcraft who died on the island of Nine Mothers. With Lou’s help, Megan must reckon with the occult powers awakening in her, face the ghosts of her childhood and save her home from a shape-shifting horror of the ancient world.

©2024 James Brogden (P)2025 Blackstone Publishing Fantasy Horror Suspense Thriller & Suspense Scary Village
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I enjoyed this story, I liked the norse folk set against a village crumbling into the sea to join the ancient drownd realm of doggerland and the impending doom of the village being menaced by an old and evil spirit of that long lost world under the north sea, the narration was excellent the only criticism I have is the end is slightly unsatisfactory but still worth a listen

good folk horror

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Well written, great narration, intriguing story woven with folklore and the atmosphere of a crumbling seaside town.

Atmospheric, gripping and very satisfying!

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I've enjoyed the books by this author as easy listening, up to this point. whilst the story wasn't the authors best, it was enjoyable, but I know I would have enjoyed it more, had it not been for the narrator.
The accent was poor, and the narration itself sounded like it was being read by Jane Horrocks (who I love) in the character and style of "Bubble", her character in Absolutely Fabulous. It was extremely distracting, very false, and sounded better suited to a book for young adults age 11 to 15.
I restarted the book twice, and I persevered, hoping the narration would become less grating, but it didn't. So I missed whole sentences and sections of the book as a result of tuning out, which is perhaps why I havent rated the story as highly as I might have.
Please dont use this narrator for further books, as I'd have to ive them a miss, and I'm sure I'm not alone.

Poor Narration spoiled story.

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I've now read two of James' books and the stories are some of the best I've read in a very long time...may be twenty years.

another great story

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This was my second James Borden novel. Probably wouldn’t have listened to this had I known its fantasy content but all the same it was very good and certainly different to anything I’ve experienced before. The narrator made the story top notch with the enthusiasm with which it was read, and I really got absorbed like I was there. Recommended for lovers of horror fiction with a big dose of fantasy.

Fantasy Horror Novel

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