Geekomancy

By: Michael R. Underwood

Narrated by: Julia Farhat

Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Clerks meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this original urban fantasy book about Geekomancers - humans that derive supernatural powers from pop culture.

Ree Reyes’s life was easier when all she had to worry about was scraping together tips from her gig as a barista and comic shop slave to pursue her ambitions as a screenwriter.

When a scruffy-looking guy storms into the shop looking for a comic like his life depends on it, Ree writes it off as just another day in the land of the geeks. Until a gigantic “BOOM!” echoes from the alley a minute later, and Ree follows the rabbit hole down into her town’s magical flip-side. Here, astral cowboy hackers fight trolls, rubber-suited werewolves, and elegant Gothic Lolita witches while wielding nostalgia-powered props.

Ree joins Eastwood (aka Scruffy Guy), investigating a mysterious string of teen suicides as she tries to recover from her own drag-your-heart-through-jagged-glass breakup. But as she digs deeper, Ree discovers Eastwood may not be the knight-in-cardboard armor she thought. Will Ree be able to stop the suicides, save Eastwood from himself, and somehow keep her job?

©2012 Michael R. Underwood (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Fun story, good narrator, poor audio

This story is a lot of fun but marred by poor audio that makes it hard to listen to. The narrator reads well, but it sounds like the recording was made with poor quality equipment. It sounds more like an amateur podcast than something recorded in a professional studio.

Lsten to the narration b4 you buy

Where does Geekomancy rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Mainly, the audio quality. I don't know if it is the mixing of the recording, or the narrator. Every time she says "Ree", it is annoyingly loud and treble enhanced, and unpleasantly loud in a grates on my nerves way. It's like any bass or mid-level tones were filtered out, and recorded with a flat filter. I really like the series (I listened to the 2nd book first, and really liked it). So sample before you buy, is my best advice.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Geekomancy?

the name "REE" being blasted at me.

What aspect of Julia Farhat’s performance would you have changed?

The equalizer settings.

Any additional comments?

No, I don't want to dissuade anyone from giving this book a chance.

Good story, shitting shit narration.

Would not listen to another book read by this narrator. was really hard to hear sometimes and voice could be grating at moments.

Narrators voice made me grit my teeth

What did you love best about Geekomancy?

The story, it's a good story

Who was your favorite character and why?

Ree. Obviously she's the primary character...but she's fun, witty, sexy, sweet, and something that every nerd wishes the girls he built up the courage to talk to would turn out to be.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Julia Farhat?

Anyone. Her pitch was just at that level that felt like nails on a chalkboard

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Nope

Any additional comments?

Nope

Couldn't finish it. The audio was unbearable.

Would you try another book from Michael R. Underwood and/or Julia Farhat?

Maybe from the author but I would have to listen to a sample first.

How could the performance have been better?

I can't imagine that the reader was the whole problem. This has to be an issue with the audio. The tone was high-pitched and sounded like it was recorded inside a box. The sound level kept changing, too.

all the geek joy

starts out a little rough but really picks up steam as it goes. looking forward to reading the sequels

Geek Heaven

Where does Geekomancy rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

On par with Ernest Cline's Ready Player One and Armada, Geekomancy is easily one of my favorite ultra-geeky books!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Geekomancy?

Start to finish, this is a fun, action packed book, but if I were to pick a favorite moment ti would probably be when Ree is learning what she can do and channels the BBC's Sherlock Holmes. The sheer coolness factor coupled with Underwood's quirky writing kept me smiling despite Ree's serious circumstances at the time.

What aspect of Julia Farhat’s performance would you have changed?

Julia Farhat has a lovely voice but reads with a distracting cadence that would sometimes pull me out of the story. Still, it was not distracting enough to deter me from the story and is still well worth listening to.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Awesome concept, but buy in print.

The concept for this book is awesome - pure geekery and tons of fun. It is a light read - nothing too deep or complicated - and one has to remember that when some parts of the plot seem illogical. The many references to geek culture and favourites (such as Firefly) are awesome.

I cannot, however, under any circumstances, recommend the narrator. I'm not sure whether the narrator had a head-cold or whether the recording was just terrible in the beginning chapters. While the audio became crisper later on, the narration was still almost unbearable. The narrator reads S-L-O-W-L-Y. So much so, I often lose track of the plot. She also distracts terribly from the story rather than enhancing it, especially when fast-paced fight scenes are read like a bedtime-fuzzy-bunny tale. Her pronunciation of words and their syllables are off, and there's a monotonous rhythm and sound to it all. The character's thoughts, intuitions, and statments sound fake because the narrator's trying for something she's just not achieving. In her defense, some the the sentences in this book would be much more understandable in print rather than as spoken word - and that's the author's problem, not the narrator's. But still, the narrator manages to turn the main character into a whiny valley-girl instead of a sarcastic kick-ass heroine.

A potentially entertaining story

While the story had potential to be a good read or listen it fell flat.
The narration could have been better the timing and choice of inflection I found to be jarring for me.
As for the story the author took a potentially flexible and interesting idea and fell flat. I have listened to and read many books, yet the character development is just painful to listen through.

This is why we READ books.

What did you like best about Geekomancy? What did you like least?

I love the pop culture references and anyone who is even remotely a 'geek' will get many of the references. It's just pure fun. Like living in a role playing game.

What other book might you compare Geekomancy to and why?

Good question ... it's not like anything I've read before, but I haven't read a lot of urban fantasy.

How could the performance have been better?

ANYTHING would have made the performance better. I've read some of the other reviews that have hated the performance and they are spot on. I can deal with a narrator's voice, as long as there is some inflection involved. This struck me as a 1980's tape recording for the blind sort of reading. Every word was crisp and clear and there was no intent or meaning behind anything. At one point I thought to myself, "Wow...they couldn't get a reader who actually understood the pop culture references that were being mentioned?" And I noticed then that every sentence was being read in EXACTLY the same way. It was like watching a college production of Shakespeare ... where no one knew what they were saying, but they fell in to a rhythmic speaking pattern.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

This book shows why it is SO important to get the RIGHT person narrating. A clear speaking voice doesn't mean the voice is right for the book.