Audiobook Review – Velveteen vs. the Super Junior Patriots (Velveteen vs. Book 1) by Seanan McGuire, Narrated by Allison McLemore (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 7 hours and 17 minutes (204 pages)
Publisher: Audible Studios
Release Date: December 24, 2013
ASIN: B00HHFQ62M
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Velveteen vs. series
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 5/5 stars

“Velveteen: How dare you? I never asked for you to hunt me down!

No, Velma Martinez hadn’t. But when you had once been Velveteen, child super-heroine and one of The Junior Super Patriots, West Coast Division, you were never going to be free, even if your only power was to bring toys to life. The Marketing Department would be sure of that.

So it all came down to this. One young woman and an army of misfit toys vs. the assembled might of the nine members of The Junior Super Patriots, West Coast Division who had come to take her down.

They never had a chance.

Velveteen lives in a world of super-heroes and magic, where men can fly and where young girls can be abducted to the Autumn Land to save Halloween. Velma lives from paycheck to paycheck and copes with her broken-down car as she tries to escape from her old life.

It’s all the same world. It’s all real. And figuring out how to be both Velveteen and Velma is the biggest challenge of her life, because being super-human means you’re still human in the end.”

This was a wonderful read that was humorous and highly entertaining while at the same time being thoughtful and heartfelt. I am a huge fan of Seanan McGuire and I enjoyed this just as much as her Incryptid and October Daye series. This is a series of stories following Velma as she travels from Southern California to Oregon; there is a loose plotline but this is very much a set of stories…not really a book.

I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was incredibly well done. I would definitely recommend listening to on audiobook; McLemore sounds exactly like I imagine Velma would and does a great job with character voices and emotion.

The whole story is set in an alternate reality where superheroes exist and are heavily marketed with the majority being controlled by a large corporation. There are a lot of interesting issues addressed from very real issues (like corporate monopolies) to more fantasy issues (how does a superhero who can animate toys find a guy who understands her). Additionally there are questions about identity; who is Velma? Is she Velveteen or is she Velma? Is she something in between?

I loved all the characters in this book, even the side characters have a lot of depth and are completely real. I loved the world and thought this was an amazing read.

Overall I really enjoyed this story collection and look forward to reading the other Velveteen vs. collections. I would recommend to those who enjoy superhero stories with a human touch to them. The book is also pretty funny at times so I would recommend to those who enjoy humor in their stories as well.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge
– Audiobook Reading Challenge