Narrated by a Full Cast* see below
I’ve had Clean Sweep on my TBR and my TBL (the original version narrated by Renee Raudman; AudioGals review here) since they first came out but I never did get around to reading or listening. As it happened, this worked to my advantage because the entire story was fresh for me with this newest version from Graphic Audio; a full cast recording with “cinematic music and sound effects”.
The narration is fantastic. Almost everyone, especially those who voiced the main cast, did an exceptional job of portraying the characters and bringing them to life in my ears. There were no cast members who performed at less than what I’d rate as at least “good”, even the ones with only a few lines.
I’m aware, because I subscribe to the author’s blog, that Nora Achrati (who also directed) conferred with Ilona and Gordon about pronunciations, so I knew was getting accuracy there as well.
Ms. Achrati carries the bulk of the story as the POV character, Dina, so a lot of my enjoyment of the story came down to her performance. I was also particularly impressed by Ryan H. Reid as Sean – given that he will ultimately be Dina’s love interest (it’s very early days yet) it was very important to get him just right. Special mention should go to Karen Novack as Caldenia – she’s delightful in a very murdery, extremely dangerous way.
The Innkeeper Chronicles tell the story of the adventures of Dina Demille, an “innkeeper” in a universe where inns are kind-of magic B&Bs which host all manner of creatures and beings from across the universe. The audio is only about 6 hours long and it had to do the heavy lifting of introducing an entire new story-world with many associated rules and norms as well as deliver a complete tale without being a dump of information and without stinting on character development. That’s a lot of work. Clean Sweep manages it very well though.
Set in Red Deer, Texas but encompassing galaxies and alien beings, the opportunities for the series are seemingly endless. In this first instalment, Dina has only one guest – a permanent resident of the inn, the mysterious Caldenia. She references boiling someone alive at one point so listeners quickly become aware that she’s not the harmless grand dame she appears to be. Much of her story is yet to be told; Clean Sweep builds the world we need to know but does not go further – though I had the very clear sense the authors know all and I was in safe hands.
When something starts killing dogs in the neighbourhood, Dina decides to investigate. She is helped (after some initial disputation) by Sean Evans, a werewolf who has recently settled in the area and has claimed it as his territory. Finding the culprits and solving the mystery behind it is the main plot but there is also introduced the ongoing mystery of what happened to Dina’s parents when their own inn – and everything and everyone in it – disappeared.
I went in to Clean Sweep basically knowing nothing about the world or the story and I had no trouble following along. In fact, I probably had more fun this way, as the story played out in my ears.
The cinematic effects are not overdone; perhaps the music was at times just a little intrusive but overall, it felt like listening to a radio play with skilled actors at the top of their game.
Even if listeners have already experienced the original recording of Clean Sweep I recommend this as an entirely new experience and a whole lot of fun.
The audio is available as a download or via MP3 CDs from Graphic Audio direct. Book 2 is already out and Book 3 is out in April. I’ll definitely be listening.
*Full Cast:
Nora Achrati as Dina Demille, Ryan H. Reid as Sean Evans, Alex Hill-Knight as Arland, and Karen Novack as Caldenia ka ret Magren. With James Lewis, Elias Khalil, Christopher Walker, Alejandro Ruiz, Peter Holdway, Holly Adams, Ken Jackson, John Kielty, Darius Johnson, Nicole Perez, Joe Mallon, Keval Shah, KenYatta Rogers, Duyen Washington, Kelly Baskin, Steve Wannall, Christopher Graybill, Nickolette Kong, K’Lai Rivera, Laura C. Harris, Martin Dickinson, Jessica Lauren Ball, and Bradley Foster Smith
Kaetrin
Buy Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews on Amazon
How interesting. I admit that I’ve never been interested by a “full cast” narration before, but I love this series so I’m very tempted. Thanks for the review.