Claus Boxed

By: Tony Bertauski

Narrated by: James Killavey

Length: 25 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's Summary

Get a triple dose of holiday sci-fi magic with all three novels, and discover how the elven live on the North Pole, how reindeer fly, and what makes a snowman live. (Ten percent of the profits is annually donated to WINGS for Kids.)

The Christmas stories you never heard as a kid.

Claus: Legend of the Fat Man

In the early 1800s, Nicholas, Jessica, and Jon Santa attempt the first human trek to the North Pole and stumble upon an ancient race of people left over from the Ice Age. They are short, fat, and hairy. They slide across the ice on scaly soles and carve their homes in the ice that floats on the Arctic Ocean. The elven are adapted to life in the extreme cold. They are as wise as they are ancient.

Their scientific advancements have yielded great inventions - time-stopping devices and gravitational spheres that build living snowmen and genetically modified reindeer that leap great distances. They've even unlocked the secrets to aging. For 40,000 years, they have lived in peace.

Until now.

An elven known as The Cold One has divided his people. He's tired of their seclusion and wants to conquer the world. Only one elven stands between The Cold One and total chaos. He's white bearded and red coated. The Santa family will help him stop The Cold One. They will come to the aid of a legendary elven known as...Claus.

Jack: The Tale of Frost

Sura is 16 years old when she meets Mr. Frost. He's very short and very fat, and he likes his room very, very cold. Some might say inhumanly cold. His first name isn't Jack, she's told. And that's all she needs to know.

Mr. Frost's love for Christmas is over the top and slightly psychotic. And why not? He's made billions of dollars off the holiday he invented. Or so he claims. Rumor is he's an elven, but that's silly. Elven aren't real.

©2016 Tony Bertauski (P)2016 Tony Bertauski

3 for 1 of a Classic

What did you love best about Claus Boxed?

That's it's a three for one ( one credit instead of 3 ) for a wonderful trilogy. I was just going to get the first book to see if I liked it then the "three for one" idea hit me! ( Duh )
Turned out I loved all three in the series.

What did you like best about this story?

Take about imagination! The author has created a whole new fantasy world and a whole new take on Santa, Jack Frost and others. This is not just a book for kids, in fact they will love it but miss a lot of the subtlety....like Harry Potter.

Which character – as performed by James Killavey – was your favorite?

Jack...although he did a great job with all of them.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Claus and Friends

11 of 11 people found this review helpful

Unbox this Christmas Surprise

Claus:

June 2- downloaded Claus boxed on Audible.

This was very creative! It combined history, legend, imagination, science, and sci-fi.
From beginning to end, Tony spins his version of how today's Santa Claus came to be, molding Claus' mortal personality with the immortality of Santa.

We meet the original elves and the reindeer and understand why our toymaker is so big and how it's plausible for him to travel the world in a single night.

A fantastic holiday read (or listen) which must have been professionally edited. My major issue with the timeline was similar to dialogues like this:


“Your language and arts, stuff like that. The elven spies weren’t supposed to interact with anyone, but they couldn’t help it. Words and songs and myths started showing up in your culture. Technology, too. We accidentally started the Industrial Revolution. You know the steam engine?”
Jon nodded.
“That was us. Jocah was afraid your people were learning too fast, that your technology was growing faster than your wisdom.”
Jon felt like there was so much in the world he didn’t know about.
“Anyway, we don’t do it anymore. Once the Cold One took over, we took the nanobots with us so they couldn’t use them. Their scientists are clueless. Well, most of them."

This story is in the early 1800's, the Industrial Revolution was 1760-1840, depending where you look for information and Idk when it was aptly named.
The precise start and end of the Industrial Revolution is still debated among historians, as is the pace of economic and social changes, per wiki.

Tinsel made is sound like it was a long time ago (for an elf, it would have been a blink of an eye) although it was still ongoing at the time of these events.

And every now and again, the time frame of the Fracture alters between a hundred or so years to 5,000.... Or I've misread/misheard something.

Overall, very enjoyable! Recommended to anyone who wants a dynamic book to read!

Jack:
Jack Frost. A spin off from Claus; yet a stand alone book. I completed this audiobook some time ago, but mulled over the review.
Of all of the Claus books, this was my least favorite. Most likely because it was in present tense. I don’t easily fall into books when it’s current.
I liked Sura, but she wasn’t as warm, fresh, and ‘real’ as the characters in Claus, Flury, or Miser. Even the youngsters in Flury -Oliver and a little girl - felt more believable and likable. Sura didn’t quite pop out of the story as much as I wanted her to.
As to be expected, it’s a mixture of Christmas lore and elven science fiction technology. It’s thoughtful, creative, and sensible.
Very enjoyable and worth a read and/or listen.


Flury:
Flury is a very exciting and suspenseful tale of a family's secret of the supernatural.

I agonized over the rating because Tony has become my "go-to" author when I want to immerse in a new dimension with unnatural characters and a sci fi twist. If I'm finding myself drowning in 1-2 star books, I pull up a Bertauski original and easily throw five stars up on the board with a satisfied smile.

Flury, however, lacked that extra magical touch. I can't quite put my finger on it.

Oliver has a relatable connection with his mom and we watch him form a solid friendship with a sweet young girl. The mom has a tumultuous relationship with her mom; likewise Oliver struggles with his relationship with the grandmother. All of this is typical Bertauski; it's real.

Then we have the magical slash sci fi mystery spin. It's lovely and connects us, briefly and remotely, to another book. Just a slight thread; anyone who has not read other books would still feel at home and cozy with this stand alone book. It's more like a nod to Santa.

Yet. I didn't walk away feeling like I had my mind blown. I wish I knew what was missing, I'd pinpoint it and blatantly ask "what about ...?"

Alas, it's more than a 4 - almost a 5 in Goodreads standards; but not a 5 on my standards for Mr Bertauski.

Still a recommended book. A recommended stand alone series. And a recommended author.

I did read these books out of order, so although it has a common thread, one wouldn’t get lost because there are no cliffhangers.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Horrible Narration By James Killavey

I believe this would be and excellent adventure. The story of Claus and his evil twin. I was so intrigued by the story that I tried very hard to get past the first grader narration style to listen to the story, but I couldnt bear it any longer! Killavey has an unbearable narration technique(if you could call it a technique.He pauses at the wrong places in a sentence.His monotonous voice adds not one bit of depth to the story’s many characters. He readsalltgewordstogetherandgivesnoclueastowhenthatthoughtiscompleted. It is my hope that maybe Joel Dotrice or even a real first grader could perform this book’s story so it could been enjoyed as the magical adventure it is supposed to be.
Do not order this book with this narrator. You’ll be pulling your hair out like me! I don’t want to give any stars for Mr Killavey. He is terrible.
Valerie B

0 of 1 people found this review helpful