LitRPG Audiobook Podcast 049 - The Wandering Inn Special. Review and Interview with Andrea Parsneau

“Hello everyone. Welcome to the LitRPG Audiobook Podcast. I’m Ray. I’ll be reviewing some recent and classic LitRPG Audiobooks for you. I’ll begin with: ”

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The Wandering Inn: Volume 1

Score: 9.6 out of 10

https://amzn.to/2IRYq0l

Interview with Andrea Parsneau (49:30)

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The Wandering Inn: Volume 1

By: Pirate Aba

Narrated by: Andrea Parsneau

Series: The Wandering Inn Series, Book 1

Length: 43 hrs and 10 mins

PAUSE

Wow. Where to begin? With the Writing side of course. Pirate Abba, whomever he or she is, pulls off quite the stunt and tells an epic slice of life story that actually has a complete tale to it. Yes, it is part of a web serial, but the first novel is almost a complete work unto itself. Aside from a few bits we get a pretty good wrap up of the ongoing tale.

The characters are complex and fully fleshed out, and you get the time to get to know them. There are two MC’s, Erin the Innkeeper and Ryoka the runner. They could not be more different from one another in styles or attitudes. Erin is a peaceful, naïve young lady who means well, but often does not consider her actions. Ryoka, on the other hand is rude, antisocial, and abrasive but is very deliberate in what she does. I don’t think there is any middle ground, you will love one and hate the other, and for everyone it is a singular choice. There is no right or wrong answer. Personally, I disliked the runner for a variety of reason, one of which was that she is slightly bigoted. There are a few points where she goes out of her way to say that she would not help certain people or provided them with information based on who they were. I can overlook stuff like that if there is a reason for it, but none as ever given. While it was off putting, I still overlooked it due to the incredible writing. Only a great writer can make you love a story that has a character that you cannot stand. As much as the runner’s attitude set off my bells and whistles I was still fascinated by her journey.

The book focuses on two women who come from Earth, after seeming to simply step into another world. The world is well defined, vibrant, and chalk full of monsters and magic. It is every bit as much a character as Relk or Kilbaketch. Humans are pretty rare in the part of the world that Erin shows up in and she is forced to make her way among gnolls, drakes, and Ant-people.

While it takes the story a little time to get moving, once it does it does not slow down. One of the things I liked most is that characters die, and generally speaking there is no coming back. More importantly, they are characters that you care about, which lends the story a gravity that it wouldn’t have if it did otherwise and kept everyone alive. Both of the MC’s learn, grow, and adapt so there is well defined character growth. The situations that the MC’s find themselves in are often serious and life threatening, even if they don’t know it at the time. The best thing about this world is that the danger is ever present. There is plenty of progression with the acquisition of skills and abilities, lotsa leveling up, and enough crunch to keep any LITRPG lover satisfied.

It is Andrea Parsenau that I think really did an amazing job. She went into the ring with a heavyweight champion, and beat his arse. 40+ hours of narration, flawless narration at that, that is wrought with emotion and incredible pacing is simply too unbelievable to be true. First off and speaks like an ant, with hard K sounds that hit you like a sledgehammer, rolling R’s, pops, and ticks that practically make you believe she has lived among the ants and can chat them up like Doctor Doolittle. Honestly, two of the best characters aside from Kilbeketch are Tor and Rags and they don’t speak, but Andrea manages to make you see them without them using words to convey what they are about. AS much as I know this was not an easy job to perform she makes it all seem effortless. Honestly, this is the crown jewel in her audiolibrary. I can’t even begin to tell you how many characters are in book one, but all of them have their own voice; even the other members of the Antonium. You can tell Kilbeketch from other ants, and vice versa. I think what I loved the most is the amount of thought that she put into making the inhuman characters sound inhuman. It doesn’t matter, each race has it’s own distinctive way of speaking, and none of them sound human. It just goes to show her attention to detail and the care that she has for her craft. She takes great material and makes it epically legendary.

Final Score: 9.6 stars. The book is riveting from start to finish, it has a well defined character progression, and incredible action once the story gets going. There are numerous things to love about this book, but I have to honestly say that the book is probably a 9 star novel, but it is Andrea that makes it nearly perfect. Her ability to give souls to each and every character is utterly breath taking to listen to and stunning to hear her pull off a 40+ hour novel and make it seem effortless is a testimony to her talent.

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**Special thanks to Andrea Parsneau for talking to us this week.**

Thanks oh so very much for watching everyone, I do appreciate you taking to the time to watch or listen to the show. If you want to support us, you can like the LitRPG Podcast facebook page or the YouTube Page, or just share and like the video. I’m going to ask for more suggestions for the Is it LIT segment, I’ve got a good one for next time, but will always need ideas. Please leave comments or suggestions in the comments below, and feel free to tell me whatever you like. I enjoy the feedback.

For LitRPG Audiobook Podcast, I’m Ray. Keep listening!!!

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