Swift to Chase
A Collection of Stories
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Narrated by:
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Karin Allers
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By:
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Laird Barron
About this listen
Introduction by Paul Tremblay.
Publishers Weekly top 10 list for most anticipated horror/sci-fi fall 2016 releases.
Laird Barron’s fourth collection gathers a dozen stories set against the backdrops of the Alaskan wilderness, far-future dystopias, and giallo-fueled nightmare vistas.
All hell breaks loose in a massive apartment complex when a modern day Jack the Ripper strikes under cover of a blizzard; a woman, famous for surviving a massacre, hits the road to flee the limelight and finds her misadventures have only begun; while tracking a missing B-movie actor, a team of man hunters crashes in the Yukon Delta and soon realize the Arctic is another name for hell; an atomic-powered cyborg war dog loyally assists his master in the overthrow of a far-future dystopian empire; following an occult initiation ritual, a man is stalked by a psychopathic sorority girl and her team of horrifically disfigured henchmen; a rich lunatic invites several high school classmates to his mansion for a night of sex, drugs, and CIA-funded black ops experiments; and other glimpses into occulted realities a razor’s slice beyond our own.
Combining hard-boiled noir, psychological horror, and the occult, Swift to Chase continues three-time Shirley Jackson Award winner Barron’s harrowing inquiry into the darkness of the human heart.
©2016 Laird Barron (P)2018 Journalstone PublishingListeners also enjoyed...
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In AD 1119, a group of nine crusaders became known as the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon - a militant monastic order charged with protecting pilgrims and caravans traveling on the roads to and from the Holy Land. In time, the Knights Templar would grow in power and, ultimately, be laid low. But a small offshoot of the Templars endure and have returned to the order's original mission: to defend the roads of the world and guard those who travel on them.
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Epic Battle Brewing
- By Doug D. Eigsti on 03-29-16
By: R. S. Belcher
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Krampus
- The Yule Lord
- By: Brom
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 16 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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One Christmas Eve in a small hollow in Boone County, West Virginia, struggling songwriter Jesse Walker witnesses a strange spectacle: seven devilish figures chasing a man in a red suit toward a sleigh and eight reindeer. When the reindeer leap skyward, taking the sleigh, devil men, and Santa into the clouds, screams follow. Moments later, a large sack plummets back to earth, a magical sack that thrusts the down-on-his-luck singer into the clutches of the terrifying Yule Lord, Krampus.
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5 stars
- By colleen on 11-17-12
By: Brom
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Undertaker's Moon
- By: Ronald Kelly
- Narrated by: J. Rodney Turner
- Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The rural town of Old Hickory. Tennessee was a quiet, picturesque community...until the O'Sheas came to town. Becoming the new proprietors of the town's only funeral parlor, with the help of their charming patriarch, Square McManus, the Irish family was wholeheartedly accepted by the local town folk. The thing began to happen. Strange things...horrible, unspeakable things...in the dead of night. The sighting of wolfish beasts congregating around an open grave in the town cemetery.
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good story but
- By simon lucas on 02-19-20
By: Ronald Kelly
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Blood Oranges
- A Siobhan Quinn Novel
- By: Kathleen Tierney
- Narrated by: Amber Benson
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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My name's Quinn. If you buy into my reputation, I'm the most notorious demon hunter in New England. But rumors of my badassery have been slightly exaggerated. Instead of having kung-fu skills and a closet full of medieval weapons, I'm an ex-junkie with a talent for being in the wrong place at the right time. Or the right place at the wrong time. Or…whatever. Wanted for crimes against inhumanity I (mostly) didn't commit, I was nearly a midnight snack for a werewolf until I was "saved" by a vampire calling itself the Bride of Quiet.
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Great Narration, Subpar Book
- By Mel Thomas on 12-17-14
By: Kathleen Tierney
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John Dies at the End
- By: David Wong
- Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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STOP. You should not have touched this flyer with your bare hands. NO, don't put it down. It's too late. They're watching you. My name is David Wong. My best friend is John. Those names are fake. You might want to change yours. You may not want to know about the things you'll read on these pages, about the sauce, about Korrok, about the invasion, and the future. But it's too late. You touched the book. You're in the game. You're under the eye. The only defense is knowledge. You need to read this book, to the end. Even the part with the bratwurst. Why?
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Vulgar Funny. 4.95 Sale Win.
- By C Yohe on 11-19-12
By: David Wong
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Carniepunk
- By: Rachel Caine, Rob Thurman, Kevin Hearne, and others
- Narrated by: Candace Thaxton, Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Come one, come all! The Carniepunk Midway promises you every thrill and chill a traveling carnival can provide. But fear not! Urban fantasy's biggest stars are here to guide you through this strange and dangerous world....
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Its A Separate 14 Short Stories
- By Hassan on 07-27-13
By: Rachel Caine, and others
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Ghost Road Blues
- The Pine Deep Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Jonathan Maberry
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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The cozy little town of Pine Deep buried the horrors of its past a long time ago. Thirty years have gone by since the darkness descended and the Black Harvest began, a time when a serial killer sheared a bloody swath through the quiet Pennsylvania village. The evil that once coursed through Pine Deep has been replaced by cheerful tourists getting ready to enjoy the country’s largest Halloween celebration in what is now called “The Spookiest Town in America.”
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Love Joe Ledger Series? Avoid This Trainwreck.
- By Kathleen on 10-21-13
By: Jonathan Maberry
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The Marnie Baranuik Files
- Marnie Baranuik Files Series, Omnibus One
- By: A.J. Aalto
- Narrated by: Amy McFadden
- Length: 56 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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For decades, Marnie Baranuik has been the vigilant but often frustrated daytime guardian for Lord Harry Dreppenstedt, undead aristocrat and all around sass-mouth. As a DaySitter, witch, and psychic detective working closely with the Preternatural Crimes Unit of the FBI, Marnie battles a wild assortment of crimes and monsters, but none so formidable as her own flaws and the poor judgement of her heart.
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Read & Listened & Love them All!
- By CW on 03-03-22
By: A.J. Aalto
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Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse
- By: Victor Gischler
- Narrated by: Scott Sowers
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Edgar Award nominee Victor Gischler “specializes in morbid humor, dark sarcasm, and comic noir, complete with violence and mayhem” ( Library Journal). Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse picks up 10 years after the end of the world. Former insurance salesman Mortimer Tate leaves his secluded cabin and discovers a desolate landscape complete with cowboys, bandits, and cannibals, where the only traces of civilization are found at Joey Armageddon’s Sassy-a-Go-Go club.
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Post-apocalypse with a touch of old west thrown in
- By Michelle on 04-17-12
By: Victor Gischler
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Lie in Wait
- By: Eric Rickstad
- Narrated by: Amy Landon
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In the remote, pastoral hamlet of Canaan, Vermont, a high-profile legal case shatters the town's sense of peace and community. Anger simmers. Fear and prejudice awaken. Old friends turn on each other. Violence threatens. So when a young teenage girl is savagely murdered while babysitting at the house of the lead attorney in the case, Detective Sonja Test believes the girl's murder and the divisive case must be linked.
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Not a Good Story or Characters
- By L. O. Pardue on 09-12-15
By: Eric Rickstad
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Vampires in the Lemon Grove
- Stories
- By: Karen Russell
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, Joy Osmanski, Kaleo Griffith, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In the collection's marvelous title story, two aging vampires in a sun-drenched Italian lemon grove find their hundred-year marriage tested when one of them develops a fear of flying. In "The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach, 1979", a dejected teenager discovers that the universe is communicating with him through talismanic objects left in a seagull's nest. "Proving Up" and "The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis" find Russell veering into more sinister territory.
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Stylish modern magic realism
- By Ryan on 04-10-13
By: Karen Russell
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Not happy. Beautiful.
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Brothers Macbeth and Drederick Tooms should have it made as fair-haired scions of an impossibly rich and powerful family of industrialists. Alas, life is complicated in mid-1950s USA when you're child heirs to the throne of Sword Enterprises, a corporation that has enshrined Machiavelli's The Prince as its operating manual. Consider also those long, cruel winters at the Mountain Leopard Boarding School for Assassins in the Himalayas, or that Dad may be a supervillain, while an uncle occasionally slaughters his nephews and nieces for sport.
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Signature dark crazy nastiness plus fun
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Isaiah Coleridge is a mob enforcer in Alaska - he's tough, seen a lot, and dished out more. But when he forcibly ends the money-making scheme of a made man, he gets in the kind of trouble that can lead to a bullet behind the ear. Saved by the grace of his boss and exiled to upstate New York, Isaiah begins a new life, a quiet life without gunshots or explosions. Except a teenage girl disappears, and Isaiah isn't one to let that slip by. And delving into the underworld to track this missing girl will get him exactly the kind of notice he was warned to avoid.
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Decent First Foray into Crime Fiction for Barron
- By Ross on 06-19-18
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Strange things exist on the periphery of our existence, haunting us from the darkness looming beyond our firelight. Black magic, weird cults, and worse things loom in the shadows. The Children of Old Leech have been with us from time immemorial. And they love us.... Donald Miller, geologist and academic, has walked along the edge of a chasm for most of his nearly 80 years, leading a charmed life between endearing absent-mindedness and sanity-shattering realization. Now, all things must converge.
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Great Writer - Good story - VERY Wrong Reader,
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Frustrating and unsatisfying
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Isaiah Coleridge is a mob enforcer in Alaska - he's tough, seen a lot, and dished out more. But when he forcibly ends the money-making scheme of a made man, he gets in the kind of trouble that can lead to a bullet behind the ear. Saved by the grace of his boss and exiled to upstate New York, Isaiah begins a new life, a quiet life without gunshots or explosions. Except a teenage girl disappears, and Isaiah isn't one to let that slip by. And delving into the underworld to track this missing girl will get him exactly the kind of notice he was warned to avoid.
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On his 59th birthday, Tyson Parks—a famous, but struggling, horror writer—receives an ornate antiquarian desk in the hopes it will rekindle his creative juices. Perhaps inspire him to write another best-selling book and prove his best years aren’t behind him… As Tyson begins to use the new desk, he finds himself writing copy at an unfathomable speed, becomes so focused on writing that he binges on all-night, all-day sessions that take a serious physical and psychological toll. Soon, Tyson begins acting strange. Violent.
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Vile
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Man with No Name
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Nanashi was born into a life of violence. Delivered from the mean streets by the Heron Clan, he mastered the way of the gun and knife and swiftly ascended through yakuza ranks to become a dreaded enforcer. His latest task? He and an entourage of expert killers are commanded to kidnap Muzaki, a retired world-renowned wrestler under protection of the rival Dragon Syndicate. It should be business as bloody usual for Nanashi and his ruthless brothers-in-arms.
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I like this
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By: Laird Barron
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The Reddening
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Lifestyle journalist Katrine escaped past traumas by moving to a coast renowned for seaside holidays and natural beauty. But when a vast hoard of human remains and prehistoric artifacts is discovered in nearby Brickburgh, a hideous shadow engulfs her life. Helene, a disillusioned lone parent, lost her brother, Lincoln, six years ago. Disturbing subterranean noises he recorded prior to vanishing, draw her to Brickburgh's caves. A site where early humans butchered each other across 60,000 years. Upon the walls, images of their nameless gods remain.
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Wrong Narrator
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Noctuary and the Spectral Link
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Chiroptera Press presents Noctuary & The Spectral Link by the legendary Thomas Ligotti, a consolidated volume of two horror collections, back in print after over a decade.
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Excellent audio book of a classic!
- By Karl Haikara on 08-03-24
By: Thomas Ligotti
What listeners say about Swift to Chase
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- david
- 05-20-20
Poor Narration
I just can't get past the monotonous narration of this audiobook. Barron writes excellent fiction, I have listened to his stories in Ellen Datlow's series Best Horror of the Year and wanted to try his full collections out. I think this would be a good read, but these are loosely connected stories and I literally can't keep track of where we are occasionally because the narrator is so one-note emotionally. It's all read dry and deadpan. I'm going to pick up the ebook and perhaps revisit this to update the story review specifically, normally Barron's stories would earn 5 stars from me. But this production makes it hard to feel the shape of everything. I wonder if that was the voice direction, to execute it like it was being read to you as if in a room by a friend? Regardless, they really missed the mark.
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- Ryan P.
- 10-22-20
good story. worth a few listens
I've seen people give bad reviews to the reader and I halfway agree. Monotonous tone but it wasn't inappropriate for the tone of the book. I've heard worse reader on Barron's stories unfortunately
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- guitarplayer
- 01-16-21
Engaging short stories that tie into one another
This is another wonderful shot of crazy from laird Barron . The narrator is extremely good at pulling you into not the story.
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- Anonymous User
- 04-19-24
flat narration
overall I enjoyed it but the narration felt flat at times and really let the air out of some otherwise hair-raising scenes.
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- Mister Trope
- 03-26-20
Poor Narration
I'm not sure I can get through this book with narration this bad, and I love Laird Barron's work. I listen to books while I'm doing daily tasks. I have attention deficit. Therefore, it's important that the narration keep my attention. Why the reading is done so poorly is baffling to me. I lost the thread of whole stories due to Karin Allers's clear, but flat and monotonous reading. She doesn't act out the characters, she never changes cadence or tone. After a while, you know, word-for-word, tone-for-tone, what her inflection will be, so you stop listening. Judging by her consistency and tone quality, she's perfectly able to read this better. Presumably, the producers of the collection (and perhaps the author himself) must've listened to this and pronounced it okay.. Therefore, the only likely explanation I have is she was instructed to read it exactly this way. Why? It's a major artistic blunder. Instead, narrate Barron's stories the way they were read in "The Imago Sequence," or in Ellen Datlow's best horror volumes. If I ever finish this book, I'll revise this review.
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8 people found this helpful
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- writing.reader
- 05-17-20
Laird Barron’s 4th Short Story Collection Delivers
In the last ~20 years, Laird Barron has been the most significant, iconic, and downright impressive writer operating within the (until recently) narrow confines of the literary Horror genre. In the first 10 years of the 21st century, Barron had already published two short story collections – both of which won the Shirley Jackson Award for best single author collection – as well as two novels, (The Light Is The Darkness & The Croning; the latter being nominated for its own share of awards, mind).
In his first two collections, (The Imago Sequence & Occultation), Laird Barron created his own Mythos and it’s important to recognize how truely unique it is to see these days – much less to see it done so masterfully, again something that Barron has somehow accomplished so well he makes it seem easy. The overwhelming of majority of burgeoning writers with a heap of potential & promise never even attempt to create their own fictionaly playground; sadly, many a talented writer is all too content to play it safe by instead writing their stories to work – if not directly within the Lovecraftian Mythos, then at least tangentially – by including a few winks & elbow nudges to the ever-present (and always insufferable) readers who, for reasons beyond my understanding, still think that H.P.L. is the “end all be all” authority on Horror fiction. Putting aside the fact that, yes, there are of course a bunch of people who would say that Stephen King is more influential in terms of 20th century Horror authors, King never has once been considered a Horror writer – he’s a mainstream author, like Dean Koontz or Dan Brown, who had a lot of success from film adaptations in the 70’s and 80’s of his earlier work that veered into the Horror, but King is always most comfortable when he’s firmly rooted in the fantastical...(and, uh, lots of drugs, and apparently no interest in writing fulfilling resolutions to his stories, but I digress...).
So it’s the 21st century. Enter Laird Barron. It’s about 2002 and his short story, “Shiva, Open Your Eye,” hits the interweb forums and is nominated for every award under the sun. Notable editors of the genre like Gordan Van Gelder, Ellen Datlow, and Stephen Jones all turn their heads and take notice. In every subsequent year since, a new Barron story was featured in at least one of Datlow’s annually curated Horror anthologies, and the at-the-time-new-publishing-company “Nightshade” releases “The Imago Sequence,” in 2007 and “Occultation” in 2010. By then, the literary horror community from writers to editors to readers have all taken notice, and when his third collection, “The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All,” hits the shelves, any discussion regarding who the heir apparent to literary Horror would be was rendered immediately moot: Who else could even come close?
So if you’re scouting this fourth collection from Laird Barron as a prospective customer, you at least know his name, and you should be very familiar with his published works – otherwise you’re sorely missing out. Let me get this out of the way though: Yes, SWIFT TO CHASE does not stay firmly under a single dark cloud of horror the way his previous collections do. Instead, Barron has cleverly constructed new stories that pack the same amount of dread & cosmic horror, but he’s also evolved quite strongly such that he’s now capable of springing his traps for the reader and before you’re able to realize you’re firmly invested & ensared in these tales, he’s already fled the scene and it’s your job to pick up the pieces. Barron’s collections have always been discussive by design; The Imago Sequence being one of my favorite to re-visit for its self-reflexive qualities alone. There’s a lot of rewarding Easter eggs to be found if you want to put in the work, but if not, his stories are always entertaining without even considering the supplimental materials bleeding through the edges of the page.
So regardless of whatever blurb you’ve read by S.T. Joshi, (a well-established academic who – quite literally – worships at the alter of Howard Lovecraft’s 100+ year old fantasy stories where the monsters are people from other ethnic backgrounds or cultures), Laird Barron IS the big deal that you’ve been hearing about. But hey, don’t take it just from me: T.E.D. Klein, Peter Straub, Clive Barker, Ramsey Campbell, Thomas Ligotti, Glen Hirshberg, Joe Hill, Gemma Files, Caitlín R. Kiernan, and many more have all said it.
“Out there is a relative term; it’s closer than you might think. Oh my, the great Dark is only as far away as your closet when you kill the light...as your reflection when it thinks you aren’t looking. Bye bye, and see you soon!”
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3 people found this helpful
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- Janel
- 06-17-19
Variety of voices with no character
I adore Laird Barons stories and this collection, but the voice actor was very disappointing. While she can do a range of accents and genders woth out feeling forced, the lack of emotion makes it hard to enjoy a story or feel any connection to a character. She reads a character's reaction to being attacked by a monster with the same monotony as listing a grocery list.
Read the stories yourself or wait until it's narrated by someone else.
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5 people found this helpful
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- brandon geisler
- 12-10-21
awesome
another great addition, laird barron never disappoints. vary trippy and thought provoking if you're into it.
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- Merricat
- 01-02-23
Great story, dud narrator
The story was interesting and engaging. I wish I could have focused on it more. Unfortunately the narrator has ONE voice, one tone and no definition between characters. Everyone sounds exactly the same, and it's all told from a 1st person perspective. It's very difficult to follow dialogue and story progression.
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- Jrinaldi
- 07-10-21
Surprisingly bad
Love the prior three large barons collection of stories unfortunately this one was horrendous and a chore to listen to first problem was the narrator was horrible could not deal with her inflection of voice I just could not get into any other stories due to her to be honest couldn’t even tell if any of the stores were halfway decent because of that barrier she was that bad not very versatile. And her voice inflection was horrible please do not let her narrate horror stories ever again
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3 people found this helpful