The Palace Job

Rogues of the Republic, Book 1

By: Patrick Weekes

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Loch is seeking revenge. It would help if she wasn’t in jail. The plan: To steal a priceless elven manuscript that once belonged to her family, but is now in the hands of the most powerful man in the Republic. To do so, Loch - former soldier, former prisoner, and current fugitive - must assemble a crack team of magical misfits that includes a cynical illusionist, a shape shifting unicorn, a repentant death priestess, a talking magical war hammer, and a lad with seemingly no skills. This crack team of misfits will help her break into the floating fortress of Heaven’s Spire and the vault that holds her family’s treasure - all while eluding the unrelenting pursuit of Justicar Pyvic, whose only mission is to see the law upheld. What could possibly go wrong?

©2013 Patrick Weekes (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved

Listen closely

I really like this narrator this world was very well-built and very intricate which is why I say listen closely if you don't listen closely to every detail you will miss something I've listened to this now twice before I even felt I had heard it once but the narrator is great and the story is good

Not only a heck of a story, a heck of a narrator

Really excellent performance! Kinda stunning, her range!

The story not only fully brings the heist story fully to a fantasy, but manages to meet and extend the form within the logic and expressiveness of the fantasy context.

Delightful, low-stress fun

This whole series is a blast. It's not going to change the way you look at the world or anything, but for light escapist fun you've definitely come to the right place. Justine Eyre does a phenomenal job of creating distinct voices for each character without making them cartoonish (or, perhaps, exactly as cartoonish as they should be).

Silly funny characters among the rulers of cruel intentions

Of course they are powerful and magical and there is a mission of revenge afoot.

Everything you want in a fantasy heist

What made the experience of listening to The Palace Job the most enjoyable?

This was everything I could have wanted in a heist story: complex plots, an entertaining and hilarious criminal crew, and the justice-serving person trying to foil their plot. Plus, magic and a unicorn! It has the light and witty tone that I love in common heist movies and kept me guessing the whole book. It was brilliantly put together and I was taken completely off guard by how much I enjoyed it.

What does Justine Eyre bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She really brings the characters to life. There are different accents and each person's attitudes really shine in her narration.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I was laughing and smiling through the whole book. Even when their plans are falling apart, the characters are fun and sarcastic or just plain quirky and I loved their interactions with each other, especially when the crew was first put together. This book was so much fun, I can't say it enough!

Any additional comments?

In addition to really enjoying the characters, the heist component is really well executed. The plans were revealed in pieces, and there is a great mix of the crew manipulating the events around them in their favor and their plans being really screwed up, and often you can't tell which seeming obstacle is which until later. It definitely kept me on my toes.

Some nice twists but overly "busy"

There is so much going on in The Palace Job that you definitely don't get bored, but you also don't have much chance to really get to know the characters and the plot gets muddy and confusing at times. This is a fantasy con story like Ocean's 11 or The Sting set in a world of wizards and unicorns. Weekes has a real talent for being able to "twist" a story - sometimes quite delightfully - and he sketches out characters that are easy to like and root for. But, he keeps the reader so in the dark that it is hard to understand the action at times and there is insufficient backstory to truly fall in love with the characters. Justine Eyre has an amazing voice - the timbre is lovely and perfectly suited to a fantasy story. But I found her difficult to understand. Her enunciation is not really precise and combined with her pronounced accent, I had a tough time understanding her when there was any other background noise (like the car or the washing machine). She does do really nice character voices and I would have rated her higher except that I had to rewind so often because I didn't catch what she said.

I liked The Palace Job enough to read the sequel (The Prophecy Con), but my feeling about the second book was about the same. I found both books to be entertaining enough that they were worth the price, but far from the best fantasy I've read. I will keep an eye on Patrick Weekes - I think the talent is there and experience might make him a pretty great fantasy author.

Just ok

I will not comment on the reader really. She was average and thus tolerable and enjoyable.

I felt there was nothing really special about his story. If felt like the story was a prequel when it wasn't. It was odd how that worked out. You felt like the characters where more developed in other books (that do not exist I think) so their awesomeness was implied as if the reader already had a relationship with them. Character backgrounds where mentioned but never elaborated on. Not much about the world is explained so you feel that there is more that you don't know about.

The narrator lets the story down.

The narrator chooses a voice that it unnecessary for the story. I found it hard to hear what she was saying many times.

Amazing Narration.

Every time it seemed things were hopeless it turned out fine. It was perhaps a bit convenient but I prefer unrealistc happy endings to favourite characters dying to provide realism. It was very exciting and had several laugh out loud moments.

This riotous cast of oddball characters are involved in an Ocean's Eleven type situation.

Fantastic!

Excellently structured and amazingly fleshed out characters create a wonderful and hilariously told story. I loved every second!