Audiobook Review – A Carriger Quartet by Gail Carriger, Narrated by J. Daniel Sawyer, Merelan Jones, Dawn Phynix (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction
Length: 336 pages
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Release Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN-13: 978-1484717165
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 3/5 stars
“Marine Biology”: Inconveniently a werewolf, unexpectedly alive, and secretly gay, marine biologist Alex finds himself forcibly shackled to a flirty merman on the hunt for some sinister selkies. An unconventional romance between impossible partners told with the kind of wit and comedy that made Gail a household name
“Fairy Debt”: Despite being a fairy, Cups can’t grow wings due to a death promise to a local king. Entering service in his castle as the Least Jester, she must find a way to earn her wings while navigating the hazards of cupcakes, tea demons, and the occasional Earth dragons.
“My Sister’s Song”: Fantasy, history, and subversive strategy collide in this Roman-era tale of a warrior, Mithra, who must repel an entire legion alone and armed only with a very peculiar weapon. Her sticky solution to this impossible problem must be heard to be believed.”
“”The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn’t, the Mummy That Was, and the Cat in the Jar”: A mummified cat, a secret agent, and an aristocrat entangle Alessandro Tarraboti (father of Alexia Tarraboti from the Parasol Protectorate series) in a rollicking, wry adventure into the supernatural secrets of ancient Egypt.
The stories in here are cute, but I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was awful. The stories range from urban fantasy, to fantasy, to steampunk.
The narration of the first two stories especially was very juvenile sounding; definitely not narrated by a professional narrator and was painful to listen to. All of these stories as done as full audio productions, so they have different actors for different characters and sound effects. It was distracting and hard to listen to. Additionally the volume was very unbalanced. The narration would be very loud and then dialogue between characters was very soft.
I enjoyed the last two stories more than the first two. My Sister’s Song is beautifully written and absolutely magical with a touch of humor to it. The Curious Case was an interesting story about Alexia’s father (from the Parasol Protectorate series).
Overall I could have taken or left it. Just do not listen to this on audiobook…it’s awful. See below for more detailed reviews on each story.
Marine Biology (3/5 stars)
This was a cute story about a gay werewolf struggling to find his place in his pack. The romance that the werewolf has with the merman is cute, but it would have been better if it had been developed a bit more. I felt like the romance was a bit whirlwind and the whole story more of a sketch than a well thought out novella. It was a fun little story but would have been better had it been filled out more and longer. Narration for this book was awful; I would recommend reading this instead of listening to it.
Fairy Debt (3/5 stars)
This was a short story about a fairy who needs to fulfill her mother’s debt to a king in order to get her wings. It was again a cute story but was very short and not all that filled out. I did enjoy the fact that cupcakes saved the day 🙂 Narration for this book was absolutely awful, the person reading it was not professional and sounded very awkward.
My Sister’s Song (4/5 stars)
This was a beautifully written novella, I really enjoyed it. It was about a warrior woman and her clan and the unique way they stood against the Roman army. Narration for this story was much improved over the last two novellas, mainly because the majority of the story was told from one person’s perspective. There were still some issues with narration; for some reason the narrator is way louder than the parts where people are talking to each other. This meant I had to turn the book up when people were talking to each other and they get my eardrums blasted when the narrator came back on.
The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn’t, the Mummy That Was, and the Cat in the Jar (4/5 stars)
This was a well done short story about Alexia’s father. It was well written and good to get some background on Alexia’s father and how his supernatural talents worked. This one was better narrated than the first two but still not great.
This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Audiobook Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge
– Steampunk Reading Challenge
– Paranormal Reading Challenge
