Kent Montana and the Really Ugly Thing from Mars

The Kent Montana Series, Book 1

By: Charles L. Grant

Narrated by: Josh Brogadir

Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Mars vs. New Jersey!

IT is big. IT is ugly. IT has a heat ray and a bad disposition. IT is, in short, the worst thing to happen to New Jersey since the last election.

Nothing can stop IT. Not the army. Not the scientist. Not the preacher. Not even a cute little girl and her dog.

Only one man can save us all....

Kent Montana.

(originally published as written by Lionel Fenn)

©1980 Kathryn Ptaceck (P)2017 David N. Wilson

Dynamic Duo Writer and Narrator

What made the experience of listening to Kent Montana and the Really Ugly Thing from Mars the most enjoyable?

The Narrator gives a energetic and sarcastic performance which fits the Writers Zeitgeist.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Enjoyed them all.

Have you listened to any of Josh Brogadir’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The first time and as a result will listen to some of his other Audio performances.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I did not intent to but almost did.

Any additional comments?

The Writer is creative and has a unique style, he picked a good Narrator to bring voice to his
cynical world view.

He's no Indiana Jones and that's a gooood thing

Kent Montana and the Really Ugly Thing is a fun book. It is something that I would have snapped up as a teenager and just devoured in a couple of hours flat. This is wholesome popcorn made in a golden kettledrum. I do not mean to take away anything when I say this, but this remides me of those old dime novels, the ones that you read over and over. It might not have been Twain, but then it isn't meant to be. This is more of a great B-movie come to life, and it is brilliant for it.

I know I will be getting more of this series as it hits audible because it is so enjoyable. This is a perfect way to pass a few hours alone. Get ready to laugh and cheer on the Ugly Thing, as our group of intepid heroes try to stop it fromwiping out humanity in their part of town.

Josh Brogadir provides some excellent narration, and he helps to bring the story to life, two thumbs up to you good sir! Bravo.

Silly, Ridiculous and Fantastic

Well this was a steaming hot cup of super weird fun! This old-timey, wholesome, B-movie style book was a hoot from the very top. Charles L. Grant set out to do something very specific and I'd say he nailed it. "Kent Montana and the Really Ugly Thing from Mars" is perfect for when you're in the mood for something off the wall and not intellectually challenging. Josh Brogadir gives a stellar performance and really meets Grant's writing at its level. Pure fun!

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Surprisingly good!

An enjoyable book with a few excellent twists that is not hard on the brain, just pure fun.
Performance is perfect !
The story is great !
Now all that's missing is the rest of the series.
I fully recommend this book it's fun and enjoyable.

Dunno what I was expecting..!

What disappointed you about Kent Montana and the Really Ugly Thing from Mars?

The book's old movie voice-over trailer kind of synopsis had pulled me in. I guess I was expecting some "cozy" sci-fi, if that makes any sense; like cozy mystery. But as I listened to the book, I realized I'm not into whatever the book was trying to be. The book's story telling style just didn't work for me. The writing sounded pretty amateurish. The characters were cartoonish and were trying too hard. All of it was pretty eye-roll inducing for me.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Narration was alright. But since the story itself wasn't engaging to me, that didn't make much difference.

Any additional comments?

I received this audiobook for free from the author / narrator / publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.

I wanted to like this, but....

i had high hopes going in and maybe that was where I went wrong. The story just left me flat. I'm all for a little fun ridiculousness, as I love authors like Christopher Moore and Jasper Fforde, but this was just trying too hard to be funny and it just didn't work for me.

The audiobook performance was ok, considering the source material. Although, there were times it was difficult to differentiate between some of the characters. But, honestly, that may be more on me because I was not digging the story and my concentration would lapse every now and again.

Like I said, I had high hopes but this story disappointed me.

An homage to pulp fiction...

I found this to be a very odd book indeed. Starting with it's non-linear style of storytelling.
This story introduces lots of characters, all from the same small town, all of whom have witnessed... something... some phenomenon. A crashed plane? Maybe even an alien from Mars? They all want to take a gawking look-see at the point of impact! This book tells each of their stories. It even gives us the Alien's story.   And of course, the Army wants to quash the entire thing!
Charles L. Grant tells each story with a side of dark humor, and in the audio version Josh Brogadir captured that humor with his spot-on narration. I don't think I've run into a story quite like this since I watched an old Brian Keith movie called "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming" (yes, I know that dates me... sigh).
What this story did was to capture all the nuance and flavors of an old 50's style of pulp fiction story, complete with a cover that matches... Charles Grant took it one step farther by giving the cover a patina of age, so not just pulpy art but that worn crinkled look, that old well used paperbacks are known for... (initially I didn't like the cover, but upon listening to the story, I found it to be just right).
Did I love this story? Not so much. Dark humor really isn't my thing... But I respect it for being a well written homage to a bygone era of books that I grew up with.

Dark and funny alien invasion romp!

This is a fantastic story with some truly wonderful and colourful characters.
The story builds slowly and then all of a sudden is like a steamroller which at times I struggled to stay with.
It is well written and the characters develop throughout giving you more and more to bond with.

The performance is clear and engaging with good character distinction.

In summation this story covers many stereotypes and pokes fun at a lot of them. The story is thoroughly enjoyable and this is certainly a series I wish to continue with in future.

This book was given to me free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Not your run of the mill alien monster storys

Funny in places, dark humor but funny. Times I was scratching my head trying to figure what was going on. But well worth the listen, as a matter of fact I’m going to listen to it again to see if I can clear up some areas of confusion. Just to be clear I really enjoyed the book, confusion and all. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

masterclass

author should be teaching how to write humor and characters. you won't find another science fiction fantasy humor author like this. the whole series is a treasure.