The Lost War audiobook by Justin Lee Anderson
Narrated by Euan Morton (2020)
The war against the draoidh Mynygogg — a mage who could summon demons and raise the dead — is over, but Eidyn is in ruins. Demons still burn farmlands, a plague is spreading, and violent mercenaries roam the wilds.
Aranok, the first mage ever appointed King's Envoy, is sent on a mission to restore an exiled foreign queen to her throne. The group he assembles — a soldier, a pirate captain, a holy knight, a troubled monk — are strangers who distrust one another. As they travel a ravaged country, bodies accumulate, new threats emerge, and a deeper conspiracy begins to surface beneath the official mission.
The Lost War is the first novel in the Eidyn Saga, a trilogy published by Orbit Books. The book was originally self-published by Justin Lee Anderson in 2019 before winning the 2020 SPFBO award (Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off), leading to a deal with Orbit. The audiobook edition, narrated by Euan Morton, was published by Podium Audio on April 28, 2020.
About the Eidyn Saga
The Eidyn Saga is a trilogy of epic fantasy novels set in the kingdom of Eidyn, a world built on the history, mythology, and place-name etymology of Edinburgh. The magic system is rooted in Gaelic, and the inns in the novels are based on real Edinburgh pubs. The three books are:
- The Lost War (2019, self-published; 2023, Orbit Books) — audiobook narrated by Euan Morton (Podium Audio, 2020)
- The Bitter Crown (Orbit Books, December 2023) — audiobook narrated by Justin Lee Anderson
- The Damned King (Orbit Books, forthcoming)
Euan Morton narrated only the first audiobook in the series. From the second book onward, the author himself took over narration.
The narration
Morton narrates the full audiobook solo across just over twenty hours. The novel requires him to voice a large ensemble — a morally conflicted envoy, a hard-drinking soldier, a pirate captain, a devout holy knight, a troubled monk, and various antagonists — while maintaining distinguishable voices across a politically complex plot. The Scottish setting is an additional factor: Morton's natural Scottish accent fits the material directly rather than being adopted for effect, which audiobook reviewers consistently noted.
Press reactions
The following reviews are for the novel, written for the Orbit Books print edition published in May 2023.
About Justin Lee Anderson
Justin Lee Anderson is a Scottish author who worked as a professional writer and editor for fifteen years before turning to fiction. His debut novel, Carpet Diem (2015), became a bestseller and won the 2018 Audie Award for Humor. The Lost War, his second novel, won the 2020 SPFBO (Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off) competition — an annual contest for independently published fantasy novels run by author Mark Lawrence — beating 299 other entries. The win led to a deal with Orbit Books for the Eidyn Saga trilogy. Anderson lives near Edinburgh, the city whose history and mythology form the foundation of the Eidyn world. More information is available at justinleeanderson.com.
Publication Details
The Lost War — The Eidyn Saga, Book 1
Links
Purchase & Listen: Audible | Amazon
Visit the Hachette/Orbit Books page for The Lost War for more information about the novel.