Category: Audiobook Page 13 of 25

Blood Trail

by C. J. Box, David Chandler (Narrator)
Series: Joe Pickett, #8

Unabridged Audiobook, 9 hrs, 5 mins.
Recorded Books, 2008

Read: February 10-12, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Blood Trail About?

Since Governor Rulon re-hired Joe Pickett and made him sort of a Game Warden-at-Large, his life has improved—he and Marybeth have their own home, no longer living in State housing, or at his father-in-law’s. Nor is he really as subject to the whims of Randy Pope, his director. But there’s a price to be paid for this: he’s pretty much at Rulon’s beck and call.

This time, thankfully, he’s called to his former territory—a hunter has been found dead. It’s the beginning of Elk Season, so it’s not that surprising. But…this isn’t your typical dead hunter. This man has been shot and field dressed like an elk. Joe’s garnered a reputation for stumbling into a solution for things like this, and Rulon needs that quickly—people are getting antsy about the killings and pressure is mounting to cancel Elk Season (which would have horrible consequences on Wyoming’s economy). Joe’s been named to a task force with the FBI, and the local sheriff. Not only are they out to preserve hunting season, but they also need to head off a mounting anti-hunting protest movement that is taking advantage of this situation.

Randy Pope decides that this is important enough that he comes to supervise Joe personally—and takes an oddly active and proactive role in fieldwork (which no one has ever accused him of being fit for). I don’t know about anyone else who reads this series, but there isn’t a time that Randy Pope has been around when I haven’t wanted Joe to punch him in the nose (or Marybeth, or Sheridan even), and that’s taken to the nth degree for most of this book.

So not only does Joe have to find a killer (not really his job, ubt he seems good at it) for political and social reasons, he has to put up with antagonism from local law enforcement who resent his role, get micromanaged by an officious twerp who is even less suited for this than he is, and he ends up having to deal with two individuals from his past that he’d rather expected never to have to deal with again over the course of the investigation. I’m not going to identify these people, but neither Joe or Marybeth are prepared to have them in their lives again, frankly, I wasn’t ready either.

We Should Talk About Nate

I get into a spoiler in a vague way here. Feel free to skip to the next header.

For various and sundry spoilery reasons, Joe decides that he needs Nate Romanowski’s tracking help. Now, Nate’s been in FBI custody for a few months, ever since the FBI double-crossed Joe at the end of Free Fire. Given the urgent nature of things, Rulon is able to finagle a release into Joe’s custody.

And then Nate ditches Joe for days. Joe, the good friend, covers for him (he’s also covering for himself and his own ability to maintain custody). Sure, he ultimately comes back and pitches in. But it’s pretty clear he didn’t need that much time to do his thing—I get that Nate has his own way of working and that Nate isn’t that terribly concerned with people who aren’t him (what does he care if someone’s killing hunters?)—but he should care about his friend and the deal that got him out of custody, right?

I lost a lot of sympathy for Nate here. And a good deal for Joe, too, later in the book when it comes to Nate.

A Low-Stakes Antagonist

Now that Joe lives in town, in a normal house with a yard and no need to consult a government budget officer for upkeep on his home, it falls to Joe to take care of things. He has a neighbor now (I forget his name, one of the hazards of audiobooks is that I can’t look it up easily). This man is retired and is far too concerned with his own yard and upkeep, and carries that over to Joe’s.

We don’t spend a lot of time with him, but it’s easy to see that he’s a burr in Joe’s side—a constant problem, a constant annoyance. Sure, Joe’s off working for the governor and trying to stop a killer, but surely he could take the time to mow his lawn, like a decent citizen.

This book needed a little lightness, and this crank delivers it.

A Word About the Narration

At this point, I really don’t know what to say about David Chandler, he’s great at this.

However, ,I have one thing to say. For most of the book, I assumed the killer was one of two people. And despite the fact that we get the killer’s POV frequently, it was still pretty unclear which one of the two it was (assuming I was right). Until about halfway through in one scene, Chandler makes 1 choice when he reads one line. And we “hear” the character in a voice Chandler would use for that character, not just the generic Killer’s POV voice he’d been using throughout. And then I knew exactly who it was.

I understand why he made that choice. But, man. It ruined things a little bit for me.

So, what did I think about Blood Trail?

This was, hands down, my favorite entry in the series. The tension, the huge character events, the motive for the crime, and the way it ended…I can’t explain all my reasoning without ruining the novel.

But man…this is the standard I’ll be judging books in this series by. Is it going to be that impactful for new readers? No, but it would work as a jumping-on point if you’re not in the mood to read the seven previous books.

Blood Trail is a great entry in this solid series, with entries like this, it’s easy to see why it’s lasted for twenty-one (so far) books. Check it out.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey (Audiobook) by Amber Ruffin, Lacey Lamar: You’ll Laugh While You All Lose Hope in Humanity. Fun Times!

By HCNewton

On March 24, 2021

In Audiobook, Humor, Non-Fiction

You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism

by Amber Ruffin, Lacey Lamar

Unabridged Audiobook, 5 hrs., 21 min.
Grand Central Publishing, 2021

Read: March 11-12, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

I’m going to lean on quotations from the book pretty heavily for this one, I feel awkward about trying to summarize this—and am afraid I’d come across as too flippant. Which, yeah, is an odd thing to fear for a book that can be rightly shelved under “Humor”

The Authors/Narrators

Amber Ruffin is the host of The Amber Ruffin Show, a writer for and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers, and is consistently funny and thoughtful. Even when, especially when?, I disagree with her (which happens a lot). She’s the primary author (even when retelling something that happened to her sister) and narrator of the book.

Lacey Lamar is her older sister, who lives in Nebraska and works in the healthcare and human service field. She’s apparently a pretty big geek, too. While her contributions to the book/audiobook are briefer than Ruffin’s, when she pitches in, it’s well worth it.

What’s You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey About?

Early on, we’re told

My sister Lacey is a lightning rod for hilarious racist stories, She’s the perfect mix of polite, beautiful, tiny, and Black that makes people think: I can say whatever I want to this woman. And I guess you can. Hey, knock yourself out—but that doesn’t mean you won’t end up in a book.

She’s such a lightning rod that

Twice a week, I get a text from my sister that says, “Can you talk?” It’s my favorite because I know I’m about to be transported to a place that exists in real life and fantasy: the place where coworkers will put their whole hand in your hair, talking ’bout “It’s fluffy like a dog.” I realize this sounds terrible, but it’s like watching Dateline. You can’t believe it was the GIRLFRIEND who killed the HUSBAND! It’s the edge of reality. Technically, it happens, but it is barely plausible. Excited, I steal away to the elevator banks at work and listen to Lacey tell me a new horror story. It’s fantastic. As I stand there, mouth agape, listening to some new fresh hell, I am always struck by the fact that these stories will only exist in this phone call. Some will go on to become stories once the topic turns to “racist people at work” one night when Lacey is hanging out with her friends, but she’ll forget most of them because of the sheer volume. The. Sheer. Volume.

That’s what this book is, a distillation of that volume. A compilation of the best/worst of those stories. They are tragic. They are sobering. They are frequently pretty funny. But only in the way they’re told. Lamar and Ruffin share these stories with an air of “you have to laugh or you’ll cry.” The kind of resigned laughter when you realize that your situation isn’t going to get better any time soon, so you might as well find the pleasure in it. A lot of this is hard to listen to/read—but it’s usually worth it. There’s also a decent level of “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down” running throughout this.

Some of these stories are old, but a lot of them are post-Obama stories. A lot of folks think things like this don’t happen anymore. But in this climate where people are becoming more brave with their racism, I think things may get worse before they get better. Just kidding, I don’t think things are gonna get better. Just kidding about just kidding. I’m Team Hopeful! My point is: Has anyone ever decided to take a look at one person’s buttload of racist stories? What happens when you do? I don’t know, but here you go.

Audiobook vs. Text Version

So my wife read the hardcover and I read the audiobook (but was able to use the hardcover to grab some quotations). The hardcover features pictures and illustrations, and different typefaces for each author (a feature more books should use). Judging by her responses and just flipping through it, that seems like a great way to go through the book.

The audiobook is primarily read by Ruffin, with some assists by Lamar. Ruffin’s a great performer and the text comes alive with her reading. I think some of the comedy comes through stronger in the way they tell the stories—because a lot of these things are dark and my response leaned to horrified until I heard one/both of them chuckle about it. Also, listening to Ruffin describe the pictures you can’t see is likely as fun as seeing them. I’m not saying that the audiobook is better/worse than the text, but I can say you won’t regret it.

So, what did I think about You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey?

Black readers will read these stories and feel that really good, yet terrible feeling of going through something bad and realizing you’re not alone, and not only that, but that someone else has it worse! And, hopefully, the white reader is gonna read this, feel sad, think a little about it, feel like an ally, come to a greater understanding of the DEPTH of this type of shit, and maybe walk away with a different point of view of what it’s like to be a Black American in the twenty-first century. Hence this book.

For me, I think they succeeded. I’m not a fool, I didn’t think we’d fixed racism or anything—but the casual and blatant racism Lamar encounters at work (or outside of work) is astounding. I can’t count how many times I stopped the recording to say something to my wife to marvel at how blatant the people in this book were. She’d ask where I was, nod, and ask “have you got to X yet?” “Um, no?” “Well, it gets worse…” And it did.

At the same time, I laughed a lot. Those two sensations shouldn’t fit so well together, but they do.

This is a comic-tragedy. A tragic-comedy. Either or both. you won’t soon forget this book. Entertaining and educational. Eye-opening. Frustrating. I strongly recommend this.

4 1/2 Stars

Junkyard Bargain (Audiobook) by Faith Hunter, Khristine Hvam: Shining Takes to the Road for the Next Step

By HCNewton

On March 12, 2021

In Audiobook, Faith Hunter, Fiction, Science Fiction

Junkyard Bargain

by Faith Hunter, Khristine Hvam (Narrator)
Series: Shining Smith, #2

Unabridged Audiobook, 5 hrs., 40 min.
Audible Originals, 2021

Read: March 2-3, 2021

The Law was uncertain. Vengeance wasn’t.

What’s Junkyard Bargain About?

Shining Smith needs to gear up and improve her weapons and armor if they’re going to take on the task they have ahead of them. This means traveling to Charleston, and selling some of the junk from her scrapyard, and making the right deals.

Standing in their way are rival bike gangs, corrupt police, sex slavers, and random other criminals. Whatever else happens—Shining isn’t going to allow those slavers to hang on to their captives (and likely won’t let them hang on to their lives, either). She needs to avoid the police, strike careful deals with the gangs, and survive the rest—all the while she’s noticing changes in her cats and expands the control Shining’s won enhancements have on those closest to her.

It’s really hard to explain without pretty much recapping everything in the first book.

How’s the Narration?

In short, Khristine Hvam is the perfect reader for Hunter’s work. She gets how Hunter’s mind works, she knows how to bring the characters to life and how to infuse them with the right kind of humanity. You read enough of an author’s books and it’s just impossible to think of anyone else doing it. Just not sure what else to say about her work.

So, what did I think about Junkyard Bargain?

After Junkyard Cats took several unexpected turns in the latter half, I didn’t know what to expect from this beyond more of the same. This novella may have ended up where it seemed to be heading from the beginning, but the route it took bore so little difference to what was expected that it’s hard to recognize that. Hunter is filling this post-apocalyptic world with more dangers and strangeness than we’d been exposed to last time, and you know the next installment will increase the danger.

When talking about the last book, I said that it was too brief and not deep enough. This isn’t the case this time—and not just because it was 40 minutes longer. This time it felt like there was a solid match between depth and time—to the point I wondered how she fit it all in the novella-length book.

There were some great action scenes, some solid surprises, and good character development. And…cats with telepathy. I can’t wait to see what #3 has in store.

3 Stars

He Drank, and Saw the Spider (Audiobook) by Alex Bledsoe, Stefan Rudnicki: LaCrosse’s Break from His Vacation Changes History

By HCNewton

On March 1, 2021

In Alex Bledsoe, Audiobook, Eddie LaCrosse, Fantasy, Fiction, Reread Project

Like with the previous Eddie LaCrosse audiobook, The Wake of the Bloody Angel, I can’t think of much more to say than I did in 2014 when I read the book. But, this is the last one in the series, and I can’t just let this pass unremarked. So I shuffled it a bit, cleaned a couple of things up, and added bit here and there. That’s not cheating too much, is it?

He Drank, and Saw the Spider

by Alex Bledsoe, Stefan Rudnicki (Narrator)
Series: Eddie LaCrosse, #5

Unabridged Audiobook, 9 hrs., 6 min.
Blackstone Audio, 2014

Read: February 16-19, 2021

Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

I felt that little knot in my belly that meant a mystery was taking its irrevocable hold. Usually this was a good thing, because usually I got paid for it. But here and now I was on vacation, and the last thing I wanted to do was spend it unraveling the truth of the strange prince, his rotund protector, and the girl I’d once saved from a bear. But damn it, I knew that’s exactly what I was going to do.

What’s He Drank, and Saw the Spider About?

After a couple of adventures that aren’t quite typical in their nature, Eddie La Crosse gets back to basics with a fairly straightforward case. Well, that’s not exactly true—it’s just that the last was more grand-adventure-y, less LaCrosse-as-sword-jokey, and the one before that took on this epic nature by the end. This is Eddie doing what he does best. But still, there’s magic and monsters, and all the other trappings that keep this from being something that Sue Grafton or Dennis Lehane would’ve written.

Sixteen years ago, Eddie promised a dying man on the run that he’d take care of the baby that the other man was running to protect. He found a seemingly-trustworthy family willing to take the infant in, and went on his merry way, and actually forgot all about the incidents surrounding that. Years later, Eddie and his girlfriend, Liz, are on vacation in that area and suddenly it all comes back to him and he decides to try and track down the (now) young woman and see how she’s doing.

Naturally, things start to go poorly about there. He does find her—pretty easily, too—it is a small community, with an economy largely-based on sheep-herding and farming, so it’s not really a bustling metropolis where no one knows anyone else. But there’s a whole lot of interesting things happening around the young woman—royalty in disguise, a meddling sorceress, an untrustworthy mercenary-type, an over-protective mother, a dose of sibling rivalry, and some sort of articulate and super-strong inhuman creature with a healthy interest in the girl.

Even though he was just supposed to check on her and not interfere with her life—he had no intention of even introducing himself to her. Eddie can’t help himself, and before you know it, he’s neck-deep in intrigue and danger.

Biggest Magic Yet

When you think about Fantasy novels (or maybe I should just say “I”, who knows what you think) you think about magic all over the place. But if it’s really that ubiquitous, that takes away some of the special-ness of magic. In LaCrosse’s world, almost no one believes in magic. Eddie sure wouldn’t if magic, deities, and supernatural creatures hadn’t rubbed their existence in his face on repeated occasions.

That’s certainly the case here—most of the people that Eddie is around in this novel (and by most, I mean an overwhelming majority) refuse to admit that what they are seeing—some of them on multiple occasions—has anything to do with magic. I think this is a great choice—it’s another hurdle for Eddie and Liz to get over, it adds some real tension when you’d be tempted to think we’re done with tension, and it keeps the magic mysterious.

Rudnicki’s Narration

I think this is probably Rudnicki’s best work in the series. he nails every character—particularly the character of Billy Cudgel (the aforementioned untrustworthy mercenary-type). He captures the humor, the drunkenness, the misery, the madness, and everything else. I thought the choices he makes in the narration (he and/or the director) and tone were spot-on. He’s definitely a narrator I’m going to seek out in the future.

So, what did I think about He Drank, and Saw the Spider?

On the whole, this is a fun, brisk novel—a lot of humor, some good action, nice banter, and interaction between the characters (especially Eddie and Liz). Yet, even as the answers to the questions surrounding the girl’s mysterious origins become obvious, and some of the characters get to the point where they seemed irredeemable, Bledsoe (as he can every so well) keeps you completely drawn in and even tugs the heartstrings a bit as the truth is revealed to the characters. Just really, really well done.

There’s a lot of nice little touches along the way. For example, towards the end of the book, Eddie and those he’s traveling with encounter a preteen who joins their little band for a while. She’s pretty new to swearing and tries to get in as much practice as she can while with them. At first, I thought she was an odd (but entertaining) and pointless distraction. It didn’t take too long to see she was a perfect tension-breaker, just what that part of the novel needed to keep from being too tense and so much more serious than what had come before.

Eddie’s narration has never been better—humor-tinged and hard-boiled, a medieval Philip Marlowe or Elvis Cole. I liked all of these characters, and really wanted to spend more time with each of them—I don’t know how Bledsoe could’ve pulled that off without getting the whole thing too slow and ponderous (which would’ve sucked the fun out of 60-70% of these characters). This is really such a well-done and fully realized series.

Either Bledsoe or his publishers decided that was enough, and it doesn’t look like we’re going to get any more adventures from our favorite sword-jockey, but man, I’m glad we got what we did.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

A Two-Fer: Twenty Palaces and Child of Fire (Audiobooks) by Harry Connolly and Daniel Thomas May

By HCNewton

On February 17, 2021

In Audiobook, Harry Connolly, Twenty Palaces, Urban Fantasy

Twenty Palaces

by Harry Connolly, Daniel Thomas May (Narrator)
Series: Twenty Palaces, #0
Unabridged Audiobook, 8 hrs., 14 min.
Tantor Audio, 2020
Read: July 29-30, 2020
4 Stars

Child of Fire

by Harry Connolly, Daniel Thomas May (Narrator)
Series: Twenty Palaces, #1
Unabridged Audiobook, 10 hrs., and 9 min.
Tantor Audio, 2020
Read: September 8-10, 2020
4 Stars

What is The Twenty Palaces Series?

The Twenty Palace Society is a secretive and ancient group that has devoted itself to the regulation of magic in this world for the benefit of humanity. Those who use magic outside of the Palaces control have a tendency to unleash disaster—and by disaster, I mean things with the potential to destroy the world—and the Society stops them with extreme prejudice (and if collateral damage happens, so be it—we’re talking about the survival of the human race here).

Most of these threats come by way of unleashing Predators—beings from the “Empty Places” between dimensions. Their main drive seems to be coming into this (or any) reality and snacking on whatever life forms they can find. They typically begin by seeming to obey and/or help the humans who summoned them. But eventually, they turn on their summoners and exact a horrible price.

The Society’s methods, structure, and personnel largely lie in darkness, but we know a little bit—there are peers (magic users of impressive strength, but not as strong as others in the Society), investigators (whose purpose is to look for magical/Predatory activity), and wooden men. Wooden Men are cannon fodder. They’re the designated redshirts whose purpose is to draw the attention of the humans or Predators the Society is attacking so their peer can come in and eliminate the threat while they’re focused on the Wooden Man. It’s obviously not a place to be if you’re all that concerned with living a long and quiet life.

Our protagonist, Ray Lilly, is a Wooden Man (or becomes one in TP). In that book, he stumbles upon some unauthorized magic use, casts one spell himself (which would be enough to kill him over, but he proves useful to Annalise so she delays that), and then stumbles upon a group of predators and helps Annalise stop them from turning Seattle into a home base to bring in others of their kind and then to destroy humanity.

In Child of Fire, the two find themselves in a small town, where a man/company (it’s hard to tell at first) seemingly has made a deal with a Predator for some benefit to the town, but at the cost of the children of the town—and it happens in such a way that the memories of parents are affected enough that they don’t remember their children ever existed.

Publication/Listening Order

While I do think a good prequel can be fun, by nature they are wholly unnecessary. If you don’t have everything you need in the books/movies/whatever as they were published, the author/creators failed. Also, you probably don’t get something successful enough to generate a prequel.

Again, they’re fun. It can be entertaining to get an explanation for something in the original work (“Oh, so that’s why there’s a lampstand in the middle of the wood”), occasionally it gives you a new perspective on the series, that kind of thing. I was more than happy to read Twenty Palaces when the series had been mothballed, but I wasn’t clamoring for it.

But last year, when Tantor started putting out the whole series in audiobook form (the first book had been already, but the rest hadn’t been), I went with the order that Tantor published—Twenty Palaces first and then moving on to the rest.

I was surprised at how well it flowed. There’s very little time between Twenty Palaces and Child of Fire and it really felt like CoF was a sequel. There were just so many throwaway details in CoF that were there to make it seem like Ray had a past (not that we learned much about it), that there was a little bit of history with Ray and Annalise (but not much of one). As you read it (assuming you read in publication order), there’s a mysterious, violent past—one that it’s good to know Ray has, but we don’t need to know it.

Connolly did a great job of taking those details and building events in Twenty Palaces around them. I’m not saying this is the best way to listen to the books—but it makes them a lot more approachable. I can see why Tantor went the way they did.

Ray Lily

Yes, Ray Lilly is an ex-con with a violent streak. But he sincerely wants to live a straight life—while he admits to himself that he enjoys the rush of violence. He also likes the fact that his work for the Society matters. He tries to be a good, law-abiding citizen as much as possible. He works hard to prevent injury to those who have nothing to do with the Predators.

He’s incredibly loyal to Annalise—which is not a little twisted because Annalise has told him repeatedly that she will kill him.

He’s essentially what you expect in a male UF protagonist—but he’s as close to powerless as you can be in this world and yet survive. Which definitely marks him out as different. He also has a real talent for getting people (many people, anyway) to trust him and is better at inspiring bystanders to action than most UF protagonists (although most of them don’t need to recruit help, and Ray does). There’s a very human quality to Ray that makes you like him.

Annalise Powliss

Annalise is old (well over one hundred years old), but looks younger than Ray. She has a high voice and looks like she hasn’t had a decent meal in ages. But that’s deceptive—she’s supernaturally strong and magically powerful. While she doesn’t relish the prospect of collateral damage/fatalities—she’s familiar enough with the treat posed by Predators that she’s more than willing to let a town’s worth of citizens die to prevent all of humanity from being consumed. Still, she’s largely willing to indulge Ray’s compassion—up to a point.

Annalise has all the powers of your typical UF protagonist—maybe even more. But none of the wit, sarcasm, or optimism. For her, this is a duty, not one she particularly enjoys, but it’s something that has to be done.

Daniel Thomas May

I admit that I was worried about Daniel Thomas May as the narrator for these audiobooks. All I know him from is the Venators series, and this is about as far from a YA Portal Fantasy as you can get. But my worries proved groundless and he does a bang-up job portraying Ray Lilly and the horrors that this world holds.

More than that, I’m glad I listened to these if only for Annalise’s voice. It’s both exactly what Connolly says it sounds like—and is about 3.4 million miles away from what I’d imagined.

So, What Did I Think about these Audiobooks?

They’re just great—I thoroughly enjoyed being back in this world and I still don’t understand why the books weren’t bigger sellers. I hope they find a new audience in audiobook. I don’t know if I’ve ever talked about the series on this blog without using the phrase “criminally underselling,” (or words to that effect). It comes to mind once again, I just don’t get why readers didn’t get behind this.

They’re dark, they’re grim, they’re on the violent end of the UF spectrum (but I can easily find darker, grimmer, and more violent series)—but there’s a glimmer of hope throughout them all. Not just from Ray’s undaunted trust in humanity, but that’s where most of it comes from. Even with all the death and destruction, they’re entertaining reads and you get immersed enough in the world that you don’t want to come out of it.

You really should get these in your earbuds or in front of your eyes.

In This Bright Future (Audiobook) by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson: A Stranger in a Strange Land

By HCNewton

On February 9, 2021

In Audiobook, DC Smith & Kings Lake, Fiction

In This Bright Future

by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator)
Series: A DC Smith Investigation, #5

Unabridged Audiobook, 9 hrs., 18 min.
Tantor Audio, 2017

Read: January 7-8, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

It’s Time to Wrap up Some Things

We’ve known for some time, that someone connected to DC Smith’s time in Belfast has been trying to get in touch with him. We know almost nothing about what he did, and he’s in no rush to think about it as whoever makes these attempts. But that’s done with now.

While recuperating from knee surgery, Smith finally confronts/is confronted by (you could make the case either way) with that person and ends up using his convalescence time going to Belfast to look into something that happened (probably) the day after he left.

Smith is brought face-to-face with friends and adversaries for the first time in decades. He has to come to terms with many consequences of his actions. And he looks into a killing from that time that he didn’t even know had happened until he made the trip.

So we learn who has been looking into him/trying to communicate with him. We learn a lot about his backstory that we’d only got glimpses of shadows of before. For fans who want to know more about DC Smith, here’s the place.

There’s another plotline that gets some resolution, too—in a very pleasant way. But I’m not going to get into it.

Never Fear, There are Still Some Storylines Alive

We don’t have any resolution when it comes to this author friend and her book (and digging up all sorts of horrible memories with it). And there’s a new one introduced in the closing moments, one that will probably shake up a lot of Kings Lake…

Jackson Nails It Again

Gildart Jackson makes sure that you get what DC is feeling, how the past is coming back to haunt him while confronting him with his failures, his missed opportunities, the what could have been. This is a lonely book for Smith, and Jackson ensures the listener experiences it.

So, what did I think about In This Bright Future?

Overall, this was strange. Still good, but strange. As much as we all pick up these books for DC, it’s DC in relation to his fellow officers. Here, he’s fairly isolated—he has his ghosts, his memories, and people he hasn’t seen for decades (some he’s tried not to think about since)—but he doesn’t have his team. The fact he can’t give any tutorials, he doesn’t have anyone around to amuse with his commentary, the fact that he’s constantly on his guard, all combine to heighten the emotional impact of this one.

But man, I want to get back to King’s Lake.

This was as good as the previous entries—probably better in some ways—but in a different way. I’m all for that, let’s keep this series from getting stale. You can read/listen to this without the rest, and enjoy it. But it’s a lousy way to sample the series. If you want to know what this winning series is like, grab book 1 or 2. But if you grab this? You’re in for a very pleasant experience.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Wake of the Bloody Angel (Audiobook) by Alex Bledsoe, Stefan Rudnicki: A Search for A Needle in a Very Wet Haystack

By HCNewton

On January 27, 2021

In Alex Bledsoe, Audiobook, Eddie LaCrosse, Fantasy, Fiction, Reread Project

Small confession, before trying to write this post, I read my 2014 post from when I first read the novel, and it struck me that I didn’t have much else to say. So I shuffled it a bit, cleaned a couple of things up, and added bit here and there. That’s not cheating too much, is it?

Wake of the Bloody Angel

by Alex Bledsoe, Stefan Rudnicki (Narrator)
Series: Eddie LaCrosse, #4

Unabridged Audiobook, 8 hrs., 51 min.
Blackstone Audio, 2012

Read: November 27-30, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Wake of the Bloody Angel About?

I looked up at the stars. Finding one pirate after twenty years was a lot like picking one star out of this sky. Just when you thought you had it, a cloud slid by and you had to start all over when it passed.

Yet that’s just what Eddie LaCrosse sets out to do—find the unfindable, track the untrackable. For those of you who don’t know—Eddie lives in a fairly standard fantasy realm, and makes his living as a “sword jockey”—what we’d call a P.I. in our world. These books are first-person narratives and read a lot like good detective novels—but with swords, horses, and the occasional dragon or whatnot.

Eddie doesn’t go alone on his search for a pirate—he brings along his old friend/colleague, Jane Argo. Jane’s a former pirate turned pirate hunter turned sword jockey and is as tough as that résumé suggests. Having her come along on this adventure as the Hawk/Joe Pike figure was a great addition to a series that I didn’t think required it. But now, I want more of her—back in Eddie LaCrosse #6, or in Jane Argo #1. I could be pleased either way, as long as it’s soon.

A Killer Line

Every now and then, in the middle of this fun read, Bledsoe reminds you he can do more than tell a fun action story, and drop a sentence, or phrase that shows he’s just a good writer, period. One such line that stood out to me, and I’ve tried to find excuses to use in the last couple of days is:

Hawk’s been called many things over the years, but you know what captures him best, in my opinion? That he’s simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up.

You get a real clear idea about this Hawk guy, the image is pretty creepy in and of itself, and yet, it looks and sounds breezy unless you think about it. I like Eddie and the rest of his world plenty—but it’s that kind of thing that keeps me coming back to Bledsoe.

What I found interesting as I re-read what I wrote years ago is this very line. I’d completely forgotten it in the intervening years, but when I heard it, I mentioned it to a coworker and at least one family member, and even tweeted about it. It struck me as a perfect line in 2014, and it did the same again in 2020. I clearly have a well-defined taste and will probably rave about it the next time I read/listen to this novel.

The Paranormal

The last thing I can think to note is that this book briefly features the creepiest little girl I can remember since Let the Right One In. I really can’t talk about her without ruining too much, but let me just say that absolutely loved the way that Bledsoe used her. And no, I’m not going to talk about why I mention her under “The Paranormal.”

For a Fantasy series, Bledsoe is very careful—almost stingy—with his use of magic and the paranormal. But when he uses it? It’s so effective. We get just a few incidents of it here and I love watching the choices Bledsoe makes regarding them.

The Narration

Obviously, as it was over 6 years ago that I read the book, I could be wrong about this, but I think that Rudnicki’s narration added another layer to the novel, and it struck a deeper chord with me. It’s not like I didn’t enjoy the book when I read it, but listening to it seemed to be more effective. I attribute that solely to Rudnicki. He just does a great job not only with Eddie, but with all the other characters—Jane Argo and the last new character we meet in particular.

So, what did I think about Wake of the Bloody Angel?

There’s adventure, piracy, sword-play, banter, friendship, and a bit of betrayal. That’s pretty much what you want in a novel like this, right?

Bledsoe did a great job of nailing the life of a ship (says the guy who gets too seasick to even contemplate a day-long voyage)—both the tedium of day-to-day and the excitement of boardings (or other adventures at sea).

I couldn’t have seen the ending coming, nor the details it revealed. But it worked, it absolutely worked both as interesting plot development, and as strong character moments. So well done.

I’ve only got one novel in this series to go, and I’m excited to get to it, but I don’t want things to end. That’s a good place to be.

4 Stars

The Salvage Crew (Audiobook) by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, Nathan Fillion: A Unusual Tale of Artificial Intelligence, Cascading Failure, and Poetry

By HCNewton

On January 27, 2021

In Audiobook, Fiction, Science Fiction

The Salvage Crew

by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, Nathan Fillion (Narrator)

Unabridged Audiobook, 8 hrs., 21 min.
Podium Audio, 2020

Read: January 20-22, 2020

Red Dwarf Remix?

I’m not suggesting for a second that Wijeratne’s mind worked this way (at least I don’t mean to), but this is the impression I got as this started.

The Red Dwarf TV Show/Novels had a couple of great ideas at the beginning—an AI that ran the ship, that had a strange personality, an odd sense of humor, and wasn’t entirely reliable. The second was that the ship generated a holographic officer based on the memories and personality of one of a dead member of the crew (whoever was highest ranking/most needed among the dead). A long time ago, it had been determined that AI with memories and real emotions actually perform better than those not based on actual humans.

Our main protagonist and narrator in this novel is an AI, made from the memories and personality of an engineer who served his whole professional life in space (after leaving his family’s farm). He’s now in charge of a small salvage crew for the company Planetary Crusade Service, sent to a tiny planet Urmahon Beta to recover as much as they can from an old colony ship that presumably crashed there.

His role is Overseer, and his crew nicknames him OC. This is OC’s first command, if it goes well—and a few others—he can move up to a larger, better body/command. In a few decades or so, he could work is his up to a large ship, overseeing a major operation. Again, that’s if everything goes well.

Everything Doesn’t Go Well

OC is promised an “A-Team” of a crew for his first command. He doesn’t get one. They’re not a B-Team either. There are not enough letters to describe how far this trio is from an A-Team. For that matter, I’m not sure OC is A-Team material either—they land far off-course (turbulence during descent, we’re told).

Almost instantly, the crew starts falling apart, ignoring orders and protocol. They begin to build a base to work from, but get distracted by things like indigenous flora and fauna, personality conflicts, and evidence that suggests they may not be the only salvage crew on the planet (there’s a rival company with bionic operators with aggressive tendencies).

From a rough start, it gets worse, and the next few weeks are a spiral of cascading failure, disease, injuries, strife, crop failure, questionable vodka distillation, bargain-basement tech, and…well, I can’t keep going. It gets messy, and what starts off as a quirky, comedic version of The Martian with a side of Red Dwarf turns into something tense, taut, dark, and suspense-filled. It doesn’t stay that way, depending on how you want to count things, ends up taking one or two other overall flavors, while never completing shedding the offbeat humor that characterized the book since the opening paragraph.

Poetry and Other Quirks

I’m going to focus on OC, rather than the rest of the crew (and they are all worth writing about) to keep this short (and because you really need to get into spoilers to do a proper job of talking about the humans). He is funny. There’s a snarky, offbeat humor to his narration and dialogue throughout.

He’s also a poet. I’m not saying he’s a good one, but he is one. Frequently in Fantasy novels (particularly older ones that wear their Tolkien-influence on their sleeves), you get a lot of poetry/songs/etc., but that’s rarely a feature of Science Fiction novels. The Salvage Crew is the exception to this rule. OC writes it, recites it to his crew to encourage them, he quotes and ruminates on other’s poetry…he’s the most poetic AI I think I’ve ever encountered in a novel. He’s also a Buddhist, and will often apply that to his situation.

He also has the best curses. He’s frequently letting off steam by cursing his crew, PCS executives, or local fauna to a horrible future reincarnation. I could have listened to some of those for a solid hour.

Fillion’s Narration

It’s tough to say for certain, but I think that Fillion raised this about a star in my book (maybe just a half). It’s his voice, his charm that hooks you in and gets you to like, believe in and root for OC. That said, at some point, I stopped thinking of this as Fillion, and just let OC tell me a good story.

It’s not the best narration I’ve ever heard, but it’s really good and it made me hope that Fillion does more audiobooks.

Co-written by AI?

So, there was apparently actual AI software involved in the writing of this. I learned about this when I started writing this post, and I’m not sure I understood everything I skimmed (I didn’t want to take the time to read carefully instead of just posting this). I’m intrigued by this notion, but am relieved to see that the software only “helped” with portions of the book and that Wijeratne was the final word.

So, what did I think about The Salvage Crew?

Roughly the first half of the book* is about what I expected—an amusing SF adventure—and was a lot of fun to listen to. The rest of the book isn’t what I expected from the premise in terms of story or tone. And I was riveted. There are portions of the book that get into more philosophical territories, and while I wasn’t as interested in them as I think the novel wanted me to be, they were really well constructed and told.

* This is an estimate, I didn’t jot down notes about when the tenor of the plot/novel changes)

I’m really glad I took a chance on this book, I’ll definitely listen to future audiobooks by Fillion (assuming any are produced) and am probably going to be trying some of Wijeratne’s other novels. I heartily recommend it to SF readers/listeners.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Podium Audio via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

Free Fire (Audiobook) by C. J. Box, David Chandler: Pickett’s on the Case in a Prosecution-Free Zone

By HCNewton

On January 11, 2021

In Audiobook, C. J. Box, Fiction, Joe Pickett, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Free Fire

by C. J. Box, David Chandler (Narrator)
Series: Joe Pickett, #7

Unabridged Audiobook, 11 hrs., 5 min.
Recorded Books, 2010

Read: December 3-7, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Free Fire About?

As it appeared certain at the end of In Plain Sight, Joe was fired as a Game Warden. He’s working on his father-in-law’s ranch, trying to make it by (his family no longer lives in state property, either). Sure, Marybeth’s business is doing pretty well, but it’s not the same.

Then Governor Rulon comes calling. He liked Joe the first time they met, and he’s pretty sure that Joe is the kind of straight-arrow he can count on. Someone figured out a weird loophole in the overlapping state and federal laws that govern the area of Yellowstone National Forest, and shot and killed several people and was unable to be prosecuted for it. Rulon’s hands have been tied and he can’t do anything about it. But he’d like Joe to go down and take a look, reporting to him, so Rulon can tell voters he looked into it.

Joe’s a Game Warden again, but one at large. No one at Yellowstone is happy to have yet one more person poking around there. But Joe has a job and he’s doing to do it right, no matter what feathers he ruffles.

Family Drama

We don’t get nearly enough time with the Pickett clan. Despite his hardships, things are good with Joe and Marybeth. Things could be better for the kids—because of their ages, and Joe’s very public lack of a job.

Joe and the family are living in a house on Marybeth’s Father-in-Law’s ranch—where Joe is working. The relationship between the Father-in-Law and the Picketts is pretty strong. Maybe even stronger than the relationship between Marybeth’s mother and the Picketts (the fact that Joe likes him probably accounts for a lot of that).

But it looks like things aren’t all happy on the ranch—there’s a lot of problems and who knows how long that’ll work for everyone.

Competition for Stephanie Plum?

Not in a million years, did I think I’d compare Joe Pickett to Stephanie Plum. But this Wyoming Game Warden might be as hard on vehicles as that New Jersey bounty hunter. It’s not as laughable yet, but it’s getting there.

I actually enjoy it more than I’d think I would.

I Did Not See that Coming

Now that I get to this point in the outline, I realize that there are two things I didn’t see coming. The first is that here in book seven, we get a lot of Joe Pickett backstory. If you’ve ever wondered what Joe’s childhood was like—or why we only hear about Marybeth’s family, this book will tell you.

But what I meant to talk about when I wrote the headings was this: Nate Romanowski shocked me. I’ve talked before about Nate serving as Joe’s Hawk/Joe Pike/Bubba Rogowski/Henry Standing Bear figure. We know what to expect from these figures—they’re the heavies. They do the morally/legally questionable things. They’re more likely to be the violent type (and more effective at the violent things anyway). But what Nate does here made me audibly gasp. I’m not saying he was wrong I just didn’t expect it.

At the same time, there are things that happen to him at the beginning and end of the novel that were surprising, but they rank among the “huh, that’s interesting,” kind of thing, not a “what did I hear?” kind of thing.

A Word About the Narration

Actually, I don’t really have anything to say here, Chandler delivers another solid job. He is the voice of Joe Pickett to me at this point. The two go together now.

So, what did I think about Free Fire?

I thought Box did a great job of coming up with a way to keep Pickett as a Game Warden and at the same time not making Twelve Sleep, WY to have a murder-rate that rivals Cabot Cove, ME.

Putting him in Yellowstone was just icing on the cake, and the angle of this prosecution-free zone in the Park is brilliant. At this point in the series, readers know the regular cast of characters and this world—Box can lean into them—or start defying expectations—as he needs to. This is a comfortable place for fans to spend time, and judging by the number of times Pickett comes back? It stays that way. I get that and am already eager to get back to spending time with the Pickett clan.

3.5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

My Favorite Audiobooks of 2020

By HCNewton

On January 6, 2021

In Audiobook, News/Misc.

Given the large number of audiobooks I listened to in 2020, I sort of felt like I had to focus on them for one of these posts. But how to keep this from being just a rehash of the other best of lists? Well, I focused on the audiobook experience over the content. What was it like to listen to it? How engaging was it, how did the narrator do? Was it a good match in terms of tone, content, and performance?

Truth be told, this was a harder choice than I expected. Also, a couple of books that were in my mental rough draft didn’t make it to the final version when all was said and done (I’m still not sure I made the right call on a couple of these).

(in alphabetical order by author)

Dark Jenny

by Alex Bledsoe, Stefan Rudnicki (Narrator)

My original post
Stefan Rudnicki brilliantly captures the humor, the confusion, the determination of Eddle LaCrosse and the situation he finds himself in—and then the horror, revulsion, and anger he has when he discovers what’s really going on. Starting with one of Bledsoe’s best books, Rudnicki goes on to bring it to life.

4 Stars

Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares

by Rachel Cohn, David Levithan, Ryan Gesell (Narrator), Tara Sands (Narrator)

My original post
For me, this book came along at the right time—its particular brand of silly and escapist sweetness was exactly what it turned out that I needed. Add in a couple of stellar performances from Ryan Gesell Tara Sands and it’s just a delight. They can make you believe (even temporarily) in the magic of Christmas and young love.

3.5 Stars

Luck and Judgement

by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator)

My original post
I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep on saying it: there’s a certain magic, an ineffable alchemy about Jackson narrating Grainger’s work. It’s just fantastic, I think I’d have liked these audiobooks with another narrator (or in print), but I don’t think I’d have liked them as much.

I could’ve listed each book in this series here, but I limited myself to this one because it’s an atypical crime for a novel, the solution (and how Smith and his team come to it) is offbeat, there’s some great humor and great emotional beats, too. It’s Grainger at his best and Jackson delivers it perfectly. There is a strong sense of humanity in these books, not just in the protagonists, but in the victim, the killer, the witnesses, the people who aren’t the killer but who aren’t up to anything legal/moral/ethical…everyone. There’s no one cartoon-y or over the top (in any direction).

4 Stars

The In Between

by Michael Landweber, Brittany Pressley (Narrator), Mark Boyett (Narrator)

My original post
This is the story of what happens to a family when a young child goes missing during a teleportation trip that his parents make successfully (to put it too succinctly) It’s a gripping listen and wonderfully performed. As you may have guessed Brittany Pressley narrates the chapters from the mother’s point of view, and Mark Boyett takes the father’s. I don’t think I’d heard anything by either of them before—but I’ll keep my eyes peeled for their names when I browse for audiobooks in the future. They truly did wonderful jobs. They got the emotion of the moment, the tension—and occasional moments of fun, joy, or relief—as well as giving a real sense of the characters. It didn’t happen often, but even when a character usually only seen in a Lillian chapter showed up in a Jackson, you could recognize them (and vice versa)—which was nice. Landweber wrote a great story but Boyett and Pressley brought it to life.

5 Stars

Greenlights

by Matthew McConaughey

My original post
When Chris Hardwick interviewed McConaughey recently he described the audiobook as McConaughey playing McConaughey, which is a great way to put it, and I wish he’d posted this before I wrote about the book so I could’ve borrowed it then. But that’s it exactly, Yes, it’s his stories, but yeah, he’s performing. It feels like you’re sitting around the campfire or a table in a bar, listening to a great storyteller at work.

3.5 Stars

Crossing in Time

by D. L. Orton, Noah Michael Levine (Narrator), Erin deWard (Narrator)

My original post
Typically, when I post about an Audiobook, I close with a discussion about the narrator(s). But I started with it when I posted about this novel because Levine and deWard did such a great job, they’re the highlight of the experience for me. Typically, when there is a male narrator and a female narrator—the female will read all the narration and dialogue in the female character POV chapters, and the male will read all the narration and dialogue in the male character POV chapters. But here, deWard reads all the female dialogue, no matter the narrator (and vice versa). That’s a nice touch, and once I got used to it, I really appreciated it. Particularly, it helped the conversations between characters feel like conversations—there was a little bit of talking over each other, and so on. And when the two laughed together? That was either fantastic work by the narrators or by the editor (or both).

I’m not that sure how much I’d have enjoyed this book in print, but the way these two embodied the book made it one of the highlights of the year.

4 Stars

Far from the Tree

by Rob Parker, Warren Brown (Narrator)

My original post
This was an Audible Original, so the Audiobook experience is a big part of it. Brown was a great choice of narrator—he’s the perfect voice for this material. He captured and shaped the tone as he needed to, and gave the right performances for each character.

I can’t help feeling like I need to say more, but I just don’t know what else to say. If I had problems with the performance, I’d probably be able to go on longer, but when a narrator gets it right, like Brown does here, what else is there to say? It was a brutal, brutal experience, with more twists than I can count, and a plot so complex I’m not able to talk about it in this small space.

4 Stars

Back to Reality

by Mark Stay & Mark Oliver, Kim Bretton (Narrator)

My original post
This is sort of a Fringe-inspired take on a Back to the Future/Freaky Friday mashup, and it’s as odd, and fun as that description makes it sound.

I’ll frequently (maybe too frequently?) talk about an audiobook narrator bringing the text to life. And Kim Bretton does that. But she does more than that—she fills it with life. Dynamic, energetic, vibrant…are just some of the adjectives that spring to mind. I was very happy when I just looked over her other audiobook credits and saw a couple of titles I was already thinking about—if she’s doing them, I’m giving them a try. (although, if I never hear her do another American male accent, I’d be more than okay).

Funny, sweet, amusing, heartfelt, laugh-inducing, touching, comic, imaginative—and did I mention humorous? This is 606 minutes of pure entertainment. I really encourage you to put this in your ear-holes. It’d probably work almost as well in print—Bretton’s great, but she has to have something to work with—but in audio? It’s close to a must-listen.

4 Stars

The Answer Is . . .: Reflections on My Life

by Alex Trebek, Narrated by: Ken Jennings, Alex Trebek

My original post
Jennings was a great choice of narrator, since his time on Jeopardy!, the two are linked in the collective consciousness, and they clearly have a good relationship. He sounds like a natural when it comes to narration. But his work is overshadowed by the few chapters he didn’t read.

Trebek read a few chapters himself—the one about why he swears so often (it surprised me, too), the one talking about notable Jeopardy! contestants (like Jennings), the one about his wife (Trebek didn’t like the idea of someone else talking about his wife that way), and the last chapter, where he discussed his cancer and coming to terms with his impending death. I understand why he couldn’t do the entire book himself, but I’d have preferred it (nothing against Jennings—I’d have been content with Jennings doing the whole thing). But I’m so glad he did those chapters, you could hear the sincerity in his praise for Jennings, Eddie Timanus, Cindy Stowell, and others; his love for his wife; and the resolution and contemplation he’d put into his final days

4 1/2 Stars

Dawn Patrol

by Don Winslow, Ray Porter (Narrator)

Wow. Despite this being my first and favorite Winslow novel, I wasn’t inclined to grab the audiobook. But then it was on sale and a fellow Winslow-fan recommended Porter’s take on the book. I didn’t know that Porter did audiobooks before this, but he’s on my list to watch for now.

I don’t know how to describe this—I was blown away. I’ve read the book two or three times, but Porter made it feel like it was all new. I was gripped. I was entertained. I was heartbroken. It’s as good as you can ask for an audiobook to be.

5 Stars