So… having looked at other books by Nick Podehl (and also books published by Podium Publishing who published the Expeditionary Force series and The Martian) I started listening to Free the Darkness, King’s Dark Tidings book 1.
I finished Free the Darkness. Can now confirm. Fantastic. I will definitely listen to the rest of the series but my wife says she will only get into it when the series concludes.
My wife feels burned by certain authors who start a series and yet take umpteen years between books such that it seems the series finale will never be written; as well as Robert Jordan in particular, who released pointless book after pointless book in the Wheel of Time series, such that the original author died before finishing the series. So my wife is inclined to wait until a book series ends before starting it.