Princess of Wands

By: John Ringo

Narrated by: Suzy Jackson

Audie Award Nominee, Fantasy, 2013

Special: distinguished by some unusual quality... Circumstances: a piece of evidence that indicates the probability or improbability of an event...

Barbara Everette, a homemaker living in a small town in Mississippi, had the perfect life. Perfect husband, perfect children, perfect house, perfect Christian Faith. She cooked and cleaned perfectly and managed all of the chores of the modern suburbanite, toting the kids, running the PTA, teaching kung-fu in the local dojo... perfectly. But perfection has a price, and the day came when Barbara snapped. She simply had to have "one weekend off". God had to grant her that much. It said no where that she was a slave. Waving goodbye to her hapless, entirely undomestic husband, she set out on the quest for a weekend of peace and maybe some authentic Cajun food.

Detective Sergeant Kelly Lockhart, New Orleans Homicide, had a perfect record on his latest case: not a single suspect. And there should be at least five or six, given the DNA traces on the many bodies. Furthermore, his sole really outstanding clue, a mysterious fish scale, had disappeared into the recesses of the FBI Crime Lab. But the old fortune-teller was sending him into the bayou, down in the land of authentic Cajun food, on the track of a mysterious pimp with the admonition to "watch for the Princess". Or die.

Barbara and Kelly were heading to a rendezvous that might be fate and might reveal the hand of God. There was more cooking in the swamps than jambalaya. Unknown to either, the mystery of the Bayou Ripper had Special Circumstances.

©2005 John Ringo (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Suzy Jackson performs with aplomb, making the vivid characters come to life.... Her variety of female voices makes it easy to differentiate the characters, and her deep, gruff voices for men are fully believable. Listeners will be drawn into Barbara's world and find themselves happily rooting for the good guys as Barbara works to save the day." (AudioFile)

Not my favorite Ringo, but good

John Ringo is always good and this was good, but I'm not a fan of short stories and this is basically several shorts put together.

Not a Novel but a collection of 3 short stories

This is not a novel but a collection of 3 short stories based around the book's heroine Barbara Everette, a very religious, gun toting, martial arts & weapons expert who sees her self as a christian homemaker but who who's antics when she goes into action is best described as a souped up Lara croft.

The description given by Audible is basically for the first story where Babara is "taking a break from the family". Her couch potato husband main concern about her going away for a few days, is who is going to wait on him and the look after the children.

The second story is based around a Convention and the last is a very short one based around her home home turf.

The first is probably the best paced.

The second drags a bit but the action kicks in at the end.

The last well I will leave that one to you it seems more a filler.

I am trying to understand who this book is aimed at

If you are religious you may like it, but there is a lot of violence, gore & demonology especially near the end of each story and whilst the heroine is very religious all bets are off once the action starts she does not believe in turning the other cheek.

If a book with a fair bit of religious overtones turns you off then you probably would not like this book.

You might be upset because the description given by audible / the publishers does not state this is a collection of 3 short stories & not a novel.

The Stories are linked by Barbara Everette and yes another world wide society which exists in secret to fight evil.

The narrator is excellent.

mixed

First book slow start. Stronger finish. 2nd book ok start with info dump and then long tedious middle with no point and final one good fight at the end. Needed more action driving plot & less dialogue.

Know your Authors

John Ringo writes adventure based fantasy, with lots of action and gore. That is what he is known for, and what his fans expect. This book is no exception and has both action and gore in spades. The most interesting thing about the protagonist is that she is a committed Christian, It makes a nice break from all of the characters that have little or no religion.

In some ways the book reminds me of a D&D campaign based around a cleric, The cleric must be both devout and a true believer in order to recieve heavenly aid.

The "Anti-Ghost"

Where does Princess of Wands rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Interesting new twist on a previously used plot, not on audible.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Princess of Wands?

Realizing Ringo put himself into the story, and seeing the story as the "Good Side" of "Ghost" (At the moment, Ghost isn't on Audible, though if people feel this book has graphic violence, they should steer clear of Ghost. Ghost is a spec-ops "wet dream", while Princess of Wands was written (perhaps as penance?) as a Christian's path and recognition that evil is in more places people assume "other people will handle".

What does Suzy Jackson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Didn't mangle it, though could have improved it. Voice was too "soft/caring" for story, but I believe that was the goal.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Good dark and light humor, violence is minimal for Ringo.

Any additional comments?

Worth every penny!

Mildly interesting and amusing

I usually Love this authors work. However this is one of John's little fantasy diversions from his real books. It trends towards comic book quality rather than a real scifi book. Which is a shame really as the religious mythologies offer such rich inspiration for great scifi. Definitely a 'could have been great' book. Unfortunately it turned out to be a calorie free light snack. If you enjoy the authors work then you might put up with this story but if you don't follow John's work then don't bother.

Good format diffrent

What did you love best about Princess of Wands?

i like getting several stories for the same character

Have you listened to any of Suzy Jackson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no but i really like her

Any additional comments?

Well i went to my first con after this series. this is several short stories. and i really liked the format. i always wonder about the stories or characters that never make a whole book that are on the scrap pile. and this is one of those i think. but the stories are fun and go different places. now this has a big christian undertone because the main character is christian, but he really does hid research and puts her to the test. so that in of its self is fun. so don't let that part of the store keep you from the book. it did for me until i was on a long drive and needed something and john ringo has always been a hit for me, so i went for it and he still has not let me down yet!

Ringo taking a different storyline and nailing it

wasn't really sure what to expect, I am a big fan of John Ringo for the Paladin of Shadows series, but I got this I don't really know why. But I really enjoyed it, I've already bought the next one, and I wish there were more beyond that but I know you're not right now at the time of this review. Hopefully that changes.

wow what a book

Where does Princess of Wands rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

don't know somewhere in the top 20

What other book might you compare Princess of Wands to and why?

hard to say

Which character – as performed by Suzy Jackson – was your favorite?

barb

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

the bitch kick the hell out of the demons

Any additional comments?

set down and don't stop reading until the book is over!

A Great Urban Fantasy!

I’ve read this book at least four times. It’s a modern urban fantasy in which a soccer mom, Barb Everette, devout Episcopalian woman, finds herself confronting one of the elder gods from the Cthulhu mythos and after that gets pulled into an organization that helps the government handle Special Circumstances. The book is structured in three major (and one minor) parts and it moves very quickly in three of the four, keeping up a level of excitement while Ringo builds a fascinating world of secret investigations into things pretty much everyone believes the general public of the world is better off not knowing anything about.

Barb is a very interesting and unusual central character. She’s a military brat with extensive martial arts and weapons training, but she’s also a soccer mom with all that that implies. One day she gets fed up with her mundane existence and over her husband’s protests decides to take a weekend off for herself. She gets off her track and ends up broken down in a small town in the bayou which just happens to be the site from which a serial killer has been operating as he attempts to cause the manifestation of one of the elder gods. This is not a coincidence but, we assume, the result of the subtle influence of God getting Barb to the one place the world most needs her to be. The resulting action is well developed.

The second section of the book is much lower key, but just as interesting. Barb is brought into the U.S. organization that deals with Special Circumstances and learns a lot about people that are very different from her. They are a colorful group that don’t all get along with each other, but they are the best line of defense that America has for dealing with supernatural threats, of which there are many.

The third part of the book is the longest and the slowest. Barb is brought in on the investigation of a serial murderer with special circumstances. Her area of investigation is a science fiction convention, and Ringo has way too much fun going into the details of who attends conventions and what happens there. The excuse to do this is to identify suspects who might be the killer, but I’ve read the book four times and I still can’t keep track of the wide host of possible suspects. I would have liked this section to be cut in half. It’s good once all hell breaks loose, but pretty slow before that.

Finally, there’s a very nice extended epilogue in which Barb has to deal with a small but real problem at home.

As you can tell from the fact that I’ve read the book four times, I love this novel. If you like supernatural investigations and combat, this is a good book for you to try out.