Running Close to the Wind

De: Alexandra Rowland

Narrado por: Casey Jones

Duración: 14 h y 49 m

Resumen del Editor

For fans of Our Flag Means Death, discover low fantasy on the high seas in Alexandra Rowland's Running Close to the Wind.

Avra Helvaçi, former field agent of the Arasti Ministry of Intelligence, has accidentally stolen the single most expensive secret in the world—and the only place to flee with a secret that big is the open sea.

To find a buyer with deep enough pockets, Avra must ask for help from his on again, off-again ex, the pirate captain Teveri az-Haffar. They are far from happy to see him, but together, they hatch a plan: take the information to the isolated pirate republic of the Isles of Lost Souls, fence it, profit. The only things in their way? A calculating new Arasti ambassador to the Isles of Lost Souls who’s got his eyes on Avra’s every move; Brother Julian, a beautiful, mysterious new member of the crew with secrets of his own and a frankly inconvenient vow of celibacy; the fact that they’re sailing straight into sea serpent breeding season and almost certain doom.

But if they can find a way to survive and sell the secret on the black market, they’ll all be as wealthy as kings—and, more important, they’ll be legends.

“Come for the irrepressible gremlin of a narrator, stay for the plot-relevant cake competitions! A whip-smart, hilarious, and exuberant high seas romp.”—Freya Marske, Sunday Times bestselling author of A Marvellous Light

©2024 Alexandra Rowland (P)2024 Recorded Books

hilarious, interesting, heartwarming

this is a fun little pirate adventure romp with queerness, anticapitalism, and the power of friendship and mystical luck right at the forefront. laugh out loud funny throughout, thanks to both spectacular writing and a fantastic performance.

Hilarious

Amazing performance. Incredible writing. Had me laughing at work and embarrassing myself in front of my manager. Very cute and I always love some good non-binary rep. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS AUTHOR AND VOICE ACTOR. Their work is incredible and this was an amazing sequel, but works fine as a stand alone. Honestly I want more from these characters so badly, even just a glimpse of what it’s like for them after they finally figure out their situation. God this was such a good book! This is the second book from this author that I can and will listen to repeatedly.

made me laugh within the first ten minutes and then I never stopped!

This is one of the best books I've listened to for when I need a good laugh. I absolutely adore Avra and all the main cast. I really want my own deck of Heralds now! I was sad with how abruptly it ended, and I hope that there is a sequel in the future!

lovely!

This book is fantastic! It’s a bit whimsical and ludicrous at times but the characters and plot all mesh together really well

Highly recommend!

Funny but Hard to Follow

It took me several tries to actually start this book - I think it was a personal preference on voice acting - but when I read the book myself it was much easier to follow. I like to listen while I do other things, so once I was aware of what was going on, I started listening to audio.
Just my personal opinion, but I did not like that the narrator made Avra sound like Dr. Doofenshmirtz. I feel like the author wrote him to be quirky and goofy, but he's also extremely smart and cunning when he wants to be. I'm not sure why he's made to sound so annoying when the narrator made every other character sound perfectly normal.
The beginning held a lot of promise to me, but then at some point (probably at the mention of a cake competition) I started to feel like we lost the plot somewhere.
I was on board -pun intended - for a funny story about queer pirates, and sea monsters, and screwing over the government. I did not think I was going to read about a man-child pining over their previous partner constantly while also fawning over the pretty new guy, only to then try to compete with said ex-partner in a friendly game of *who gets to sleep with him first* all the while they're arguing over who has the worst cake in their harbor town.
Also, I am a smut reader, okay? I am not prudish when it comes to books. BUT for a book that has ZERO on page sex scenes, there is an overwhelming amount of talk about sex and objectification of other characters. To me, it read like a teenager who isn't really sure how to talk about it like an adult.
I wish I could read these characters in an actual pirate story. I feel like they have a lot of promise, particularly with the complex feelings and topics mentioned in the book. But unfortunately the storyline fell flat for me.