Josh Powell

Gurken Stonebiter is a berserker dwarf, not a specialized cucumber. He’s on a mission and not much will stand in his way other than his rash temper. Along the way, he picks up a grammatically-oriented magician, Arthur, and a pre-pubescent lass, Pellonia, who has snark to share. There’s plenty of death, and thankfully resurrection, and even more mayhem.

When Arthur died the first time, I was a little sad. After all, we had spent some quality time getting to know his love for proper show more punctuation. But I was happy to find out that there was a way or two to bring even a dismembered person back to life. Arthur blamed the very large ants, and rightly so! Arthur would not be their last victim. Later in the story, Arthur has to be resurrected again but there is a bit of a mix up and Arthur has to make do with what he gets. Ha!

Gurken is my hero throughout the story playing the uncomplicated straight man to all the humor and the occasional pun. Over time, he becomes attached to both Pellonia and Arthur. With his rough edges and big heart, he stole the show. When he’s made a decision, he follows through with everything. Towards the end, he has a tough choice, and once made, he has to shove it down the authorities’ collective throats. He did it with style.

Pellonia started off as the kid side kick. She was cuter than a button and as obnoxious (in a funny snarky way) as a broken zipper. Later in the story, we meet one of her siblings and then plenty is revealed about her to her new friends. Her secret family ties explained her knowledge on certain subjects and her adult attitude. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the surprise was a nice little twist and let the story take a larger, unexpected turn later on.

The answer to one quest leads to another. The action for these three never ceases. This story has a really good balance between humor and action. I was never bored with the tale. In fact, there were moments where I snort-laughed out loud. This book definitely starts off a solid fantasy humor story. However, there is a bit of a curve into science fiction by the end. It was nicely done and totally made sense with the characters and plot. Sometimes I don’t enjoy stories that try to meld scifi and fantasy as it feels forced. However, in this case, it was smoothly done and never made frown. There is a bit of cliffhanger at the end. Definitely looking forward to season 2!

I received this book at no cost from the author in exchange for an honest review.

The Narration: Robert Ashker Kraft was an excellent fit for this story. He had a very nice brogue for Gurken that totally suited the character. He had this nasally ‘I always know best’ voice for Arthur, especially when he was going on about grammar. His female voices were quite good, especially for Pellonia. show less

My original The Berserker and the Pedant audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

In a word: Fun.

This book is split into episodes rather than chapters, each one moves us towards a common goal but each episode contains its own funny little romp featuring our main characters: Gurken, the typically short tempered dwarf (pun intended) with a penchant for hitting things with his axe. Pellonia, an exceptionally snarky young girl with some mysterious secrets and Arthur, a show more pedantic wizard who finds himself being murdered a lot.

Josh Powell has a certain Terry Pratchettishness about his style of writing, his characters manage to be a fresh take on classics and share hilarious and witty dialogue.

I would say that this book would be suitable for kids aged 8 and up, though it has cartoonish violence the entire story is very funny and very enjoyable to listen to. This story reminded me of listening to Johnny and the Dead by Terry Pratchett when I was around 10 years old, it has a very similar sense of humour and enough action to keep your attention right to the end.

Our three main characters are on a quest together to retrieve the sacred Orb of Skzd which has been stolen from the temple Gurken is charged to guard. Arthur and Pellonia die several times on this journey, but thankfully they have friends that are able to help them out in that regard - even if resurrection isn't always as straightforward as they might hope.

What did come as a surprise to me was the twist at the end, I can honestly say I didn't see it coming! Put it this way, now there's definitely enough scope to carry on adding books to the series!

Robert Ashker Kraft stands out to me as a narrator after listening to this well produced performance, bringing each of the characters to life with a selection of well executed accents and personalities. The sense of fun he brings to the story lights it up even further and made it a pleasure to listen to, Kraft was definitely an asset to this production!

If you're a fan of the Discworld series and looking for something new to get your teeth into, I would absolutely recommend this audiobook.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author. show less

An engaging Dungeons and Dragons style fantasy. There's a monsters, and magic, and a quest. There's also a bit of a twist, which makes the story stand out from the field. For an indie effort, the editing is pretty good. There are no glaring issues with plot or character consistency, and I only noticed (I think) two typos in the whole book.

If you enjoy trips into worlds full of fantastical creatures, then this is a adventure for you! Travel along to find the thief, then onto a quest that needs to be finished because the fate of this world depends on this quest being completed! Grab a seat on this journey and enjoy the ride! Oh, and watch out for goblins!!