Shadowed Souls

By: Jim Butcher - editor, Kerrie L. Hughes - editor

Narrated by: Jim Butcher, Julia Whelan, Emily Rankin, Justine Eyre, David de Vries, Mia Barron, Jon Lindstrom, Sumalee Montano, Mozhan Marnò, Karissa Vacker, MacLeod Andrews

Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's Summary

In this dark and gritty collection - featuring short stories from Jim Butcher, Seanan McGuire, Kevin J. Anderson, and Rob Thurman - nothing is as simple as black and white, light and dark, good and evil....

Unfortunately, that's exactly what makes it so easy to cross the line.

In number-one New York Times best-selling author Jim Butcher's "Cold Case", Molly Carpenter - Harry Dresden's apprentice-turned-Winter Lady - must collect a tribute from a remote Fae colony and discovers that even if you're a good girl, sometimes you have to be bad.

New York Times best-selling author Seanan McGuire's "Sleepover" finds half-succubus Elsie Harrington kidnapped by a group of desperate teenage boys. Not for anything weird. They just need her to rescue a little girl from the boogeyman. No biggie.

In New York Times best-selling Kevin J. Anderson's "Eye of Newt", Zombie PI Dan Shamble's latest client is a panicky lizard missing an eye who thinks someone wants him dead. But the truth is that someone only wants him for a very special dinner....

And New York Times best-selling author Rob Thurman's infernally heroic Caliban Leandros takes a trip down memory lane as he deals with some overdue - and nightmarish - vengeance involving some quite nasty "Impossible Monsters".

Also includes stories by Tanya Huff, Kat Richardson, Jim C. Hines, Anton Strout, Lucy A. Snyder, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Erik Scott de Bie.

Full cast of narrators includes Jon Lindstrom, Sumalee Montano, Mozhan Marno, Karissa Vacker, and Macleod Andrews.

©2016 Jim Butcher and Kerrie L. Hughes (P)2016 Penguin Audio

If you're looking for Dresden, don't bother…

Personally, I thought this was going to be another version of book 11.5. Meaning a bunch of well written short stories that give us a good look at the "between the book " moments of the series that we all love. The first story, written by Butcher, was exactly that. The rest of the stories save one or two were just mediocre. I gave this review a story star for each story I actually liked.

Bottom line, give this one a skip and go look on the Dresden wiki for the story details.

It's an Urban Fantasy Anthology, not Dresden

What did you love best about Shadowed Souls?

My favorite story was Molly's by Jim Butcher, but other stories stood as decent works. Not the best anthology I've ever read, but far from the worst.

Would you be willing to try another book from Jim Butcher - editor and Kerrie L. Hughes - editor ? Why or why not?

Gladly. This is Jim's first foray into editing, and I feel like the theme didn't come out too well. I'd expect future works to be an improvement.

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

The ending of the first story could be quite heart-wrenching. None of the others really affected me that strongly, though there were a couple laughs.

Any additional comments?

The narration overall was really solid, and each story brought something unique to the table. Don't go into it expecting what isn't there. Anthologies like this aren't for everyone, and you have to know what to expect going in.

Not what I thought...

I, like others, was excited about a new Dresden set of short stories. I realized they were not all written by Butcher, but I did think the stories were at least in the Dresden universe.

While the first story was about Molly, the rest just seemed to be about creatures that MIGHT have been in the DresdenVerse, they were not specifically written that way. When you pair that with the fact that they weren't written by Dresden either, it turns out to be a real let down.

Jim Butcher is a great author and I love the way he weaves a story together. I don't JUST like wizards and vampires, etc..I like the way Butcher does it. I did not care for the rest of the stories after the first one. I tried to like them anyways, but I found myself skipping to the next story on several occasions.

If you were really excited to see a new book in the Dresden lineup, you might skip this one. In my opinion it wasn't worth the credit. Kind of wish I'd saved mine for the new Sanderson book that just came out in the Stormlight Archive series (also short stories). Now I have to wait for more credits!

Only good story here was the one with Molly in it!

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Not sure what happened, Jim Butcher is awesome but these authors were crappy at best.

Would you ever listen to anything by Jim Butcher - editor and Kerrie L. Hughes - editor again?

Yes, I will read anything written by Jim Butcher.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

First story was great the rest.....MEH!

Any additional comments?

Disappointing!

Save the Credit

The Jim Butcher story was great. The rest not so much. Pretty much just a collection of whining and angst. Wish I could get my credit back.

good and meh

the short story kicking off the anthology is pretty revealing about Molly's new gig. The rest of the anthology held less interest for me. there may be another gem or two in the rough.. but don't expect to be stunned.

This anthology should be renamed....

"Authors who desperately need to get laid". Jim Butchers story was decent, but the second one reads like bad Lost Girl fan fiction ( painful to to listen too) and the rest are almost as terrible. I feel bad, because I love Butchers work and this was his debut as an editor but I think he needs some more practice as I'm not really seeing the Theme for this anthology coming to the forefront. it was too busy on its backside.

I think Jim should have followed some Dresden logic and poured some icewater down his pants to clear his mind.
The narration over all was passable, nothing special but not bad either.
This is was not worth the full credit.

Very uneven quality

Story quality ranges from mediocre to awful. I am a big Jim Butcher fan, but he apparently is a bad editor.

Dishonest to Call This a Dresden Files Book

Would you try another book from Jim Butcher - editor and Kerrie L. Hughes - editor and/or the narrators?

From Jim Butcher, yes... With anyone else included, no...

What was most disappointing about Jim Butcher - editor and Kerrie L. Hughes - editor ’s story?

I purchased this on my cell phone. The lack of information that I received on my phone caused me to assume that this was a full Dresden Files book. Sadly I was mistaken. This is a collection of short stories. Hopefully you don't get tricked like I did.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Nothing wrong with the narrator.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Shadowed Souls?

I would remove anything that was not a Dresden Files story.

Any additional comments?

You deceived me. I am not pleased.

Poor

Poorly written stories. With almost no connection to the Dresden universe. In my opinion, do not waste your time or money.

Lackluster and not a dresden files novel

First of the stories don't seem to fit the background. In some cases they are impossible in the storyline up to this point.

Even though some ideas are interesting this isn't a dresden files book and shouldn't be sold as such.

In addition the writing is mediocre at best. It actually felt like a chore to listen to these stories at times. It was a real disappointment when compared to all the good books in the series.

Narration Like Nails Down A Blackboard

It's an apalling abuse to describe this as 14.5 in the Dresden Files series. Aside from a story told from Molly's point of view there is no other connection, the rest of the stories are rather trite and tedious and the narrators are horrible to listen to. Unless you are a completist, this isn't worth your pennies - Avoid.

only two stories where worth it

after the first story it kind of goes down hill with charactors i just couldnt care about in any way shape or form with a couple of them being able to guess the punch line before even getting there. save your money, i think this is truly sold on the fact that jim Butcher has a single story in it.

Worth checking out

The first few stories were really good, then I lost interest. Dresden story worth the purchase, for fans

Not Dresden, most decent, some disappointing.

Most of the stories were decent- engaging, interesting, had some original ideas and generally fun. However, others were just recycled ideas re-skinned into different stories with small changes and if I wasn't paintbrush in hand decorating for most of the listen I would have skipped.
If you're only in it for the Dresden story don't bother with downloading this- the story can be found in Book 15.5 'Brief cases'' so save your credit!

Not A Dresden short story

The only story is about Molly Carpenter newly minted winter lady.

Calling it a Dresden series is basically lying.

Seriously Good Listen

Loved all the stories, so different, characters so varied. Very well read by all the presenters. Totally recommended.

Very disappointed

Very poor not up to usual standard A waist of my money. Very unhappy. Disappointed.

hmmm

In all honesty, its not as bad as some reviews have led on. Yes it is a completely different read from "The Dresden Files" and there is no relevance to the story apart from a short snippet from Molly's prospective, also the usual narrator isnt reading these stories either, there different voices and actors that read the collection of short novels and that there all their own little slither of short supernatural stories or from their own series. Agreed, some of these stories were hard to get into or feel for the characters (and I admit I skipped 1 story in particular) but please go into this purchase knowing that it isnt a continuation from the "The Dresden Files" othereise youll be disappointed.

Ok selection of fantasy.

Decent length stories, narrated fairly well but, as with any anthology, not all stories will appeal to everyone. I found with one or two of the stories my attention wandered as they did not engage me. Having said that none of the stories are badly written or narrated so I would recommend it as most people will find some stories are very much to their liking.