Happy Jack and the Wolves of New London

Shadows Over Earth-That-Was, Vol. 2

De: Rich Partain

Narrado por: JP Adams

It all started as a milk run: a working vacation on New Arcadia, the neo-Victorian and Edwardian steampunk orbital, with cards and booze and filthy jokes aplenty. Then it became a bigger — but still low-stakes — job involving stolen Egyptian artifacts with a payday almost too good to be true. How it ended up, though, might have involved going to war with a bloodthirsty outlaw gang of neo-Nazi, neo-pagan, cybernetic, steampunk biker werewolves and trying to prevent the Viking apocalypse. Maybe with the help of half-alien Jesus, an ancient cat goddess, and a small army of berserker dwarves. Depending on who you talk to and whether or not the rumors are true. And whether or not you have any actual evidence to back up those ludicrous and spurious claims which the allegedly involved parties vehemently deny.

Furthermore, said parties — who hold tight to their claim of being "simple, well-armed tourists" — had some choice words to say about your mother's sexual proclivities and the alleged marital status of your parents at the time of your birth, but we will not list those here for decorum's sake. Ahem. Daniel Davidson, pop culture archaeologist and part-time mercenary of dubious repute, is back with all of his beloved, foul-mouthed, thoroughly dangerous, and absolutely hilarious orbital-hopping friends and colleagues in this filthy, uproarious, unhinged, and oddly wholesome sequel to Happy Jack and the Scary-Ass Book of Doom.

Expect more bullets, more blades, more booze, more "your mom" jokes, approximately 800% more uses of the word "ignominious," and maybe even a giant, angry wolf god. Sometimes the real treasure is the friends you make along the way. And the trail of dead werewolves you leave in your wake. Who absolutely had it coming. Allegedly.

©2024 Rich Partain (P)2025 Rich Partain

Fun storytelling

This is what I imagine would occur if one were to have Christopher Moore and John Scalzi collaborate on a remake of Ready Player One. Irreverent and human, with science fiction and pop culture mixed in.

Incredible story line and and story telling

Love the story and the telling! It’s very interesting and appealing. This author is very good at weaving an interesting story that is fun to listen to. Is he available for my memoir? Otherwise it’ll be boring???

A Howling Wild Ride

100% fun. Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Anthony Bourdain, Tom Clancy, and Terry Pratchett binge-read a pop culture encyclopedia and decided to write a vulgarian horror epic while listening to a very specific playlist on repeat and craving coffee like it was oxygen? No? Well, you should. And then you should get this audiobook to find out the answer. The writing is unpretentious, clever, and hilarious, so long as you're not turned off by vulgarity. The performance by the reader is spectacular. Don't think twice. Get this book. Get the 1st one too, if you haven't already. Start there. Enjoy the ride. It's a wild one.

Still unhinged, still awesome!

I won't go into too much detail here, as it's likely you're just as invested as I am by this point. All I'll say is Josh, take the wheel! There's a third one coming, and can't wait. 😆

Freakin awesome

This book was amazing. Can’t wait to read the next one. It makes you laugh and it makes you appreciate life a little more.

D&D meets A-Team with loaded dice

This is the second of this author’s books I have read. I enjoyed the first one because of the introductory nature of the team building. This second book was so much harder to finish. The reader helped me finish because of their quirky takes on the characters and their pacing within the story. Action scenes were engaging and their navigation of the dialogue between characters made it very easy to identify whom was speaking.

I can tell how much the author loves his characters and describing their many conquests. But I do not feel like any character had a true growth arc nor were they compelled to under go any trial or experience any significant road block as they meandered their way through the story. It was a journey between one fight to the next without no serious impediments - every type of weaponry or gear was always available, always top of the line, and never out of budget. Their proficiency with all weaponry was all expert, and their prowess and endurance never faltered. Only the traveling between fights seemed to present some impediments but the team was still always triumphant after utilizing their superior weapons and skills. At no time during any battle did I ever wonder if any team member would struggle or suffer. It really was just was episode after episode of the A-Team with D&D characters. But the dice never rolled low.
I can appreciate how much an author can enjoy and even care for their characters. But good stories require trials and sacrifice and character arcs and growth. I am not a fan of the George RR Martin style of killing characters after making the reader like them, and I am not advocating for the death of any of these characters. But I would love to see a them actually have emotional skin in the game and struggle with some inner conflict to try and overcome. Instead this reads like a group of people who never struggle with miscommunication or miscues, never doubts the plan, never questions their path.