“Wondrous Strange” by Lesley Livingston

“Wondrous Strange”
by Lesley Livingston
read by author
Produced by Harper Audio
Approx 7 Hours

Kelly Winslow, an aspiring actress in New York City, has just had her big break, when the actress portraying Titania in Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” has been injured and Kelly goes from being the understudy to the lead actress.  But not all is as good as it seems.  Kelly soon learns the world of Fairy and Fae is real, and worse yet, the Winter King, Oberon is not only real but is her real father.  This at first may sound good to suddenly find you are a Fairy Princess, but the Fairy-folk are really not a friendly bunch.   Someone in the Fairy world has decided they don’t want Kelly to realize her birthright.

The troubles all begin when Kelly is rehearsing her lines in Central Park and Sonny Flannery, a Janus Guard for King Oberon (unbeknownst to Kelly) notices something different about Kelly.  Spying on her from the bushes he sees she is having a bad day (seems she forgot her lines during rehearsal and the director was a bit cruel).  Sonny can’t shake the feeling that she is different from most humans so curious he presents her with a rose.  Kelly asks why and Sonny says you look like you needed something nice.   When they part Kelly begins walking home through Central Park and hears the sound of someone screaming from a pond.  It turns out not to be someone but a something, a horse.  With Sonny long gone, Kelly realizes no one is around to help so she dives in to save the drowning horse.  Kelly risks her life to save the horse that seems to be tangled in the vegetation of the bottom of the pond.

The next day Sonny discovers the area where someone was dragged on shore the mud in the grass and some mysterious black beads and copper colored horse’s hairs.   Sonny knows the hairs for what they are, Kelpie hairs.   Kelpies are fairy creatures that lure people into the water and eat them.  When Sonny finds Kelly’s script nearby he fears the worst.   Sonny shows Oberon the beads which Oberon immediately knows them as part of a spell that is set to begin the Great Hunt in which all the evils of the fairy world will be unleashed into the mortal world killing all in sight until the quarry is found.  This time the target is Oberon’s daughter.

Sonny must save Kelly from the fairyworld by letting her know who she is.  At the same time he must find out who is trying to unleash the Hunt.  He suspects Queen Maab, but with a very interesting twist in the tale, the author, Lesley Livingston, creates a bit of a mystery into this fairy tale set in modern day New York City.  Very entertaining bit of young adult fiction that will keep you enthralled until the end.   This book is part one of a three book series but is easily a standalone novel.

I have to note that at first I was a bit leery at the idea of the author reading her own work as the audiobook.  While the authors may have a great feel for what is in the book, the performance as a reader can sometimes lack.  Not so with Lesley Livingstone, she does a superb job of performing the many different voices and expressing all necessary emotion.  This audiobook is an excellent choice from that aspect alone.

“The Looking Glass Wars” by Frank Beddor

“The Looking Glass Wars”
by Frank Beddor
read by Gerard Doyle
produced 2007 by Scholastic Audio
Approx 9 hours

What if the story of Alice in Wonderland was a true story? All the surrealism, the absurdities, the nonsense was just to make it more digestible to us.   That’s the approach Frank Beddor uses in his take on the Lewis Carroll classic.  In this book Princess Alyss (yep, that’s the way she spells it) is celebrating her 7th birthday in Wonderland.  Her mother is Queen Genevieve Heart and the ruler in the Queendom of Wonderland which is ruled with imagination and is the source of imagination for all other worlds.  Her Aunt, Redd, has been in exile and uses the celebration of Alyss’s birthday to distract the citizens as she and her card army invade.

In this story the characters in Carroll’s book are fictionalized version of the real Wonderland characters.  The Reverend Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll’s real name) writes the book after listening to Alice, who cannot seem to convince people it is spelled “Alyss,” and changes some of the names and events for the book.  The White Rabbit is actually Alyss’s tutor Bibwit Harte (anagram there), the Mad Hatter is Hatter Madigan, a member of the Millinery which is Wonderland’s military, and is almost a dark character who is Alyss’s bodyguard but has the abilities and weapons of an assassin.   The parliament of Wonderland is ruled by representatives from different card suits; clubs, diamonds and spades.  Alyss’s best friend is Dodge Anders who is the son of a guard who seems to be a real and dedicated friend, but the Jack of Diamonds is destined to wed Alyss and is always causing trouble for the young Dodge.

While Redd’s army invades Wonderland, Alyss and Hatter escape with the help of Dodge Anders as  Redd kills Alyss’s mother and father and takes over the  throne.  Dodge’s father, the captain of the guards is killed by The Cat and Redd then orders The Cat to kill Alyss and Hatter.  Alyss and Hatter barely escape to “our” world through the pool of tears.  The problem is that Alyss ends up in London and Hatter ends up in Paris.  Hatter then spends the next 13 years trying to find Alyss, and finally discovers where she is after Carroll’s book is published.

During this 13 years Alyss is at first taken in by some street urchins, where her power of imagination is used to beg for money, but the powers are fading the longer she is away from Wonderland.  She is caught by authorities and sent to an orphanage where she is constantly made fun of because of her imagination.  She is then adopted by the Liddles where she meets Reverend Dodgson and he publishes her stories.  Because he changes the stories Alyss refuses to ever see him again.  Alyss also renounces her imagination and chooses to become “normal.”

Hatter finds Alyss but is chased down by authorities  because when he finds her she is engaged to be married to Prince Leopold and Hatter is loaded down with weapons and seems a threat to the Prince.  When he arrives back in Wonderland he is shot and cannot return but Dodge Anders, now grown up volunteers to retrieve Alyss so she can battle Redd and restore Wonderland.

While still maintaining a resemblance to the original story Beddor creates a fun adventure with imagination and thrills.  The reader, Gerard Doyle, does a superb job acting out this book giving each character their own voice and through some fun audio tricks creates some special effects for a few of the characters and events.   Definitely a must read for any Wonderland fan.

“Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment” by James Patterson

“Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment”
by James Patterson
read by Evan Rachel Wood
published 2005 by Hatchette Audio
Approx 4 hours

The master of thriller fiction, James Patterson, has been know to dabble in young adult fiction.  The “Maximum Ride” series is one of those dabblings.  With books under his belt like, “Along Came a Spider,” and “Kiss the Girls,” Patterson has shown that he can write a good thriller, and he takes that writing style and adapts it for the younger audience.  I’m not sure what age he’s aiming for with this series, it seems pretty wide open from 12 – 18 easily.  I know I enjoyed this first book in the series.  There were some moments that didn’t work for me but I’ll explain those later.  For the most part if the rest of this series is as fun and exciting as this first one, I could put up w/ what may be a minor fault.

First off the choice of Evan Rachel Wood as reader took me by surprise.  But hey, she did it.  I know it takes acting skills to pull off reading an audiobook, and she does have the skills, but what surprised me most was her vocal range.  She was able to separate the characters very well with her voice, giving them each their own voice.

This book introduces the listener to six fugitive kids; Max, Fang, Iggy, Gasman, Nudge, and Angel, known collectively as the Flock. The kids were genetically mutated in utero in a laboratory called “the School”, that rendered them 98% human and 2% avian.  The Flock is being hunted down by human-lupine hybrids created by the School called “Erasers”.

Max (she named herself Maximum Ride) is the one telling the story, and she tells how Jeb escaped the School, with the flock and hid out in the mountains and raises the children for two years. Jeb disappeared leaving the flock to fend for themselves.  One day the Erasers find them and take Angel.  The flock must fly to the school to rescue Angel.  One thing about Angel, she has the ability to read minds and later we find she can also put thoughts into someone’s head.

On the way to the School, Max sees a girl on the ground (bird vision?) being threatened by some thugs.  She tells the flock to fly to a safe place.  She flies down to rescue the girl.  The flock may be young but they look older because they are bigger, and on top of that they have stronger than human strength.  In the rescue Max is hurt in the struggle and finds herself at the home of the girl she helped.  The girl’s mother is a veterinarian and fixes her wounds.  The vet takes max in for some x-rays and discovers a chip implanted in Max’s arm, a sort of tracking chip that is so deeply embedded that it cannot be removed.

Max meets up with the flock and they go on to rescue Angel, but they manage to get captured by Erasers themselves and discover that Jeb is the one behind the capture. The book then moves on to escape and the flock seeking to discover the truth about their creation.  Max is told she must “save the world,” and begins being led by a voice in her head that disrupts electronics.

The story seems to be fast paced and the adventures take a short time to move on to the next part of the journey, which I see as being aimed at a younger audience.  My problem is that when, at times, when a major fight/battle seems to be eminent, all fighting just stops and the enemies just leave, with no victor to be had.   Maybe this, again, is for the younger audience, but it seems these moments could have been closed out better.

All in all though this is a fun adventure in genetic mutations and kids seeking their origins.

“The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins

“The Hunger Games”
by Suzanne Collins
Read by Carolyn McCormick
Produced by Scholastic Audio Books, 2008
11 hours and 10 min. (unabridged)

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again today’s youth have some great literature written just for them.  Here is yet another shining example.  “The Hunger Games” takes several ideas and wraps them together to form an exciting bit of big-brother-dystopian-sci-fi.  While listening to this audiobook I kept getting thoughts/memories of various bits from media, I would be reminded of the 70′s sci-fi film “Logan’s Run” at times, or maybe “Rollerball” or “Death Race 2000,” then Stephen King’s short story turned Schwarzanegger movie “The Running Man,” then at times the book reminded me of the multiple reality shows like “Survivor” in which the contestants compete and get voted off.  In fact when researching the info on this book I found that the author, Suzanne Collins, was influenced when switching her television back and forth between coverage of the war in Iraq and “Survivor.”  Collins threw in a bit from the Greek Myth Theseus, who was forced by Minos to be sacrificed to the Minotaur, but survived and created this exciting story.

After reading I found that this book is part one of a trilogy, and the trilogy follows this story’s heroine, Katniss Everdeen, as she is chosen to be a tribute to the government to battle in the Hunger games and eventually leads a revolution.  But the revolution gets ahead of our story.  Let’s talk about this one first.

“The Hunger Games” is set in a distant but seemingly not too distant future, after the destruction of North America, in a nation known as Panem. Panem consists of a wealthy Capitol and twelve surrounding, poorer districts. District 12, where the book begins, is located in the coal-rich region Appalachia. Coal is the regions contribution to Panem as all districts have some specialty/export to contribute.  The problem is that the government keeps all the regions poor and the people of the districts further from the capitol (which is located somewhere near what is Denver, Colorado) are the poorest.  District One near the capitol is the least poor and the higher the number the more the suffering.  Katniss is forced to illegally hunt in the woods at an early age after her father dies in a mining accident and her mother becomes locked in grief.  Katniss hunts to keep her and her sister alive.

At one point there were 13 districts but the 13th was destroyed when they tried to rebel against the capitol. As punishment for the rebellion every year one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district are selected at random and forced to participate in the Hunger Games, a televised event where the participants, or “tributes”, must fight to the death in a dangerous outdoor arena until only one remains. Katniss, in place of her younger sister, Primrose. Also participating from District 12 is Peeta Mellark, a boy whom Katniss knows from school and who once saved Katniss’s life by giving her bread when her family was starving.

Katniss and Peeta are taken to the Capitol, where they meet the other tributes and are publicly displayed to the Capitol audience. During this time, Peeta reveals on-air his long-time unrequited love for Katniss. Katniss believes this to be a ploy to gain audience support for the Games, which can be crucial for survival, as audience members are permitted to send gifts to favored tributes during the Games. The Games begin with 11 of the 24 tributes dying in the first day, while Katniss relies on her well-practiced hunting and outdoors skills to survive. As the Games continue, the tribute death toll increases, but both Katniss and Peeta are able to evade death.

Katniss and Peeta are split up and the Gamemakers use dirty tricks and foul play to make the games more interesting by using some of the government’s genetic animal mutations, like tracker jackers, a form of wasp that when it stings it can case vivid hallucinations and kill.  Or human / wolf hybrids that hunt like wolves but can think like humans.  One mutation a Jabber Jay was created to spy on the population, it has the ability to imitate human speech perfectly so they would record the coversations in the districts and report back to the capitol, when this was discovered the populus would feed the Jays false info, after this that project was abandoned, the Jabber Jays were released and later mated with Mocking Birds, creating the Mocking Jay which could sing beautifully.  This Mocking Jay becomes a symbol of the people and of their freedom and has a large part in this novel.

The adventures during the battle in the Arena are very exciting and will keep you glued to this one.  If you get the audiobook like I did you’ll soon discover the talent that is Carolyn McCormick.  Carolyn delivers the reading of this book with enthusiasm when needed and differentiates the characters by giving each their own voice.

“Bloody Jack” by L.A. Meyer

“Bloody Jack”
by L.A. Meyer
Read by Katherine Kellgren
Produced by Listen & Live Audio, 2007
Approx 7.5 hours

So do you like pirates, street urchins and love stories?  I think I may have found the perfect audiobook for you.  This time around I listened to another young adult novel, and had a grand adventure from the streets of London to fighting pirates on the high seas.  This adventure novel is also a nice historical novel.  The story takes place during the 18th century when his majesty’s navy was battling pirates and preparing for war against France.

The story is told through the voice of Mary “Bloody Jack” Faber as she lives out these adventures.  It all begins with her as a young orphan on the streets of London trying to survive.  Mary takes up with “Rooster” Charlie, the leader of a gang of orphans who beg on the streets to survive.  Charlie takes care of his gang and Mary looks up to him as a brother.  When Mary discovers Charlie dead on the dark backstreets of London, she no longer has someone to take care of her so she decides to be her on person.  She takes Charlies clothes and the persona of Jack, she soon learns that as a boy things are a bit easier in the street life.

Now living as Jack, she finds her way to the docks, where Navy ships are looking for ship boys, these are the boys that do the grunt work on board the ship,  Jack gets on board the H.M.S. Dolphin as a ship boy and maintains her secret of being a girl.  She soon boards with 3 other boys taken on at the same time and leads a life as a Navy ship boy.  After a year or so on-board she finds it harder and harder to maintain the secret because her body is betraying her.   Not sure what all the changes of puberty will bring, since she never had any parents to tell her, she strikes out on the next port call to a bordello to ask one of the women there what she needs to know.  Upon leaving the bordello the other boys see “Jack” and add to to the myth of her being a boy, after some teasing.  During this same port call the 4 ship-boys have created a pact among each other to always be true.  To prove this they get tattoos and whenever a secret must be kept they swear upon their tattoos.

Jack gains her nickname “Bloody Jack” after the crew of the HMS Dolphin boards a ship and she, still only about thirteen years old, shoots a plundered pistol to kill a pirate who is about to stab one of her fellow shipmates, Jaimy, who is paralyzed with fright. She comes back to the Dolphin covered in blood, and her proud shipmates nickname the little “boy” Bloody Jack.

During a battle with a pirate ship in the Caribbean the HMS Dolphin is damaged and takes on water.  The ship is forced to seek shelter in the cove of a small island until repairs can be made.  On this island there is no wood of use to repair the ship so one of the crew members, who has been experimenting with kites, puts Jack on the kite and flies her high to scout for land.  During the “flight” the kite breaks free flying Jack 30 miles or so from the Island to be marooned on another Island by herself.

Growing up alone and trying to maintain a major secret create a great adventure in “Bloody Jack.”  Basically start out with a little “Oliver Twist’ throw in some “Treasure Island” with a dash of “Robinson Crusoe” and you have this fun adventure.

Katherin Kellgren does a wonderful job voicing this book.  From the cockney accent of the street kids to the distinguished officers on-board the HMS Dolphin, she delivers the book with realism.

“Beastly” by Alex Flinn

“Beastly”
by Alex Flinn
read by Chris Patton
Produced by Brilliance Audio, 2010

So I’m out looking for something different to hear as an audiobook, and I look through the young adult section of listings and run across this book, “Beastly.”  With young adult fiction it can be hit or miss, you can count big hits in the Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket series of books but when I tried the “Twilight” series I was let down.  This book looked like a promising telling of a classic story.  The premise of the book is based on the traditional fairytale “The Beauty and the Beast.”  The author researched various versions of the fairytale, and even makes some reference to them throughout the book.

This is by no means the Disneyfied version, so if you are looking for that type of fun, musical story with a happy ending, it’s not this one.  This version of the story, while encapsulating the full meaning and feel of the classic, brings the story to modern times with some nice teen angst, cliques and materialistic views of life.

In this book Kyle Kingsbury, the rich, handsome son of Rob Kingsbury, a famous news anchor, has lived all his life thinking that looks and money are all you need in life.  He seems to be living proof of that, he dates the hottest girls and is the most popular guy in school.  But when Kyle asks a not so good looking new student, Kendra, to the prom as a practical joke, Kendra, transforms Kyle into an ugly man who then turns into a beast.  It turns out Kendra is really a beautiful witch.

Kyle’s father is ashamed of his son’s appearance and locks him in a large apartment in downtown New York so no one will see him. Kyle’s only company is his housekeeper, and, later, a blind tutor named Will and his dog. Kyle changes his name to “Adrian”, which means “dark one”. His only happiness comes from the rose garden he plants and maintains in his small backyard, encouraged by Will. Adrian has two years to break the witch’s spell by falling in love and being loved sincerely despite physical appearances.

The Beauty in this story comes in the form of Lindy.  Lindy is a poor girl who attends Kyle’s school by scholarships.  Her only hope to get away from her poverty stricken life, taking care of her drug abusing father is to maintain her grades.  In being the bookworm sort she has gone through the school unnoticed.  She does have a crush on Kyle, and at the same prom where Kyle is turned into the beaste, Kyle gives her a white rose, only because his girlfriend wanted an orchid and wouldn’t wear a “cheap rose.”  This event is big to Lindy, but Kyle sees it as insignificant.

A man breaks into Kyle’s/Adrian’s rose garden and when the Beast confronts him the man pleads for his life and offers his daughter to the beast to avoid the police.  Kyle learns this is Lindy’s father and finds this could be his last chance to find true love and break the curse.  Kyle takes Lindy in and he must discover the secrets to true love and find his way to her heart.

I will warn you once again this is not a Disney version and the Happy Ending is relative.  The reader, Chris Patton delivers the story with perfect intonation of all emotions and character quirks that at times I almost thought I was listening to a multi-cast performance.

The interesting thing I discovered is that this book has been turned into a movie, that will be released in 2011.

 

“Countdown” by Greg Cox

“Countdown”
by Greg Cox
Multi-cast Performance
Produced by GraphicAudio, 2010
Approx 6 hours

DC comics had/has a great configuration of crossover comics with their multi-verse “Crisis” series.
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Countdown to Infinite Crisis
Infinite Crisis
52
Countdown to Final Crisis (novel form titled “Countdown,” this book)
Final Crisis
The series told a tale of 52 alternate realities otherwise known as multiverses.  The problem consisting of multiple realities coming together could destroy all realities.  In this  book, “Countdown,” The aftermath of “Infinite Crisis” led to the series “52″ which consisted of the Primary Earth dealing with the aftermath.  This book, as the title suggests, is a countdown to events that lead to yet another multiverse crisis which will be the “Final Crisis.”  The original “Countdown to Final Crisis” comics were published in 51 issues, Greg Cox has created the novelization of the series into this book.

So once again the comic books are converted to a novel.  What happened to the awesome graphics that make a comic so much of an experience?  Well,  Greg Cox uses words to convey the images and any fan of good fiction would appreciate this.  But what happens if the comic fan wants those images?  I suggest picking up the audio book created by GraphicAudio.  GraphicAudio has a slogan, “A Movie in your Mind,” and let me tell you, they deliver.  From the moment I heard my first GraphicAudio audiobook, I’ve been hooked.  They use a cast of very talented voice actors that can creat every subtlety of a superhero through voice only.  For Example, when you hear someone acting the role of Batman in a GraphicAudio audiobook, you hear Bruce Wayne’s loss of his parents, his calculating the next 30 moves in defeating a foe, and more, just through superb voice acting.

The acting is not the only thing that keeps these audiobooks interesting there is also incidental music that rises and falls with and enhances all the emotions and action in the story.  And even more fun are the sound effects.  So how do you give sound to the Green Lantern’s ring creating a boxing glove and punching his foe?  You can’t just simply punch something and record it, because the power behind the ring is what is creating the glove.  GraphicAudio create some superb effects that you can see in the mind’s eye all aspects of just such an action.  These guys really know what they are doing.

So with all that said let’s talk about this audiobook.  The excitement abounds, the story twists and turns and ultimate good is pitted up against ultimate evil.  Exactly what you’d expect from a comic book, but in this series all this takes place without the big name superheroes.  The Justice League members do make their appearance near the end to help wrap up the final battle and outcome, but for the most part what were normally minor characters now take the lead.

First off we’ve got Superman’s pal, Jimmy Olsen, suddenly endowed with superpowers.  Not sure where they come from, Jimmy’s not one to ask, being the epitomical good guy, Jimmy immediately takes on the guise of Action Man and tries to right wrongs.  The problem with these newfound powers is that they only occur when his life is threatened.  But when his life is threatened the powers are doozies.  Powers such as, porcupine like quills suddenly erupting from his skin and shooting at foes, his body turning to ooze and more weirdness.  Even not being able to control his powers Jimmy tries to fight crime.

Next we have Mary Marvel.  After the events in 52, Mary is now just simply Mary Batson, sister to Billy Batson (Captain Marvel/Shazam).  Her powers were mysteriously taken away and she awakens in a hospital scared and powerless.  To find her brother and eventually her powers Mary seeks out Madame Xanadu,  warns Mary not to go to Gotham City.  Ignoring her, Mary is chased by thugs through the Gotham subway, and finds the former Kahndaqi Embassy, where Black Adam has been hiding. Adam appears, saves Mary, and transfers his powers to Mary.  Mary acquires the powers of Black Adam, Isis, and Osiris as a result.  These dark powers change Mary’s psyche and she seems to be one of the bad guys.

Holly Robinson, former Catwoman (the good Catwoman not the criminal one) meets up with Harley Quinn (Joker’s former girlfriend) at a women’s shelter in Metropolis where a woman claiming to be Athena is recruiting Amazons to go to Paradise Island, which was vacated by the real Amazons (Wonder Woman’s family).

Jason Todd (former Robin that should have died), and Donna Troy (former Wonder Girl, who also should have died) meet up with a Monitor who recruits them to find The Atom. It seems The Atom, Ray Palmer, is the key to fighting the New Gods who are waging war against each other and could destroy the Universe.

“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll,

“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”
by Lewis Carroll,
read by Michael York
Produced by Blackstone Audio, 2005
Approx 3 hours

Every once in a while you just have to read a classic.  In my adult life, I’ve gone back and read, “Moby Dick,” “Catcher in the Rye,” “A Brave New World,” and a few others and each time I find something new I didn’t catch before or enjoyed something new that I knew was there but didn’t have the life experience to fully appreciate.  This time around I got the opportunity to listen to the audiobook of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”  I had re-read this to my son a few years ago and we had a blast with all the absurdities and adventures.  This time I could have the book read to me, and what a treat it was.

One of the nice things about this version was that it is read by Michael York.  I’ve listened to audiobooks by Michael York before and am considering myself a fan of his voicework.  His British accent is nice for this Yank to hear and he has the vocal range and talent to create some great character studies.  This book is filled with some very interesting and strange creatures/characters and York does a superb job of making each character not only stand out but the voice fits what the character should sound like.  York makes the White Rabbit not only sound in a hurry but through his voicework makes the rabbit come to life.  All the characters come to life with the expertise of Michael York.

“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” has been analyzed through and through over the years but in my humble opinion it’s just one of those books that should be enjoyed.  During the 60s the book got a revisit due to the possible drug use mentioned, even Jefferson Airplane based a song on the book, “White Rabbit.”  Sure there may be some psychedelia to the book, but I feel that’s just due to the book’s absurdities.

One of the best sections I found this time around is Chapter 3 “A Caucus Race and a Long Tale.” The play on words in this section definitely made me chuckle as did the chapter featuring the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle.  In reading the book to my son, we had a version with the original drawings, we got the entertainment from the pictures as I read.  This time around I had no pictures by Michael York made up for that by delivering the descriptions and absurdities with ease.

I’m not sure what classic I’ll be visiting next, but I can tell you, it’ll be hard to capture the fun I just heard in this presentation.

Brisingr (Inheritance, Book 3) by Christopher Paolini

Brisingr (Inheritance, Book 3)
by Christopher Paolini
read by Gerard Doyle
Produced by Listening Library, 2008

Well I thought I was finishing the last of the Christopher Paolini “Inheritance” series featuring, Eragon Shadeslayer and Saphira Bjartskular (Brightscales), but no, there seems to be another in the works.  This is completely fine by me, because reading or listening to this series has been a lot of fun.  I still find it amazing that Paolini started writing this series while in his teens.  The language used in these books is every bit as much an equivalent to any of Tolkien’s works, or any other fantasy novel.  In fact just like many fantasy writers Paolini, took the time to create a couple of languages to make the Dwarves and Elves speak in an more realistic manner.

The “Inheritance” series follows the life of Eragon, a dragon rider, and Saphira, his dragon, as they grow together learning what it means to be a dragon rider, while at the same time fighting the evil King Galbatorix, who wants to be the only rider and ruler of the world.   In this book especially Eragon and Saphira learn what it means to be loyal, and to keep your promises.  In fact, the subtitle of this book was going to be, “The Seven Promises of Eragon Shadeslayer and Saphira Bjartskular.”

The reader, Gerard Doyle, does a superb job reading this book and letting the listener know the difference between different characters talking or thinking as well as voicing the dragons.  I have to admit that I felt sorry for the abuse to Doyle’s throat when he voiced the dragons but I sure he can recover in time for the next book.  Doyle also provides the interesting pronunciation for the Elvish and Dwarvish language.  So if you read the book and wondered just how you could pronounce some of those words, get the audio book.

Brisingr focuses on the story of Eragon and his dragon Saphira  as they continue their quest to overthrow the corrupt ruler of the Empire, Galbatorix. Eragon is one of the last remaining Dragon Riders, a group that governed and protected the land of Alagaësia. Brisingr  begins just 4 days after the preceding novel “Eldest” concludes, finding Eragon, newly reunited with his cousin, Roran, just outside of  Helgrind, the sanctuary of the Ra’zac. There they rescue Roran’s fiance, Katrina, who was being held prisoner, and kill one of the Ra’zac. Saphira, Roran, and Katrina return to the Varden, while Eragon stays behind to kill the remaining Ra’zac and to deal with Katrina’s traitorous father. Once he returns to the Varden, Eragon discovers that Katrina is pregnant with Roran’s child and a wedding is arranged, which Eragon is to conduct. Just before it begins, a small force of enchanted troops, that feel no pain, attack alongside Murtagh and his dragon, Thorn. Elven spell-casters aid Eragon and Saphira and cause Murtagh and Thorn to flee, winning the battle. After the fight, Roran marries Katrina. The leader of the Varden, Nasuada, then orders Eragon to attend the election of the new dwarf king in the Beor Mountains. Once among the dwarves, Eragon is the target of a failed assassination, found to be the work of the dwarf clan Az Sweldn rak Anhûin, whom the dwarf Orik then forces into exile. Having earned the sympathies of the dwarves, Orik is elected the new king.

After Orik’s coronation, Eragon and Saphira return to the elven capital Ellesméra to train. There, the elf Oromis and his dragon Glaedr reveal that Eragon’s deceased mentor, Brom, is Eragon’s father. Glaedr also reveals the source of Galbatorix’s power: Eldunarí, or heart of hearts. While not a dragon’s actual heart, an Eldunarí allows the holder to communicate with or draw energy from the dragon it belongs to, even if the dragon is deceased. Galbatorix spent years collecting Eldunarya, and forcing the deceased dragons to channel their energy to him through their Eldunarí thus the reason Galbatorix is so powerful. After training, Eragon visits an Elven blacksmith, Rhunön, who helps Eragon forge a Rider sword. Before Eragon and Saphira depart to the Varden, Oromis says that the time has come for him and Glaedr to openly oppose the Empire in combat alongside the queen of the elves, Islanzadí. Thus, Glaedr gives his Eldunarí to Eragon and Saphira before they part.

Meanwhile, Roran is sent on various missions as part of the military force of the Varden. One of the targets is a convoy of supply wagons guarded by enchanted soldiers. The unit suffers extreme casualties, and the commander is replaced after losing his hand. During a mission to take back a Surdan city, plans made by the new commander almost cause the operation to fail, but Roran gives new orders. Despite saving the mission, Roran is charged with insubordination and is flogged as a punishment. After the public whipping, Nasuada promotes Roran to commander and sends his unit on a mission. He leaves in command of a group of both men and Urgals to enforce the idea of men and Urgals working together. When his squad returns to the Varden, they join the siege of Feinster, a city in the Empire.

The battle ensues and as I said in the beginning what I thought was the final book is not, and Paolini leaves the final battle between the Varden and the Empire, and, of course, between Galbatorix and Eragon for the next book.

In this audio book is a bonus interview between Paolini and his editor, in which he reveals that this book was originally planned as the final but that the adventures just could not all be told in one volume.  Hopefully we’ll have the next book soon.

Spiderman: The Amazing Spiderman (BBC Radio Collection) Story Adaptation by Dirk Maggs

Spiderman: The Amazing Spiderman (BBC Radio Collection)
Story Adaptation by Dirk Maggs
Multi-cast performance
Produced by BBC Audiobooks Ltd (2002)
Approx 2 hours

I have always been a Spider-Man fan, I’m pretty sure I came out of the womb reading the comics, so when I found this gem I had to give it a listen.  In 1995, BBC Radio commissioned a Spider-Man audio book which aired on BBC Radio 1 over 50 episodes on week days between January 15, 1996 and March 24, 1996. The performance was co-produced by Brian May who also contributed to the musical arrangement and wrote and performed the theme tune.  Yes, the same Brian May that plays lead guitar for Queen.  BBC Audiobooks has taken this production and no made it available as a CD audiobook, I haven’t looked yet for any download versions.

The run of the production includes a number of familiar characters from the Spider-Man comic books as well as key figures from the Marvel “Heroes” universe such as Fantastic Four, Namor the Submariner, and Doctor Doom.  This is a re-telling of the origin of Spider-Man, not exactly as Stan Lee originally wrote it, but pretty darn close.  In this version rather than Peter Parker going to a demonstration of Atomic energy (pretty dated sounding, right), he is conducting an experiment at the high school using low level radiation, but a spider gets in the mix and bites our hero.  Very similar to the origin the story continues with Peter Parker calling Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic, of the Fantastic 4 to ask for help, after all he thinks he’s turning into a spider.

After finding out the Fantastic 4 are out of office he decides he needs to make some money and goes on the TV circuit performing feats of spider-like ability.  After a criminal kills his Uncle Ben, Peter then takes up the crime-fighting mantle.  The play then brings on such villains as; the Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, the Sandman, Prince Namor (hero/villain) and Dr. Doom.

My only complaint is that not once in the performance does Peter Parker/Spider-Man’s line that is his raison d’etre come out.  You know the one, “With great power, comes great responsibility.”  Stan Lee has been known to say that when he first came up with the phrase for Spidey, it sounded cheesy, but, it is a great life-lesson.  But the Brits decided to leave it out of the production.  I won’t fault them too much because this was fun to hear.

The role of Spider-Man was performed by William Dufries. Also included in the cast list was EastEnders star Anita Dobson.  The entire cast and the production meld to make a great comic book to audio book adaptation.