Sherrilyn Kenyon’s new series debuts with a rocky start, but narrator Holter Graham gives it his all, delivering a performance that is better than the text. Graham draws on a seemingly limitless supply of different, growly voices to give life to the members of a demon-hunting crew of undead pirates. Graham works to keep the many passages of unadorned explication from becoming plodding, but his pacing is halting and does no favors to the clichéd prose. However, he easily shifts register and tone, pulling out lilting accents and softer voices for more innocent and vulnerable characters. Overall, his performance is strongest in the passages of dialogue, where his talent with accents gives variety to the interactions. D.L.Y. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
At the end of each month, we share lists of B&N’s current bestsellers in the genre, from new hardbacks, to trade paperbacks, to mass markets and media tie-ins, to graphic novels and manga. These are the books everyone is talking about—and buying. Hardcovers
For nearly two decades, Jim Killen has served as the science fiction and fantasy book buyer for Barnes & Noble. Every month on Tor.com and the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog, Jim shares his curated list of the month’s can’t-miss new SFF releases.