The Grendel Affair

By: Lisa Shearin

Narrated by: Johanna Parker

Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

We’re Supernatural Protection & Investigations, known as SPI. Things that go bump in the night, the monsters you thought didn’t exist? We battle them and keep you safe. But some supernatural baddies are just too big to contain, even for us. When I moved to New York to become a world famous journalist, I never imagined that snagging a job at a seedy tabloid would change my career path from trashy reporter to undercover agent. I’m Makenna Fraser, a Seer for SPI. I can see through any disguise, shield, or spell that a paranormal pest can come up with. I track down creatures and my partner, Ian Byrne, takes them out.Our cases are generally pretty routine, but a sickle-wielding serial killer has been prowling the city’s subway tunnels. And the murderer’s not human. The fiend in question, a descendant of Grendel - yes, that Grendel - shares his ancestor’s hatred of parties, revelry, and drunkards. And with New Year’s Eve in Times Square only two days away, we need to bag him quickly. Because if we don’t find him - and the organization behind him - by midnight, our secret’s out and everyone’s time is up.

©2013 Lisa Shearin (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Great world and characters

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

Yes, the whole series! I loved the story, the world Lisa Shearin creates is interesting and her characters are great.

What other book might you compare The Grendel Affair to and why?

My jam is Jana Deleon, Ilona Andrews, Seanan McGuire, Janet Evonavich, Molly Harper. So if you like any of their series you'll like this one.

very engaging

I was led to search out this series after reading a novella of the same I a b ox set. I am going to enjoy each onr as they come.

I just couldn't listen any further

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

I think the premise of the book was probably fine. I can't rate it or the story appropriately because I did get through much of it.

Has The Grendel Affair turned you off from other books in this genre?

No. My library only had the second one in the series and I wanted to read this one first. I will probably read the second anyway because the storyline has promise.

How could the performance have been better?

I don't know what state her accent was from but I just couldn't listen to it any further than I did.

pretty good story

The storyline is good, there were times I wish the author would get on with the story. I had to get use to the narrator's southern accent but she did a good job. there is nothing bad in this book it's just plane good, and that is what I love the most.

Narrator kills flow of story

I like the premise and the story was pretty solid. The narrator ruined it in my opinion. I couldn't tell what her native accent was, and that made all of the other accent attempts awkward. Her male voices were extremely forced and weird as well.

Probably the most annoying thing was at the end of all of her sentences she extended her vowels for too long and hard snapped her consonances. I found that I was rushing through the book just to stop listening to her.

I'll probably keep reading the series, but I won't listen to another one.

give me a Grendel, lol

Would you listen to The Grendel Affair again? Why?

oh yes. loved this book... I will listen to it again, and I think all the family will love it also. Good fun.

What other book might you compare The Grendel Affair to and why?

Don't know if there is another book like this one. This book was good for all ages. And that makes it stand in lane that does not have to many books in it.

What about Johanna Parker’s performance did you like?

I like the sound of Johanna's voice. it goes very well in this book.

Hoping book 2 isn't far behind!

If you asked me to my face, I would tell you I'm not fond of urban fantasy.

On the other hand I am quite fond of an original story, great characters, fun, action, all the good things that go into a good story.

That's why I like Harry Dresden, Alex Verus, Bob Howard, and now Makenna Frazier-our heroine.

It's original, it's got it's share of fun, some twists, the action keeps moving, it's a great listen. It feels personal. And intimate.

Really good narrator. I really hope they get her again for book 2, which I hope will be out soon.

I liked it. Enough to get the next one as soon as it comes out.

You should give it a try, you'll like it.

What accent?

Overall, this was an entertaining story, but I do have a couple of notes.
First, the narrator's accent was all over the place! All over! For example, a British character would speak, and she would switch from almost British to American southern to New York to unidentifiable and back through them all again. It was extremely distracting and made it hard to keep track of who was talking at any given time.
Secondly, the story was pretty good, but the prose was hard to follow often throughout the story. Information was shared at random intervals and completely unrelated to the given situation, or almost too late. Some better editing would have made for a better experience.
I will probably listen to the next one, but I am hoping for some improvement if I am going to continue on in this series. The premise is very interesting, but not good enough to contend with these issues across multiple books.

Loved it!

Great story line. Awesome reader. Lots of fun to listen too. So look forward to more of this authors books.

dissapointment

I really liked the story in Night Shift and so I wanted more from the story teller. I still like the story and the story teller but it turns out that my interest was supported by the narrator, Angela Dawe. Dawe supported the story, silly and interesting at the same time, while Johanna Parker is selling her narration rather than the story or prose. The prose is fun and the absurd situations and plot can give the writer room to please. However, none of this happened with the pacing and loss of diction in the narration. I liked Parker's narration of Sookie Stackhouse books, but that is a very different character at play. In the end the book became boring and it did not have to be that at all. I will read the books myself and skip audio for this author. The author has a nice sense of fun and worth the effort.