Staying Dead

A Retrievers Novel

De: Laura Anne Gilman

Narrado por: Emma Woodbine

It starts as a simple job - but simple jobs, when you're dealing with the magical world, often end up anything but.

As a Retriever, Wren Valere specializes in finding things gone missing - and then bringing them back, no questions asked. Normally her job is stimulating, challenging and only a little bit dangerous. But every once in a while....

Case in point: A cornerstone containing a spell is stolen and there's a magical complication. (Isn't there always?) Wren's unique abilities aren't enough to lay this particular case to rest, so she turns to some friends: a demon (minor), a mage who has lost his mind, and a few others, including Sergei, her business partner (and maybe a bit more?).

Sometimes what a woman has to do to get the job done is enough to give even Wren nightmares....

©2009 Laura Anne Gilman (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Suspenseful and entertaining, this is a worthy addition to the growing library of urban fantasy lit, and great way to kick off a potential blockbuster of a series." ( Romantic Times)
"An entertaining, fast-paced thriller set in a world where cell phones and computers exist uneasily with magic, and a couple engaging and highly talented rogues solve crimes while trying not to commit too many of their own." ( Locus)

Great Urban Fantasy!

I am delighted to see the first book of the retriever series here at Audible! This is great urban fantasy with a well crafted other world co-existing with ours. The magic is called "current" because it's like electricity and is attracted to electricity. The Wren uses her talent for current as well as agility to retrieve lost items. This time, she's sent after a stolen cornerstone of a building. The owners want the cornerstone, along with the protective spell it contains, back.

This is a multifaceted story full of interesting characters. There's a lot of humor too as the different worlds interact. I love PB and how ordinary people completely miss seeing a short, furry black & white demon in a trench coat!

There are currently 5 retreiver novels. Hopefully Audible will get all 5!

Readable book, Wrong Narrator.

I read this book in paperback maybe 3 years ago and liked it well enough to buy the rest of the series, so looked forward to hearing it in Audible.

Mistake. The book narrated here seems like a different book then the one on paper. The narration makes that much difference.

The reader sounds like she is 15 years old and reads the book as if it were a slightly amusing fairy tale - totally wrong for the book. In fact, the book is actually trivialized by the childish tone. It is hard to remember the characters are adults and the situations are dangerous. Murder, bullying, and racism sound more like high school hijinks when read by a child. Half way through the book it is mentioned that the story is set in New York. I was surprised because the tone of the reader had led me forget and assume it was Seattle. That is a sample of how much the book suffers from selecting a childish voice.

(The narrator is actually good, for children's books.)

The book was produced by Harlequin so apparently they think the teenage market would enjoy this voice. Adults will be looking for other entertainment. And the author will lose business.

Good book, bad reader

The tone of the reader's voice didn't fit the darkness of this story! This is a relatively dark urban fantasy, and the reader's voice always sounded either like she was laughing or like she was asking a question--it just didn't fit. I ended up buying the paperback just so that I could read the rest of the story (I got about an hour into the audio) without the irritation of the reader!

Harlequin and their music 😑

I enjoyed this story fairly well. But gosh dang it! I loath the terrible music harlequin insists on using. Not to mention the irritation of the the freaking harlequin commercial in the middle. Putting the music over the beginning of the reading is crazy distracting and makes difficult to understand the narration. The awfulness of the music itself is just adding insult to injury. Dear Harlequin, I’ve never chosen books because I heard the publishers name more frequently in the audiobook, but now I’m considering NOT listening to a book because I know that stupid, badly timed music intro/exit/commercial will be there

I was lost for quite some time

When I first started listening to this book, I was lost. I wondered if this book was a branch of another series. Well, as the book kept going, I started to enjoy it and I will commit to finishing the series. I enjoyed the music in the story and the narrator. The only reason I gave this book 3 stars, is due to not knowing what was going on. This was also my first paranoral/fantasy romance.