Not typical wereperson story! Narration- wow!

This is the first book I’ve read/listened to by this author and I would listen to another in a heartbeat.
This is not a ‘let’s go get them- there, we saved the day’ kind of book. Although there is a continual progression to the story and there is always action, the actual overall story is slow moving. It because it takes place over decades. Often I wondered where the story was going because I’m so used to the fast plots, but I sure enjoyed the journey. The story covers different timelines and tangents -all of which are interwoven. Some characters had different names in different timelines so it took a bit to focus on that. I really liked the complexity.
I’m sure glad I got to listen to books 1-3 all together. I don’t know how I would have handled having to wait for the next book.

This is the first book I’ve listened to by Gwendolyn Druyor. I don’t think I have listen to a book read by the author that was as expertly done as this. Wow!! Absolutely fantastic narration, her voice acting is to the max! Voices- awesome, cadence- awesome, expression-awesome! In my opinion, she’s right up there with the likes of Jim Dale, Kelley Hazen, Rob Inglis, and Katherine Kellgren.

There are no explicit sex scenes, overly excessive violence or swearing.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Please feel free to comment on whether you found my review helpful.

Story 6 / 5
Narration 6 / 5

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Compelling series

This was a very interesting series to listen to, worth the investment in time. The pacing of the series is unsteady, slowing down when describing the dogs' lives (in plenty of first-person detail) and speeding up during confrontational scenes. If you are a dog lover, this series will definitely give you warm fuzzies! It kind of makes the audiobook cover art somewhat deceptive, since so much story time is devoted to characters other than Sher. Also, each book jumps around timelines and points-of-view, and the three books in the series have interwoven timelines as well. To complicate things further, many characters have more than one name/identity - it really keeps you on your toes, trying to remember who is who and how the different plots and timelines connect to each other. All of this, plus the fact that I didn't like Sher's personality very much (although I can understand it, given her storyline), are the reasons why I didn't give five stars.

But! I still found the story interesting and compelling, and I have no regrets about listening to it. There's a great blend of cruelty, heroism, compassion, grit, determination, brotherhood, self-sacrifice, and loyalty (and more) among the characters' behaviours and personalities. The author does an excellent job of making the world and the characters so vivid; it's easy to visualize it all as she weaves the story. She has a lovely, flowing voice that immersed me easily into the story. I increased the playback speed to suit my preference, but that didn't detract from the quality of the narration.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Great Read

The WereHuman Series: Books 1-3: Wyrdos Universe Novels was a good read by Gwendolyn Druyor. This series consists of; The Witch's Daughter, The Warrior's Son, and The Hunter's Heir. The Consortium is looking for shapeshifters and madmen to torture into super humans. Unfortunately once they catch you, you'll never get free. But if Sher and Jay find you, you've got a chance. I enjoyed this book and cant wait to read more by the author.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Witches and super soldiers and shifters, oh my!

Whew, I got bogged down by this one. Not because it was bad or slow, but because it was so freaking long. This was the first time I listened to something that was longer than a day and it definitely took dedication to keep going. A tip for other readers attempting to read a book that's over 24 hours long: Break up the book into pieces. Since this was an omnibus of three books in the series, I slipped in random books in between each WereHuman book to make it more palatable. It broke up the story enough that I could separate each book and reset for the next one.

Before I dig into this omnibus, I want to give a huge nod of appreciation for Gwendolyn Druyor. I am so impressed that not only is the author also the narrator, but she’s damn good at narrating. The singing, the voices - especially children’s voices - are all so well done. None of the characters overlapped, which often happens when you have a cast this big.

Despite the excellent narration, there were spots where the audio could have been cleaned up. Druyor would read a sentence and then go back and reread it. I realized that they were just spots that needed to be cut and hadn’t been before the audiobook was published. They are few and far between, but it’s nice to note those small inconsistencies for other listeners. These also occurred mostly in the first book.

Now onto the omnibus.

The Witch's Daughter

In WereHuman: The Witch's Daughter, we get mostly slices of life rather than a flowing story. I liked the characters; I liked the potential for the world building. I just wish it wasn’t slice of life flashes. It seemed like things needed to be fleshed out more to feel like a full story. I wanted more from Clark, Jay, and Sher, though I did enjoy seeing a nice story arc as Bailey grew up.

Overall, The Witch's Daughter wasn't bad. I was invested in it because I couldn't wait until Sher and company found out that Laylea was a shapeshifter. I also liked the parts with Trask and Walter because they came across as really sinister, though I feel like the characters could have been given more depth or background. Really, I think that was the case with all the characters. With so many snippets to keep the story moving, I don't feel like I really got to know everyone. Too many slices of life and not enough depth.

The Warrior's Son

I started out liking The Warrior's Son, the second book in this series, a lot more. Rather than the slices of life, we got more of the actual story line between Beyard and Jay. Those scenes also really expanded characters from the first book, specifically Sher and Clark. This was a vastly different Sher than the one from The Witch’s Daughter. Again, I think it’s because we’re not stuck in the slices of life and get more from each scene.

I felt like the idea of witches and shapeshifters was a lot more defined in this book than the first. In The Witch’s Daughter the author sort of tiptoed around those ideas, never really calling a spade a spade. It was all sort of kept in the shadows and not addressed, almost like the author wanted to keep it all a mystery.

The Sher we get in this book is vastly different from the one in The Witch’s Daughter. In the first book of this series, Sher comes across as standoffish and cold, keeps her cards close to her vest, and is afraid to show emotion. In The Warrior’s Son, the relationship between Sher and Clark, and Sher and Jay is clear and emotional. Sher definitely has more dimensions and depth than the Sher in the first book, though I’m not saying that that Sher was unreasonable for the book. It’s just that the two Shers are not consistent across the series so far.

Some of my favorite things about this book were the relationship between Beyard and Lt. Lazar, and Beyard’s time at the fire department. I thought his relationship with Lt. Lazar was stronger (obviously considering the years they spent together) than the one between Beyard and Jay. It left me a little confused as to who the warrior in the title might be referring to, or if it refers to both Lt. Lazar and Jay.

The Hunter's Heir

The final book in this omnibus, The Hunter's Heir, left me a little confused. I felt like I missed a book or something between The Warrior’s Son and this one. The introduction of Kyle was out of nowhere. All of a sudden we now have vampires, one who is already friends with Laylea. Add to the fact that we never got any scenes from Hard Knock's point-of-view, it left me floundering a little bit.

Nonetheless, there was plenty of action in the third book. The worldbuilding expanded. We’re introduced to the shifter world and get a better handle what kind of non-humans are living among the humans.

Now on to some nitpicking overall. I just don’t know how to categorize this collection. Because of the narrator, it often feels like a YA novel (not that she does a bad job. She’s so good at the voices that it feels more like YA). But then the perspectives are switched to an adult and it feels solidly paranormal or urban fantasy. I don’t know if reading this book would have the same feeling, but that’s definitely how it came across with the audiobook.

Something that bothered me a little more. I did find it very odd that the author continuously referred to the young canine shifters as cubs rather than pups. I mean, young wolves are called pups, so why wouldn’t young canine shifters be pups, too? Cubs are bears, tigers, lions, not canines. It just bothered me every time she used that term.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

I LOVED IT!

I absolutely loved it! This book is full of suspense, twists and turns. It caught my attention from the very beginning and held it throughout the entire book. The narration was superb and gave the story that extra flair! The author did an excellent job with the character builds and plot. I love that you get all 3 stories in one book! I have listened to Gwendolyn Druyor narrate almost all of R. A. Steffan's books so it was a nice surprise to hear a book she actually wrote. I look forward to reading more of her books. I was given a free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Interesting Shifter Book

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. The first book was a little slow. The story was so unique and unlike anything I have ever read. I loved the characters. Sher was one that grew throughout the trilogy. I loved Bay. He had a lot of personality. The narrator was awesome. I would be interested in the shifter school series by this author.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Great deal on a really good series

I had already listened to the 1st book and was excited to get the other 2. This is a really good series and I have to admit Druyor is not only a good author, but a phenomenal narrator. She conveys so much emotional inflection with all the characters. Well done!

“I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.”

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Excellent Series

I was hesitant to listen to a book written and narrated by the same person. It turns out the author is an excellent narrator. There were a few times where there was a recording error and a sentence was repeated but nothing major. The story isn't the usual alpha shifter drivel either. It is exciting and suspenseful with schemes inside schemes. I truly enjoyed the books.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Awesome read

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
Well written, interesting, and a good story/plot line. Would greatly appreciate listening to the rest of the series. Thank you.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Amazing 😍😍😍😍

The story was amazing and the narrator really brought it to life..... I was on an emotional rollercoaster.....I have to say I even cried.... The plot twist were unexpected and exciting.....I must have more

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!