The Palest Ink was one of my favorite reads in 2017. While that story centers around a young Benfu, Bratt begins the Tales of the Scavenger's Daughters series with an older, much wiser Benfu. His golden years (should they be called that?) are much different than those of his youth, when things came to him easily as the son of wealthy, respectable parents. Having cut ties with his privileged past, Benfu spends his days scavenging. He's a junk collector. Benfu collects and sells other's unwanted trash. Along the way, he has also rescued discarded and orphaned girls that have been thrown away like yesterday's garbage. It's no mistake that Bratt chooses this profession for Benfu and the meaning behind this decision is not lost on me.

Understandably, Benfu is resentful and angry at the government that betrayed him as a young man. The communist revolution of Mao Zedong stole young Benfu's life, changing him forever. Benfu's bitter resentment causes him to make decisions that are not always in the best interest of his loved ones. His pride may be the undoing of the family he's worked so hard to protect.

The Scavenger's Daughters, narrated beautifully by Will Damron, was a great Audible listen. I have all three ebooks in this series but thought it would be interesting to start the series with the audio version. I wanted to get the feel of things. Damron puts a lot of emotion into his storytelling and was believable as Benfu. He didn't do too bad as Benfu's daughters either.

I highly recommend reading the prequel, The Palest Ink, first. I had this series on my kindle for a couple of years. You know how it goes; I really wanted to start the first book way back when. Then, Bratt released the prequel and I'm glad I waited. I feel like the reader will better understand the reasoning behind Benfu's decisions to live life as he does. Besides, I'm not really a fan of going backwards in stories. Every reader has their method. Mix the series up if ya like. There are FIVE books in the series. Tangled Vines Book Two, Bitter Winds Book Three, Red Skies Book Four. Book One is .99c on Amazon. Book Two - Book Four is 1.99. Worth every penny. The Palest Ink completes the series.