Doctor Who Hunters Moon

Doctor Who: Hunters Moon
By Paul Finch
Narrated by Arthur Darvill

‘There's no end to the horror in this place - it's like Hell, and there are devils round every corner.’
On Leisure Platform 9 gamblers and villains mix with socialites and celebrities. It’s a place where you won’t want to win the wrong game. With Rory kidnapped by a brutal crime lord, the Doctor and Amy infiltrate a deadly contest where fugitives become the hunted. But how long before they realise the Doctor isn’t a vicious mercenary and discover what Amy is up to? It’s a game that can only end in death, and time for everyone is running out.

This Audible subscription has been good to me. All the books I have downloaded with it have been fantastic and Doctor Who: Hunters Moon is no different.
I’m not ashamed to admit that I followed the same guidelines for this as I did The Call of Cthulhu. The book already appealed to me, but I chose this particular book over others because of the narrator. In this case, it was Arthur Darvill, who plays Rory Williams in the show and Rory Williams is in my top ten favourite Doctor Who companions list.
Dear lord.

Arthur Darvill is amazingly talented. I was blown away by his ability to perform these characters as a narrator. He does loads of different accents and vocal mannerisms for the different characters and his Eleventh Doctor impression is stunningly executed. And his different voices were so different from one another, including his general narration voice, that I would forget that it was Arthur Darvill until Rory returned to the forefront of the story.

And the story was great. Sometimes the Doctor overshadows his companions or one of his companions overshadows everyone else, but this story features equal parts awesomeness for all involved. When Rory loses a bet, the TARDIS’ and his and Amy’s freedom, it is up to the Doctor to same them. But when Rory gets thrown into a game of Hunt the Human on a post-apocalyptic world with some other kidnapped humans, he holds it together and leads those who would follow to relative safety until the Doctor’s arrival. Amy is stuck as a serving slave on a mob ship, but she’s charged with rescuing the TARDIS from the hidden store rooms on the ship and does so admirably. And the Doctor, of course, binds everything together, saves the hunted humans, gets the bad guys, and in general, saves the day.

Overall, this is a brilliant story and one that I wish was an actual episode. If you’re a Who fan, I’d definitely recommend checking out this audiobook.

American Gods - Full Cast Audiobook

American Gods
by Neil Gaiman

Preferred text, full cast audiobook

I know I’ve reviewed American Gods on here before, but the tenth anniversary of the book’s publication brought forth a new edition of the book with added material. I haven’t bought the print version of this book yet, but I had an Audible credit going spare, so I grabbed the tenth anniversary, full cast edition of the audiobook.

I loved American Gods to begin with, but this audiobook sucked me right back into the world of Shadow and Mr. Wednesday. The actors are spot on with what my brain conjured up with mannerisms and vocal quirks that just feel right to me when I’m listening to them. The narrator for the main story did a superb job of filling in the spaces between dialog with all the appropriate tones and richness and Neil Gaiman’s narration for the interludes was fantastic. Not only was it great to hear him and know that he had a role in the audiobook process (some authors don’t), but it was also a subtle way of letting the listener know that those particular sections were related to the overall concept of the novel, but had little to do with the main story arc. That’s very clear in the print book, of course, but it would be harder to recognize this immediately with only one narrator in audio.

If you’re a fan of audio entertainment, you should check this book out. The acting is amazing, the sound production is fantastic, and the book itself is one of my top favourite fantasy stories ever. Of course, if you are even remotely interested, you should have a listen to a sample or a demo of the audiobook to get a feel for it.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
by Seth Grahame-Smith
Narrated by Scott Holst

Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."

"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

I’ve been trying to convince myself that I don’t need an Audible membership for a couple of years now, but that conviction crumbled not too long ago when I was at work and ran out of podcasts to listen to.

Click HERE and HERE if you have no idea how absurd that is.

Anyway, this gaping hole in my workday listening choices coupled with a preview of this audiobook on the Audible iOS app forced my hand. The next day at work I was ears deep in a fictional account of Abraham Lincoln’s life as a vampire hunter.

Firstly, the idea of this book is brilliant. I don’t know what it is about Lincoln that makes him an awesome time traveler or superhero or Chia pet or vampire hunter, but I’m ready and willing to consume any ridiculous adventure starring our 16th President.

Secondly, this book is such a brilliant mix of absurdity and actual fact, that I found myself questioning my own knowledge of history. I mean, I’m not the best person at remembering actual historical events, but I had a hard time remembering if Abe and Edgar Allen Poe had ever met in some kind of historically recognized way, for example.

Also, picture Abe Lincoln hucking an axe at a vampire. You know you can picture it. Something about that guy makes that image easy to picture. And that’s awesome.

Thirdly, props to this narrator for bringing everything to life. This guy acted his way through narrating from the present day, narrating from the past, Abe’s journal entries, letters of significance written to and from Abe, speeches by various famous historical figures, and the different voices of all major players in this story. Most of which are done in a variety of charming Southern accents, but all distinctive from each other. That is an impressive level of voice acting skill.

Fourthly, extra props to the producers of this audiobook whose music and background sound choices are a joy to discover on the second listen I’m working through now.

If you have not yet listened to an audiobook, get yourself a copy of this one. I’ve reviewed a few audiobooks on here before, but I don’t think I’ve ever been as excited to review and relisten to one as much as I have been with this one.

Imprisoned by the Pharaohs

Imprisoned by the Pharaohs and Other Stories
By HP Lovecraft
Narrated by Staten Elliot and Gareth David-Lloyd




This is another early Audible grab for me when I was playing around with podcast promo codes and discovering audio books a couple years back. Like The Call of Cthulhu, I picked this one up mainly because Gareth David-Lloyd narrates one of the stories and I tend to be an obsessive fanboy, but I did enjoy the audio book on its own merits.

Like The Call of Cthulhu, this audio book contains three stories. The first story is called Imprisoned with the Pharoahs and it’s narrated by Staten Elliot. I really liked this story. It’s probably my favourite of the bunch. It’s about a magician tourist whose boasting and arrogant sense of adventure get the better of him when he vacations in Egypt and realizes that the old magic has not yet died. It’s great look into how folks of Lovecraft’s time sort of both thought themselves above and revered the ancient secrets of Egypt and it’s delightfully creepy.

The second story The Nameless City is narrated by Gareth David-Lloyd and I don’t think I’ll ever have anything negative to say about his performances. His voice work on this story is really well done. I don’t think that this story has the same kind of chilling eeriness that the Call of Cthulhu, or even Imprisoned with the Pharaohs, has, but it is still an interesting horror story that outlines a history before history which gives power to the Egyptian mythos and is well worth a listen.

The third story, The Alchemist, narrated once more by Staten Elliot is a story I really enjoyed. It has taken me a while to really sink my teeth into it because it is unlike the other two stories and seems a little bit out of place. It’s more like a Poe story, all cursed legacies and grim halls, but with the fantastical flavour that Lovecraft excels at. It’s a brilliant story, of course, but it’s a bit jarring because it isn’t really an Egypt tale like the other two.

All in all, a good buy. It doesn’t absolutely blow my mind, but it’s an audio book that I have listened to more than once, so it’s worth having. If you like H.P. Lovecraft, horror stories, Egyptian myth, or either of the narrators’ voice work, I’d definitely recommend it. I suggest finding a preview or demo on Audible or iTunes or somewhere if you’re thinking about this one.

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories

The Call Of Cthulhu and Other Stories
by H.P. Lovecraft
Narrated by Gareth David-Lloyd and Iain Fairbairn



This is an audiobook that I’ve had for over a year now. I don’t quite remember, but it might very well be the first audiobook that I ever downloaded. Audible sponsors a handful of the podcasts I listen to and, after hearing the many praises of the Audible services, I decided to try out one of the promo codes.

Lovecraft is one of those authors whose work I am familiar with, but never sat down and read. I had wanted to for a while, but hadn’t quite managed it. And I had found out that Gareth David-Lloyd - of Torchwood fame - read one of the stories for this audiobook, so it seemed to be the only logical choice.

The book starts out with “The Hound” narrated by Iain Fairbairn. While I enjoyed the story, I was distracted by the narrator’s voice. There were times when he slurred noticeably and he mispronounced “Necrinomocon.” His narration was also kind of… flat. There is great potential with this story to get worked up into a kind of frenzy or to start out in a kind of frenzy and slowly give up hope as the story unfolds, but he did neither. It pretty much stayed the same throughout. It isn’t bad – certainly not the worst reading I’ve ever heard – but it’s not the greatest, which makes it a little disappointing.

In contrast, Gareth David-Lloyd’s reading of the title story, “The Call of Cthulhu,” is phenomenal. When the narrator is talking about sure things – about his uncle and the Louisiana inspector and all aspects of the story not about the Old Ones – his voice is calm and even and strong. Once the narrator delves into the deep, he begins reading very softly and despairingly. From what I’ve seen of his acting, Gareth is a very deliberate actor – he’s one of those people who is always doing something in the scene, even if he is not the main focus of the shot. He uses his voice in the same way with those ups and downs in his reading. But the best thing about his voice work is how he uses silence. That’s where the horror is and it’s magnificently dark and satisfying.

Especially if you listen to this wearing headphones. In a room full of people. I listened to it at work. It was chilling.

This audiobook is worth it just for that story.

But that’s not the last story. Iain Fairbairn returns for “The Festival.” I had the same problems with this story that I did with “The Hound,” so it seems that I’m not a fan of Iain Fairbairn’s reading. However, I do think that he did a more effective job of narrating the tone of this story.

So, overall, I recommend this to you all. If you are a fan of HP Lovecraft or of good old fashioned monster horror, definitely check this out. Listen to a demo of Gareth David-Lloyd’s reading if you are unsure, but his story makes this one of my most played audiobooks.

Sherlock Holmes: The Rediscovered Railway Mysteries and Other Stories

Sherlock Holmes: The Rediscovered Railway Mysteries and Other Stories
By John Taylor
Narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch

In a drawer in his bureau, Dr Watson keeps a locked cedar wood chest - a ‘box of secrets’. It contains an archive of notes referring to some of Holmes’ cases that, for one reason or another, never saw the light of day. Now, for the first time, Watson has decided to reveal the truth to the world... In these four thrilling stories, Holmes experiments with the science of ballistics, locates some missing gold bullion, investigates the theft of a large amount of money and solves the baffling mystery of the Stovey murder.

I had an accidental Audible credit (because I’m an idiot and forgot to cancel my membership after the free trial), so I figured that I might as well spend it on a Sherlock Holmes story. I’ve been on a Holmes kick for the past couple of months. I swear, the fact that Benedict Cumberbatch narrated this was just icing on the cake. I didn’t get this one just because I’m obsessed with him. I swear.

The weird thing about these stories is that I feel like I’ve read them before. I don’t know how that can be. The only non-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Holmes stories I’ve read that I can remember are The Holmes-Dracula File and A Study in Emerald, so I don’t know where I think I know these stories from, but they seemed incredibly familiar. It didn’t lessen my enjoyment at all. In fact, I enjoyed these a lot. But it was one of those things that stayed in the back of my head.

Benedict Cumberbatch, as always, knocks it out of the park with his narration. He has a different voice for every character, which is fantastic, and he manages to hit on those specific traits of Watson and Holmes with only the use of his voice. It’s amazing. His Watson voice is how you imagine Watson’s narration voice and his Holmes voice is, oddly enough, Brett-like. He makes Holmes sound so much like Brett!Holmes. It pleases me fanboy soul.

I definitely recommend this one for Holmes fans. These are stories that are well written and brilliant Holmesian mysteries and Benedict Cumberbatch is a phenomenal narrator. It’s definitely worth having a listen to.

Casanova - Audio

Casanova
By Giacomo Casanova
Narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch
Abridged






I’ll be completely honest with you here. I have never had any desire to read Casanova. I still don’t. It’s just not something I’m interested it.

Why did I listen to the abridged audiobook, then?

Because it’s narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch.

I know, I know. Hear me out, though. I downloaded this very very shortly after watching Sherlock for the first time. It was the first time I’d ever seen Cumberbatch and his acting in the role of Sherlock astounded me. I’m sure some of you have already heard that bit.

But I was incredibly impressed by his voice and how he used it when he was acting. Doubly so when he was acting as Sherlock acting.

And if you follow me on twitter, you will have seen that I finally pinned his voice down as something in the range of Alan Rickman (who we all know has a distinctive, wonderful voice) and Jack Davenport (most well known to me as Commodore James Norrington from Pirates of the Caribbean – rewatch those and listen to him speak). I remarked one day that Benedict Cumberbatch would be a perfect candidate for reading audiobooks.

A few people immediately rose to the occasion and pointed me in the direction of Casanova. I was helpless to my love of voice work and bought it immediately.

I don’t have much to say about the book itself, to be honest. It was an abridged version, as I said before, so it isn’t the entire book and I don’t even know what parts have been cut. I don’t particularly care either. I mean, it was interesting in the same way that documentaries you watch because there’s nothing else on are interesting and I was a bit excited at the prospect of the queerness of relations with the castrati who was actually female, but it turned out that she was sort of forced into the role and didn’t actually identify with it at all.

But I’ve listened to it more than once because Benedict Cumberbatch’s voice and storytelling capabilities are amazing. I was blown away by how much his voice compelled me to listen to a story I was hardly interested in. If you haven’t listened to it, I’d suggest heading over to Audible.com or iTunes or somewhere and listening to the preview.

I won’t recommend this based on the story itself, unless you enjoy this kind of story, but I definitely recommend Benedict Cumberbatch’s voice.