The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire, Book 1)

Author: Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith
Reader: James Marsters

Short Review: A well read interesting blend of airships, vampires, alternate history and a strong princess coming of age and discovering her strength.

Long Review: This is one of those books where you know early on that you are meant to root for the unlikely ‘bad guy’ hero and boo the shiny ‘good guy’ megalomaniac. While part of me felt a bit manipulated, the story was quite fun once I let go that I wanted it to be more inventive or surprising. James Marsters finds a way to pull you in with the voices and the pacing.

Part of me was holding a grudge for the cover art. I hate when the art doesn’t match my interpretation of the text or gives something away. But honestly, when I admitted that this was halfway to a romance novel I didn’t begrudge them their dashing couple on the cover. The fact that the female lead is strong, with hints of greater strength in her future, helped keep me interested as well.

The authors did a nice job creating an alternate history with their own version of vampires. I liked the steampunk touches in the form of airships, clothing and overall tone. There was also a dash of swashbuckling pirate flavor tossed in. As is often the case with the first book in what is known will be a series, a lot of this story lays the foundation for what I imagine must be on the way. I will say that this gave more time for character development and very vivid descriptions that give you a real sense of this alternate version of the year 2020.

James Marsters  did a great job. I am not sure I would have stuck with this book long enough to really get hooked if there hadn’t been a strong reader. Now I just have to wait for them to release the audio version of the sequel, The Rift Walker.

Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side

Author: Beth Fantaskey
Readers: Katherine Kellgren & Jeff Woodman

Short Review: Fairly standard ‘boy meets girl, boy turns out to be vampire’ romance – but with a few twists you likely won’t expect. A pair of excellent readers, endearing characters and a fresh take on Romanian vampires make this a very enjoyable story.

Long Review: Jessica was adopted from Romania as a baby by her parents who were there studying the reclusive vampire community. It turns out that she was also betrothed to a vampire prince as an infant. Fast forward 17 years and Lucius arrives in rural Lebanon County, Pennsylvania to meet his bride.

The next thing we know, Lucius is enrolled in the local public high school with Jessica and is trying to fit in among American teenagers. Lucius is tall, dark and handsome – enjoys fine literature and soon discovers basketball. Jessica is a super-rational mathlete who loves horses and is not confident about her beauty.

One of the nice things about this story is that we have two 17 year olds, not a seventeen year old and a 150 year old. There are major challenges ahead for Lucius and Jessica. This is a coming of age story for each of them as they move along their intertwined paths.

I appreciate the choice to use two readers – Kellgren for all the portions from Jessica’s point of view and Woodman as the voice of Lucius’s letters home. This story lurked in the back of my mind between listens. Yes, I had a notion of where it might end up – but I really didn’t know how it was going to get there. There was something especially believable about this cast of characters (and yes, I know that sounds a bit silly when talking about vampires). Witty, thoughtful and fun. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Sample audio clip available.

Author: Charlaine Harris
Reader: Johanna Parker

Short Review: Well read first installment of the Southern Vampire Mysteries series (better known now as the books that inspired HBO’s TrueBlood series). Sookie Stackhouse is a telepathic waitress in a world in which vampires have “come out of the coffin”, and her world is getting more dangerous with each passing the day.

Long Review: I first read Dead Until Dark on paper years ago. When the new HBO series TrueBlood came out, I watched. So this audio book was version 3 of this world for me. As is often the case when I have strong mental models of many of the characters, it took me a bit of settling in to adjust to Parker’s voice. The good news is that this book is told entirely from Sookie’s perspective, so a female voice with a southern accent really was the logical choice.

Dead Until Dark is a murder mystery set in the small southern town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. Sookie Stackhouse is a restaurant at a local bar. She also happens to be telepathic. As she moves into the world of vampires, her life gets more interesting – and more complicated. If you are looking for both romance and murder, this serves you both. In a lot of ways it is just shy of an old school gothic romance, but with Vampires and telepathy mixed in.

One of the things I love about all of Charlaine Harris’s books is that she includes the everyday as part of her story. Her protagonists actually clean their homes and have to go by the library to get books. Harris weaves her story through the juxtaposition of these regular rhythms with the suspense associated with a murderer on the loose and the mysteriousness of the supernatural.

I am no expert on southern accents – so don’t hate me if your more sensitive ear finds fault in Parker’s rendition. I really enjoyed this audio book. The reader has enough variation in her voices for the various characters to make it easy to keep track of dialog. She also has a lovely default narrator’s voice that rings true for Sookie’s inner dialog.

If you are a TrueBlood fan, I think you can’t go wrong with giving a listen to the story that started it all. Yes, there are some deviations between the HBO series and this book – but that is often the case with books brought to screen.

Sample audio available.

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Reader: Ilyana Kadushin and Matt Walters

Short Review: Your patience is rewarded and the camera pulls back to show you the full picture of where we have been headed across the landscape of these 4 extravagant novels. For me this was a very satisfying conclusion to the Twilight Saga.

Long Review: If you read my review of the Eclipse audio book, you may recall my hesitation about Matt Waltersas a reader. I am here to tell you I take it all back. In Breaking Dawn, Walters reads a full third of the book – and I was honestly disappointed when his section was over. Part of this may be because I loved having Jacob’s point of view in contrast to only Bella’s, but whatever the reason – Walters is a great reader and gives a rich voice to Jacob’s side of the story.

There are so many things revealed in this book that it is hard to discuss very much without spilling spoilers left and right, but I will do my best. I will say that if you haven’t read the three previous books (Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse) you are likely to be very lost.

I like the choices that Meyer makes in how she tells the story. I enjoyed being pulled along for this roller coaster ride. I was very pleased to be surprised more than once by where the story went. I am usually hard to surprise, so it takes some deft storytelling (or at least major zigs when I was expecting zags) to catch me off guard. My favorite surprises are the ones that make me think or even say out loud “No – the author didn’t just do that, did she?” followed by my realization that she had been laying the groundwork for each surprise for years now. From the few interviews of Meyer that I have seen, I believe that many of the original seeds were planted before her characters had shown her the whys behind them all. I imagine them as mystery seeds that she planted on faith, following patiently along to tell her characters’ stories as they revealed them to her.

If you want not even the slightest spoilers – stop reading now, get yourself a copy and listen to it yourself.

For the rest of you, Meyer finds a way to pull all the threads together and leaves us with an ending that is satisfying. Meyer gives us a maturing Bella. A Bella who makes choices with her eyes open but with great faith in her chosen future. Not everyone agrees with Bella’s choices, but she is stubborn and optimistic and finds allies when she needs them.

We are given a rich tapestry of new vampire and werewolf lore, more back story on old characters and new characters to meet. While Edward has plenty of time on stage, to me he was mostly along for the ride in this story.

I have been a big Jacob fan since New Moon. As I mentioned earlier, a full third of this book is told through Jacob’s eyes. He too grows and matures in this story. I loved being given so much insight into his world, his challenges and his revelations. I have always hoped for a path for Jacob that I could be happy with and I was pleased, if surprised, with the one that Meyer chose for him.

I know that there are lots of Twilight fans who did not love this book – who were infuriated by the choices Meyer made for Bella, Edward and Jacob. Take that as the grain of salt on my cheery recommendation.

I just finished listening to it a 2nd time and I still like it. If you have read my reviews of the earlier books in the series, you will know that I felt that some of them were predominately laying out the foundation needed to tell the ‘real’ story. Some Twilight fans might not like it – but for me this is the story that had been hiding around the corner all this time.

Is Meyer the most talented writer on the planet? No. Are there more than ten other authors I would recommend ahead of her? Absolutely. That said, I am a sucker for rich characters who live on in my mind after the audiobook is silent. Bella, Edward, Jacob, Charlie, Leah, Seth, Alice and all the rest are vivid in my mind. Meyer, Kadushin and Walters have painted a world that lives on in my imagination, and for that I thank them all.

Just in case you are starting from scratch, the Twilight Saga CD Set is available and includes all 4 books.

 Author: Neil Gaiman

 Reader: Neil Gaiman

 Short Review: Neil Gaiman reads his Newbery Medal winning book beautifully. His nod to Kipling’s The Jungle Book is just scary enough, intriguing, inventive, well-written, enchanting . . . it’s downright wonderful. I loved Bod, Silas, Scarlett, Liza, Miss Lupescu, and the rest of the graveyard’s denizens and rooted for them throughout the story. I miss them. I’ll return to this book again and recommend it to adults and kids.

Long Review: I’m a fan of Gaiman’s, and I am always intrigued by critically-acclaimed young adult fantasy, so I had to listen to this book. I was hopeful, but also worried. Some of the best books I’ve ever read were those I read when I was 10 or 12. I return to those books and keep tabs on books written for older kids, hoping to find more books to cherish and to foist on my growing nieces and nephews. But many things we’re supposed to love just fall flat for me. I’m not that impressed by some of the most beloved YA books, and some of the ones I did love then show me all of their holes when I pick them up now. This one, however, makes the good list. It’s rich enough for adults, appropriate for older kids, and enchanting for both.

Firstly, Gaiman is good at holding back. So many authors hand you all of the keys right at the beginning of the journey, and then you don’t have much to puzzle through and have less reason to keep going. Gaiman fights the urge to make sure he has told us everything there is to tell, so we keep reading, trying to line up our questions with possible answers, paying close attention to every little clue, wondering whether a character will return or a path will reappear. He refers to fascinating historical events and invents wondrous rituals and characters and communities, but he doesn’t give you so much information that any become boring. Neither does he condescend to his readers. I hate it when writers assume that kids can’t handle any frightening truths about life and death. In fact, kids see as much if not more terror and sadness as adults, and most of them don’t like being coddled. Gaiman doesn’t condescend to his readers or to the children who feature in his books.

Gaiman also happens to write strong female characters well. I wish I didn’t need to congratulate authors for doing that, but it still isn’t a given. Gaiman is a father to two daughters as well as the son whose childhood visits to a graveyard inspired this book. I think his relationship with his girls and the women in his life help him write girls and women well. That ability is particularly important for children’s and YA writers because so many boys are still hesitant to read books with female protagonists. Here, a boy is at the center of the story, but he’s surrounded by smart, heroic, strong, loving women and he cares for and respects them as much as he does Silas. It warms the cockles of my heart, that does.

Gaiman’s mythos is rooted firmly in the old greats. We see glimpses of well-researched historical fact, notice a figure from Grimm here and and an allusion to the Odyssey there. But from those roots, he takes us in very interesting directions. I love how he recasts traditional villains in new ways, making us wonder how evil some of the things we’ve had nightmares about really are. He takes the trope of fractured fairy tales a step further than many of his contemporaries. Gaiman doesn’t bother to argue with Grimm about who really understands monsters—he just plain rewrites the story in his way. It works.

I am impressed by Gaiman’s reading. I thought he did a great job with Fragile Things, and, if anything, he has gotten better. Gaiman has a nice voice, a good sense of character separation, paces himself well, and uses clear diction even when he is reading in different, heavier accents.

My only complaint is that a sequel isn’t available yet. I want to see more from this world, and I hope to see it soon.

The Graveyard Book

Short Review: This fun, funny, and often thoughtful story follows Sam Vimes as he investigates the murder of dwarven leader Grag Hamcrusher. Vimes is a father and husband, an unwilling member of the nobility, Commander of the watch, and a good old copper. He is pressured into hiring the first Vampire on the watch and has to manage religious and racial tensions between humans, vampires, werewolves, igors, dwarfs, and trolls while simultaneously solving a murder and preventing the outbreak of a troll v. dwarf war. The book is read by the wonderful Stephen Briggs, a regular reader for Pratchett’s books and one of my absolute favorite audiobook narrators.

Long Review: Briggs is a wonderful reader. Let’s start with that. I’ve listened to a number of Pratchett books, all read by Briggs, and the man is a wonder. He is comfortable working in many different accents, differentiates the characters clearly without losing rhythm or overdoing it, and reads with a lot of humor but also real tenderness when necessary. He’s a wonderful reader. The concept of anyone else reading Pratchett’s work makes me itch.

Thud! parodies The Da Vinci Code, a book I can’t stomach. I tried to read it, gave up within a few pages of the front cover, and seethe when I’m reminded of its mere existence. So, I love things that make fun of it. Love them. Pratchett, of course, is funny and smart and kind, so his parody is sweet and sharp without being overly cruel to Dan Brown. The book also satirizes ongoing religious and racial tensions in the Middle East and the West, maintaining a light tone while also pointing out the ridiculous amount of stupidity that abounds in our modern world.

Pratchett’s kindness is one of the best things about his humor. Throughout this and his other discworld novels, he creates deeply flawed and often stupid characters–Nobby Nobbs comes to mind–and then he deals with them kindly. We’re not to hate or even pity Nobbs and his stupidity and kleptomania, but to see him as some sort of object lesson.

All in all, I think this is one of Pratchett’s best. I love that he entertains us while encouraging us to be open minded and kind. I love that he encourages the reader to play board games, read to children, and treat people with respect, but wraps that encouragement up in slap-stick, puns, word-play, and general silliness. Thud! is funny and smart and well worth a listen.

Author: Jim Butcher
Reader: James Marsters

Short Review: Down on his luck detective Harry Dresden also happens to be a real, live wizard. This introduction to Harry’s world includes magic, potions, a talking skull named Bob, demons – and of course a murder mystery. James Marsters is brilliant.

Long Review: I am going to start with the reader on this one. James Marsters does an amazing job. I will admit that I was drawn to this audio book because of the reader. I am a big fan of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe in general, and of the character Spike that James Marsters plays in specific. The funny thing about all this is that Marsters doesn’t actually have the British accent that he uses for Spike. The first 10 minutes of Storm Front was me getting used to Marsters’ actual voice (or at least the voice he uses for reading this book). After I adjusted to his voice, I loved it. This is one of those cases in which if I read the books on paper, I hear Marsters’ voice in my head. When I watched The Dresden Files, I *still* heard Marsters’ voice trying to overlay the voices coming from the screen.

The story is a treat. This is the first installment in what turned into a solid series. Our protagonist is Harry Dresden, Wizard. He lives in modern day Chicago plying his trade – but this modern day has a lot hidden from the average citizen. There are many supernatural bad guys out and about – making trouble for the people and the police alike.

How to describe Harry? Imagine old school private investigator crossed with wizard with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Harry never has enough money – but always has someone relying on him for rescue. And technology hates him.

I don’t want to give away any of the plot, but I will give Jim Butcher one of my highest forms of praise: I love the people he created with this novel and the world in which he has placed them. If you like the supernatural, a good mystery and characters to root for – definitely check out Storm Front. If you are a Buffy/Angel fan – follow Marsters into this new rich world, you won’t regret it.

If you still need convincing, go listen to the first chapter for free and see what you think.

Author: Stephenie Meyer
Reader: Ilyana Kadushin and Matt Walters

Short Review: Meyer gets better with each book. With this book, she has found a good rhythm. The quieter bits of this story have a stronger voice than those in the first 2 books of the saga. Book 3 digs deeply into Bella’s relationships and finally starts to ask the question of “Why?”. We still get good action scenes (because there is always action in a world that has vampires and werewolves) – but we also see Bella make conscious choices with an eye to the consequences in her future.

Long Review:  Meyer delivers in her third book in the Twilight Saga. The story is well balanced between Bella’s inner world and what she is experiencing day to day. Her fans get more Bella, Edward and Jacob – but they also get more of everything else that contributes to why they are each making the choices they are making as the story unfolds.

We learn more about various members of the Cullen family. This was important for me. I had been waiting to actually learn anything real about some of the more neglected members of the family – and a number of them got some significant time on stage.

We also learn a lot more about the werewolves. One of my very favorite parts was the portion told in the style of a tribal legend. Meyer got into an amazing rhythm in the telling  – and Kadushin really did it justice. I sat in my car to hear this story within a story to its end.  I just couldn’t pull myself away in the middle.

Meyer sticks with Kadushin as the reader and though she is still not my favorite reader, just as I said in my review for New Moon, I have grown used to her style and now her voices for the characters are the voices of the characters in my head. I suspect it will be odd for me when I see the Twilight movie – all the voices will seem wrong!

In fact – my major critique of this audio book is to question why they added Matt Walters for the two very brief portions that he was given to read. He is the voice of Jacob – but only for one short bit at the start and another short bit at the end. After hearing Kadushin’s ‘Jacob Voice’ throughout all the books in the saga to date, it was honestly jarring to hear this flat male voice who was supposed to be Jacob. It was like when they change the casting of a character in a TV series 3 seasons in and you are expected to just accept it and move on. I didn’t like it – and I wonder what is waiting for me in Book 4 which I already know includes his name again in the credits.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. If you are a Twilight fan – no disappointments here. If you are new to the serires, I would recommend listening your way through the series – starting with Twilight and New Moon before moving on to Eclipse. They have even created a Twilight Saga CD Set that includes all 4 books.

Eclipse is also available through the Simply Audiobooks Rental Program.

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Reader: Ilyana Kadushin

Short Review: The good: a fresh and creative version of vampire and werewolf legends with characters you care about and great action scenes. The less good: lots and lots of Bella’s internal angst-ridden dialogue (not that there is anything wrong with that, if you have a taste for that sort of thing).

Long Review: I liked this one a bit more than I liked Book 1 of this series (see my review of Twilight). Having listened to the first book, I knew all the key players and understood the rules of Meyer’s vampires. While I suppose that New Moon could stand on its own, I would strongly recommend reading/listening to Book 1 first. In addition to vampires, we also get werewolves in this story. Just as she updated and made the vampire legends her own, Meyer tunes classic werewolf legends to suit her story and vision. I really enjoyed her choices.

New Moon is read by the same reader as Twilight, so if you have already listened to the first book – you will recognize the voices and the rhythm of her reading. Kadushin is still not my favorite reader, but I have grown used to her style and it did not interfere with my enjoyment of the book.

NOTE: I am very against spoilers and nothing I am about to tell you isn’t something you wouldn’t learn reading the one paragraph blurbs that are everywhere online. If you are the type of fan who has been avoiding reading those blurbs, stop reading this review and go listen to this story already – you know you will enjoy it!

New Moon picks up a few months after the events at the end of Twilight. Things happen and Edward leaves Bella. It is family friend Jacob Black who turns out to be the person Bella needs find her way back from a broken heart.

We spend a lot of time inside Bella’s head this time around. Bella is not a happy girl for large parts of the story. I actually like the way Meyer develops what we know about Bella and her reactions to her situation. Aspects of Bella’s behavior that bugged me early in the book were crucial to communicating  the magnitude of the train wreck that is Bella after Edward leaves. The author has somehow set to paper a credible journey through and recovery from depression. Even though this is a supernatural story – I think that a lot of people who have felt broken from loss will find a kindred spirit in Bella in this book.

That said, I think we could have lost some of Bella’s internal dialogue without loosing our understanding of her pain. My favorite parts of this book were definitely the action scenes and any scene involving dialog outside of Bella’s head! I am launching myself on the next book shortly and still feel as if Book 2 in the Twilight Saga is setting us up for something even bigger in Book 3 (hey.. don’t tell me what waiting for me in the next book – you know I don’t like spoilers!).

Can’t wait for the Twilight movie coming out later this year? Listening to this book is a great way to keep the world in your head while you wait. Fans will not be disappointed.

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Reader: Ilyana Kadushin

Short Review: One 17 year old girl who always felt different (and is a klutz to the extreme) crosses paths with a family of exquisite vampires. Romance and intrigue ensues. It grew on me, but it took a while.

Long Review: When the audio started, I was confused for a moment because the voice sounded so familiar. It took me a while, but I finally realized that it reminded me of the voice that Angela Goethals uses for Carmen in the The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its sequels. Once I got past that, the reading was just okay. Unlike some of my favorite audio book readers, Kadushin seems to use virtually the same voice for everyone. This works to some degree because the book is told entirely from the point of view of its young female protagonist, Bella, but I have come to expect more.

I had sought out this book in particular because it seems to have such a cult following. My verdict is basically that I like the core ideas. I like Meyer’s reinterpretation of the vampire. I like Bella and Edward and Jacob.. and all the rest of the characters. I wonder at some of Bella’s motivations (which I won’t share because I don’t want to spoil anything for those of you planning on reading/listening to it). I felt like I was reading a prequel a lot of the time – as if this was all the background stuff that Meyer had to get out of the way before she could get to telling the real story.

I will say that a lot of the basic components of the store did ring true – Bella’s experience in school. Her relationships with her new friends and her parents. And I am clear that this is in many ways a Fantasy Romance. So – will I seek out the next book? Yes, though more due to the promise inherent in the legion of dedicated fans the series has than due to my own captivation with this particular book or reader.

Twilight is also available through the Simply Audiobooks Rental Program.

Short Review: Super fun and irreverent vampire romp through San Francisco, stellar reader to whom I could listen all day long.

Long Review: I just finished listening to this – and all I can say is WOW. This is one of those audio books that I let just replay the last disk because I didn’t want it to be done. Susan Bennett is sheer magic. Some readers can just do that – make you forget that you are listening to one person read. Each character is clear and distinct – and the three core characters are made so much more tangible through her vocal choices. But the best reader can’t make a dull story good – lucky for us this reader is paired with a super fun ride through present day, vampire ridden San Francisco. For those who have read Bloodsucking Fiends, this is a sequel. I hadn’t read the first book but still loved this one. For the record, the character that I ended up loving most was the one I was sort of annoyed with when I first met her. I bet it happens to you too. I also loved the interview with the author at the end. I like hearing author’s voices and learning tidbits about their creative process.

You Suck: A Love Story is also available through the Simply Audiobooks Rental Program.