Carniepunk

By: Rachel Caine, Rob Thurman, Kevin Hearne, Seanan McGuire, Jennifer Estep

Narrated by: Candace Thaxton, Kirby Heyborne

A star-studded urban fantasy anthology starring bestselling authors Rachel Caine, Jennifer Estep, Kevin Hearne, Seanan McGuire, and Rob Thurman, and including Delilah S. Dawson, Kelly Gay, Mark Henry, Hillary Jacques, Jackie Kessler, Kelly Meding, Allison Pang, Nicole D. Peeler, and Jaye Wells, whose stories explore the creepy, mysterious, and, yes, sometimes magical world of traveling carnivals.

Come one, come all! The Carniepunk Midway promises you every thrill and chill a traveling carnival can provide. But fear not! Urban fantasy’s biggest stars are here to guide you through this strange and dangerous world. . . .

RACHEL CAINE’s vampires aren’t child’s play, as a naïve teen discovers when her heart leads her far, far astray in “The Cold Girl.” With “Parlor Tricks,” JENNIFER ESTEP pits Gin Blanco, the Elemental Assassin, against the Wheel of Death and some dangerously creepy clowns. SEANAN McGUIRE narrates a poignant, ethereal tale of a mysterious carnival that returns to a dangerous town after twenty years in “Daughter of the Midway, the Mermaid, and the Open, Lonely Sea.” KEVIN HEARNE’s Iron Druid and his wisecracking Irish wolfhound discover in “The Demon Barker of Wheat Street” that the impossibly wholesome sounding Kansas Wheat Festival is actually not a healthy place to hang out. With an eerie, unpredictable twist, ROB THURMAN reveals the fate of a psychopath stalking two young carnies in “Painted Love.”

Love anthologies

I always love anthologies my favorites writers are a part of. It always leads me to other amazing authors. This collection contains some great stories, and I've gone through goodreads and audible to pick up one of each of the authors I've never read before.

Its A Separate 14 Short Stories

When i got this book, I have assumed that all these characters from all these authors will be mixing together, but nope, you have 14 short stories each one is based in a carnival, I will give you a quick review for these stories

1- Painted Love:
It was a weird story about a guy with a monkey tattoo who comes alive.. honestly, i was lost during this story. 2 stars.

2- The 3 lives of lydia by delilah s dawson
I liked this story, interesting and had a sad but unexpected ending.

3- The demon barker of wheat street by kevin Hearne
This was one of the reasons for buying this book, i am a big fan of the Iron Druid series. Here you have your favourite 3 characters, and your usual interesting story. The story itself was fine, they went to a carnival and many things happened there (its a short story, quick and short can't review that much) but narration was the worst, we are used to Luke Daniels's narration, Kirby Heyborne was good, but when he narrated Oberon, it came out a a serious voice, and that was just wrong.. story 5 stars, narration 2 stars (only for this book)

4- The sweeter the juice by mark henry
weird post zombie apocalypse short story, which is focused on trans-genders life with no doctors to help, as most died from the zombie apocalypse. Putting that aside, i was really bored from this book, half of it didn't make any sense, and the other half was boring.. and its ending was a bit weird as well.. i thought there would be 10 or 15 minutes left to finish, and all the sudden it ended... 2 stars

5- The WereWife by Jaye Wells
I liked this book, the plot was good, and the ending was unexpected. The story here is about a man and his wife who turned into a werewolf and he is trying to deal and live with it, then the carnival comes and he tries to fix what started there. And the narration here was good. 4 stars.

6- The Cold Girl by Rachel Caine
Another good story here, it talks about a girl who has a boyfriend for a killer, Before she finds that out they go to the carnival and the carnival help her in their own interesting way. 4 stars.

7- A Duet with Darkness by Allison Pang.
This wasn't a bad book, i liked it, but i think this is more appropriate for those who know the series already. 3 stars for me.

8- recession of the divine by Hillary Jacques
I didn't like this book much, it was about a girl who was a greek goddess or something and became human and works as an insurance investigator.. thats just weird.. i didn't understand much of this story, and didn't like it at all. 1 star

9- Parlor Tricks by Jennifer Estep.
This was the other reason for buying this book. I am a fan of the elemental assassin series. Its a quick story about Gin and her sister go to the carnival to find someone, and they end up finding that someone but not in a good situation 5 stars.

10- Freak House by Kelly Meding
Its about a girl who her father was captured by a carnival and she tries to free him with the help of some people she met. i liked this book 3 stars.

11- The Inside Man by Nicole Peeler
I haven't read Nicole Peeler's books before, but i did like this one, this book is a part of the Jane True series. When I started this story, i have assumed that i will not understand anything, but nope, it was easy and felt familiar somehow although i didn't hear about this series before. Its a good one. 4 stars.

12- A Chance in Hell by Jackie kessler
Another series which i didn't hear about, and this short story was a part of it, and it felt familiar as well. its a bout an ex-demon who became a human. in this short story she goes to the carnival with her friend who gets into trouble. I really liked this one, hope that it will come to audible some time soon. 4 stars.

13- Hell's Menagerie by Kelly Gay
This is another short story from a series, but didn't like it much, it took a while to get to know these characters a bit, and the story plot was ok but nothing amazing or great.
its about 2 kids who go to hell to rescue hell hound pups, which were stolen by a carnival. 3 stars.

14- Daughter of The Midway by Seanan McGuire
This is about a mermaid who joined a carnival and had a daughter who is one as well. This carnival goes to Alabama for a show but some people try to take the little mermaid. Not a bad story. 3 stars.

So this is my longest review i have ever written. I hope you find these reviews quick and useful. If you want a set of magical short stories, then this books is a good choice.

Very Cool Stories!

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed all the stories. Listening to some of my favorite characters, such as the Iron Druid series, in a different voice was strange but the stories made up for it. The Cold Girl and Painted Love were my personal favorites.

Good stories, good voice actors, but...

Got this for the Iron Druid story. I know that different voice actors will have different voices for the characters, but I would think that one would give a quick listen to sound bites of the previous stories to get something close to what the lostener is used to hearing. Atticus, in the previous stories, sounds like a 20-something charming kid. in this story, he sounds like a gravelly old war horse. It was enough to pull me out of the story.

Disappointment

Where to start... Some good short stories that could have been portrayed better. IMO
Candace Thaxton is a strange one. I usually enjoy her narration but during this book I found at times a clunky, off rhythm, to parts of her work today. Difficult to explain but it was as if she were reading a poem or something by Christopher Walken, I'd imagine.
And the there is a Kevin Hearne, Iron Druid book not read by Luke Daniels. A tough act to live up to. And not that Mr Hayborne does anything wrong but his Oberon just isn't Oberon.
Shame, I was looking forward to this book.