undeadcow

Werewolf Comedy Opus

Revisado: 04-27-25 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Each book here builds on the last continuously featuring some great lead characters, nice pacing, humor, and action horror. I binged the collection mostly during a weekend and had a good time. Books 1-2 are excellent but I thought book 3 was a little less. All are well narrated by Scott Thomas who has a good range.

Book 1: Great stuff. Morally ambiguous thugs transport weird package, a possible werewolf. The characters are all great and elevate the material. Its well paced and filled with gorey action told on a sly comedic fashion (playing on thug morality, a witty boldy evil villain, etc). It's like a constant chase through gas stations and bowling alleys filled with neo American symbolism and bloodletting with some buddies and a big bad wolf. The characters are a great mix of scummy and principled with no shortage of banter.

Book 2: Thug comeuppance twists things a bit playing with convention to introduce a few sly jabs at tropes by adding a girl about as far from the classic villain of the first book. A Eugene character subplot is gross and weird and adds a bit unexpected. This installment builds on the first in glorious fun ways with more thugs and more baddies and more fighting but also a few characters more in the middle. Good stuff that theres more than a few gutsy plot turns.

Book 3: The last installment takes some weird risks that I dont think paid off. Here the affinity for some great characters, a strength of the series, lures the plot to jump the shark a bit. It has a larger (less myopic) story plot less concerned with the immediate chase of action horror but looking at a more social larger level. The 1st and 2nd books were great and here an attempt to revisit some of the bygone plot threads fells less exciting digging up stuff better in past installments. This one felt more aimless to me, which gave some surprises but felt like it lost the thread. As an epilogue it's a nice ease out from the great previous installments; and it breaks the mold if not maybe too much.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

One Vote for Canadian Karen

Revisado: 04-24-25 El oyente recibió este título gratis

A fun politically conscious character drama. It's casual slacker approach to politics, on behalf of the people of Walmart, is refreshing and breezy fun. The narrator is the right mix of sarcastic and chill breathing a vibe into the material often almost laughing with the stuff even making an occassional mistake. Early there is a gag where the lead as an aspiring political maverick would show her boobs to gain political traction in her youth as desired which is maybe a good summary of the tone. ODD makes some interesting observations about modern politics and presents a keen modern spin on things beyond the politics. There were times I wished it had more depth and sometimes trended toward a sort of bubble gum politics balancing character humor, sex, and a bit of philosophy. One of the highs of the book is a hangout feel with the crew here (heightened by the narration). There are a few times the details of 'direct democracy' feel over explained and redundant repeated throughout the tale or a pop culture reference is repeated. Eventually this evolves a bit into a dissection of modern politics and even society with some food for thought. The lead's sexuality is curious, she seems liberated and in control but perhaps like a female written by a man - it's fun but maybe not an entirely female voice (which could be intentional). The sexual politics here are part of what makes the book good; it's not sleazy but it owns sex in a way that is interesting and maybe unique to written form. "Bea's the kind of woman who has what men have in spades but in a feminine sort of way..." Good stuff with glossy politics, family drama, pop culture, the owls, and a modern spin of old topics.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Someone Brought a Knifeblade to a Nanobot Fight

Revisado: 04-14-25 El oyente recibió este título gratis

A nice continuation from the first offering a mote modern twist on warfare and renewing the action oriented political thriller flavor. Here there is more emphasis on weird just short of science fiction weapons as a form of field and political power. There are some strong personalities here and that gives it a nice gravity with some character moments. Overall I enjoyed it but a little less than the first book, Warmaker has a hard hitting existential bend too near the end that the first book had more of in a transparent manner earlier on (action doubling as an ethical debate). It also felt like the main bad guys here were maybe a little too cartoonish even when there were some nice twists and turns to that. Well performed.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Fighting With a Knife in the Chickenwing Stop

Revisado: 04-05-25 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Grave biological warfare standoff in a sort of small scale civil war of between commando style military cartoons. Its the right mix of bravado, social commentary, combat, and political context. The voice acting is good with a deep overly serious military style vibe that is a little corny but engaging and the narrator shows decent range with dialects and characters. The plot has a neat violent military feel paired with a unique weapon that suggests horror tropes. It often works but sometimes flirts with being monotonous. Overall I really liked FNG and am looking forward to the sequel.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Doom, gym, and brains

Revisado: 04-01-25 El oyente recibió este título gratis

A horror spin on nostalgia and death. I enjoyed the urban feel here at time feeling like kids on the block versus creatures set in places like a gym. Some segments told somewhat from the zombie mom's point of view offer a fresh take on the genre. There are some gut punching and dark twist in the last half that offer surprises. Elements of this feel routine enough and I cant really say this is too different than other zombie books but the family element felt more emotional. There is a medical element that feels too tidy but also makes the book feel metaphorical. The narration is well performed.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

I am with the ornery S.O.B.

Revisado: 03-31-25 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Exotic brand of pulpy campy adventure. It was easy to get immersed into the jungle riverboat vibe here. The narrator has a casual sort of scholarly vibe that works well with the low key scifi research basis for the material here. It sometimes gets a little campy, overexplaining it's premise or interjecting villains but that felt like part of the cartoonish charm. Its a book that doesnt take itself too seriously or overstay. The twisted nature theme here had a good blend of surrealism and commonplace (we can all imagine a snake so the Titanoboa is both far out and something easily pictured). This book is a pile of soda cans and snack wrappers littering a research facilities; junk food and just the right about of speculative fiction.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Weep For the Bedbugs

Revisado: 03-28-25 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Dread is a fit name here with tales that have a neat pg13 style uneasiness with any scares focused on mood, buildup, or weirdness rather than gorey, extremes, or profanity. None of the stories overstay with one as little as under two minutes and the longest (final one) being 37 minutes. One of my favorite stories is about pizza and another (the lead) about an unusual grief. A lot of the stories have nature themes with cryptozology fiends, 'the Australia incident,' weird bug swarms, and other creature feature vibe oddities. In fact the outdoorsy theme gives a sense of continuity across stories even when they are unconnected as if peering into the evil of life itself behind the trees. This imagery/fiend oriented approach to horror requires some creativity which ranges from a story with a cryptic ending left to imagination to deliciously weird creatures (ten of them suddenly become twenty, etc). There were some stories that felt too soft and fizzled out - with for example a lot of (nice) drawn out buildup to end on a musing indefinite note but the pacing is good and there are more wins than lulls. [Note received a free copy for honest review]

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Its All Romance And Broken People Until Someone Dies

Revisado: 03-25-25 El oyente recibió este título gratis

A character drama murder mystery. It's got a soap opera esque series of twists, romance subplots, and gradients of wrong doing. The text doesnt keep much enshadowed in mystery for too long and might tip it's hand a bit early in some ways but there are layers of plot that keep it interesting. Our story is told from the perspective of a lady cop haunted by an unsolved case in the past and another in present leading to some struggling with her sense of identity, a wounded heroine. The audiobook narrator is a confident seeming lady that fits the persona of the lead well. There were times I felt frustrated that the plot would focus on a romance subplot but it gave some emphasis to a relatable human neediness and vulnerability adjacent to the bloody murder. The book has a relatively small cast of main characters and does a lot within their little shared universe but it sometimes felt too constrained. The murder book microcosm both allowed the characters space to fill without a lot of tangents and filler but sometimes made them feel too related to one another, the broken-ness of nearly everyone here sometimes too intertwined. My favorite parts were the lead character's grief over Jill's unsolved case and my least favorite parts were the villain's sometimes unclear motives. Overall I enjoyed Fragments of Truth. (Reviewer received a free copy for honest review)

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Gorey Campfire Stuff

Revisado: 03-20-25 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Macabra sketches with weird stuff not afraid of gore; much better than I expected. Some of the stories felt under developed but overall well told with a campfire story vibe. There are unusual creatures that get introduced and fade out in some stories and in others a lingering teasing buildup. A few have a military vibe that feels authentic include one about a watch that was my favorite tale. The narrator worked better than I expected with a grandfatherly almost kermit sound but who took on characters well. If anything stories tended to be too short and not overstay and the variety of tales is nice. (Reviewer received a free book for honest review)⁰

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Casual Modern Pulp

Revisado: 03-20-25 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Light horror goosebumps style with a surfer dude style narrator and modern sensibilities. At first I was disappointed the scares weren't more 'extreme' and that the narrator's casual tone lacked gravity. Eventually I was able to best enjoy the stories as cartoonish pop culture references with a bit of macabra to them. The narrator's vibe fits the 'saturday morning scares' feel of the shorts and they inter splice occasional other voices that work well. This isnt to say there's not a bit of gore and total weirdness between Star Wars and Redbox references. (Reviewer received a free book for an honest review).

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña