The Immaculate Void

By: Brian Hodge

Narrated by: Grahame Bywater

Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's Summary

You wouldn’t think events happening years apart, at points in the solar system hundreds of millions of miles distant, would have anything to do with each other.

When she was six, Daphne was taken into a neighbor’s tool shed and came within seconds of never coming out alive. Most of the scars healed. Except for the one that went all the way through.

You wouldn’t think that the serial murders of children and the one who got away would have any connection with the strange fate of one of Jupiter’s moons.

Two decades later, when Daphne goes missing again, it’s nothing new. 

As her exes might agree, running is what she does best, so her brother Tanner sets out one more time to find her. Whether in the mountains or in his own family, search and rescue is what he does best.

But it does. It’s all connected. Everything’s connected.

Down two different paths, along two different timelines, Daphne and Tanner both find themselves trapped in a savage hunt for the rarest people on Earth, by those who would slaughter them on behalf of ravenous entities that lurk outside of time.

So, when things start to unravel, it all starts to unravel.

But in ominous signs that have traveled light years to be seen by human eyes, and that plummet from the sky, the ultimate truth is revealed: There are some things in the cosmos that terrify even the gods.

©2018 Brian Hodge (P)2020 Journalstone

Superb Cosmic Horror

I hate to write an inadequate review for such a fantastic and complex novel. To me the story is what I would imagine a collaboration between H. P. Lovecraft and David Cronenberg would be like. And for me that's a five star formula. Brian Hodge has become one of my favorite writers. He writes "Literary Horror" but doesn't lose track of the story like many writers in that category.

What. The. Hell. Is. Going. On???

I can't follow a thing this guy is droning on about. I was expecting something really awesome based on all the reviews off goodreads and here. But man..... Am I the only one who doesn't know what the hell this guy keeps rambling about???? +

The person that heard this narrators delivery and said YES isn’t good at their job

Excellent story made almost indecipherable by the monotonous narration no pauses no changes and one very questionable character voice it’s a real shame because the book is excellent.

Great, but Review contains Spoilers on Genre/Theme

The narrator did a great job at sounding detached, which works very well for this story. Still, it felt a little rough, and there were no pauses for jumps between characters or changes of scene, which made it confusing to follow. This could have certainly just come down to whoever edited the audio, though, so it's more a critique of the audio version than it is the voice actor.

The story is so unique. It is a much more believable take on Lovecraftian horror than most stories because, in most stories, we're expected to just believe that every person has their mond instantly snapped when they witness something cosmicly awesome and terrifying. Brian Hodge takes a different approach and gives us a great insight into the minds of regular people at various stages of encountering the unknown.

Good story, bad narration

I really wanted to listen to this story because I've heard good things about it. Even though a lot of reviews talked about how bad the narrator was I decided to listen anyway. I figured it couldn't be that bad, I was wrong, it was so bad! It was like one continual sentence the entire story. Even when the author switched characters there was not even a break just continual talking, no change in character voice to indicate that we have switched from the brother to the sister. It would go minutes into a chapter before I realized we had switched. Sooo bad! Story was good, but by the end I was ready for it to be over and didn't care about the story anymore.

Very enjoyable story of cosmic horror

I wanted an accessible cosmic horror story, and this delivered. Narrator was a bit monotone, but the performance was fine. Overall I would definitely recommend of you're a horror fan.

4 star book, 1 star narrator

I guess they were going for boring narrator? Didn't work. And he sounded like Prison Mike from The Office for one character.

Gripping cosmic horror marred by crappy narration

My brother recommended I read this book because he knows I am a fan of cosmic horror and unsympathetic but still compelling characters, and The Immaculate Void has both in spades. I wish I had listened to his advice, because listening to this book instead of reading it was confusing as hell. The story is about two siblings connected to *strange happenings* by childhood trauma, and is told alternating between their two points of view - hopping back and forth between the perspectives as events escalate. The narrator however, does nothing to let you know the pov has changed - he doesn't even pause for breath. It's still a really good book though.

Cosmic horror delivered deadpan

Narrator kinda reminds me of Ben Stein. Kinda works once you get used to it. Bring coffee, the story makes staying awake worthwhile.

Fantastic story!

As others have mentioned, the narrator is certainly not the greatest. The narrator does not pause for changes in characters and the entire story seems to be read as one long sentence. However, if you can acclimate yourself to his style, the story is absolutely amazing. I adore cosmic horror and this story satisfied that predilection. The random conversations between characters(while not performed well) were very well written. This book will definitely make one think about their place in the universe and, for me, that is exactly what cosmic horror should do.

no idea

what that was all about. nothing particularly stood out.

agree with other reviewers the editing mKes it difficult to follow two separate perspectives

Poor narration

unfortunately I had to return the title as the narration was soo monotone and uninspiring it distracted from the content of the story.

The premise for the book sounded great, but the performance let it down.

Engaging and well paced cosmic horror... but:

The narration really doesn't do it justice. Partially the performance but I think also in the edit.

For a story which is told from the perspective of two different people in two different places, there's not enough of a pause to signify the end of a paragraph, and at times even the end of a sentence. Several dozen times I didn't realise that the perspective had switched, which became very annoying.

I also felt as though Bywater didn't convey much range. Between the violent imagery, the enormity of the cosmic horror, the gravity of the romance, and the enduring love between siblings, his narration seemed quite flat and dull. There's also an annoying drop in tone midway through a sentence, giving the impression that a sentence is finished before it actually does.

It wasn't awful, but I can't help as to think that another narrator would have done a much better job.