• Agatha H. and the Airship City

  • Girl Genius, Book 1
  • By: Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio
  • Narrated by: Angela Dawe
  • Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (977 ratings)

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Agatha H. and the Airship City  By  cover art

Agatha H. and the Airship City

By: Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio
Narrated by: Angela Dawe
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Publisher's summary

The Industrial Revolution has escalated into all-out warfare. Sixteen years have passed since the Heterodyne Boys, benevolent adventurers and inventors, disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Today, Europe is ruled by the Sparks, dynasties of mad scientists ruling over - and terrorizing - the hapless population with their bizarre inventions and unchecked power, while the downtrodden dream of the Heterodynes’ return.

At Transylvania Polygnostic University, a pretty, young student named Agatha Clay seems to have nothing but bad luck. Incapable of building anything that actually works, but dedicated to her studies, Agatha seems destined for a lackluster career as a minor lab assistant. But when the university is overthrown by the ruthless tyrant Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, Agatha finds herself a prisoner aboard his massive airship Castle Wulfenbach - and it begins to look like she might carry a spark of Mad Science after all.

From Phil and Kaja Foglio, creators of the Hugo, Eagle, and Eisner Award-nominated webcomic Girl Genius, comes Agatha H. and the Airship City, a gaslamp fantasy filled to bursting with Adventure! - Romance! - and Mad Science!

©2011 Phil Foglio (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about Agatha H. and the Airship City

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    615
  • 4 Stars
    258
  • 3 Stars
    67
  • 2 Stars
    19
  • 1 Stars
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Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    550
  • 4 Stars
    208
  • 3 Stars
    69
  • 2 Stars
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  • 1 Stars
    15

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Ever wanted visuals while audio book listening?

What did you love best about Agatha H and the Airship City?

Loved the story, but discovering that I could look at the online comic WHILE listening made for a fully immersive experience. I have often wished for images to go along with audiobooks and this has almost the whole story illustrated. FANTASTIC.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Jägermonsters are probably my favorite. All of the characters have pretty well rounded development.

Which scene was your favorite?

Climatic scenes where Agatha's clanks come to the rescue are pretty exciting.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

HE THREW A BOMB AT ME

Saturday Morning Cartoon
This just wasn't my cup of tea. I listened for over four hours, but could not get into. The world they created was a sort of cool Steampunk world and I can see lots of people liking it for that reason. The story was very simplistic. For example in the beginning the lab assistant is under pressure to clean the lab before an important member of the government comes in to make an inspection. She cleans everything up and puts it all in the closet. During the inspection, as expected, the closet gets opened and everything comes tumbling out. This prank is so old, it is embarrassing to see modern authors use it today. The characters seem to be written by someone with autism.

I don't know if it was the narrator or the way it was written, but each line sounds like an announcement of some kind. At the end of each line is a pause so you can absorbed the announcement and we go on to the next. It was more that way in the beginning during most of the info dumps.

If you just love Steampunk, you may want to give this a try. If you are luke warm or worse, maybe not.

After reading the reviews of others, I see this started as a graphic novel. That explains a lot.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Good story, engaging characters, exc narration

This book is great fun. The authors have created a very unique world populated with interesting characters and plot that moves along nicely and makes it hard to put down. Although it is a tough world, the book does not take itself too seriously, and it had me laughing out loud quite a few times. The narrator is really good with fitting voices for the various characters. In particular, it is hard to not smile whenever the Jeagermonsters (sp?) say anything. I heartily recommend this book for all ages, as it has a rating of about PG I think. I hope it isn't too long before the next book comes out and that Ms. Dawe will narrate it.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Don't give up after the first two chapters

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

Yes, the lighthearted story is engaging and fun, the dialog is quick and witty, and the 10 hour listen slips by (almost) effortlessly. The "almost" refers to the first couple of chapters, dedicated to introducing many of the major players.

Unfortunately, the main characters are thrown together with several unimportant ones in the beginning, and there's no real hint as to who is important vs. who is not. In the first chapter alone there are at least 9 different characters, each with some background given. While this works fine in a print book (or web comic), where you can easily flip back and brush up on background, it fails miserably in an audio book. Unless you are extremely focused while listening to the first chapter, you will have to go back and listen to it again.

I picked this up as part of a 3 for 2 credits sale based primarily on the listener reviews. I did not realize until I was nearly three-quarters in that it originated as a web comic.

That said, listen to the first chapter, then read through the web comic for "review" rather than listening to the chapter over.

Once you get past the introductory chapter and get a feel for the characters, the book flows almost perfectly.

What did you like best about this story?

The humor and witty banter between the characters. While a totally different style, it reminds me a bit of Josh Whedon's work, especially Firefly/Serenity.

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

"Moved" may be a bit strong for a comedy/fantasy, but the interaction between Agatha and Gil is really cute and well done.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Wonderful story, Superb Narration

I knew nothing about this book and selected it based on the blurb. What a great find. I enjoyed the story, the fractured world, and the characters, which were brought to life by the wonderful narrator. At times, I laughed out loud. Agatha is a great character. Even the bad guys are fun. The Jaegermonsters are the best bad guys I've encountered in a long time.

I discovered after I had finished listening that the novel based on the compilation of three graphic novels about Agatha. And I think that explains the one major problem I had with the story and why I gave it a 4 overall instead of a 5. The book reads like a set of short stories, each complete unto itself and the transitions are abrupt. Characters come and go without explanation. When I was finished I was a bit confused by the end of the book, which kills off so many of the secondary characters I enjoyed.

Agatha is on my list for future listening. She has sparked my curiosity.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent Companion to Webcomic

I discovered Agatha H on line some time ago - and as other reviewers have mentioned, this novel is pretty much the first few volumes, with a few deviations.

Angela Dawe is perfect, her voices utterly convincing, and suited to each character. She really must do any following narration - even if her prior commitments mean that the audiobook would be delayed. It would be a sin to replace her.

I resisted getting this audiobook at first, as I wasn't sure that I needed a retelling of what I'd already read (though, the blurb wasn't really clear enough that I could be sure that it would be a retelling of the story, at least to a certain point). However, I'm glad that I did, and it definitely augmented the webcomic. Further, it spurred me to re-read the entire story again online, which let me pick up things that I missed the first time around.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Unevenly Pleasurable

First I have to mention how much I really enjoyed the narrator - she was great! Voices were terrific, phrasing never choppy, mispronunciations either minimal or nonexistent. If it weren't for the unevenness of this book, I'd give it four stars for the Narrator alone!
Unfortunately the book *is* uneven. There are some really funny moments in the story, but they almost entirely involve the Jagermonsters and other secondary characters. The main character, Agatha never seems fully formed and disbelief has to be suspended beyond the plausible when it comes to her absolute inability to understand what is happening to her. It's dragged out *waaaaaaaaaaaaaay* too long. I don't know if this book would have even gotten three stars if it weren't for the narrator - I just don't think I would have enjoyed the story as much.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Liked it, but prefer the graphic novel

This is an odd audio book. It is a novelization of a series of excellent graphic novels, with this book covering volumes 1-3 of the (soon to be) 10 volume Girl Genius Series. Having read the comics, I still thought this was enjoyable, but its roots as a comic show frequently. As might be expected from an adaptation like this, the writing is merely serviceable, with few descriptions, and relatively straightforward passages with simplistic word choices. A lot of the humor of the graphic novels isn't as apparent in the book, and the amazing craziness of the world built by the authors isn't as clear (though the reader is excellent). In short, the audiobook turns an excellent, award-winning story into a pretty good one - a nice adventure tale, but not much more.

For those who have read the graphic novels, there actually is some additional detail here, including some backstory on a few of the characters. There are a few (very minor) changes to the plot, such as who Agatha's room-mate at the castle is, but otherwise it stays incredibly close to the comic version. By all means, download it, you won't be upset, but do yourself a favor and at least check out a few pages of the comic (free online!) first, so you can see what the characters and world look like.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Story, Great Narrator

This book is so much fun! The characters are well-developed, the world is a fascinating alternate universe, and I can't wait to find out what happens in part two (soon, I hope).
Ms. Dawe has a great range. The Jaegermonsters are hysterically funny, and Crosp's voice is perfection itself! It's hard to believe this is just one person narrating. I certainly hope the same narrator will be used for the sequel(s).

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Starts a little slow but takes off and never slows

Takes a while to get going mostly because they introduce a lot of characters. I literely was starting to wonder about the purchase half way thru the fiirst chapter. But once it got going I was riveted. Very impressive narration definately helped especially for a book like this. The world they create it unique, intriging, dangerous, colorful and unexpectly hilariuosl. You never no what to expect but some how always end up pleasantly surprised. If you enjoy steam punk don't expect this to be the same old same because it is anything but. I loved it and plan on reading the series.

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5 people found this helpful