Rated R

By: Mike Leon

Narrated by: Buzz Blackburn

Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's Summary

It's crass gun porn filled with fanboy pandering action movie references.

Do you like action movies? Do you like dark, edgy, hard-boiled heroes? Do you like fully automatic weapons blasting guys' heads off? How about product endorsements that are awkwardly placed between depictions of intense violence?

Yeah? Then this book is for you!

It's about Sid Hansen. He's a mega badass who kills anybody who stands between him and what he wants. And what he wants is to get laid and eat submarine sandwiches. Great aspirations aren't really his thing.

It's also about the total skankbox on the cover. But let's not talk about her, or the third of the novel spent setting up the plot. That stuff is boring. Let's talk about explosions, cheesy one-liners, car chases, knife fights, villains with exotic weapons, cars that blow up for absolutely no reason, and firing two guns whilst jumping through the air. That's the cool stuff, and Rated R has it in spades.

Once the exposition is over, and the body count starts climbing, this story goes from a hard R to a really ridiculously rock hard R that will blow your nuts off.

©2014 Mike Leon (P)2017 Mike Leon

This book has been rated F, for fun, fights, and f

This is a brilliant concept. The book is a movie, 100% a film on paper instead of celluloid, and man does it deliver! It even has product placement. The story follows the 80's action format, with every troupe you can think of being addressed.

Meet the Hollow Man, Sid, who has been trained from birth to be one of the dealiest men alive. He is so hardcore he isn't a part of Kill Team One, he IS Kill Team One! On the run, hunted, he goes into hiding and poses as a DVD store clerk, which is where he meets Lilly, a girl wtih some serious relationship issues, a terrible past, and a step-father who wants here dead. The two reluctantly come together for survival, and effectively share the dangers ahead.

This book is balls to the wall action, murder, sex, foul language, and pure fun. Like I said, it is an Rated R film stuffed into a book. So, everything you would expect to find in a film of that caliber is here. Good Stuff.

Blackburn kills it as the narrator, he plays so many characters that you see them in your mind's eye. He sells every explosion, and you feel the wind of bullets whizzing by as he speaks. His voice for the holllow man is mix of Clint Eastwood and the incredible hulk.

This is a fun ad while ride and make you nostalgic for old 80's action flicks.

Go get this crazy story and start hoping for sequel!!!

wow, very funny and entertaining.

I did not expect this to be so funny and entertaining as it was. now I have to see what else this guy has written.

Fun New World Order Super Soldier Adventure Ride!

Would you consider the audio edition of Rated R to be better than the print version?

I didn't read the print version so I can't really compare the print version to the audio edition. I can say that I was entertained with how Buzz Blackburn portrays the characters and their unique personalities.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Hands down Sid (Jeremy) was the best. Just your typical super soldier killing machine oblivious to societal norms trying to be a normal guy. The guy was killing since he was a toddler and his first word was kill but all he wants is to work at Game Stop and have central air. Awesome.

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

This is my first audio book narrated by Buzz Blackburn so I can't compare to his past performances. I can compare Buzz to the many other audio books I have listened to in the past and say that his performance in my opinion is in the top tier. There were a few times I felt he was just reading a script but for the other 95% of the time the performance was excellent. From the slutty teen voice to the dark baritone super killer voice and to the voice of Sid's blood lust brother Vincent, Buzz did an excellent job keeping all the characters unique and entertaining.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The book was a great action packed roller coaster of a ride with excellent dark humor throughout. It wasn't a drama story with any particular emotional scene bringing you to tears or anything. I suppose the most moving part of the story would be when Sid the super killing machine begins to fall for Lily the high school super slut.

Any additional comments?

This audio book is a really fun listen and had me laughing throughout. I definitely look forward to more books by Mike Leon and narration by Buzz Blackburn. I've read other reviews where the book is compared to a Quentin Tarantino film. It's true. There were excellent corny one-liners throughout. The story even included a weird story line cut-in where Lily the teenage slut was suppose to die and the story line was somehow altered by the strange appearance of Quentin Tarantino. I kind of rolled my eyes at this one but Buzz did a good Quentin impersonation. Buzz also does an excellent Adam Sandler impersonation. Hilarious! My favorite quote of the book, "Now I'm just a threat to myself. Fuck! This is the biggest mind fuck. You are hands down the worlds worst dad." The audio book is a really fun five and a half hour listen. If you don't mind the violence, sex, and profanity (as the title Rated R obviously suggests) then you'll enjoy it.


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

This book needs to be a movie

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

It's been 2 days since I finished it and I am still laughing and thinking about it. This means it made an impact, good reason to listen to it.

What did you like best about this story?

the commercials, not kidding.

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

no but I intend to

Any additional comments?

I was given a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review and I have completed that assignment with this honest review.

Entertaining

It's a very entertaining and quick read. The narration is superb. I looked for others and seems like this is the only one he does. I hope to see more in the future. If I could sum this book up it's like B action movie. That's a good thing. No loose ends. I enjoyed it. I received this book free from audio boom for an unbiased review.

Funny? I don't think so.

Other reviews kept mentioning 'funny'. I didn't really find much of that here. Just over the top brutality, and completely unlikable characters. When the main 'bad guy' is mentioned as having skinned a child, I was finally done with this story.

Hard violent sexy action

An over-the-top and impressive story which is an homage to 80s action movies as well as slasher films. This is a violent splatterpunk-esque story and full of sex as well as violence. It's also incredibly silly and deliberately laugh outloud funny. If you've ever read the comic Hack/Slash or can imagine combining the Scream movies with the Terminator films then you would probably enjoy this. The audiobook narration is great as well.

Awesome!

Listens like an action movie complete with product placement. Plenty of action and lots of humor. The narrator was awesome and really made the story. I highly recommend this if you're looking for something a little off beat with a lot of laughs. I received a free review copy of this audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

Great story, Great Narrator

Very well done story. Lots of action, humor and gore. Take all the greatest action movie tropes and throw them into a mixer with some great humor and bloody gore and you get this book. Never quite takes itself seriously even though the characters are fully committed to the roles they play.
Add to all this the fact that at 1.5times speed, the narrator sounds a lot like various South Park characters, and you have a whole new level of excellence.

A fantastic mix of action movie and cliche.

If Deadpool were a teenager, (and a bit more sane) he would be Cid. I really enjoyed this book, it was a fun listen that had my attention the whole time. I think the closest anology is a Michael Bay movie.
I have to mention that I requested this book from the publisher, and was granted a copy in exchange for an unbiased review.