Murder at Avedon Hill

I probably re-listen to this book once a year. His ability to build a world and characters is just amazing. This story never gets old and I’m so glad Scott Sigler made this recommendation. RIP PG you were an amazing author and im so happy I got to listen to your book and will continue to listen in the future.

Each time I find something new and truly enjoy the roll out of the mystery and action. The interplay between Aramiss and Aaron is something I look forward to.

Old timey fantasy mystery. Two men need to solve a murder mystery to pass through a walled town, which devolves into mystical stuff that ultimately overwhelms the former (fun) procedural puzzle solving. Plus vampires and werewolves and priests and potions and horses and servants and fancy blade weapons. And I admit this is not my comfort zone for stories. Mostly because ——> The way the women are described is kinda zoinks: A town full of the most beautiful women ever seen. And many of them deceitful, dangerous, and hyper sexualized. Most of the women actually get to do things, which is definitely a plus. But what they get to do is generally a big sigh of tired overwrought misogynistic fantasy tropes. The voice work is generally pretty good ... it resists fake British accents, and there are fun guest voices. But also it’s read v e r y slowly, so listening via an app that lets you speed it up and trim out silences is useful. As is Voice Boost. LOTS of time spent on music in the earlier episodes. Some hints of homosexuality that would have been nice to develop, especially if they weren’t also buried in some old school tropey stuff & red herrings. So ... it’s a mixed experience for a current (2020) listener.

This is an immaculately conceived universe, full of all the political, religious, and social factors of the real world. This is just as mandatory a literary experience as Frankenstein or Flowers for Algernon.