Spell Talker

By: Steven Campbell

Narrated by: Kevin Clay

Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Humans seem to believe that this chaotic mess of a universe is more or less puttering along on its own. As if universes were completely natural concepts.

What if I told you there were no scientific laws? What if I told you that everything, including the facts you are most certain about, could fundamentally change at a moment’s notice and never go back to the way they were before?

All life, each object, every feeling or thought you possess, are based entirely upon Spells. It is an active, continual process. They are creating us this very instant.

Intelligent Spells control every aspect of reality. The good news is that none of those Spells care about you in the slightest. The entire human species wasn’t even made on purpose. It was simply an accident based upon countless Spells going about their individual tasks.

As a Spell Talker, you are a member of the Dawned. You have the ability to influence Spells and anything that Spells govern. What your purpose is, and the overarching purpose of Spells in general, is up to you to determine.

©2020 Steven Campbell (P)2020 Steven Campbell

Wasent a fan

I absolutly love The Hard Luck Hank series By Steven Campbell but i couldent get into this series. Its all personal complaints im sure others will like it. They story was a bit all over you follow so many different characters that its hard to pin point who is the lead role and the spell part of it is just confusing and lack luster. i hope others enjoy it but its not my cup of tea per say.

not hank but very good

fun audio book! of course I have bias toward wanting more hank stuff, and it's unfair to compare anyone to Liam Owen voicing Hank, but it's great to know Campbell can build mode than one world. I look forward to sequels.

interesting start

performance was good, structure of the story a bit weird, but definitely worth a listen, hope to see a sequel in the future

Not like Hank.

Two hours in and the only memorable character, supposedly a badass stunt woman, is too wimpy to pull the trigger on a man eating zombie thing that’s trying to kill her? Wtf? The author seems to equate inexperience with having a weak personality. This characters inner monologue is also just plain annoying... in the only action scene so far she is paralyzed with fear and confusion. She is given multiple chances to catch her breath and defend herself (she has a gun), but she doesn’t over and over. In a life or death situation, no one has time to sit and think about it. Don’t spend 15 minutes telling us your thoughts, just act! She’s morally afraid to kill these monsters trying to kill her and another person... what? Totally irrational.

I’ve tried to really give this a chance since I am in love with the whole hard luck hank series. But I think the author was trying something different here, and it’s not my taste. The build up is too slow, and there’s little to no humor. The hank books are also very personal, everything is from hanks view. But this book has not picked a single person. It jumps between half a dozen timelines and narrators, none of them particularly memorable or likable.

I would have kept going but too many things are piling up I don’t like. Mostly, the main female character’s defining traits are beauty and badassery, then she proceeds to not fight for her life? Come on, I’m okay with you writing your female main characters as super hot, but only if they also have strong personalities. You wrote her as an experienced boxer, kickboxer, martial artist, etc. who “can take a punch” but somehow not in a real fight.

Can’t believe this is the same guy who wrote the character Garm in the Hank books. Maybe this story picks up, but I don’t have the patience at this point. Haven’t even gotten to the part where she supposedly starts to fight the zombie things. It was building up to that but it took to long, so no. Goodbye.

it's all right very true place and a change of pace

this is not an elseworld Hank book: you can just keep reading that series for more of that.

This story layed the foundation for a very interesting (to me at least) world of intrigue, nonsense and pseudoscience that I found really fun.

This book is more like the movie Everything, Everywhere, All at Once rather than Hank and you have an idea as to what to expect.

conclusion short/lost

I liked the book and premise, but the ending was abrupt and less than satisfying

Enjoyable urban fantasy, definitely isn't HL Hank

I am NOT a fantasy reader, urban fantasy is pretty far outside of my usual scope of interest but I decided to give this a shot because I really loved Hard Luck Hank and thought I might get to cry with laughter like I did with HLH. Well, it's not the same kind humor but I definitely did end up enjoying it. I imagine an urban fantasy person would more thoroughly enjoy it than me, but I am still very happy with my purchase/experience.

spell talker review

The story starts off a bit confusing, however, the author slowly rewinds and it begans to make sense. nice and light little story, I enjoyed it .

Awwww shit!

super fun, exciting, smart, gory, and as always funny. I'm always a bit apprehensive reading a new series by a favorite author. S. Campbells other series, hard luck hank is one of my all time favorites, so hopes and expectations were super high for this new series. I enjoyed every bit! I'm going to listen again immediately! Can't wait for the next installment!

I have to agree with the other poor reviews

I like the author’s other series. But I won’t hold this book to those standards. As such it does not get an increased score because of said series. As such, I can’t say that I recommend this book.
The story is all over. It jumps time without much happening in the story to warrant it. Entirely too much exposition, if that’s what to call it. There are two sections that go on for 30-45 min each. They were so mind numbing boring I zoned out and didn’t care to rewind it.
I’m not sure what the author was trying to achieve with this book. If it’s a series, I’d have to pass on a sequel.
The voice actor was complete aces though. He was the only reason I finished it.