Wham!

Timewalker, Book 1

De: Carol Marrs Phipps, Tom Phipps

Narrado por: Sky Wildmist

They took her world. They took her family. They said it was for the greater good. They lied.

From husband and wife writing team Carol Marrs Phipps and Tom Phipps, Wham! is an imaginative and original dystopian fantasy where technology and magic stand side by side.

When Children and Family Assistance police drag her mom, her dad, and her beautiful sister out the door into the night and beat her senseless, Tess Greenwood finds herself alone, her every move watched by the hidden World Alliance. Almost blind after her beating, she flees to the forbidden Broadstreet compound and a troll named Maxi.

So begins Tess' journey from quiet teen at home to fierce young woman determined to get back her family any way she can. Even if she must travel time itself.

But time is one thing she has little of. Those arrested in the night seldom live for long, and beautiful young women are destined to become toys for the elite.

Frantic, Tess tries to pull herself together to save her loved ones and her world...and the clock is ticking.

Get your copy and enter the world of the Timewalkers.

©2016 Carol Marrs Phipps & Tom Phipps (P)2019 Carol Marrs Phipps & Tom Phipps

A fantasy with a deeper meaning

Loved the narrator's storytelling. What an actress she is! She brought life to this wonderful story with her different voices.
A recommended listen!

Perfect marriage of story and narrator

Wham! by Carol Marrs Phipps and Tom Phipps takes us to a dystopian world all too easy to imagine as our own future. The World Alliance maintains control by poisoning the land, sea, and air, then herding the displaced population into communal barracks where every word and action can be monitored by the ever-present 'skinnies'. And all of this, of course, in the name of the greater good. Enter the Greenwood family, torn apart before we can even get to know them. It seems that seventeen-year-old Tess has managed to stand out from the crowd at school by thinking for herself; an unforgivable transgression in the new world order. Her odd behavior prompts a visit from Children and Family Services which, in true Orwellian fashion, provide a service rather counter to what their name suggests. While Tess deals with a mountain of guilt and grief in a kind of foster home-cum-prison, her sister Nia is spirited away to the capital where she experiences a different kind of Hell. But the Greenwood girls have a secret. A secret that might even be powerful enough to bring down the World Alliance, once and for all.

Carol Marrs Phipps and Tom Phipps know how to do dystopia right. No preaching, no proselytizing, and best of all, no lengthy explanation of how and when things went so horribly wrong. They simply drop us into that weirdness and tell us that this is how things are. I love that. And I love that the world of Wham! is hauntingly familiar, even if it is one where a girl can get her hair cut by a troll, and where legends claiming that the last of the fairies vanished centuries ago might just be wrong. It is a world populated with well-rounded and entirely believable characters, both human and otherwise. Of course, Tess steals the show with her brains, her courage, and her bright green mohawk, but Nia is no slouch either. They are both strong, they are both resolute, and although they currently exist at opposite ends of the World Alliance spectrum, they will both fight to the death to get their family back together again. To say more would risk spoilers, but in a tale featuring fairies and wizards and carrying the subtitle 'Timewalker, Book 1', you can bet that the rest of the story is as unconventional as it is entertaining.

I read Wham! in book form a while ago, so much of this review has been posted elsewhere, but the audiobook version deserves a special note. As much as I enjoyed reading it for myself, the incredible talent of narrator Sky Wildmist truly brought the story to life. Her natural, pleasing tone is a perfect fit for the Phipps' words, and the seeming ease with which she slides from her narrator's voice to that of one character or another with just the subtlest of inflections is a thing of beauty. I usually listen to audiobooks while I'm doing something else, but so engaging is Sky Wildmist's narration that I most often found myself simply sitting and listening. In my opinion, there can be no better measure for audiobook excellence than that. I didn't just hear it. I listened to it. Like story-time for adults, I listened to this story I already knew, and I loved every word of it.

Five big stars for Wham! and for the talented trio of Carol Marrs Phipps, Tom Phipps, and Sky Wildmist!

Great Story; Superlative Narration

The audible edition of “Wham: Timewalker I,” is fantastically narrated by Sky Wildmist. Her British dialect, tone, and cadence are bewitching and this, coupled with a fantastic storyline, requires the listener to ‘clear the calendar.’ Ms Wildmist’s ability to alter her voice to fit the variety of characters is second to none.

There is much to praise in the story, “Wham.” The characters, action scenes, and world/societal designs are exceptionally well orchestrated. I was also impressed with the lack of overly long narratives describing things and events such as how the world came to be what it is, what the skinwelers were and how they worked and much more. Carol and Tom Phipps relied and excelled on their abilities to “show” rather than “tell” which the narration emphasizes beautifully.

The mesh of humans, trolls, fairies, and wizards is a remarkable feat of authoring and within this combination is one aspect I was especially excited about... language. The language of the trolls, fairies and wizards was fantastic—more so as the Phipps’ incorporated slight changes to these languages within the parameters of their time periods and Ms. Wildmist articulated beautifully; how she reached the deep bass tones of some characters remains a delightful mystery! I could go on and on, but often the shorter review carries the most impact. So, I’ll close now with one final phrase: If you listen to only one scifi/fantasy/dystopia audio-novel this year, make sure it’s “Wham: Timewalker I,” you’ll be glad you did.

Another fine fantasy

These authors have done it again with this dystopian tale involving all the kinds of characters we’ve come to love from them. The world-building is again strong and convincing, the imagination deeply impactful. This is my third audible from this author and I will get more. Highly recommended.

‘A unique and compelling tale’

Though I read more Science Fiction than I do Fantasy and have little experience with audio books, I recently listened to WHAM – Timewalker Book One by Carol Marrs Phipps and Tom Phipps – read by Sky Wildmist.
Listening to this audio book was a true delight. The story is an interesting Fantasy built on a framework of familiar Science Fiction devices; A harsh oligarchic government – Income inequality – A surveillance state – Time travel, and the reading by Sky Wildmist was spectacular.
The pure fantasy elements; an ancient domain of elves, trolls and immortal fairies, are nicely woven into the story, and the characters are genuine, well-developed and artfully contemporised.
From a story standpoint, Wham reads well. There is a heroine with a clear goal; get her family back from the autocratic regime which took (relocated) them in the very beginning, a sadistic villain in the form of a governmental ruler (The Potentate), and several meaningful side stories that serve, never detract from, the main plot.

What I liked most:

Wham tells three important stories.
The story of a civilisation that, not through war or plague or a climatological catastrophe, but through some sort of societal decline, has fallen into a state of tyranny with constant state surveillance and control, and few, if any, human rights. The story of a young girl driven to win the freedom of her family regardless of the overwhelming obstacles and risks, and a story of the human spirit that will cause people to adapt to even the harshest of conditions.

Character development.

Augmented in this adaptation by the fine audiobook reading of Sky Wildmist, each character is well-developed with believable strengths and weaknesses, interesting and unique. It is a true indication of careful character design when you can remove the dialogue tags; (Tess said, Jasmine asked, Nia exclaimed) and still know who is speaking in a given conversation. Wham offers that uniqueness with the use of clever literary devices.
Criticisms:

I have none. Listening to this audiobook version of Wham was fun from the beginning to the very end. The characters are adequately described, the conflict is compelling and in nearly every scene, and there is a clear, recognizable through line.

Summary and Recommendation:

WHAM – Timewalker Book One by Carol Marrs Phipps and Tom Phipps, is a thought-provoking story with meaningful themes and well-crafted characters. Add to those a nice dose of sensitivity. One can’t help but empathise with Tess as she struggles to find her parents and the elusive Capitol where her sister is held captive by the self-serving Potentate.

I give Wham 5-Stars and my highest recommendation for all readers 13 and older.

Review by T. E. Mark – Writer / Screenwriter
27/April/2019