Shadowed Souls

By: Jim Butcher - editor, Kerrie L. Hughes - editor

Narrated by: Jim Butcher, Julia Whelan, Emily Rankin, Justine Eyre, David de Vries, Mia Barron, Jon Lindstrom, Sumalee Montano, Mozhan Marnò, Karissa Vacker, MacLeod Andrews

Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

In this dark and gritty collection - featuring short stories from Jim Butcher, Seanan McGuire, Kevin J. Anderson, and Rob Thurman - nothing is as simple as black and white, light and dark, good and evil....

Unfortunately, that's exactly what makes it so easy to cross the line.

In number-one New York Times best-selling author Jim Butcher's "Cold Case", Molly Carpenter - Harry Dresden's apprentice-turned-Winter Lady - must collect a tribute from a remote Fae colony and discovers that even if you're a good girl, sometimes you have to be bad.

New York Times best-selling author Seanan McGuire's "Sleepover" finds half-succubus Elsie Harrington kidnapped by a group of desperate teenage boys. Not for anything weird. They just need her to rescue a little girl from the boogeyman. No biggie.

In New York Times best-selling Kevin J. Anderson's "Eye of Newt", Zombie PI Dan Shamble's latest client is a panicky lizard missing an eye who thinks someone wants him dead. But the truth is that someone only wants him for a very special dinner....

And New York Times best-selling author Rob Thurman's infernally heroic Caliban Leandros takes a trip down memory lane as he deals with some overdue - and nightmarish - vengeance involving some quite nasty "Impossible Monsters".

Also includes stories by Tanya Huff, Kat Richardson, Jim C. Hines, Anton Strout, Lucy A. Snyder, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Erik Scott de Bie.

Full cast of narrators includes Jon Lindstrom, Sumalee Montano, Mozhan Marno, Karissa Vacker, and Macleod Andrews.

©2016 Jim Butcher and Kerrie L. Hughes (P)2016 Penguin Audio

If you're looking for Dresden, don't bother…

Personally, I thought this was going to be another version of book 11.5. Meaning a bunch of well written short stories that give us a good look at the "between the book " moments of the series that we all love. The first story, written by Butcher, was exactly that. The rest of the stories save one or two were just mediocre. I gave this review a story star for each story I actually liked.

Bottom line, give this one a skip and go look on the Dresden wiki for the story details.

A few gems amongst a mostly bland collection.

Fans of the series some of these short stories were set in will at least find some satisfaction. Overall, though, this was a disappointing collection.

Only a short story is tied to dresden

So book 12.5 was good various stories tied to the Dresden files, I thought this one (14.5) would be along the same lines. James Marsters is not one of the narrators which I should have taken as a red flag. The first story is about Molly, and her story after the last book. It's written by Jim butcher, not narrated by Marsters, but that was ok since it was focused all around Molly with no Dresden. The second story was a good one as well, not even remotely tied to Dresden but still good. The third is were things went off track, the story seems to be disconnected from itself and I felt like I was missing bits of the story. When I got to the fourth story I had my fill, the narrator was not to my liking and I just wanted to get back to Dresden story.

Anthologies

Anthologies that include my fav authors are always exciting because I get a taste of so many other authors I either haven't read or sometimes haven't even heard of. Now I get to go through audible and download several series from diff authors from this one. Great collection of stories that shows the dark side of the good guys, or the good side of the not good guys(?)

Not Bad

this was a pretty entertaining book full of short stories that board me at times but in the long run pretty good

Roller Coaster

Yes, as the name implys, some were outstanding, some not so much, the Jim Butcher story which I had read/heard before was stellar, as was the story set in Columbus Ohio, a female Harry Dresden, while the others were well written and performed, they just did not entertain, or encourage any real empathy for the characters. Just MHO, every body has one.

Uneven

Some of the stories are 6 on a 1-5 scale but some are 1. Read it for the 6's. Skip the 1's. Worth it.

it's rare for me to enjoy every story.

I don't usually get into these anthologies. So often I'm dissatisfied with the stories and theme. This one, though, was brilliant. A well executed theme carried from story to story. Each author and narrator captivating in their own way. Enjoyable listen from beginning to end.

Not what I was expecting

I was hugely disappointed when I finally got the book, since I had preordered this in the belief it would be a full lenght book featuring Molly. It is not.
However once I got over my disappointment I decided to give the book a chance even so, and I'm glad I did. While half the stories at most rate a "Meh" there were a few that actually made me look up the authors to find more books about those characters.
So despite the horrible (bordering on false) marketing I'm glad I bought the book and listened to all of it.

Dresden???

This collection of shorts is... very light on the Dresden Files. Near as I can tell, there is only one story here that takes place in the Dresden Files Universe.

I would overlook that, except Audible called it a Dresden Files book, unless I am grossly mistaken. So, not too enthused about that bit.

There are good stories and not so good stories here; nothing I would call out and out bad, but some are crafted with superior skill or fit the tone of the theme better than others.

Some of the narrators are very good, excellent even. Some of the narrators should... nnnnot do narration. Some of them fit the tone, can really drag the listener into the story, while others are either just unskilled, floundering or desperately hamming it up.

There are a few excellent stories in this collection. Hunter and Healer (or is it Healer and Hunter?), Baggage, and the last story by Rob Thurman, as well as the tale about Molly Carpenter in her new, uh, job. If you have credits to spare and are willing to look past about half of the content it's worth a listen.

For a collection that is supposed to be about the monsters that aren't necessarily evil, even if they're monsters doing wicked things, I think only the first and last stories really hit the mark. Those are the only two where the "moral ambiguity" comes into clear focus, while the rest are either making an attempt with characters who are not at all evil or "monstrous" or hardly touch upon the subject at all. Perhaps "Baggage" does? That character though is repentant and haunted...

Just one listener's opinion. As ever, your mileage may vary.