Audiobook Novella Review – A Murder of Manatees (Tom Stranger, Book 2) by Larry Correia, Narrated by Adam Baldwin (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 2 hours 8 minutes
Publisher: Audible Original
Release Date: January 23, 2018
ASIN: B0783HSZT9
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Tom Stranger series
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 3/5 stars

“When half your galaxy is unexpectedly sucked into a black hole – when a hitherto-unknown species of space aliens lays waste to your home planet – when disaster rears its ugly head (or heads) – who can you call for faster-than-light appraisals and best-in-the-multiverse customer service? Just one man – Tom Stranger, Interdimensional Insurance Agent.

In this latest chapter of his interstellar exploits, Tom is about to deliver a crushing performance evaluation to Jimmy the Intern when the unimaginable happens: The beloved Wendell the Manatee has been kidnapped! Armed with his battle mechs and his elite corps of junior associates, can Tom find Wendell before he’s canned in oil? And can Jimmy, at long last, channel his inner agent?”

Series Info/Source: This is the 2nd book in the Tom Stranger series. I bought this audiobook through Audible.com

Audiobook Quality (4/5): This was a decent audiobook, fairly similar to the first in the series in quality. I will say though that I found the more frequent manatee and dolphin sounds kind of jarring and annoying.

Story (3/5): I really loved the first book in this series but the second book just fell flat to me. Too much bitching about low star reviews and dolphins and not enough story to actually bite into. Honestly I think after the first book some of the novelty just wore off for me. This story just seemed really thin and lacking.

Characters (3/5): I don’t enjoy Jimmy the Intern so the whole focus around him finding his inner agent seemed just stupid to me. Tom Stranger is in the book as well but he took a back seat to Jimmy this time.

Setting (3/5): This is again set across multi-dimensional Earths. There wasn’t as much talk about this in this book.

Writing Style (3/5): There are still some funny parts in here and the humor is snappy and comes non-stop. However, I didn’t get this one for free (I actually paid for it) and felt like there just wasn’t enough there. This just felt really unfinished like it was a quick side project to follow up the first story.

Summary (3/5): Overall I didn’t enjoy this book nearly as much as the first one. I think maybe the novelty wore off some. The story was pretty thin and the focus on Jimmy the Intern was obnoxious. Also all the discussion about Tom focusing on how to get a better rating on the first audiobook was weird and a bit annoying. I won’t be reading anymore books in this series if there are some.