A Murder of Manatees

The Further Adventures of Tom Stranger, Interdimensional Insurance Agent

By: Larry Correia

Narrated by: Adam Baldwin

Length: 2 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

When half your galaxy is unexpectedly sucked into a black hole - when a hitherto-unknown species of space aliens lays waste to your home planet - when disaster rears its ugly head (or heads) - who can you call for faster-than-light appraisals and best-in-the-multiverse customer service? Just one man - Tom Stranger, Interdimensional Insurance Agent. 

In this latest chapter of his interstellar exploits, Tom is about to deliver a crushing performance evaluation to Jimmy the Intern when the unimaginable happens: The beloved Wendell the Manatee has been kidnapped! Armed with his battle mechs and his elite corps of junior associates, can Tom find Wendell before he's canned in oil? And can Jimmy, at long last, channel his inner agent? 

Performed by Adam Baldwin, the sci-fi Audible Original A Murder of Manatees will make you quiver with fear, laugh uncontrollably, and wonder whether your deductibles are too high. 

©2017 Larry Correia (P)2017 Audible Originals, LLC.

like a lonely teenager wrote it.

this book reads like an edgy teenage wanna be comedian wrote it. while a few of the jokes hit...and hit hard, most of the jokes feel like they are coming from an incel. At one point he mentions that a group of manatees are able to hide amongst human women at a science march by just wearing pink hats. implying that the women at the march look like manatees. He openly refers to people who gave his book 1 star as "triggered" and uses other Alt Right power words. The book's premise could be funny, but I read it years ago in junior high, when I wrote it.

Over Referential Satire

Tom Stranger, and his little crew go on very small adventures with very little consequence. Sure, war between worlds is threatened, and enacted for about 10 minutes, but eh. It's all in a day's work, right? So this book strays into the weird world of sci-fi wish fulfillment where the author just kind of says things he has a problem with, and in his book, those are heavily ridiculed by all participants (in hopes of lampooning their extreme behaviors). This makes the book go between bad political commentary, and poor wish fulfilment fantasy as the book settles into it's jaunty little rhythm. Things happen, a take is expressed, and then we move on. Trying to be fast paced, so we don't care about all the details being dropped, is not really an effective strategy to writing a book. It's audience confuses me. The book is cartoonish. It's simple plot and very straight forward characters, indicate a children's book. The constant references, and dismissive attitude towards any group that is not in agreement with Tom Stranger points to a more adult audience. I don't think this was effective. I don't even think this could be considered political satire, because Tom Stranger, himself, is holding a lampshade. I'm not sure the author has a point beyond "everything is stupid." I dunno. It's "everything is on the table, and I'm just going to make shit up" storytelling is choppy. Sure, the plot moves. The characters have unique voices and objective. But dude, what's the point? Who is this for? And do you really think they'll like it? My guess, it's for Larry Correia, and he got a kick out of taking your money for it.

Libertarian twaddle

I tried to listen, setting politics aside, but without the Libertarian twaddle, there is no story at all.

Insulting, couldn't finish

While the premise is entertaining and promised a fun, upbeat sci fi jaunt the book is ultimately defeated by the self aggrandizing of the author. Using your writing as a platform to lash out at those you don't like is petty and unbefitting of a professional.

Based on the first chapter wherein the author writes a press conference to deal with feedback of the last book, it seems that the author is rather obsessed with reading one star reviews so have fun with this one. Strange seems to be the nobler person you wish you were but are too petty to bring yourself to be.

Adolescent

Rather than being funny, this book was needlessly mean spirited. In the 1st chapter or so there's acknowledgement of people who lean left disliking his books, saying they are "triggered" and belittling them. I'm actually on the conservative side, and find the book to be more adolescent and taunting, than amusing and witty. He is no Douglas Adams.

Cultural Skewering Wrapped in an Exciting Comedy

Larry Correia doesn't pull any punches in this sequel. I've been anticipating this for nearly two years, and it doesn't disappoint -- except when it ends. Some of the jokes, such as the dig at The Guardian, are really only understandable to the fans who follow him on social media; but overall this is readily-understandable and enjoyable regardless of your in-crowd knowledge. Political and cultural humor abounds here, even more than in the first book, and will likely anger many who think man-buns are manly. The book actually opens with a response to criticism of the first book, in the form of a public relations address by the characters themselves.

While much of the humor is ideological, the deliberately over-the-top parody does what political comedy does best: expose the ridiculous by letting it be ridiculous on its own merit. This is then tied up in a fun, hilarious sci-fi adventure full of pop culture references mostly seen through the humor of multiple universes. For me, the style of humor is summed up by one character: President Trump, who never stops tweeting during a crisis and doesn't actually DO anything. Every real-life character, positive or negative, is exaggerated based on one single trait, as good parody tends to do.

Adam Baldwin is great, even better than the first book; his Manatee accent has, if anything, improved considerably, which made it all the more disappointing that they had to bring in a professional interpreter to deliver the Dolphin lines. Still, the clicks are harsh on the human throat, and they probably didn't want to offend any more Dolphin listeners.

As good as the 1st book with added Wendell!

Tom Stranger was the first audiobook I ever listened to and I loved it. Murder of Manatees is just as good as the first book, if not even better. Not least because there is more Wendell!! Adam Baldwin did a fantastic job once again and I really, really hope Larry writes another one for him to narrate. If they do I'll definitely get to it.

Worst Audible Selection to Date

This story is awful. It was free and I am completely out of other things to read or listen to as I continue to home quarantine. But I should not have wasted my time... nothing about it was fun or interesting or amusing. I hated it.

no thanks

I couldn't get past the first chapter. Not for me. Moving on to something else.

Ok, we get it! You hate liberals

This had a lot of potential because the author can be quite funny and snarky, but it quickly devolved into a not-so-thinly veiled political diatribe. While I love that comedy is the great equalizer, the author’s obvious distain for liberals was a major distraction. The story just awkwardly stops while he harps on the same few complaints over and over. Excellent performance by the narrator and I was initially intrigued by the story, but I couldn’t get past the excessive ranting.

Still good but a step down

A sequel to the first Tom Stranger adventure, any issues you have with the first story only get worse with this one. The story is simply not as fun and I feel the political leanings of the author are more apparent in this one. I did still enjoy the story and narration from Adam Baldwin is still perfect.

Brilliant

I have never heard of this author, but I thought I’d give it a go. Loved it, right up my alley of madness. The narrator was great. Hooked 👍🏼

A murder of manatees

Larry Correia is one of my favourite authors.

Great imagination, easy to listen to and amusing.

5 stars

this has to be 5 stars.anything less and the subject matter will come after you

Trigger Warning

Excellent writing and narration, the whole thing is hilarious from start to finish and a great follow up to the first book. If you're looking for something genuinely funny that pulls no punches, this is it.

If you're a dolphin, some of the humour might be offensive but they do apologise for it throughout the book.

Jokes aside, it is political and it definitely does take more swipes at the left than right but anyone suggesting this is extreme or far right is being disingenuous. Right wing characters represented here (real and fictional) are obviously caricatures dialled up to 11. This clearly isn't apolitical and likely won't be appreciated by progressives but moderates will find plenty to laugh at here.

Just watch it and laugh

Ignore any bad reviews just listen to it and laugh great fun, nice and light humour

Excellent

Yet again a rattling good yarn! Without doubt another first for customer satisfaction. !

Nice fourth wall breaking

. Not as good a story as the first book but easy and fun to listen to

Wonderfully wacky.

Another excellently surreal presentation of a Larry Correia novella presented by Adam Baldwin in his inimitable fashion. The author's capacity for imagining weird and wonderful worlds leads to very funny scenarios which you can view in your mind's eye with almost tangible structure. Larry Correia is a near genius at comedic fantasy.

Good yo get your mind off the real world

The narrator did a good job getting into the different characters.
The story is a funny, dumb story. I recommend it when you are looking to get your mind off things and you want an easy to follow, somewhat funny story.