The Lost Level

By: Brian Keene

Narrated by: Earl Hall

Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

When modern-day occultist Aaron Pace discovers the secrets of inter-dimensional travel via a mystical pathway called The Labyrinth, he wastes no time in exploring a multitude of strange new worlds and alternate realities. But then, Aaron finds himself trapped in the most bizarre dimension of all - a place where dinosaurs coexist with giant robots, where cowboys fight reptilian lizard people, and where even the grass can kill you. This is a world populated by the missing and the disappeared, a world where myth is reality and where the extinct is reborn. Now, side-by-side with his new companions Kasheena and Bloop, Aaron must learn to navigate its dangers and survive long enough to escape...The Lost Level.

Apex is proud to present the first book in Grand Master Award winner Brian Keene's long-awaited new series, a loving ode to lost world classics like Burroughs's Pellucidar, Howard's Almuric, and Lansdale's The Drive-In, but with a thoroughly modern twist that only Brian Keene could conceive.

©2015 Apex Publications (P)2017 Beacon Audiobooks

Great story, subpar narration.

This story is so bizarre and gets more so as it progresses. Even so, it sucked me in. I’ll be checking out more in the series as they come out.
The narration had a lot of issues, however. First of all, the narrator had an odd speaking pattern where he would pause at the wrong part in sentences. He would clear his throat or grunt here and there. Also, there were intervals where you hear background sounds. A chair squeaking, clicking of the mouse, etc which proved distracting. I feel like all of this should have been edited out. Other than that, solid book.

Narrator Issues

I struggled with this novel because the narrator did not pronounce some words correctly and it drove me bonkers!

Fun story destroyed by poor narration

The first thing to note here is that the Lost Level is a fun little pulp-era throwback story. You don't have to know Keene's Labrynth mythos (or really have any familiarity with his work) to enjoy the story. It's not high art. It's fun and an amusing distraction...
...if you read it to yourself. The fault of this story is 100% the narration. When I started listening, I honestly thought the narrator was doing an ironic imitation of William Shatner with awkward pauses in the middle of sentences (and sometimes in compound words). It quickly became a distraction in terms of trying to enjoy the content of the story. Then there was the constant mispronunciation of words- glaring mistakes that should have been caught. I don't know if this was the result of a disinterested director, but there really is no excuse for this not being corrected and cleaned up.

Bad narration

The story is great, but listening to the narrator read reminds me of when my 6th grade teacher would call upon the stuttering kid to read from the class textbook.
You would think that a guy who gets paid to read for a living would know how to pronounce words correctly. His awkward pausing and emphasis on wrong syllables is pretty distracting.
Overall, a great book read by a lackluster narrator.

One of my favorite authors

One of my favorite authors writes a beautiful action packed interesting story and it gets read to me by what seems to be a text to speech program. It’s unfortunate the narrator did this story no justice. For that reason alone I had to force myself to keep listening instead of just sitting back and enjoying another great story from Brian Keene.

Great story, not-so-great narration.

The story was excellent and kept me interested throughout and I can't wait for the second book. The narrator, on the other hand, was not great. His voice was fine and he did character voices just fine, but his reading was just that, reading. He would break up words with a pause in between. "I once went to a Motor. Head concert " those kind of things. Sometimes he would mess up and just reread the part correctly instead of the editor fixing it in post. Not great at all.

love the story but the narrator not so much

as always huge fan of Brian Keene, however, this narrator with his strange pauses and audible shifting in his chair really distracted you from the story and made it hard to immerse yourself.

Awful Narration

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend the Kindle book. I recommend you do NOT buy the Audible version due to the poor quality.

What did you like best about this story?

I enjoyed the golden age of sci-fi setting and story.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator was truly bad.

It's clear he's not read the material ahead of time, and isn't comfortable pronouncing the words used.

His voice is fine, however he reads the story in a virtual monotone without dramatic inflection, randomly stopping and starting during sentences because it's clear he doesn't really understand or care about what he's reading.

You can virtually hear the wheels grinding as he works his way through sentences. His inconsistent reading kills the narrative tension and is a constant distraction during the listen.

I've listened to other samples of his work which are better, it was clear he didn't like, or wasn't into doing a good job on this book, and just did the bare minimum effort.

Was The Lost Level worth the listening time?

No

Keene does it again!

I really loved this book. Great story overall with characters you will love. Keene has a way of painting a vivid picture. If you want action with killer creatures then this is the story for you.

Great story! Needs better voice editing!

The story is awesome! So, good I had to get the sequel. The reading was very poorly edited though. Full of coughs, throat clears, strange word pronunciation, and breaks in the middle of sentences. He has a nice voice though, and with a little better editing this could've been a true masterwork.