The Tower

Loki's Bargain

By: Nikki Broadwell

Narrated by: Lynn Norris

Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

When Gertrude wakes up in a world steeped in the past, discovering that she's pregnant with no memory of how she got there, she panics. But when her baby is kidnapped she has to snap out of her stupor or lose everything she loves. It is only when she comes upon a sailor with turquoise eyes that all the disturbing memories begin to resurface. But despite what happened between them, he is her only hope.

©2014 Nikki Broadwell (P)2017 Nikki Broadwell

Time-Travel Fantasy, Green Overtones

What made the experience of listening to Gypsy's Quest the most enjoyable?

Loved the ego-free calm and clarity of the reader, Lynn Norris. Beautiful character delineation, with some delicious "cameos" (check out the cheeky affect and the flawless accent of the barmaid, Renee I think her name was), but I'm always impressed, and appreciative, when the narrator keeps complicated plot lines and multiple characters crystal clear from the get-go. Requires that the text is always put first, and flamboyant emoting is firmly left at the door (except for "pops" of character color for delicious contrast, which were sparingly applied to provocative effect). Beautifully acted, precisely because I didn't experience it as acting at all.

Although the text at the beginning of the novel surprised and faintly annoyed me with a rather matter-of-fact enumeration of a series of fairly insane events that would make any sane person a bit hysterical (even if our protagonist's a contemporary tarot card reader and psychic, and so possibly used to an oddity or two), I was swept up into the story in pretty rapid order. Good, solid basis for a series: post-apocalyptic reversion to pre-industrial technology, complete with characters and lore from the Norse pantheon, one or two mythical outliers (e.g. a Druid and a satyr), a ripping, rocky love triangle (ish), a self-aware ship that can navigate through time, a "green" message about greed, nuclear power, and their long-term tragic consequences, and the quest for a child abducted by his evil-witch grandmother — kept young and beautiful by predictably nefarious means! Looking forward to future installments.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Gypsy's Quest?

I think my favorite was the first bar scene in Glansgow (sp?), the wild-west-type harbor town where our heroine Gertrude must go disguised as a man. The narrator had a great time creating a memorable cast of shady characters for our delectation, and I was highly entertained by the riffraff she brought to light, as well as the changes in accent and affect that our male lead, Kefir (sp?), takes on when he's in mercenary mode. A nice juggling act, singlehandedly keeping all those characters distinct and, where appropriate, amusing.

Which scene was your favorite?

See above.

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

Nothing like a little time travel, amnesia, witches, Druids and satyrs, and a kidnapped baby to help you find out what you're made of . . . .

Any additional comments?

Give this a listen! I'm thinking this Lynn Norris is someone to keep an eye (ear?) on, too.

not worth my time

If you don't like pathetic females leads don't listen to this. I ended up hating her.

That's quest

I really enjoyed this book! It had romance and action and fantasy presented in a truly different way than I had experienced before.