Good Guys

By: Steven Brust

Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins

Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

A snarky, irreverent tale of secret magic in the modern world, the first solo stand-alone novel in two decades from Steven Brust, The New York Times best-selling author of the Vlad Taltos series

Donovan was shot by a cop. For jaywalking, supposedly. Actually, for arguing with a cop while black. Four of the nine shots were lethal - or would have been, if their target had been anybody else. The Foundation picked him up, brought him back, and trained him further. “Lethal” turns out to be a relative term when magic is involved.

When Marci was 15, she levitated a paperweight and threw it at a guy she didn't like. The Foundation scooped her up for training too.

“Hippie chick” Susan got well into her Foundation training before they told her about the magic, but she's as powerful as Donovan and Marci now.

They can teleport themselves thousands of miles, conjure shields that will stop bullets, and read information from the remnants of spells cast by others days before. They all work for the secretive Foundation...for minimum wage. Which is okay, because the Foundation are the good guys. Aren't they?

©2018 Steven Brust (P)2018 Tantor

Great Story. Ok Performance.

Brust is an incredible writer. I've read the majority of his work. The best in Aubile performance is his Vlad Taltos series, where the narrator nails the characters and mood better than I did reading the book.
This didn't capture the characters and moods that you'll likely get reading the physical copy at all. It's not terrible by any means, it just seems to miss and it takes away from the incredible story. The story jumps around a lot and, in audiobook form, it can be hard to follow. If you know you're getting into that, it's really a fantastic story, and maybe you'll be inspired to read it yourself to get the experience this story deserves.
Worth getting to support Brust's works, and listen to the story when you don't have time to read.

A good detective style novel.

It's what I expect from Steven Brust. good solid storytelling. A modern mystery with magic.

to SKZB

Never stop writing Sir. I patiently Await your next. It is a privilege to enjoy your wit.

Another Brust Adventure

And I mean that in the best of ways! There’s not a lot of focus on world-building but who cares when you’ve got these characters and this plot? I highly recommend this and really wish there was news of a follow-up.

Slow build, pretty good twist at the end

This book was slowwww in the beginning. I made myself power through and was glad to have finished it. My biggest complaint would be the lack of understanding whom the narrator or character speaking was from time to time. The female voices of some of the characters were from the same person, and sometimes talked to each other, and thus you got lost knowing which character was speaking.

There is a decent twist at the end, and Donovan gets a spine at the end as well.

Brust sets a high bar for himself

I've been a long time Brust reader. I prefer his Vlad Taltos first person noir style, but this is an engaging set of characters and a decent story line. While Collins does an admirable job distinguishing voices, I didn't get some his heavyily-accented choices for characters Brust said spoke flawless English. Which made those choices distracting to me.

enjoyable listen

I did struggle with the bouncing back and forth between the various characters within the story. likely this was in part due to my surroundings but also the voice talent. Not wanting to complain because he does a fine job.

great book a solid read fun and exciting

a familiar plot in a different environment show some real growth in the author's writing style

It’s rare to see a true original.

It’s rare to see a true original non-derivative book. This is one. The characters are also interesting. Loved this book. I wish there were more.

Not a suitable story for an Audible production

The narrator was great and did the best he could with the book. The book’s plot is advanced in the first half of the book by long, stilted, albeit nuanced dialogs that need require close listening. However, the listener doesn’t have a reason to listen that closely yet. All that has happened are a couple of murders that could be explained to outside world by mundane reasons. You don’t who the bad guys are, and you’re left in doubt as to whether the good guys are truly the good guys and what their motivation is. ( It isn’t money - that much was clear.) After a few more hours of this I didn’t care anymore. I thought the conclusion was weak, with new characters being introduced in the final chapter and tortuous debates about ethics after a whole slew of killings by each side (Along with a possible execution to end the book which the “good guy” volunteers to do) I won’t read the book, but if you’re interested in this book, read it first!