Oddjobs 2

This Time It's Personnel

By: Heide Goody, Iain Grant

Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies

Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's Summary

The Venislarn. Vastly intelligent aliens from another dimension or dribbling insane gods from a distant realm? It’s impossible to tell. What’s certain is that they’re here and they’re going to destroy our world. But, hey, there’s no mileage to be gained from telling the kiddywinks that monsters are real….

The consular mission to the Venislarn are the god appeasers and the end-of-life carers for an oblivious planet. It may be the end of the world as we know it, but there are procedures and policies in place, and everything should go according to plan. But, in the city, someone’s buying souls door to door, dealing in the kind of magical drugs that guarantee a really, really bad trip, and if something isn’t done about it, the end of the world might just happen a lot sooner than planned. 

Sequel to the hilarious Oddjobs, this is a workplace comedy like no other, featuring face-eating grannies, telepathic spiders, bloodthirsty school kids, murder on the dance floor, sex-crazed pond life, and actual stockbrokers from hell.  

The weekend can’t come soon enough (if it comes at all).

©2017 Heide Goody and Iain Grant (P)2019 Heide Goody and Iain Grant

Excellent Sequel

A lot of times the second in series seems weaker, more like marking time. This book was as entertaining as the first. There's a lot of media satirizing bureaucracy but somehow combining it with Lovecraftian monsters in British suburbia makes it more fun. The Thatcher Academy taken over by the Mammonites, a particularly realistic portrayal of ambitious upper middleclass Venislarn seems both horrifying and realistic.

I forced a copy of the first book in this series on a good friend. He is buying the second on his own.

Hillarious!

Better than the first book! Couldn't stop listening. The narrator gets top marks... must have a throat of steel! Hope Steve the Destroyer becomes a regular in the series. Looking forward to the next book!

LOL

Now that was fun and exciting. I just love all the characters and the adventures or shenanigans they get up to. I am hoping more is to come soon. Fingers crossed for another book in the series.

Bravo to Matthew Lloyd Davies!

I am thoroughly enjoying this series, and I feel that the narrator’s performance is an enhancement. This must have been rather grueling to record, what with all the jumping into “Venislarn” all the time. One thing I will note, that amuses me, is that his voice for Mrs. Vivian Grey sounds, to me, exactly like Mr. Peabody from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. Sorry if you can’t unhear that now, but I had to unburden myself.

Silly fun

A slight shift and overall improvement from book one, Oddjobs 2 has more humor (along with an increase in unlikely-but-silly scenarios) and slightly fewer unnecessary sudden complications. Difficulties and surprises are expected, but i find the “just as she was about to escape, everything failed” scenarios annoying. Oddjobs 2 had slightly fewer of these, so I’m considering it an improvement.
Davies is an excellent narrator, though he does have limits. I couldn’t tell the difference between Morag and Cameron, for example. Perhaps it’s just my uncultured American ears.
The storytelling is good overall, especially for the genre of humorous sci-fi. Not a classic, but enjoyable and worth the read / listen.

new art seems to hang audible

I switch between other books just fine.
I've had these Oddjobs books for ages. (I loved the old art -- distinctive, intriguing, simple, fun, and red.)
New art, and now:
1. I can't listen when I have Audible open and switch to one of these books. Progress bar & counter proceed, but no. sound. at. all.
2. This bug creates what looks like a massive memory leak:
- hanging Audible,
- slowing the keyboard,
- slowing the whole phone's screen response (WTAH???),
- black-screening Audible -- for instance, as I'm writing a review -- and comes back in a minute or three *after* losing my text and bumping me to the previous page.

I already have tried:
1. Stopping and restarting Audible.
2. Restarting the whole phone.
3. Closing all other programs, restarting phone, restarting Audible.

I STILL CAN'T LISTEN TO THIS STORY and am WAY too discouraged to try the others *again* and hope for different results than last time and the time before. :'(

This is a stupid problem. Please get it fixed. I mean, WOW.

Another good book and the narration is better.

Narration is better then the first one just due to better mixing. The Venislarn words won't blow your ear drums out as bad this time.

More please!

I really love Oddjobs. This series has everything to keep me entertained for hours. Quirky but relatable characters, fast dialogue and monstrous situations. It’s all hilariously funny. I hope this series is a lasting one. I can’t wait for the next instalment.

As fun as one

This book continues the story begun in odd jobs one, and is a great deal of time. The characters have not significantly changed, nor has the impending doom of the planet. It no one allows that to get in the way of them doing the job that they think they need to be doing. You enjoyed odd jobs one you will enjoy odd jobs number two.

SO FUNNY

Love this series! Reader makes a hilarious cast/plot into people you wish you worked with! Can't wait for the next one! Great job all around!!

Brilliant!

More Gods, gigantic prawn spiders, Steve the Destroyer and plenty of laughs! Cant wait for the next book.

Amusing, quirky and easy to listen to!

Steve the Destroyer is my favourite character yet. I didn't see the twist at the end. Amusing tit bits throughout. My only annoyance is how harsh the alien words come out. Kinda pains me and is the reason I almost didn't purchase the 2nd book. Gald I did though.

Laughed and laughed

What a performance. What a performance! Matthew Lloyd Davies does such a great range that I cannot imagine another reader.

The story was excellent as well. This time there were shorter arcs making up the whole. Very satisfying to listen to and also hugely funny. There were some scenes that could almost have been standalone sketches where I just roared.

The characters are decently rounded. Mrs Grey is my favorite.

HP Lovecraft collides with Birmingham

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it’s predecessor. An excellent cast of characters and a well paced story. The narrator is excellent. For comparison purposes, the closest I can get is that it reminds me of early Tom Holt. Made me laugh out loud, and I keep quoting bits of it.