Iron Prince
by Bryce O'Connor & Luke Chmilenko
About This Audiobook
Rei Ward was born with a degenerative genetic disease in a future where combat sport rules everything — brittle bones in a world that worships fighters. Then his CAD, the neural combat device every citizen receives, does something no CAD is supposed to do: it evolves. Shido grows with him, adapts to him, and slowly turns the weakest recruit at the Galens Institute into the academy's most dangerous variable. Iron Prince is the best pure underdog hype in the genre — the Cradle comparisons get thrown around constantly and are mostly earned — and the sparring-ladder structure means you're never far from a duel with real stakes. It's also long-winded; even reviewers who love it admit you could cut a third of the 34 hours without losing plot, because O'Connor and Chmilenko describe everything. Luke Daniels' action delivery makes the tournament arcs absolutely cook. 5.3K ratings at 4.7. When book two hit my library, I cleared my weekend.
