Robert Hurlocker

Fae Smut for Those of Us With Religious Trauma

Revisado: 05-13-24

As an ex-evangelical Preacher's Kid with my own degree in biblical and religious studies, I was fascinated by the fun way that the author interweaves various pantheons in this opening book of the series. The way she pays special attention to a few fascinating ancient myths that are on the fringe of biblical lore contributes to this story easily transcending the typically shallow paranormal love story featuring Angels and Demons.

The protagonist has deconstructed from her own religious baggage in a way that will resonate DEEPLY with anyone who has followed a similar journey. The character took an academic journey away from the abuse of her youthful religious indoctrination, but along the way she encounters some folks who have taken a more spiritual or witchy route away from the Christian Church.

While the book is often intentionally sacrilegious – hurling multiple insults at the Christian God, and painting a few followers of such a God as abusive – it also takes intentional steps to validate the religious experience of devout Christians who believe they have certain spiritual gifts such as "the discernment of spirits". The mythos of the fictional world paints a long-standing war between Heaven and Hell, about which very few of the other pantheons of even care.

As for sexual tension, this book starts and ends with a lot of it. Nevertheless, do not go into the book expecting gratuitous smut throughout. Sex plays an unapologetic role in the story, but I honestly expected much more based on the way the opening was written.

The narration was wonderfully immersive, fitting the irreverent voice of the protagonist very well.

I can't wait to catch future books in this series! The cliffhanger was definitely a little mean!

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"The Hunger Games", but for Video Game Nerds

Revisado: 11-08-23

It's the end of the world, and Carl's only surviving friend is the self-important cat of his cheating ex-girlfriend.

It's the end of the world, and Princess Donut's Royal Court has been reduced to the bumbling ex-boyfriend of her ultimately unfaithful human, Beatrice.

Together, Princess Donut and Carl must form a party to survive a series of deadly dungeon games, wherein the few surviving residents of Earth must compete for their lives in front of an intergalactic audience.

Part buddy comedy, part adventure, part video game, part ttrpg; this novel serves as an excellent introduction to the nerdy genre of LitRPG. The characters are playing a type of life-threatening video game; but after a few clunky moments of the characters learning how it all works, the narrative begins to seamlessly weave game mechanics into the narrative without it feeling too distracting or unnatural.

As audiobook narrators go, this performance is among the very best. The story is brought to life in the best way possible through the narrator's brilliant talent.

I immediately had to purchase the next books in the series!

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"The Hunger Games", but for Video Game Nerds

Revisado: 11-08-23

It's the end of the world, and Carl's only surviving friend is the self-important cat of his cheating ex-girlfriend.

It's the end of the world, and Princess Donut's Royal Court has been reduced to the bumbling ex-boyfriend of her ultimately unfaithful human, Beatrice.

Together, Princess Donut and Carl must form a party to survive a series of deadly dungeon games, wherein the few surviving residents of Earth must compete for their lives in front of an intergalactic audience.

Part buddy comedy, part adventure, part video game, part ttrpg; this novel serves as an excellent introduction to the nerdy genre of LitRPG. The characters are playing a type of life-threatening video game; but after a few clunky moments of the characters learning how it all works, the narrative begins to seamlessly weave game mechanics into the narrative without it feeling too distracting or unnatural.

As audiobook narrators go, this performance is among the very best. The story is brought to life in the best way possible through the narrator's brilliant talent.

I immediately had to purchase the next books in the series!

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A Rusting Good Ending to an Era

Revisado: 11-27-22

This story seeks to do justice to every character, from its tear-jerker prelude to its final epilogue. Speaking of, there are seriously enough epilogues to rival the Lord of the Rings!

Sanderson was not kidding when he mentioned that this would be his most "cosmere-aware" book to date. Expect to see various types of investiture interacting in ways that will have you racing off to read & re-read all of Sanderson's other novels & novellas.

Kramer performs brilliantly, as always. In fact, he really gets to show off while narrating this book, because so many characters are either impersonators who collect accents OR literal world-hoppers who speak differently from everyone else on Scadrial.

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FM — Former Revolutionary, Current YA Protagonist

Revisado: 09-20-22

FM used to want a revolution, but now she's the institution. Her earlier characterization in the series — that of a hopeful dissident who dreamed of a less militant society — is overshadowed by this novella's more cliche coming-of-age story arc. That said, you can still see her progressive values if you look closely at her newly-found interest in animal rights and the arts (especially music). I found myself wishing for something that wasn't in the story — more exploration of non-Defiant philosophies; but I still enjoyed what was in the story — a deeper exploration of certain characters and relationships that we already know and love.

Also, Sanderson's next kickstarter should DEFINITELY include a plush slug, because they sound so stinking cute.

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That Sanderlanche, Though

Revisado: 09-14-22

True to form, Sanderson delivered a top notch book in Skyward. Perhaps departing from his more frequent forms, Skyward has a distinctly Young Adult coming-of-age feel to it, as the young protagonist seeks to follow in the footprints of her pilot father while also living in the shadow of his potentially-unfair(?) reputation as a coward. Some elements early in the narrative can strike new readers as if they are hinting at predictable tropes; and, to be sure, this structure of story does have a few more predictable elements than most of Sanderson's other books. But when he uses a trope, it is emblematic of how all writers should use them — allowing quick pacing for certain storybeats, while taking time to SUBVERT expectations when the reader's guard is down.

As Sanderfans will quickly point out, Brandon Sanderson is brilliant when it comes to story climaxes. In Skyward as elsewhere, he is able to weave together various plot lines into a very satisfying ending. You'll want to consume the final chapters all in one sitting, because they're just that captivating.

If you're new to Sanderson, this is an easy starting point, because it presents a universe separate from his larger Cosmere. If you're a tried-and-true Sanderfan who has only read his Cosmere works, DO NOT PASS ON THIS READ. It is our favorite author in rare form.

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Brilliant Reconsteuction of the Historical Paul

Revisado: 09-04-22

Dr. Tabor imagines what a pre-Pauline Christianity might've looked like using the three existent sources that seem to lack Pauline influence: the epistle of James, the Q-Source, and the Didache. Tabor treats this "Jerusalem Sect" as a foil to his image of the historical Paul, which he reconstructs from the authentic/undisputed letters of Paul. One way these sects of early Christianity seemed to differ is how James wanted people to do as Jesus taught, whereas Paul shifted the focus slightly to believing in the Christ himself. This emphasis in Paul is understandable, as he himself never met, followed, or heard the historical Jesus — except in his own alleged visionary experiences with the spiritually-embodied Christ "who we no longer know according to the flesh".

At multiple times, Tabor strikes me as overstating his case. For example, there are multiple viable interpretations of the person Paul knows who "was caught up into the third heavens", but Tabor theorizes that this is an autobiographical account of Paul's own visionary experiences. Then he restates that assertion many times throughout the book without reference to other possible scholarly interpretations. There are other examples of this, but they will likely jump out to a reader with any level of familiarity with Pauline studies.

Although I didn't agree with every interpretation Dr. Tabor made of Pauline sources, I think this book presents a very important investigation into the person of the historical Paul.

For further reading: Google James Dunn's review of the book AND James Tabor's online response to Dr. Dunn — another Pauline scholar who disagrees with this book's claims significantly more than I do.

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Must Read for Christian Theologians in U.S.A.

Revisado: 04-18-22

All theology is contextualized. Cone's theology of Black Liberation reminds readers of the history of Christianity in the United States, recognizing that the White Church has its roots in the heretical blend of Christianity with slavery and colonization. Accordingly, the voices of the pre-civil war Black Church understood Christ more purely than their white counterparts, despite being largely overlooked by contemporary Christians who are the product of White Christianity. Cone identifies "Black Power" with black self-love, which is an essential ingredient in loving your neighbor as yourself". In the end, Cone condemns whiteness as an IDEOLOGY, but offers a hope-saturated message of liberation for people of any skin color who share Jesus' concern for oppressed people and holding their opressors accountable. In a context where black bodies were hung on trees and systemic oppression STILL treats black lives like they don't matter, the writings of James Cone are absolutely essential for any American hoping to capture the heart of Christ for oppressed folks.

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Narrator Doesn't Understand Subject Matter

Revisado: 03-31-22

This is one of the best surveys of both Biblical sources and Early Christian History in regards to HELL (esp. Infernalism/Penal Substitutionary Atonement, Conditionalism/Annihilationism, or Universalism).

However, the narrator hilariously misunderstands certain words and abbreviations found in the source material.

Some funny examples:

(1) The famous biblical scholar "N.T. Wright" is called "New Testament Wright", (2) "According to Phil..." as if some guy named "Phil" wrote the Christ hymn from chapter 2 of Paul's letter to the "PHILIPPIANS", and (3) "Mal." is a reference to the Biblical book of Malachi, but the narrator inexplicably says "Malthusians" which is literally not a thing.

Nevertheless, while I frequently had to pause, rewind, and consider what the narrator SHOULD have said, I found the mistakes mostly entertaining and not too distracting from the source material.

The book is still worth the listen, but I'd recommend the TEXT copy of the book for anyone who isn't already well-versed on the topic, because the narrator's gaffs might be confusing for anyone trying to explore the topic without previous exposure to the sources.

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Hit & Miss Pacing, But When It Hits It REALLY Hits

Revisado: 12-15-21

This is an excellent second book of the series! introduces new characters with their own arcs and carries our well-loved heroes deeper into their own adventures. The narration is as amazing as everyone says. Michael and Kate are so talented and being the whole story to life.

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