Audio Book Review: Yes Please by Amy Poehler

I love Amy Poehler ever since she stole my heart in Parks and Recreation.  I think she is amazing, kind, wise, and love her openness about sharing what she has learned from life. Her YouTube channel Smart Girls is wonderful and in particular I love her show Ask Amy where she posts some wonderful pieces of advice.

Yes Please is an extension of Amy’s wonderful self, where she gives advice, tells tales, and gets her friends and family to share their perspective. I was able to get a copy of the audio book at my library. It was one of the most enjoyable autobiographies that I’ve listened to.

Summary from GoodReads:

In Amy Poehler’s highly anticipated first book,Yes Please, she offers up a big juicy stew of personal stories, funny bits on sex and love and friendship and parenthood and real life advice (some useful, some not so much), like when to be funny and when to be serious. Powered by Amy’s charming and hilarious, biting yet wise voice, Yes Please is a book full of words to live by.

Amy has a good balance of telling unforgettable stories that made me think, sympathize, and appreciate her ability to be vulnerable, as well as spinning satirical pieces about how writing is hard and the amazing funny moments she experienced on SNL. Most touching was her love for her children and her love for life in general that seeps through every moment of her storytelling. I also appreciated that although I’m sure it was painful, she speaks of her divorce with some distance, humor, and a lack of bitterness that is inspiring. Sometimes it is just too easy to be bitter about the traumas that come along in life. I enjoyed her stories that were sneak peaks into behind the scenes with her cast members on the TV shows she’s been on and her work with Upright Citizens Brigade, a sketch/improv troupe that she co-founded which now has theaters in two major cities.

I thought Amy did an excellent job as the voice over actor for her own book and I enjoyed the guest appearances of friends and families as they voiced their bits. She left in several  bits in the audio book that were obviously improvised and in the moment, which was lovely. Obviously these bits would not appear in the paper book version, so I do recommend listening to the audio book if you can. I thought it was well produced, well voiced, and had some interesting elements not usually associated with audio books. But, I don’t want to spoil the surprises!

I know she complains about writing the book, for most of the book, but she did such a lovely job I hope she writes some more. If you like autobiographies, enjoy Parks and Rec, or want to give a fun audio book a try, check out Yes Please by Amy Poehler.

Audio Book Review: The Name of the Wind By Patrick Rothfuss

It’s been a long time coming, but I finally decided to tackle this series. I know so many people who love Rothfuss’ work, and I had them on my tbr pile for forever. I’m not always an epic high fantasy fan, and I dislike hating what everyone else likes, because then I just feel more weird, so I put off reading this until I couldn’t anymore. I took the plunge and, using a free credit, downloaded it from Audible. I’m happy to say that I loved it!

Summary from GoodReads:

“My name is Kvothe. I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I have burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during the day. I have talked to God’s, loved women and written songs that make the minstrels weep. You may have heard of me.”

So begins a tale unequaled in fantasy literature – the story of a hero told in his own voice. It is a tale of sorrow, a tale of survival, a tale of one man’s search for meaning in his universe, and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it, gave birth to a legend.

What I liked about this book was that it was stories inside of stories, which broke up the main story into intervals so that it never got boring. I devoured the tales and loved nearly every minute of Nick Podehl’s narration. This story has everything in it: mythologies that are well devolved, characters that are flawed but still likable, and an wonderful plot line that kept me enthralled.

Kvothe is not the best person in the world, he is immature, and he has been through a lot of traumatic events that have shaped who he is. He is smart without wisdom, clever without a lot of purpose except getting what he wants in the moment, and he can’t seem to take instruction unless he deems the person smart enough to learn from. The side characters are well developed and help Kvothe seem less imperfect because of their own imperfections. A wonderful cast of characters in an interesting setting.

The only thing I really did not like, was his main romantic interest. Ugh. Even Kvothe admits she is cruel, but this does not stop his attraction. I’ve met women like her and seen all the men they cut through, and it’s like the guys can’t help it, they must love these women even though they are horrible human beings. Make no sense. Though, I guess this happens to both genders, and maybe is more indicative of the one who is falling being unable to respect themselves than it is the “fault” of the cruel men and women who play with other people like they are toys to be discarded after they have lost their shine. I’m not sure why such a female has to be the main romantic interest in the story though, and in almost an homage to such females. That the main character admires her cruelty and learns how to stay in the good graces of such a toxic person was a bit disappointing as a romantic plot. I kept reminding myself, he is young, he is foolish, but that only help cool my ire a tad. Perhaps, as the series progresses the main character will learn that while toxic people can be exciting, they cannot be made whole, and they are best left to their toxic lives.

What the author is able to accomplish is a connection to characters that live outside of our timeline and universe. and that is to be commended. I felt for all of the characters, even the side characters. They have strong voices and personalities and are integral to the story line, even if they just jump in for small snippets of time.

Nick Podehl did a wonderful job of narration. His voice acting was excellent and he was able to keep the story alive in my mind. He didn’t really have different voices for the characters, but he was really good at inflection and emotion at what was going on in the story. He was easy to listen to, and as there are a lot of chapters and hours to finish the audible book this was necessary.

In spite of my dislike of one of the female characters, this was definitely one of the best books I listened to this year. I would recommend it to any one who likes sci/fi  or fantasy, or enjoys intricate plot lines and coming of age stories.

Audiobook Review: InterWorld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves

I read a lot of young adult stories this summer, and I mean young adult series, not your typical 16 or 17 year old, but about protagonists who were 12, for example. InterWorld, co-authored by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves and read by  Christopher Evan Welch, was probably my favorite young young adult series from this year. I borrowed a copy from my library.

Summary from GoodReads:

When Newbery Medal winner Neil Gaiman and Emmy Award winner Michael Reaves teamed up, they created the bestselling YA novelInterWorld.

InterWorld tells the story of Joey Harker, a very average kid who discovers that his world is only one of a trillion alternate earths. Some of these earths are ruled by magic. Some are ruled by science. All are at war.

Joey teams up with alternate versions of himself from an array of these worlds. Together, the army of Joeys must battle evil magicians Lord Dogknife and Lady Indigo to keep the balance of power between all the earths stable. Teens—and tweens and adults—who obsessively read the His Dark Materials and Harry Potter series will be riveted by InterWorldand its sequel, The Silver Dream.

I always love a good story about alternate universes and the different versions of people that can exist because a certain decision was made at a cross road in life or a specific environment shaped a person into a slightly different version of his or herself. Joey discovers alternate versions of himself that have wings, that are cybernetic, that have animal like features, all because he has the ability to slide into the inbetween and through that to the alternate worlds. Of course this isn’t all fun and games and he must use his powers to help keep the worlds safe, fight the bad guys, and use both magic and science to rid the world of evil.

I like Joey as a character, he is charming, intelligent, and acts like a 12 year old without me wanting to hit him upside the head too many times. His cleverness aids his ability to fight evil, but not always his ability to understand people or politics. He meets older versions of himself and learns from them. He has to get along with the different versions of himself, even if he doesn’t quite understand them always. He’s clever, but he gains wisdom as the story progresses, and that is a trait of a good character to me.

Christopher Evan Welch does a great job narrating. He has slightly different accents and character voices to keep the listener from getting too confused between the different versions of Joey . It works well that they are all versions of each other, because the voice over acting of one person makes even more sense in this particular story. Welch is dynamic and engaging in his story telling and I thought he did a good job.

The overall plot line is rather straightforward, having maybe one twist I didn’t see coming, but the character and world building are wonderful and engaging, in true Neil Gaiman fashion. If you like young adult series about great characters and fun worlds, check out InterWorld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves.

Audiobook Review: The Gate Thief by Orson Scott Card

After reading The Lost Gate, I immediately jumped back into the world by borrowing the audiobook The Gate Thief  by Orson Scott Card ,as narrated by Stefan Rudnicki and Emily Rankin, from the library. 

Summary from GoodReads:

In this sequel to The Lost Gate, bestselling author Orson Scott Card continues his fantastic tale of the Mages of Westil who live in exile on Earth. Here on Earth, Danny North is still in high school, yet he holds in his heart and mind all the stolen outselves of thirteen centuries of gatemages. The Families still want to kill him if they can’t control him…and they can’t control him. He is far too powerful. And on Westil, Wad is now nearly powerless–he lost everything to Danny in their struggle. Even if he can survive the revenge of his enemies, he still must somehow make peace with the Gatemage Daniel North. For when Danny took that power from Loki, he also took the responsibility for the Great Gates. And when he comes face-to-face with the mages who call themselves Bel and Ishtoreth, he will come to understand just why Loki closed the gates all those centuries ago.

Orson Scott Card is a well known author and for good reason, his books are excellently written and The Gate Thief is no exception. As the story encompasses an otherworldly setting, a contemporary setting, and magic the scenes could get quickly overrun with bad exposition of world building, but they don’t because the author knows how to build up his characters so that they are their relationships are even more exciting than the worlds he creates. Which is high praise considering the worlds he creates are both literally and figuratively fantastical.

What I liked about The Gate Thief was that it held up to the first book and is not just a place holder in the series, the story moves forward while exploring who Danny is and who Ward is and how this impacts their interactions. There is a greater story than their present feud and only as Danny begins to realize this, and how much he must have the help of people other than himself, does he grow up and start to become the person he is meant to be.

Again, I enjoyed the two people narrating as it helps keep track of the two story lines. Both narrators are excellent and had great pronunciation and dictation as well as emotional depth in their voice acting to bring the story to life. Their voice acting ability is able to keep up with the fantastical story line and that makes them great at what they do.

I don’t want to give too much away about this particular book as it is part of a series, but I definitely recommend the Mither Mages series. I can’t wait to get my hands on the third book! The Gate Thief is an excellent tale in itself, but I would definitely recommending reading the books in order so as to get the entire depth of the series. If you like contemporary magical stories or mythical old-world stories, or want to see how than can entwine about each other, check out the Mither Mages series!

Audiobook Review: Crimson City by Liz Maverick

This fall I borrowed Crimson City by  Liz Maverick read by Rebecca Rogers from the library. Crimson City is the new name for Los Angeles after a bloody war between vampires and werewolves.  A tentative truce has come into existence, and it is threatened by assassinations of high level members of the vampires.

Summary from GoodReads:

Once, this was the City of Angels. The angels are no longer in charge. From the extravagant appetites of the vampire world above, to the gritty defiance of the werewolves below, the specter of darkness lives around every corner, the hope of paradise in every heart. All walk freely with humans in a tentative peace, but to live in Los Angeles is to balance on the edge of a knife. One woman knows better than most that death lurks here in nights of bliss or hails of UV bullets. She’s about to be tested, to taste true thirst. She’s about to regain the power she’s long been denied. And Fleur Dumont is about to meet the one man who may understand her: a tormented protector who’s lost his way and all he loved.

The story is told from two points of view. Fleur is vampire royalty, but has less ranking than she should in her community because of a youthful indiscretion. Dain is a human investigator who is assigned to the case and must work with Fleur to figure out who is targeting the Vampires and by extension the truce. What I thought started out as a really good concept, ground to a halt for me as the story and romance progressed. Fleur and Dain are rather one dimensional characters that can’t step off of their stereotype soap boxes and with some very overtly misogynistic tendencies thrown in there, without any hit of mutually agreed upon bondage contractual relationships or internal reflection on whether it is right or wrong, what I was hoping was a fun urban fantasy romance disappointingly sizzles away to nothing.

It is possible future books explore the characters in more depth and their relationship comes under scrutiny, but without a solid foundation to work from I am not that interested in finding out. Though future books are written by different authors, so maybe I should.

Rebecca Rogers was a decent narrator/ voice over actor. Her voices were not all that different, but as long as I don’t hate the sound of a narrators voice, I don’t really care about voices so much. It’s not one I would go out and buy the audiobook of to listen to again and again like some of my other books, but it is hard to tell if that is because of the author or the narrator.

There were some minor characters that I actually found more engaging and the entire premise is right up my ally, so there were enough interesting things happening that I finished the book. The case solving aspect was definitely a better plot than the romance aspect was.  It’s an easy read, but not campy enough to overlook the plot holes and not engaging enough to want to find out if the characters develop into anything more than stereotypes. Which is sad, because UV bullets to kill vampires and fight scenes with creatures that can basically fly should be a story that I can wholeheartedly endorse. If you are looking for an easy read that is more about brain resting than deep analysis Crimson City is a decently written urban fantasy novel.

Read a review from Likes Books.

Webseries Review: LARPs The Series and Some Honorable Mentions

This is another webseries I found while browsing for a couple more to review. It is hosted by Geek & Sundry. [via Raindance]

Summary from their Youtube channel:

In a LARP, or live action-roleplaying game, players assume the identity of their chosen character and physically perform their actions (as opposed to simply describing them). LARPs: The Series follows a group of friends and their journey through both their imaginary and real lives.

One of the reasons I picked this series to review is because I love the thought of LARPing. How much fun! Also, as it is hosted on Geek & Sundry I figured it had to be produced fairly well, and it definitely is. Good sets, good lighting, good sound production, excellent writing, and really great acting. The music added rather than took away from each episode. I also enjoyed the bit of explanation/trivia provided at the beginning of each epsiode so that you do not need to have a great understanding of LARPing to enjoy the series.

What I really dug was that the series is about the humans behind the LARPing. While the LARP characters may be a tad overboard and poorly acted, the humans behind the LARPing were not. They were played with subtly and humor and realism. Behind every fun geeky thing, the aspect that usually pulls me in the most is the human element, the humor, the relatability of the characters. If you like comedy, relatability, and geekisms in your webseries, definitely check this one out.

The first episode is below.

Honorable Mentions:

“Night Time with Harvey O’King” by Matt Wisniewski. This was not my cup o’ tea as I am not into weird horror puppetry, but someone out there might be. Have at it!

“Bun In The Oven” by Chris Weir about a boy who meets a girl who can’t find adoptive parents for her baby so the boy tries to sell the baby. There was some good humor bits, but not enough substance behind the characters to keep my interest. However, some of you may like the humor bits and they are not long episodes.

“The Jolly Rogers Case Files” by Melissa Malone. If you enjoyed the Peter Pan webseries earlier this week, check out their other webseries that “follows Jane Hook & her team in misadventures in ghost hunting.”

“Power Couple” by Andy Kushnir. The writer of Through the Door has another series about a “couple that runs a charity for the blind but terrorizes their employees.”

And here is a link to 10 Webseries You Should be Watching in 2015.

Audio Book Review: Floors by Patrick Carman

I was looking for a fun light read, and after browsing through the children’s mystery section at my library ebooks/audiobook website I settled on Floors by Patrick Carman narrated by Jesse Bernstein.

Summary from GoodReads:

The Whippet Hotel is a strange place full of strange and mysterious people. Each floor has its own quirks and secrets. Leo should know most of them – he is the maintenance man’s son, after all. But a whole lot more mystery gets thrown his way when a series of cryptic boxes are left for him . . . boxes that lead him to hidden floors, strange puzzles, and unexpected alliances. Leo had better be quick on his feet, because the fate of the building he loves is at stake . . . and so is Leo’s own future!

I really enjoyed this book. I’m a big fan of books that revolve around children exploring a particular place. One of my favorites is From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg. Floors has a lot of similarities to The Mixed-Up Files.  First, the child protagonist is relatable. In The Mixed-Up Files, Claudia runs away from home because she feels misunderstood by her parents. Like Claudia, Leo’s motivation for his adventures  is understandable. He desires to help his father keep his job at the hotel.

Secondly, the child protagonist has a sense of adventure and wonder that helps keep my own alive. In The Mixed-Up Files Claudia chooses to runaway to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City because she wants to live in a place of beauty and wonder. When she discovers a mystery at the museum she can’t help but be drawn in by her natural curiosity. In the same way, Leo is drawn into a mystery in the Whippet Hotel a place of full of strange curiosities because he can’t let a cryptic box puzzle go unsolved.

Which leads into my third point, that the child protagonist in each story uses practical resources at their disposal to solve the mystery. In the Mixed-Up Files Claudia and her brother go bathing in a wishing well to pick up coins and use them to buy necessities, and after hours sneak around the museum searching for clues. In Floors, Leo uses his new found ally and his knowledge of the hotel to solve puzzles and search for clues without getting caught.

Jesse Bernstein is a fine narrator. He has narrated a lot of children’s and young adult books and his voice lends itself to that wonder and sense of adventure. Some of his voices were not that distinguishable, but that did not hinder my enjoyment of the book.

If you want a decent mystery (that you will probably figure out some of) set in a place of wonder, strange happenings, and full tilt excitement, check out Floors by Patrick Carman.

Audio Book Review: Wicked Charms by Janet Evanovich

The third installment in Evanovich’s Lizzy & Diesel series, Wicked Charms, is as wickedly charming as the title suggests. This is a review of the third book in the series, so spoilers! If you want to read about the first two books, you can check out my review of Wicked Appetite here and Wicked Business here.

First, I must mention I am completely biased to like Evanovich’s work. She remains funny through out the years and series. No matter what bad mood I’m in her heroines antics will always cheer me up, and for that I am grateful and probably a little blind to some of the cliches and some times lack of development of character that tend to happen in some of her series. For me, her books are more about the capers and less about relating to yet another female character who can’t make up her mind if she likes someone or not. So when I saw that this book was available in audio version from the library, and that Lorelei King was the narrator, I downloaded it as fast as my fingers could tap at my screen. It was everything I was hoping for, fun, laughter, interesting plot twist, zany characters, and delicious sounding food.

Summary from GoodReads:

Murdered and mummified more than ninety years ago, bootlegger Collier “Peg Leg” Dazzle once found and re-hid a famous pirate’s treasure somewhere along the coast of New England. A vast collection of gold and silver coins and precious gems, the bounty also contains the Stone of Avarice — the very item reluctant treasure seeker, Lizzy Tucker, and her partner, Diesel, have been enlisted to find. While Lizzy would just like to live a quiet, semi-normal life, Diesel is all about the hunt. And this hunt is going to require a genuine treasure map and a ship worthy of sailing the seven seas . . . or at least getting them from Salem Harbor to Maine.

Greed is eternal and insatiable, and Lizzy and Diesel aren’t the only ones searching for the lost pirate’s chest. There are people who have dedicated their entire lives to finding it, and are willing to commit murder or make a deal with the devil, just to hold the fortune in their hands. One of those people may even be Wulf, Diesel’s deceptively charming and enigmatic cousin. Wulf desires the Stone of Avarice. He also desires Lizzy. It’s hard to say how far he’s willing to go to gain either one.

It’s a swashbuckling adventure full of raiders, monkeys, minions, and mayhem. Lizzy and Diesel are going to have to do everything they can to keep their heads above water and hope they are living a charmed life.

I really like how each of these books has had a completely different type of mystery which ties into and relates back to the over all story arch of finding the seven deadly sins stones. (Which means there are four more books planned for this series!) I particularly enjoyed this mystery with the precious gems, treasure map, and a pirate reenactor who can’t stop speaking like a pirate. There was a lot of action with spelunking and boat chases thrown into the mix.

Interestingly enough Lizzie’s career also takes a turn as she gets an offer from a business tycoon to become the face of a brand. Of course I was yelling at Lizzie while driving home one evening to get a lawyer to read the contract before… yeup, signed it. Dammit Lizzie! I know your desperate for a cash influx, but you can spend a small percentage of the upfront money to make sure you aren’t getting screwed over. Bagh.

Not so surprisingly Lizzie and Diesel’s relationship progresses. I’m not too keen on this relationship. It would be one thing is Lizzie seemed like the kind of person who wanted casual relationships, but she doesn’t, she just seems to be going with the flow instead of figuring out what it is she wants from a relationship and going for that. One of my complaints about Evanovich’s characters is that they have a hard time deciding what they want. If Lizzie wanted casual relationships and went for them, kudos to her, I have no problem with that. I do have a problem with indecision become a decision over and over again.

I loved listening to this as an audio book, but then Lorelei King is just perfect for the job. One of the reason’s I was keep to try this as an audio and not just pick it up in paper format like I had for the other two books in the series is that I recognized her as the narrator from another audio book series and enjoyed her acting abilities in that one as well. She has clearly distinct voices for characters without going overboard and pulling me out of the story. What is so amazing is that her incarnations of the characters are so close to the way I already thought of them that I never once wished I had picked this book in another format. Sometimes this happens when I’ve started a series in a different format, but not with Lorelei King.

If you are looking for a funny light read about a pirate treasure, uncertain romance, that includes monkeys a magic 8 ball and cupcakes, check out the Lizzy & Diesel series by Janet Evanovich.

Audio Book Review: Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

I know it has been a while since I posted. I’ve had a very busy summer and fall with my new job, but things are leveling out and I’ll be able to devote more time to writing up reviews and posting geeky finds. I’ve been reading away like the Dickens because my commute is atrocious and the only thing keeping me slightly sane is audio books. I say slightly, because, in spite of really good stories, the horrible drivers that constantly put everyone’s life in danger are frequent enough to cause panic attacks and I long for the days when public transportation was a viable option for my work commute. Blech.

Anyway, onto things that are a bit more fun. Like audio books and the ability to borrow them from the library. 🙂

Glass Houses by Rachel Caine is part of the The Morganville Vampires series. While told from Claire Danvers point of view, there are three other main characters, Michael Glass, Shane Collins, and Eve Rosser.  Claire is a bright student who is in college at the age of 16 in small school in Texas (yes, this is why I chose the book). She is being bullied by her dorm mates and so decides to move into off campus student housing with some other older kids where she finds out the sleepy little Texas town is hiding some dangerous secrets.

I thought the college town full of vampires was a fun concept and enjoyed Claire’s story. I like how the book is not just another urban fantasy novel, but also deals with complex relationships between the four friends and with Claire and her bully. I did not like that Claire was 16. It needlessly complicates things and, in my opinion, makes Claire another kid who should tell her parents what is going on instead of trying to handle things on her own.  She has loving, smart parents who are concerned about her and she just ignores them. These things do not make her the best role model.

But the story is interesting and I do like other things about Claire and her friends. They are smart, they try to do the right thing, and help each other out. It does get annoying that they do not always go about it the right way. In an attempt to “help” Claire one of the guys traps her in a secret room to talk to her. All he does is talking, but the trapping thing is a huge red flag.  I hope that as the series progresses they learn from their mistakes and become better human beings who use their smarts to actually do the smart, right thing.

Edit: This book was read by Cynthia Halloway. Cynthia did a good job, though her male characters sounded more alike than her female characters, she read with good inflection and dramatization of events.

If you like urban fantasy with a dash of romance and interesting couple relationships this is a fun series to check out. Don’t expect the world’s greatest role models right off the bat. These kids have some learn’ to do.

Audiobook Review: The Lost Gate

Until recently my geek card was a little lacking as I had never read anything by Orson Scott Card. I know! What?! But I found myself quite entranced with his Mither Mages series that I borrowed from the library. I read the first two books in rapid succession and unable to get my hands on a copy of the third book right now I’ve moved on to some other things. But I definitely intend to finish this series!

Summary from GoodReads:

Danny North knew from early childhood that his family was different, and that he was different from them.  While his cousins were learning how to create the things that commoners called fairies, ghosts, golems, trolls, werewolves, and other such miracles that were the heritage of the North family, Danny worried that he would never show a talent, never form an outself.

He grew up in the rambling old house, filled with dozens of cousins, and aunts and uncles, all ruled by his father.  Their home was isolated in the mountains of western Virginia, far from town, far from schools, far from other people.

There are many secrets in the House, and many rules that Danny must follow.   There is a secret library  with only a few dozen books, and none of them in English — but Danny and his cousins are expected to become fluent in the language of the books.  While Danny’s cousins are free to create magic whenever they like, they must never do it where outsiders might see.

Unfortunately, there are some secrets kept from Danny  as well.  And that will lead to disaster for the North family.

There is a lot going on with this series. Surprisingly I was not at all annoyed to be reading yet another book about a young teenager. Orson Scott Card is an amazing writer and the world sprang to life as I listened to Stefan Rudnicki and Emily Janice Card perform the novel. I enjoyed that there was a mixture of old world building with the gods from the past as well as mythologies interwoven in a contemporary world. If it had just been old world mythologies I would have lost interest fast, but the contemporary world story lines kept me interested and going back for more.

I also enjoyed that the setting was Northern Virginia, or NOVA, as people from there abouts like to call it. I loved that the author used what is often seen from the highways back hollars (hollows) of that area, with a sense of dignity and reason to why some people live the way that they do instead of making fun. I enjoyed the mix of country and city living that was expounded upon and Danny’s exploration of it all. It was fun to follow his adventures.

The narrators were wonderful story tellers and I liked that there were two, with each reading distinct story lines. This back and forth made it easy to keep up with the audible story, though I sometimes got annoyed when the story lines switched. If I had been reading it via paperback I probably would have skipped around a bit. I don’t know if it is a good thing or not that I wasn’t able to. The only thing I had an issue with was the male narrator’s pronunciation of a town I grew up near. But that probably only bothered me because it was jarring to my ears and wouldn’t be to most people’s ears.

If you like high fantasy and contemporary fantasy, or are a fan of either, and want to read something that intertwines the two, in a well written story line, definitely give this series a try. I recommend the audible version because I’m obsessed with audiobooks, but I’m sure reading it hardback or paperback is just as good.