Vibrations

Harmonic Magic Book 1

By: P.E. Padilla

Narrated by: Alex Beckham

Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

Sam Sharp has never been what people would call sociable. Affected profoundly by his father's death when Sam was very young, he developed into a solitary and self-sufficient person. When he finds himself transported to Gythe, a world that is completely different from his home, yet strangely familiar, he is forced to seek help. Sam's nature wars with his need to rely on the strangers he meets - a warrior, a scholar, a monk, and a telepathic creature - to help him find a way back to his own world.

When Sam finds that he has an affinity for the peculiar vibrational energy that exists in Gythe, he realizes it is his only chance for going home. But there is only one person who may have the knowledge to help him: the Gray Man, a tyrannical vibrational energy master with plans to rule the world. Can Sam trust others to aid him and to prepare him for the ultimate confrontation with the Gray Man, to learn the secrets of this mysterious adversary? If so, will he even be capable of using the vibrational energy himself to return home, or will he die in this strange new world?

©2015 P.E. Padilla (P)2015 P.E. Padilla

Something Old and Something New

This is a fresh new take on the "underdog takes on an epic quest" novel. In the tradition of Tolkien, young would-be hero Sam joins a party of more qualified heroes on a quest to fight the evil Grey Man. While they travel, Sam finds love and they all raise questions about the definition of beauty, wealth, and honor.

nothing special

The premise was interesting and most of the time the book was alright. I just have issues with the main character going from an untrained normal person to being so skilled at fighting in only a few months (while also learning 'magic') that he was able to deal with 5 trained fighters at the same time. That and he seemed to have the emotional maturity of a young teen, which was magnified by the reader.

Traditional Tropes with New Spin

I bought Vibrations on a lark, and was surprised. It was an entertaining read. I was not anticipating enjoying it as much as I did. Vibrations is the traditional parallel world quest fantasy. Sam mysteriously travels to a new place and has to find a way home again. The main characters are suitably well rounded. And a few side characters are not. Still, the youngster in me who went to various martial arts classes four times a week for 15 years appreciated the many martial arts allusions and the creative magic system in the book. I will purchase the second one upon release.

Despite being an interesting and entertaining read, I found a few disappointing areas. There may be minor spoilers. As far as plot, it was pretty obvious from the beginning how Sam and the antagonist will resolve the plot conflict. However, the switch from the antagonist from being simply an obstructionist, to Sam needing to do a heist against the antagonist to steal information, to an all out battle with the antagonist was not very smoothly transitioned. It was plain that was were the plot was going but the psychological transition for the characters was abrupt. Concerning the style, there was a tendency for repetition of descriptions, particularly in character demeanor descriptions. Additionally, some of the dialogue was clunky and sounded like a old video game dialogue (mainly from a couple very minor characters).

Overall, Alex Beckham did a good job. I did not like some of his accents and articulations and they didn't seem consistent. But again, not a bad job. It does not help that his job was hindered a little by some audio mixing which made it apparent that some clips were recorded at different times and/or with different ambient noise.

Even with the issues mentioned, this book brought me back to the Narnia type of story where the accidental warrior stumbles into a new and strange situation and learns how to be a hero and discovers strength in oneself. But a scientific Narnia. I think this story needs a follow-up. I think there are interesting questions and maturity that can be uncovered.

Didn't like narrator or story

Would you try another book from P.E. Padilla and/or Alex Beckham?

No

What was most disappointing about P.E. Padilla’s story?

I couldn't get into it at all. I commute 4 hours a day and go through many books and because of this I am not very picky.....but this one lost me

Did Vibrations inspire you to do anything?

Never meditate

Really annoying narrator

What did you like best about Vibrations? What did you like least?

The magic system is really cool. The story is a bit hard to take. Some guy makes himself vanish to another dimension then goes to work afterwards merely intrigued by his discovered powers. I am reserving final judgment on the story until I have time to actually read it. The narrator was so annoying I stopped listening about an hour and a half in.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Alex Beckham?

Luke Daniels would have done a better job. Scott Brick would have been good to. Michael Page would have been interesting too.

Was Vibrations worth the listening time?

No. I'm going to actually read the book and then make a determination if the story took a really big hit because of the narrator or if the story is bad.

Any additional comments?

The narrator does a good job with the character voices, but his voice for the general story is so annoying I found myself blocking the story out. I really do not understand how this person is employed for narration. His character voices are really good, but everything else is incredibly annoying.