Phillip Frangules

Great story and performance, unnecessary sound effects

Revisado: 02-26-25

‘The Witch’ is a great Roald Dahl story. Dahl was never afraid to go dark for his children’s’ books and this novel’s premise — witches seeking to murder kids — was one of his darkest.

Miranda Richardson does a good job reading the story and acting out the different characters. There has been some criticism about how she reads for the Grand High Witch (she does a bit of screaming) and while I see where they’re coming from it wasn’t too bad. The character only appears in a few chapters regardless.

One issue I had was the use of sound effects throughout the story. They aren’t overwhelming but they are unnecessary and even distracting at times. The stock audio of a woman screaming is particularly annoying.

Caveats aside this is a great novel with a strong performance from the narrator.

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Creepy, grisly haunted house story

Revisado: 01-29-25 El oyente recibió este título gratis

'Something Truly Dreadful' is a story about a group of friends who visit a haunted house attraction geared for kids. We are told at the start that none of them were heard from again so we know that things won't turn out well for them.

Overall I found this to be a creepy story. There's an element of found footage present (we are given descriptions of grisly photographs discovered afterwards) which gives the story a sense of foreboding that it might not have otherwise had. There's a variety of scares and it can get surprisingly gruesome at times; the story isn't recommended if you have a phobia of dentists.

The narrator does a good job reading the story and delivering the right amount of emotion and variations with the characters' voices. At less than two hours it's short enough that you can listen to it one sitting.

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Effective Southern Gothic vampire story

Revisado: 10-12-22 El oyente recibió este título gratis

I enjoyed this story. ‘Blood Kin’ is a well-written vampire story that fans of the genre will get a kick out of. Josiah Craven stands out as fun and sinister villain. Also included is a bonus story that serves as a prequel.

Gary Noon is a solid narrator with the right amount of twang the story requires.

I would also recommend ‘Fear’ by this author.

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Dark and disturbing

Revisado: 08-25-22

I'm not entirely sure if I would classify this as a horror story but it is very dark and messed up. If you're familiar with the work of Jack Ketchum you should have an idea of what to expect. I found the use of body horror in regards to plastic surgery to be particularly effective and there are a few scenes that are genuinely shocking,

Jessica Saxon is a very good narrator for the story. She fits the main character and she is able to do other characters' voices without overacting.

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Fantastic reading from Hall

Revisado: 08-08-18

'Pet Sematary' is one of Stephen King's scariest and most downbeat novels. You can take that as a recommendation or a warning. It goes to enough dark places that King himself almost didn't publish it.

While I've always liked Michael C. Hall as an actor, this was the first time I listened to him reading a book. He does a fantastic job at bringing King's narrative to life. His performance of Jud Crandall in particular is a revelation as he's almost unrecognizable yet still comes off as completely natural.

As far as Stephen King audiobooks go, this is in my opinion of the best read since Steven Weber's rendition of 'It'. I give it my highest recommendations.

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A step down from the first

Revisado: 03-06-18

I found 'X-Files: Cold Cases' to be an enjoyable if flawed experience. 'Stolen Lives' in comparison is a bit of a let-down.

As with the first one, these are adaptations of the 'X-Files: Season Ten' comics from IDW. These were stories that were intended to continue the series after the original finale and were relegated to non-canon when the actual series revival premiered.

While I admire that these episodes still use the show's original mythology (as opposed to the series revival which jettisoned years of continuity as being a smokescreen to a larger conspiracy) I found the overall story to be rather disappointing and derivative of the original series. 'Cold Cases' had some fanservice with callbacks to Flukeman, Krycek and the Black Oil but here we just have some forgettable 'Monster of the Week' stories and government conspiracy stories. I haven't read the comics so maybe they work better in a visual format.

Performance-wise, I feel it's a repeat of the first volume in that Duchovny and Anderson both deliver decent enough performances that nonetheless don't work that well as audio only. The best performance once again comes from William B. Davis but he's underutilized this time around. There's a wasted opportunity with the return of a fairly popular character not being voiced by the original actor. The other actors who weren't on the show range from standard to pretty bad (the new 'Big Bad' for example chews the scenery to an embarrassing extent). There are also some distracting audio effects that I could have done without.

If you really liked 'Cold Cases' or are a die-hard X-Phile I would maybe recommend this, if you're at all on the fence I would suggest you either give this a pass or wait until its on sale.

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Classic horror

Revisado: 11-29-17

'The King in Yellow' is arguably one of the most important pieces of twentieth century horror, going on to inspire writers such as H.P. Lovecraft. The first four stories are the ones that deal with the genre and display a level of cosmic horror and existential dread (via a play whose second act drives the reader to madness) that Lovecraft would later use in his stories. The highlight for me was 'The Yellow Sign' which I found to be genuinely scary. The others are of different genres ranging from war to romance but you might as well check then out.

This audiobook is a great way to experience the story either for the first time or for revisiting it. The narrators give a strong performance without over or under performing (something that's taken for granted until you listen to someone who reads like they're reading the phonebook) making it an easy listen that's never boring. The level of dread is conveyed excellently throughout.

If you're a fan of early horror literature or want a better understanding of the genre's history you should definitely check this out.

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The truth is somewhere

Revisado: 08-07-17

'The X-Files: Cold Cases' is, like the show itself, a well-made if flawed experience.

One issue is that it is marketed 'providing additional backstory to the incidents that pulled Mulder and Scully out of reclusion prior to 2016's miniseries revival' This is not true. These are based off of IDW's 'X-Files: Season 10' comics from 2013. At the time the series was considered over and the comics were officially sanctioned canon. Of course in 2016 we actually got the tenth season on television and the continuity established in the comics was ignored. In other words these stories are to 'X-Files' as the Expanded Universe was to 'Star Wars'; they no longer matter. I suppose it's a matter of perspective how big a deal this is but at minimum I imagine anyone expecting this to tie in with the 2016 revival will be greatly confused given how the two don't match up at all.

The stories aren't bad they come off as fanfic at times (which I suppose they are) with all the callbacks, fanservice and resurrected characters popping up out of the woodwork.

Given how comics and television shows are a visual medium not everything translates that well. For example, something as gross as Flukeman really needs to be seen; creature noises don't cut it. Occasionally sound effects (such as voices deepening when they are 'possessed' by aliens) are unnecessary and detract from the performances. There's also a lot of describing what is going on here, moreso than I expected.

The highlight for many will undoubtedly be the return of the core cast. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson both give expectedly good performances but at the same time the characters' understated nature doesn't translate as well with just their voices. William B. Davis in my opinion gave the best performance; his voice is both charismatic and downright sinister and I think he'd make for a great audiobook performer elsewhere.

My review comes off more negative than I planned; I did enjoy listening to the adventures of Mulder and Scully quite a bit. If you can get past the inherent limitations of the format and the incompatible canon of the stories themselves you should give it a shot.

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Tries to fix what wasn't broken

Revisado: 07-01-17

There are two versions of 'The Bad Beginning'. The first was done in its entirety by Tim Curry. The second, which is the only version available on Audible, retains Curry's narration but replaces the dialogue with different actors as well as adding sound effects throughout. This was a mistake.

Tim Curry was a perfect narrator in the original book. There are some audiobooks that benefit from full-cast recordings but this is not one of them. Much of Curry's charm is lost in the omission. I might have forgiven this if they had kept Curry's Count Olaf; his performance as the sinister villain is in my opinion the definitive take on the character (it's a shame he was never able to portray the Count in live-action). Unfortunately, not only was Olaf 'recast' but whoever replaced him was not nearly as good.

In addition I found the sound effects are unnecessary. If they had done it sparingly it might have been a nice addition but they are frequently used and become distracting. When I'm listening to an audiobook I don't need to hear a wailing baby in the background.

Unfortunately, as stated before, the original recording is not available to purchase on Audible but if you are able to seek it out you should definitely listen to it.

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Hilarious and twisted story

Revisado: 05-29-17

'Dog Walker' is about a pet care specialist named Ben who is hired to walk a Shiba Inu named Toby. Unbeknownst to him, Toby is also a inugami, an immortal demon born in feudal Japan. To make matters worse, a dangerous cult wants to use Toby for their own nefarious purposes.

What I liked about the story is it manages to be hilarious without turning into a farce. The stakes feel real and there's some genuine drama and pathos. I think this could easily make for a great horror-comedy film in the hands of someone like James Gunn.

Travis Baldree does a good job narrating the story. His default voice is perfect for the everyman protagonist but he also manages to deliver a number of other convincing voices, with the Japanese luchadora stealing the show.

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