Helen & Troy's Epic Road Quest

By: A. Lee Martinez

Narrated by: Khristine Hvam

Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Witness the epic battle of the cyclops!

Visit the endangered dragon preserve! Please, no slaying.

Solve the mystery of The Mystery Cottage, if you dare!

Buy some knickknacks from The Fates! They might come in handy later.

On a road trip across an enchanted America, Helen and Troy will discover all this and more. If the curse placed upon them by an ancient god doesn't kill them or the pack of reluctant orc assassins don't catch up to them, Helen and Troy might reach the end their journey in one piece, where they might just end up destroying the world. Or at least a state or two.

A minotaur girl, an all-American boy, a three-legged dog, and a classic car are on the road to adventure, where every exit leads to adventure. Whether they like it or not.

©2013 A. Lee Martinez (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Good deal

Good story.
Rather imaginative as far as I am concerned. But I find most of his stories that way. The delightful part is that they are not part of single universe where the characters run into each other. While not bad, it is over done with most writers. Martinez has a good imagination and a decent skill at story telling.

Funny and cute

My third Martinez book, and like the others I thought it was funny and strangely cute. I'll have to listen to it again when I'm on s road trip.

Narrator was great. Good character voices, decent pacing, and good enunciation.

American Gods "Light"

What did you like best about this story?

This was a fun story. My best attempt at describing it would be a "light", younger audience version of American Gods. The narrator did a great job and the story has few slow spots.

A new twist on heroic quests, bossy gods and myth

Where does Helen & Troy's Epic Road Quest rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

In the middle. I've definitely listened to better, but there are many books out that there are worse.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The challenges were insteresting. I loved that they had dinner with one opponent, pre-battle, and that mystery house had such a mystery. The least interesting parts were everything related to Helen. She had the random droll comment but most of her story line was a never-ending self-awareness conversation about her own mythological-ness. It wasn't amusing or interesting...just long. And repetitive.

Which scene was your favorite?

Dinner with the cyclops.

Fun fluffy read

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Humorous romp with a enough human compassion to keep it grounded in the fantasy world.

Have you listened to any of Khristine Hvam’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Excellent narrator.

Best voice actor ever!

I'm serious, I haven't heard better. I read this book when it first came out. A Lee Martinez is one of my favorite authors. Decided to get the audible to re-live it on my commute. I was floored when the narration was better than me reading it!

Perfection!!

A Lee Martinez is a god in his own right, and I love all of his novels. Interesting, pithy, and magical in an every day but never boring way.

totally silly....and that is a plus!

Just plain fun, this story takes you on an updated ride through ancient quests. The notion that beasts mythical in our normal world are just regular folks pokes good fun at "diversity" in gender, racial and ethnic politics. The gratuitous fighting is not so violent and the moral to "be yourself" is not too heavy-handed. A fun listen.

Fun as always!

I've read a few A. Lee Martinez, and this one did not disappoint. Lightweight and silly, they are definitely worth listening to if you like humor. There are better books out there that will really have you rolling on the floor laughing, with characters and a plot you can sink your teeth into. However, if you are out of those to read, Martinez will get you through until you find something better.

A little twee but very funny.

It's a ridiculous plot written so that it is amusing and the reader just accepts, "Sure - it's a minotaur who just, y'know, has to go through regular high school life being gigantic with horns." It's a little bit about the way narrative arcs tend to follow patterns; a little bit about personal agency; a little bit more than pretty good. It's got a bit of a pat ending, but there are worse things.