Butcher, Baker, Vampire Slayer

A Retelling of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

By: Juliann Whicker

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Forbidden Love in a Slayer Academy Violetta has to save her brother by taking Sebastian's place. His biggest bully, Orion is determined to save her. In Calder, Boy's Academy for Slayers, Violetta's brother is the runt of the pack. When she takes his place, she has to deal with bullies and enemies who are unbelievably hot. Orion's brother, Armand is the pack leader. They'll fight for pieces of the fresh Baker and the right to protect her from the monsters. All After a freak accident with escaped tigers, newly orphaned Violetta Tancetta is left in a city which teems with werewolves, vampires, and zombies. Unaware of the danger, all she knows is that her twin brother is throwing away his future when he decides to drop out of the elite all boy school he’s been attending, and she isn’t going to let him do it, even if it means taking his place. When eighteen-year-old, Violetta Tancetta goes undercover as her brother, she has no idea that Calder, School for Boys isn’t only for rich, prissy boys, but also the premier training ground for the next generation of Butchers, or those trained to slaughter vampires, werewolves, and anything else that goes bump in the night. Her plans get complicated when she gains the friendship and respect of the greatest Butcher of them all, wickedly handsome Orion who constantly threatens the security of her male identity.

Fun read

This is a very original paranormal retelling of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Romantic comedy with more action - the male protagonist is a “Butcher” monster hunter - than the usual retellings. The dual perspective narration rotates between the “Baker” Violetta and Butcher. Bakers take energy from Butchers to infuse in their baking which then energizes, heals, etc. the Butchers. There’s also a bit of a mystery of who killed her parents and what happened to the Butcher Lance. Along with the humor, all this keeps the plot moving quickly.

The “Virtual Voices” automated narration is tolerable. The humor is dry so the lackluster voice works well enough and at least succeeds in getting punctuation better than some awful human narrators I’ve heard. There’s a weird tinny squeaky sound that’s a little annoying but not enough to stop listening since I love this story.