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Good clean silly magical fun.

Revisado: 06-26-24

Good, clean, silly magical fun.
This was a road-book for me, i.e, I used to listen to it in little chunks as I would go to and from work.

Felicia Day has long been a unique creative force, especially in the geekier realm of the entertainment world.
This time she brings to the table a passion project with a great star cast that includes Neil Gaiman, of all people, as a somewhat snarky and hilariously deadpan-ish narrator. Day leads the cast as the main character of Laurel Pettigrew, a.k.a, the loser, a.k.a., the chosen one who failed to defeat the dread Lord Tybus - a truly downtrodden shell of a person. There are also the voice talents of Sean Astin, Wil Wheaton, LilyPichu and several others as members of the formerly magical realm and they are all a blast to listen to as it really seems like the cast is having a great time with the material.

As for the story itself, I was very pleasantly surprised. The basic premise of a failed "Chosen One" is not a common trope and here it is handled quite nicely - and it is at times downright hilarious with Days almost trademark awkward character styling (which harkened back a bit, to her debut on The Guild) being a perfect fit for Laurel. Then there are her insane house mates: an insanely self-absorbed fairy/her best friend who is never any help and Frank the reclusive, bald and paunchy Vampire, the "normie" Kate who upends her world, the douche-y local enforcer (Wheaton in full form) of dread Lord Tybus' will and so many more who all seem to be both extremely well-written and perfectly cast to build on the tale.
It is an extremely well-written tale that is more than just a comedic fantasy. Over the course of the story, while we laugh and cry (with laughter), Day and her team have managed to craft a tale that also deals with the concept of fate and bucking the narrative built for your life, dealing with and growing after failure, controlling parents and learning to look at yourself through your own eyes and not the eyes of others.
I'm not sure how or if they would ever follow this up with another story set in this world and with these characters - but if they did, I would check it out for sure and regardless, this is a very solid and enjoyable adventure that is a great standalone.

If you're a fan of Felicia Day's previous projects and her style of story-telling, you also will most assuredly enjoy this newest work. From the start it felt like Audible let her have a very free hand with it all (or fate just went her way) and it all features her unique charm from start to finish.
For a comedic fantasy good time, I would highly recommend checking this out.

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Failed to make me crave success.

Revisado: 06-28-23

So does that make it a success?
I don’t know.
Dude has a fun voice and vibe that I’ve gotten used to and his stories were hilarious, painful and awkward, oddly touching and at times kinda made you think.
It was honest and I loved it.

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Nice idea, little "meh" to listen to...

Revisado: 08-16-17

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes, but more likely as a book-book than an audio book.

Was Goodnight Smartphone worth the listening time?

Probably not. Might have gotten through it more easily as a read than a listen.

Any additional comments?

Overall I liked the idea, the need to disconnect from the constant influx of data and contact has effects on us, our stress levels, our state of mind and even physiological in ways that are often unseen and not realised. So with that in mind I very much appreciate the message of this book and the way Arianna puts it across.
That said, I had the unfortunate reaction that while her voice is calm and easy enough, as a narrator her accent can be a little hard to deal with and somehow made me take what she was saying just a tad less seriously - and moments like talking about some of the ways she relaxes felt not exactly relateable to an average person, which is not her fault, being a successful person gives you means and such that someone else might not have but it would have helped to focus more on a way to make this more every-person friendly in that specific respect.
Worth checking out as a way of looking at a concept that is more and more a big part of our lives that we almost cannot function and live without in this day and age but yeah, reading it might just be easier for others like me so maybe buy the printed version instead.

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A weirdly human deja-vu

Revisado: 04-28-17

I've enjoyed Felicias work for a while now, though I'm definitely late to the party compared to fans of hers from back when the Guild started and such.
But despite what the haters say, she is both a genuine geek from what I can tell as well as a fantastic ambassador and voice for both geeks and in a way a generation heavy with geekdom.
I enjoyed her reading of this book which itself was a nice and at times harsh insight into the creative world - nothing that most of us have never heard but here it was real and oddly normal without the melodrama one often hears/sees with stories about the rise and fall of the famous and such.
As someone in India where this culture and mindset is definitely still nascent, much of her struggle and especially with regard to peoples's attitudes and the like hit home a lot. It was also a nice sober reminder and yet retained a sense of hope and patience and staying true to your vision/dreams even when they evolve that I appreciated.

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