Princess of Wands

By: John Ringo

Narrated by: Suzy Jackson

Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Nominee, Fantasy, 2013

Special: distinguished by some unusual quality... Circumstances: a piece of evidence that indicates the probability or improbability of an event...

Barbara Everette, a homemaker living in a small town in Mississippi, had the perfect life. Perfect husband, perfect children, perfect house, perfect Christian Faith. She cooked and cleaned perfectly and managed all of the chores of the modern suburbanite, toting the kids, running the PTA, teaching kung-fu in the local dojo... perfectly. But perfection has a price, and the day came when Barbara snapped. She simply had to have "one weekend off". God had to grant her that much. It said no where that she was a slave. Waving goodbye to her hapless, entirely undomestic husband, she set out on the quest for a weekend of peace and maybe some authentic Cajun food.

Detective Sergeant Kelly Lockhart, New Orleans Homicide, had a perfect record on his latest case: not a single suspect. And there should be at least five or six, given the DNA traces on the many bodies. Furthermore, his sole really outstanding clue, a mysterious fish scale, had disappeared into the recesses of the FBI Crime Lab. But the old fortune-teller was sending him into the bayou, down in the land of authentic Cajun food, on the track of a mysterious pimp with the admonition to "watch for the Princess". Or die.

Barbara and Kelly were heading to a rendezvous that might be fate and might reveal the hand of God. There was more cooking in the swamps than jambalaya. Unknown to either, the mystery of the Bayou Ripper had Special Circumstances.

©2005 John Ringo (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Suzy Jackson performs with aplomb, making the vivid characters come to life.... Her variety of female voices makes it easy to differentiate the characters, and her deep, gruff voices for men are fully believable. Listeners will be drawn into Barbara's world and find themselves happily rooting for the good guys as Barbara works to save the day." (AudioFile)

Outstanding strong female lead!!

What made the experience of listening to Princess of Wands the most enjoyable?

To me a believable strong female lead character. Described as some number of women I have known in my life, not many are like Barb Evans, but the few I know who are, definitely have my vote of confidence! Strong confident woman who can kick some serious butt!!

What did you like best about this story?

Portrayal of a woman as the legitimate heroine in a military science fiction setting. Barb does not need backup, she is the 7th cavalry riding over the hill.

Which character – as performed by Suzy Jackson – was your favorite?

Barb Evans, the main character.

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

absolutely!

Couldn't stop listening

... it was kind of a problem. I had midterms to study for, and errands to run, but I couldn't stop listening. I even had my earbuds in at the store!!

Quite a pleasant and unexpected book from Ringo

Some of the plot requires a bit of suspension of reality as far as the behavior of a few characters, but she was battling demons.

Too Graphic for me...

Any additional comments?

Let me start by saying that I couldn't get past chapter 7 of this book. At that point in the you reach a very graphic & violent scene of gang rape & what I would consider to be beastility. I normally enjoy John Ringo's work but I couldn't keep going through a scene like that. I'm hoping to return to his books, perhaps when he produces another book in the Troy series.

One of the weirdest books I have ever read

This book is off the wall. I had to make myself read the whole thing. I will definitely not look for any more books by this author. At first, all I kept thinking, this is a Bible thumping book, kind of like the Mittford books. But then when it got more into the plot...it just got weirder and weirder. A Bible thumper who banished demons etc...and is a gun toting soccer mom.

I thought about asking for a refund and only decided not to because I had gotten a refund a 2 others recently that were disappointing also. I don't want to abuse the refund offer via Audiobooks. Who knows, maybe I will find another book in my library that will be more disappointing than this one.

Incredibly sanctimonious and incoherent

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A coherent plot and credible characters

What do you think your next listen will be?

A prayer for Owen Meany

Would you be willing to try another one of Suzy Jackson’s performances?

The reader was o.k., the writer was the problem.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Princess of Wands?

The whole book

Any additional comments?

The whole thing belongs to some kind of ideological extreme waspish right with a few elements of the silliest new agey confusions. There's no real "fantasy". Really dreadful.