Broken World, Andrew Biss, Narrator: Wayne Farrell

Broken World omnibus edition
1. Cafe Grotesquerie
2. Foreign Bodies
3. The Joneses
Andrew Biss
Narrator: Wayne Farrell
Music by: Kevin MacLeod

Broken World by Andrew Biss

Narrator: Wayne Farrell

Wayne Farrell does a striking and stirring, job of bringing out the cynicism and psychopathic behavior in all three tales. His voice is rich and expressive, and he does very respectable female characters, not by changing his voice to imitate, but by just a hint of the feminine, with emphasis on the tone and content of what she is saying. He spices it up nicely to bring out the more humorous lines, and is empathetic enough with what he's reading to bring out the sinister. Wayne Farrell, knows when to be whimsical and when to be forceful. Farrell, is a very talented narrator with a good many books to his credit. He is equally good at narrating young adult, children's books, murder stories or the bizarre. It is always a treat to settle down with a good book he has narrated.

I loved the title and the introduction music is up beat and deceptively cheerful. Andrew Biss has written three short stories depicting and over dramatizing the pompous aspects of what thankfully may represent, if over blown, a very small percentage of the worlds population. I did have some good laugh out loud moments with all three of the tales. They are wonderfully ironic and funny.


In Cafe Grotesquerie, we have a spoiled and petulant woman being sulky and difficult
because she is not the center of attention. Nothing makes her happy, not even the best of anything. Aubrey tries to placate her, but she rebuffs and critizes his every attempt. Audrey even manages to give the condescending sommelier a taste of her acidic tongue. They are both completely uncaring about some of the most deplorable things going on around them. This is a tale of getting your just deserts.

Foreign Bodies, Victoria and Max are taking their get away vacation. To Victoria the foreign country they are visiting is exotic and fascinating, to Max it is just another place, nothing to special. It doesn't take Max long to realize it didn't pay to get a bargain rate vacation. The true price is quite high. They both are insensitive and egocentric and totally oblivious to the precarious situation they are in, not even in the, not to surprising ending, do they get it.

The Jones, a middle aged couple, have adopted two children from a broker, the boys are from a destitute country, and are not what the Joneses anticipated, not what they can warm up to and embrace. The  boys are constantly fighting for territorial rights, and are pretty vicious. It's not long before we wonder who is unhinged, the parents or the children. The Jones's hang on to their vainglorious ideals of being the beacon of goodness in their community, to the acrid end.

Hike up Devil's Mountain Author: Penny Estelle Narrator: Wayne Farrell

Hike up Devil's Mountain
Author: Penny Estelle
Narrator: Wayne Farrell
1 hour 28 mins
Publisher: Solstice Publishing
Young Adult

Hike Up Devil's Mountain
Author: Penny Estelle

Narrator: Wayne Farrell

                                                                   

Narrator, Wayne Farrell, exceeds himself in reading Hike Up Devil's Mountain. Mr. Farrell does some  outstanding variations of voices and convincingly represents the different boys personalities and ages. I laughed when I heard him croak out words in his frog voice, it truly was sensational. Farrell manages to capture the creepy mood and skillfully negotiates between anticipation and fear. It was wonderful the way he steps up the pace to maintain the tension and excitement as the boys face terrifying events on their trek up the spooky mountain. He makes you hold your breath in fearful excitement, and exhale in relief. Words can not describe what a fantastic job Farrell does to increase the fear factor, entice out every nuance and notch it up to and exciting pitch. Hike Up Devil's Mountain, showcases how very talented a narrator Wayne Farrell is.

Hike Up Devil's Mountain, is a short story, only an hour and twenty eight minutes, but every
minute of the story is action packed and full of adventures, mystery, magic, and excitement, all things we know ten year old boys are searching for and thinking about. Andy a typical ten year old does what we expect a boy will do, disobey his parents. The temptation of a neighboring abandoned house is more than Andy can resist. Entering the eerie dank basement, shaking with fear he cautiously explores and finds a small box with a shinning stick inside, he is surprised it glows but it doesn't burn or feel threatening

Unexpectedly, the bully Jason and his brother Danny, show up and Jason taunts him. Andy tries to spoof Jason and tells him the building is being turned down because the witch that lived there was banished to Devil's Mountain. Jason isn't buying it and notices the glowing stick in Andy's hand and tries to wrestle it away from him. Andy is not going to let his new found treasure go easily and is going to fight hard to keep it. A bit of name calling causes some unexpected events and suddenly the tables are turned and a now transformed Jason is no longer a threat to Andy but a problem. Harmless, as a toad now, Andy and Danny try to figure out how to turn Jason back into a boy. They have decided the glowing stick is what turned Jason into an ugly toad, but it's not glowing any longer and try as they might they can't make it glow or turn Jason back into himself.

Getting panicky and very scared they settle on having to go up Devil's Mountain and find the witch. They are convinced she is the only one that can take the spell off of Jason and turn him back into a boy. With a complaining Jason in Danny's pocket they set out on the scariest journey of their lives.
I highly recommend this audio book to anyone age 8 and up. A wonderful listen for a parent(s) to enjoy with their youngster. It might be a bit too scary for under the age of 8 but thoroughly enjoyable up to grandma's age. I loved this book, it was fast moving, well written and Wayne Farrell added a lot of flavor to it.

You can listen here https://soundcloud.com/wayne-farrell-narrator to some of Wayne Farrell's other audio book clips. I bet you can't listen to just one.