Short Review: Character-driven sweeping tale of court intrigue, thieves, and swordsmen read beautifully by many voices and accompanied by music and sound effects. Witty and funny, a great tale.

Long Review: For those of us well read in the Fantasy genre, this is one of those books that many people expect you to have read. But I hadn’t, until about two weeks of my spare time were swallowed whole by this story.

Richard St Vier is the best swordsman. He lives in Riverside, the “other side of the tracks” which in this story is the “other side of the bridge”. Riverside is the home to thieves, swordsman, and prostitutes. They have their own rules – and those not from Riverside rarely dare to cross within its borders. Meanwhile, up on the hill across the bridge, is the nice side of town – home to the rich and the people in charge.

Much of this story is what I think of as court intrigue – people in power manipulating things behind the scenes to get more power or regain power. As is often the case, those with power use everything, and everyone, at their disposal to shift things to their liking. There are lots of beautiful parties and back room negotiations. Those in Riverside are frequently entangled in the intrigue from across the bridge and it is in midst of these entanglements that we find much of the story. In Swordspoint, duels settle disputes — and when you aren’t a swordsman yourself, then you need someone to fight in your stead. Someone like Richard St Vier, if you are very lucky.

There are a lot of characters to follow. I will admit to sometimes losing track of some of the names for a bit, but anyone important enough to demand attention would soon turn up again and I shortly got everyone sorted out. I wonder if that would have been easier had I been seeing the names rather than hearing them, but the different voices of the audiobook also helped me differentiate the characters as well – so it might not have made a difference after all.

I will admit to having thought about one of my father’s adages about stories a few times during this book: “Who is there to root for?”. Such is the way of things when so many of the characters that get a lot of ‘screen time’ are scheming against each other. It takes a while to sort out everyone’s agendas (that is part of the fun!). But it didn’t take long before I found people to root for and care about. In fact, even when I didn’t like what they were doing, I was often captivated by their machinations. Swordspoint tells quite the tale. It is one of those stories in which you can lose yourself for a while.

On top of being a great story, you might also be considering listening to Swordspoint because of its connection to the new serial story Tremontaine, available in eBook and audio installments. Tremontaine is a prequel to Swordspoint. If that leaves you uncertain about which story to start with, you might want to read the tips from the author on what order to read them.

One last tidbit about the story — in the world of Swordspoint, romantic attachments are quite varied and just as likely to be between those of the same sex as those of the opposite sex. That this is just how things are is so rare as to be a bit of a revelation. We see from the very start that Richard St Vier lives with his lover Alec in Riverside… and the story just barrels onward. No excuses, no hedging – the story tells us how each pair of people relates to one another as we go along. I loved that.

I am more accustomed to listening to more traditional audiobooks which feature a single reader from end to end. This audiobook is very different. It is halfway between a full-cast audiobook and a radio play. Lots of different voices (including a fair amount by the author), intervals of music, and even some sound effects. Click on the second Soundcloud clip below for a sample. It took some getting used to, but overall I enjoyed it. You can also learn more about the creation of the audiobook as an ‘Illumniated audiobook”. The readers were very expressive – and I never found myself confused about who was speaking. Honestly, going back to a ‘regular’ audiobook after Swordspoint took a bit of adjustment. Where was my music? My sound effects?

Book sample:

Short Review: A team of government agents try to stop predatory fairy tales from taking over the world by solving fairy tale crimes in this episodic tale where happily ever after isnâ€t nearly as wonderful as it sounds. An exciting overarching story told through episodes reminiscent of the very best crime shows.

Long Review:The ATI Management Bureau is people with men and women whose lives have been hijacked by fairy tales, their flesh and their minds made over to suit the predatory Narrative. Henrietta “Henry” Marchenâ€s mother was taken by the Sleeping Beauty story, casting Henry right into the Snow White mold. Skin as white as snow with lips as red as blood arenâ€t nearly as attractive as Disney would have you believe. Henry leads her own team of agents comprised of an Evil Stepsister (the embodiment of feminine evil in fairy tales forever stuck in a teenage body), a Shoemakerâ€s Elf (because someone has to do the paperwork) and a man who lost his brother to a Sleeping Beauty that manifested in a remote small town whose inhabitants died of starvation before anyone realized what was going on. The team solves cases in the best traditions of all the crime shows youâ€ve ever seen.

The book comes from a deep love of all things fairy tale. McGuire clearly knows her fairy tales, enough to find the weird, obscure references, the points of divergence. She knows just where to twist to get the biggest effect. She knows just which parts of fairy tales to play straight for the most horrific effect. She is very good at finding the points where fairy tales meeting reality cause tragedies. She is also very good at finding the humanity in age-old stereotypes.

The crime aspects of the book are interesting and varied, the mysteries behind each of the episodes are engaging, each of them a twist on some well-known fairy tale. But these are no “monster of the week” episodes; each novella drives the larger story forward, toward an ending that is both satisfying and exciting.

Mary Robinette Kowal is easily one of my all time favorite readers. She has the skill to bring characters to life in a way that many others lack. Sheâ€s amazing at conveying emotion without letting it take over the story sheâ€s telling. Iâ€m prone to cry at narratives with convenient bends to them, but I have never made it through a book Mary has read without crying. She is a master craftsperson who uses her voice to cause pain and suffering as well as joy and laughter. I canâ€t get enough of her reading.

I love this book more than I can say. I’m generally a fan of Urban Fantasy; women doing heroic things in modern cities with speculative fiction trappings is entirely in my wheelhouse. Seanan McGuire is one of my favorite authors for many reasons, but the fact that she writes books like that alone would automatically make her a clear favorite. But on top of these, Indexing specifically also taps into my eternal addiction of crime shows. I recommend it to everyone who likes fantasy or crime.

My only quibble, the only thing that makes this book less than perfect, is the fact that it ends too soon. Like the crime shows that clearly act as inspiration, Indexing ends in a series cliffhanger that will most likely be resolved in the second book. And frankly, I get somewhat impatient with cliffhanger endings. While no author is the readerâ€s bitch I generally try not to get too into books that have cliffhanger endings without the next book in the series being available.

Full Disclosure: Iâ€m a student of Mary Robinette Kowalâ€s and might, therefore, be slightly biased in her favor. That being said, she was one of my all-time favorite readers before she ever started offering classes that I could attend. And I attended her class because I really enjoyed her work. See, how thatâ€s a vicious cycle?

Author: Sam Sykes

Reader: David DeSantos

Short Review: The City Stained Red is like the love child of Skyrim and Arabian Nights. Action packed and compelling, great if you like that sort of thing, it none the less got a little old for my taste.

Long Review: The City Stained Red is the first of a new series called Bring Down Heaven set in the same world, with apparently a lot of the same characters as his Aeonâ€s Gate trilogy. Iâ€ve been following Sam Sykes on Twitter for at least a year or so and Iâ€ve been meaning to pick up a book of his to read so when the offer of a review copy came along I jumped at it.

After I suffered an overdose of epic fantasy as a teenager, I havenâ€t really been reading that much of it. In many ways The City Stained Red was a return to the things I used to love about epic fantasy; strange creatures having problems and taking care of things. The plot is pretty straightforward as the main character, Lenk, and his companions go about trying to get paid for a job theyâ€ve already completed. Each of them has their own problems and hang-ups and they keep trying to deal with them in the best ways they know how.

The narrative is compelling and very much like a video game for all the good and the bad that entails. Around the halfway point the constant battles against more or less meaningless monsters started to feel like grinding. It says something about the quality of writing though that it took that long. The writing is compelling, the characters and world interesting.

The reader, David DeSantos, is highly competent, even entertaining. He’s a solid narrator but nowhere near to being among my favorites. But that’s most likely just a matter of taste.

This book is a solidly entertaining piece of epic fantasy that becomes excellent if you love epic fantasy and video games.

Welcome to Bordertown: Special Edition: New Stories and Poems of the Borderlands

Edited by: Ellen Kushner and Holly Black
Readers: Holly Black, Ellen Kushner, MacLeod Andrews, Steven Brust, Neil Gaiman, Dounya El-Mohtar, Cassandra Campbell
Extras: Introduction by Terri Windling. There is now a Special Edition version available featuring a fully-produced track of the song “Run Back Across the Border” by Steven Brust, with the author himself on lead vocals,  and Neil Gaiman reading his own poem, “The Song of the Song.”

Short Review: A tantalizing collection of stories and poems from the city at the intersection of the elf and human worlds. We get stories featuring all kinds of characters including runaways, elves, humans, halfies, a bookstore owner, an entrepreneur, an artist, an astronomer, and more.

Long Review: If you are not familiar with Bordertown, this new anthology is a great introduction to the city on the border between the elf world and human world. In the mid 1980s, the Bordertown books paved the way for the popular urban fantasy genre many of us know and love today.

There is a lot to love here. The range of stories and poems was fairly balanced. Lots of points of view, lots of great readers. I warred with myself about posting this review before I even finished listening to all 15 discs, just so you all could know about it sooner – but I decided I wanted to get a sense of the full collection before posting my review.

The readers did a fabulous job across the board. I am often nervous when I see so many different readers for a collection like this, but I think they used the different voices to their advantage. They matched them well to the stories and poems.

One of the challenges of reviewing a collection of short stories is deciding if I am going to review each and every one of them. I have decided against it because I want you to have the joy of discovering them as you go, just as I did. I can tell you that I fell in love with Bordertown. It seemed obvious to me that the contributors to this collection love it too. There are a few stories here that I expect to stick with me for a long time.

The three introductions (one each by Terri Windling, Ellen Kushner, and Holly Black) were a treat. This collection was my introduction to Bordertown and I appreciated being given the perspective of the history of the world and earlier anthologies and novels set there.

I loved the way that the stories weave together, touching each other here and there. The landscape is the same, but from different points of view. The protagonist in story A might show up or just pass through story B.

I have to admit I am more of a fan of the stories than the poems, but maybe I should just say that I think that the stories spoil me with their rich details. I did NOT hear the special edition version, so I might have appreciated Steven Brust’s song more if I had heard it performed. (Wait, I just found a source for the song online: Steven Brust song “Run Back Across the Border” on Soundcloud!)

If you are still not sure, some of the stories are posted online or available via various podcasts. Check out the Welcome to Bordertown web page and scroll down to the bottom.

And if you do fall in love with it, there is a bunch of short stories and even novels which take place in this shared world. You can read more about the history of the Bordertown Series and see a full bibliography.

Skin Game

Author: Jim Butcher
Reader: James Marsters

Short Review: Skin Game is a continuation of the popular fantasy series about Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard. The series is best consumed in order, but the book contains some descriptions which could assist new Dresden readers in understanding basic series history. A very cleverly written series for adults who want to graduate from Harry Potter into something with more teeth. James Marsters reads this 15^th book in the series, bringing all the characters to life.

Long Review: Warning: this Review contains spoilers for those who have not read up to and through Book 14, Cold Days.

If you haven’t listened to any Dresden Files audiobooks, yet, Go Start. From the beginning. James Marsters has managed to give every one of hundreds of characters their own consistent voice, identity, and personality through his vocal interpretation. When I am reading the series with my eyes, I still hear Marsters’ voice in my head.

Skin Game (Book 15) shows us a relatively healthy Harry in the beginning (PARKOUR!), who is seemingly only compromised by the fact that thereâ€s a parasite inside his head. Thank the stars and stones that he has Queen Mab of the Winter Court as his boss. Sheâ€ll surely help him out, right? She just needs him to do one thing for her.

Always striving to Do the Right Thing, Dresden gets tangled up with old foes; The Denarians. Can he resist the temptation to chase off or smite his sworn enemies, as he must work alongside them? Or, will he deny the command of the Winter Queen and face her wrath, as the previous Winter Knight did? Which of his generous friends will he pull into the mix, and how much will he regret it this time? What is the “Storage Cubby of the Underworld? Who could say, Hello, lover and make the listener’s hair stand on end?

You’ll laugh out loud. You’ll get teary. You’ll panic. We’ll find a new Knight of the Cross. Butcher and Marsters knock this one out of the park. Again.

With so many secrets to peel away, I guarantee that you will want to listen or read this one a second time.

Want to hear more? Hell’s bells! Download it today!

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Available from Audible.com

Author: Neil Gaiman

Reader: Neil Gaiman

Short Review: An excellent new dark fantasy for adults, read by the author.

Long Review: It’s probably obvious to any regular BooksForEars reader that Jeanne and I are fans of Gaiman’s work. I waited on pins and needles for this book’s release. When I learned that Gaiman would read the audio version I was particularly excited. I adore the professional readers who narrated American Gods and Anansi Boys, but there’s a special depth that a talented author can add when they read their own work. I have a bias in this direction–I’m a poet and storyteller, and if I had my druthers, I’d deliver all of my pieces directly from my mouth to my audience’s ears.

This is Gaiman’s first novel aimed at adults for several years. The story opens as the speaker returns to his childhood home for a funeral and recounts a series of events that occurred in his childhood. As ever, Gaiman is focused on mythology, and the speaker which he explores through the speaker’s interactions with his neighbors, the Hempstocks. While most of Gaiman’s stories tend towards the dark, this novel is awash in threats to the speaker and his family, and the tone is less optimistic than it tends to be in his books for children.

Gaiman is an excellent reader, as ever. His pacing and diction are lovely, and he has a unique understanding of the tone of the novel. Because the speaker in the novel is never named, Gaiman’s narration makes it feel as if the story is auto-biographical. That adds a certain frisson for a fan like me. I look forward to reading it again, on paper and as an audiobook.

Author: Erin Morgenstern
Reader: Jim Dale

Short Review: The Locus Award winning novel is an enthralling story of magic, love, and struggle beautifully read by Jim Dale.

Long Review: Two magicians who have been engaging in competitions for years decide to design a new tournament: one man’s daughter vs. the other man’s student. To provide an arena for their students’ competitions, they create the Night Circus, which travels the world without any advertised schedule and opens at dusk to allow the public to view the acts and tents the two magicians’ students develop.

Morgenstern’s writing is enchanting, and she fills her novel with a number of compelling, interesting characters. The story sprawls a bit, but I find the breadth of it very enjoyable, much as I did Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. This book is shorter and more accessible, but both are rich, detailed, and beautifully realized.

Morgenstern gives us people to love and people to hate: The magicians Hector Bowen (aka Prospero the Entertainer) and Alexander (aka Mr. A.H.) are both selfish, heartless monsters. Their students, Marco and Celia, are talented and brilliant and lovable but believable flawed. Several of the fans and performers in the circus are worthy of a great deal of attention: the clockmaker Friedrick Herr Thiessen, the boy Bailey who sneaks in and befriends a young performer, and on and on. And the descriptions of the magical feats Celia and Marco create are gorgeous.

Jim Dale, as usual, is a fantastic reader. I would listen to him recite from a phone book. His diction is crisp, his accent is comfortable and interesting to listen to, his pacing is excellent, and he clearly enjoys the material. I forget when I listen to a passable audiobook reader how much a talented actor can improve the experience of listening to a book, and then I hear someone like Dale and my listening patterns sway back to the fantastic side of the spectrum.

When all is said and done, I’ve listened to this book twice, and I am likely to listen to it every year or two from here on out. It’s a beautiful combination of novel and reader. I adored it.

Author: Ali Shaw

Reader: Heather O’Neill

Short Review: An enchanting mythic fantasy about a woman searching for a cure or explanation for the mysterious ailment that is causing her feet to turn to glass, read beautifully by one of my favorite readers.

Long Review: Ali Shaw was working at the famous Bodleian library at Oxford when he wrote this book. I can’t help but think that that storied collection crept into his first novel. The book is set on the fictional St. Haudaâ€s Land, a remote northern archipelago peopled by unusual people and animals. Ida Maclaird returns to the island seeking a strange man she met there on a previous vacation and an explanation for her unique ailment. She meets and befriends Midas Crook, an awkward young photographer, and asks his assistance in her quest. As the story progresses, Ida attempts to help Midas come to terms with his family and his feelings.

Heather O’Neill is a fantastic reader, and I think her tone and pacing were just right for this book. I was excited to get to listen to her narration again, and enjoyed this book ever more than I did The Likeness.

Shaw’s book is so entrancing because of how he plays with mythic themes. You can tell he’s fully-versed in myth and fairy-tales, but this is no retelling of a classic story. He draws from that imagery and makes gorgeous, subtle allusions, but he creates something wholly new for us. The fantastic animals he invents for the story are particularly interesting, and help establish the strange, magical locale where such unusual things can happen. This isn’t fantasy in the sword and sorcery vein. St. Hauda’s land feels real and modern, though uncomfortably different. And his characters-his characters! I want to know Ida and Midas and Henry Fuwa. I feel as if I could meet them on the train.

I look forward to Shaw’s next book, and I’m crossing my fingers that O’Neill will read the audio version.

A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One

Available from Audible.com

Author: George R. R. Martin

Reader: Roy Dotrice

Short Review: Martin’s Locus-Award winning novel, expertly read by Roy Dotrice, proves an engrossing opening to a long, unfinished series.

Long Review: I was initially hesitant to pick up this series because I had heard so many friends complain that Martin was slow to release subsequent novels in the series. I didn’t want to wind up invested in characters who might or might not have resolutions in future releases. HBO’s sneaky free preview weekend forced my hand, because seeing the opening episode of their adaptation of the story made me want to read the books before watching the TV show.

Martin’s books are long and intricate, and follow dozens of characters. I generally enjoy fantasy audiobooks because the novels themselves tend towards the narrative, mythic style I think is best read aloud. This series is a great example of that. I was immediately entranced by Dotrice’s narration. He developed different accents and styles for the varied characters, and his acting talent shines through in his reading. In many sections of the book where Martin’s wordiness might have annoyed me, Dotrice’s reading kept me interested. Were it not for Dotrice, I may not be so inclined to finish the series. Instead, I’m crossing my fingers that Martin writes fast enough to allow Dotrice to finish narrating all of the books before health problems make that impossible. I want Dotrice to read the paper to me. I love to listen to him.

Martin’s writing does suffer at times from overuse of certain tropes or words, but in general he knows how to write an engrossing, interesting tale. He makes sure none of his characters are true heroes or true villains, and he’s not shy about killing off lead characters. The story is largely medieval-styled fantasy, but Martin injects mysticism, the undead, magic, and some elements of classic mystery novels to refresh the genre. One of the most prevalent themes in the books is the odd progress of seasons in Martin’s world. Rather than living on a planet with four seasons in a year, Martin’s characters inhabit a world where seasons can last many years. The story opens as signs of waning summer are appearing, and the phrase “Winter is coming” becomes a regular refrain. As the novel progresses, many factions fight for the throne of Westeros, and the third-person narrative switches from one character’s experiences to another.

There is no shortage of specifics about the plot available online, so I’ll leave it to you to seek out as many or as few spoilers as you like. Just know that the corpses pile up and several of the characters are truly layered and intriguing. Martin might have benefited from more editing, but Dotrice’s reading makes the book is a great listen.

Author: Jim Butcher
Reader: James Marsters

Short Review: Harry Dresden, Wizard of Chicago, gets pulled into a murder investigation riddled with werewolves and betrayal. Marsters remains the perfect reader to bring the Dresden Files to life.

Long Review: The second installment in the Dresden Files is perhaps stronger than the first.  In this  all our enemies have either claws or guns. Not satisfied with simply one bad guy, Butcher has thrown a whole arsenal of people and creatures to complicate Harry’s life. Not just werewolves, but multiple kinds. Not just the cops of Special Investigations are not on his side, but the FBI is in town. Gangs not enough for you? Never fear, we have the Mafia too!

Can you read this without having read the first book in the series, Storm Front? I suppose so, but you will have more fun with it if you start at the beginning and meet everyone along the way.

In this book we also get a bit more background on Harry and the world he lives in. We learn a few Wizard secrets and get to know his allies a bit better. Butcher’s characters are not cardboard cutouts – even those just passing through get enough detail to make them feel real. To top it off, Marsters has all the right voices for this wild assortment of characters. Most importantly, his voice for Harry, both his speaking voice and the one inside his head, is just perfect. He makes it sound so easy, so natural.

I don’t want to spoil any of the story for you, so from here I just say – go listen!

You can listen to the first chapter for free.

Available from Audible.com

Author: Jasper Fforde
Reader: John Lee

Short Review: The first book in a new series by Fforde, set in a world where people have very limited color perception and live according to strict rules set forth by the Colortocracy. Eddie Russett, our hero, has a strong ability to see red and a plan to marry a upperclass red-perceiving woman. And then everything changes.

Long Review: I’m a fan of Fforde’s Thursday Next series, so I was excited to get into this new universe. I was not disappointed. As is often the case with series set in alternate realities, there is a lot of information to tease through to understand the setting of this book. It’s set in some future Britain, after the “Something That Happened” which left most people able to see only one color if any at all, a great shortage of spoons, and a very strict set of rules. A caste system has developed, wherein socio-economic station is set based on which color a person can see, and at what levels of intensity: those who can see purple are at the top of the ranks, and those who can see only gray must do all of the hardest labor. Eddie Russett, the protagonist, essentially comes from a middle-class family, but knows that his upcoming color perception test will reveal him to have excellent color perception in the red range. He and his father are sent to a town on the outskirts, apparently in Wales, and mayhem ensues when he becomes entranced by a Grey woman with an upturned nose.

I won’t say more about the plot. I will say that John Lee does an excellent job reading the book. He allows a great deal of humor and whimsy to creep into his reading, but he also knows when to keep things serious. His diction and pacing are excellent.

What really entranced me about this book is the world Fforde created. He invents a functioning health care system based on chromatherapy, a bestiary of strange, bar-coded hybrid animals, fascinating technologies, a governmental system and cultural mores–and we know there is more to come. As he did in the Thursday Next series, Fforde picked a few factual concepts to build his foundation on, and then his creativity bloomed. Because he has this foundation of factual content, like the Munsell color system, his fantasies and fancies avoid the ridiculous. But all of it is written with such humor. I can’t wait for the next book in the series.

Short Review: A fantastic picaresque novel about a man traveling throughout the US, working for and with American Gods. It’s expertly read by one of the most respected narrators in the business.

Long Review: Jeanne and I regularly joke about the need for more negative reviews on this site. This review won’t help to moderate our reviews one jot.

I love this novel so much on paper that I was slow to choose it to listen to. I loved Anansi Boys as much as Jeanne did, but knew that I wouldn’t have Lenny Henry as a reader this time around. I know many people who are fans of Guidall’s narration, but I wasn’t wild about his reading of Heaney’s translation of Beowulf, so I was a bit hesitant to hear his version of one of my favorite books. But then I was staring down a long, intricate project that I knew would require a good long audiobook to keep me going, and in stepped Guidall.

He did a fantastic job with this novel. His reading is well paced, his variations in accent and tone for different characters is consistent and strong, and he obviously enjoyed the book. His smokey natural voice is particularly suited to many of the characters in the novel, but particularly Wednesday and Shadow. My only complaint is that Guidall mispronounces the names of a number of Gods who show up in the novel. I know not everyone will catch the errors, but they set my teeth on edge.

The novel itself is one that I think everyone should read. It appeals particularly to mythology buffs like me, but I think other people enjoy it for a hundred different reasons. It’s a good Road novel, and it’s a mystery. It touches on prison, and family, and marriage and love, heroism and bravery, grifters, sensuality, small towns and cities, trust and betrayal, sacrifice and belief. Finally, it’s a winter novel that passes over the holidays but isn’t about them–that’s exactly the antidote I need at this time of year. I’m tempted to hit the back button and listen to the whole thing again right now.

American Gods