Where to Start with Kel Kade
- Best entry point → Mage of No Renown
- Start the King's Dark Tidings series → Free the Darkness
- What fans keep coming back to → Reign of Madness
- Highest rated by listeners → Kingdoms and Chaos (King's Dark Tidings #4)
- 1
Reign of Madness
King's Dark Tidings • Book 2
by Kel Kade
Narrated by Nick Podehl
★ 4.65 ABR Score (44.6K ratings)★ 4.45 Goodreads (19.3K) ★ 4.84 Audible (25.3K)19h 21m listening time • Released 2016Nick Podehl transforms this dark fantasy sequel into something magnetic—his performance captures Rezkin's lethal precision and fractured humanity so vividly you won't want to pause.
- 2
Kingdoms and Chaos
King's Dark Tidings • Book 4
by Kel Kade
Narrated by Nick Podehl
★ 4.54 ABR Score (27.0K ratings)★ 4.39 Goodreads (12.1K) ★ 4.79 Audible (14.8K)16h 23m listening time • Released 2018Nick Podehl's performance captures Rezkin's ice-cold competence and the mounting chaos around him with such precision that you'll feel the weight of every alliance cracking. By book four, Kade rewards your investment with genuinely devastating character moments that land harder through audio.
- 3
Mage of No Renown
Tales of Terralor • Book 1
by Kel Kade
Narrated by Nick Podehl
★ 4.46 ABR Score (5.8K ratings)★ 4.46 Goodreads (2.4K) ★ 4.83 Audible (3.4K)10h 30m listening time • Released 2022Nick Podehl brings magnetic intensity to Wesson's internal struggle with dark magic, making this mystery-tinged prequel feel urgent and deeply personal despite its sprawling fantasy world.
- 4
Dragons and Demons
King's Dark Tidings • Book 5
by Kel Kade
Narrated by Nick Podehl
★ 4.43 ABR Score (10.9K ratings)★ 4.43 Goodreads (6.5K) ★ 4.73 Audible (4.4K)17h 3m listening time • Released 2022Nick Podehl's gravelly intensity perfectly captures Rezkin's descent into moral complexity as kingdoms collapse around him—this is where the series stops pulling punches and demands everything from both narrator and listener.
- 5
Free the Darkness
King's Dark Tidings • Book 1
by Kel Kade
Narrated by Nick Podehl
★ 4.39 ABR Score (43.0K ratings)★ 4.23 Goodreads (25.3K) ★ 4.65 Audible (17.7K)16h 34m listening time • Released 2016Nick Podehl's layered performance transforms Rezkin's isolation-to-awakening arc into something genuinely gripping—a rare narrator who makes you feel the character's confusion and lethal precision simultaneously.
- 6
Legends of Ahn
King's Dark Tidings • Book 3
by Kel Kade
Narrated by Nick Podehl
★ 4.38 ABR Score (33.1K ratings)★ 4.2 Goodreads (15.4K) ★ 4.67 Audible (17.7K)16h 15m listening time • Released 2017Nick Podehl's narration elevates this sprawling fantasy epic into something genuinely immersive—his command of distinct voices and pacing makes the political intrigue and brutal action sequences feel lived-in rather than just recounted.
- 7
Knight of Shadows
King's Dark Tidings • Book 6
by Kel Kade
Narrated by Nick Podehl
★ 4.34 ABR Score (6.2K ratings)★ 4.35 Goodreads (3.6K) ★ 4.72 Audible (2.6K)13h 18m listening time • Released 2024Nick Podehl elevates this dark fantasy's morally complex intrigue with a performance that captures both Rezkin's lethal precision and genuine vulnerability. If you've loved the series this far, book 6 deepens the stakes in ways that demand to be heard.
- 8
Ritual of Ruin (King's Dark Tidings Book 7)
King's Dark Tidings • Book 7
by Kel Kade
Narrated by Nick Podehl
★ 4.21 ABR Score (2.8K ratings)★ 4.24 Goodreads (1.4K) ★ 4.71 Audible (1.5K)14h 51m listening time • Released 2025Nick Podehl's performance elevates this seventh book into pure immersion, capturing the desperate stakes and moral complexity as Rezkin's rebels race to stop Caydean's apocalyptic endgame.
- 9
Sanctum of the Soul
The Shroud of Prophecy • Book 3
by Kel Kade
Narrated by Nick Podehl
★ 4.06 ABR Score (1.0K ratings)★ 4.17 Goodreads (590) ★ 4.67 Audible (435)15h 14m listening time • Released 2025Nick Podehl brings raw intensity to this trilogy closer, making Aaslo's impossible choices feel genuinely devastating as gods collide and everything falls apart.
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How We Rank Audiobooks
Rankings are driven by listener ratings and review counts from Audible and Goodreads. Books with high ratings across a large number of listeners rank higher — a 4.5 with 50,000 ratings says more than a 4.8 with 200.
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