The Regional Office Is Under Attack!

A Novel

By: Manuel Gonzales

Narrated by: Sarah Scott, Natasha Soudek, Susan Hanfield, Mike Chamberlain

Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's Summary

In a world beset by amassing forces of darkness, one organization - the Regional Office - and its coterie of superpowered female assassins protects the globe from annihilation. At its helm, the mysterious Oyemi and her oracles seek out new recruits and root out evil plots. Then a prophecy suggests that someone from inside might bring about its downfall. And now the Regional Office is under attack.

Recruited by a defector from within, Rose is a young assassin leading the attack, eager to stretch into her powers and prove herself on her first mission. Defending the Regional Office is Sarah, who may or may not have a mechanical arm and is fiercely devoted to the organization that took her in as a young woman in the wake of her mother's sudden disappearance. On the day that the Regional Office is attacked, Rose's and Sarah's stories will overlap, their lives will collide, and the world as they know it just might end.

Weaving in a brilliantly conceived mythology, fantastical magical powers, teenage crushes, and kinetic fight scenes, The Regional Office Is Under Attack! is a seismically entertaining debut novel about revenge and allegiance and love.

Read by Sarah Scott, Natasha Soudek, Susan Hanfield, and Mike Chamberlain.

©2016 Manuel Gonzales (P)2016 Penguin Audio

Natasha Soudek Nailed It!!

What did you like best about this story?

This was better than his "Miniature Wife" stories.
Great story, solid pacing, EXCELLENT new narrator Natasha Soudek on the scene!

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, I considered getting the ebook, but am so glad I got the audiobook because I found Natasha Soudek (who reads the From the regional office chapters). I'm now going to hunt down everything else she has done is Sci-Fi. Mike Chamberlain is also great as always.

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

I listen to Sci-Fi, I don't cry. Except when zombies or aliens attack babies. :)

All over the place. Nearly incoherent.

It's hard to even describe. Between the time jumps and back and forth character slips this story was hard to finish. as a fan of the genre I was amazed at how much this focused on mundane and nearly irrelevant parts of the characters (major and minor) and broad stroked the important or at least interesting parts of what could have been a solid story. I've never forced myself to finish an audible before but I have now.

Awesome!

I haven't finished a book in 2 day in a long time.
The Author does a great job of pulling you in with a unique style of story telling. I don't want to give anything away, other than I was very entertained. This is a rock solid first novel from Gonzales and IMO it's a must read. Congratulation Mr. Gonzales, I look forward to your next release.
Tim.

Super Fun!

What did you love best about The Regional Office Is Under Attack!?

I typically listen to audiobooks while I'm walking. I am usually a runner, but due to a knee injury I have been only able to walk and walking by itself, gets rather boring when you're used to running or lifting super heavy, but life happens. I saw that I could do a free month of Audible and have two free audiobooks right off, so I decided to give them another try, even though I had been 100% certain they were just not for me.

This one, along with the sixth book in Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" series has completely changed my mind and made me actually look forward to what I considered pretty boring hour long to two hour long walks around the park because it's my "audiobook time," as well.
(quick aside ends here, and the review starts now of the above was tl;dr)

This book in particular was hysterical! I loved all of the characters (well, started to hate a few but in a fun way towards the end) and kept wanting to go back down to the park to listen to it more. Finally, after my insomnia hit tonight, I decided to finish listening to it and gosh, I'm so glad this was one of my choices for May to listen to! So funny and perfectly on point action. No gratuitous violence or sex but for those like my mom who find a ton of swearing off-putting, you probably will not enjoy listening to this. But, if you love comics, assassins, oracles & secret corporations, grab this one to listen to! You won't regret it! I definitely recommend it to those who listen to books while doing something active, though sitting quietly while listening is also super fun, it's just a book that is even more thoroughly enjoyed if you're working out while listening to it!

5/5 stars. Narration was perfect; I listened to it at 1.25x speed which was probably the best speed for the narrators.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Sarah; because she has life hit her silly a lot and I relate to that.

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

Timing. Most of the jokes are witty verbal ones that require pitch-perfect timing, and the narrators brought that out. Plus, I was able to more fully immerse in the story because it felt like someone was literally telling me what they and others had just gone through. Sarah is who it felt like was telling the entire story, even other people's parts.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not really, but there were quite a few laugh out loud moments where I knew I probably looked weird to others, walking round the park giggling to myself- it's why I was grateful I had huge headphones on, too!

Any additional comments?

I am very happy that this was one of my first audiobooks to listen to in full. It was thoroughly enjoyable.

I was great, and then it just ended...

It was excellent and then it stopped, as if the Final Chapter was excluded. I was sad.

Damn there's a lot of swearing...

What could Manuel Gonzales have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Varied his vocabulary for sure. I know Rose is only 17 but she doesn't have to drop the F-bomb or call everyone assholes every time she opens her mouth (or doesn't open her mouth since a lot of it is her own internal dialogue). It's jarring and distracting.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Performance was ok but it hit peaks and was hard to listen to.

Any additional comments?

Only made it to Chapter 14 but I couldn't handle the writing.

Funny, fun, exciting.

I’m not sure why I chose this audiobook. I think I saw it on a “good audiobook performances” list. But, damn, am I glad I took a chance on this! Nice performances from all narrators and the story is awesome.

The story jumps around through time, mostly focusing on two extraordinary women and their connection to the mysterious, world saving, organisation The Regional Office. We learn about the rise and fall of that super powered organisation.

Just Wow!!!

This story was so wonderfully different! The characters are fresh and new! Movie would be awesome!

Fun listen!

I didn't have a problem with the timeline and found the story fun and engaging. I still had questions at the end but I think it wrapped up nicely. Very good and entertaining!

Pre-teen fantasy

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

This would be perfect for a 13 year old girl who dreams about being a super-power teenage spy girl.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Not this.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

None of them.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Regional Office Is Under Attack!?

The whole plot.

Any additional comments?

This is not a book for adults. There is no substance to the characters, the plot has too many obvious devices, and there is little to grasp beyond flash-bang excitement of a poorly scripted action movie.

Fun and bouncy.

Plot and timelines at times disjointed but maybe that's me being dumb. superhero and comic book feel with monsters and the hint of extra dimensions. Couldn't really decide if it was a true mockumentory or straight fiction. Fun though.