Something Wicked This Way Comes

By: Ray Bradbury

Narrated by: Christian Rummel

Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Few American novels written this century have endured in the heart and mind as has this one - Ray Bradbury's incomparable masterwork of the dark fantastic.

A carnival rolls in sometime after the midnight hour on a chill Midwestern October eve, ushering in Halloween a week before its time. A calliope's shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. In this season of dying, Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. And two inquisitive boys standing precariously on the brink of adulthood will soon discover the secret of the satanic raree-show's smoke, mazes, and mirrors, as they learn all too well the heavy cost of wishes - and the stuff of nightmare.

©1962 Ray Bradbury (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Fun, Frightfully Fun

If you could sum up Something Wicked This Way Comes in three words, what would they be?

Fun, Frightfully Fun

What was one of the most memorable moments of Something Wicked This Way Comes?

The relationship between Will and his father Charles Halloway. Usually in teen horror books, the parents are either absent or inconsequential, mean, or foolish. Here, Bradbury wrote the strongest parent and child relationship since Scout and Atticus Finch in Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mocking Bird." Mr. Halloway is strong and intuitive, sad and adventuresome. I wish I had a dad like him.

Which scene was your favorite?

The library scene in which Mr. Dark and his minions search for Will and Jim. Narrator Christian Rummel relished performing evil incarnate with purrs and growls. I was on the edge of my seat.

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

Cry no, but laugh sometimes. It was a knowing laugh of remembering how it was like to be a kid. This book thrilled and chilled me.

Any additional comments?

I had met Ray Bradbury a couple of times to sign other books. I wish I had read this one so I could have asked him questions about it. He is a skilled writer of the highest order and his writing references the greatest books in literature. This shows that like Mr. Halloway, he invested a lot of time in the library.

Audible did a fantastic job with this polished production. I will read more.

Fantastic!

Great story with awesome writing, didn't want it to end. Erie feeling builds through book.

Not quite sure how to rate this

I knew this book was supposed to be good. I wanted this book to be good. The writing itself was very good, the descriptions were awesome. The story itself I found very very hard to get into it took a long time to get into it by the time it got good it just wasn’t great.

An evil carnival comes to town

An evil carnival comes to town. It offers delights and amazements, but a what cost? What would you give to be young again? Healthy? Beautiful?

What price is too high?

I highly recommend this book.

It's all good

The story was eerie, the delivery was perfect, wouldn't change a thing. Perfect as is.

Great book but narration was cheesy

It's apparent that Christian Rummel is a pro actor and has a great voice. There is no question about this. However, he (or his producers directed him) choose to deliver each line as if he were doing a 1960's Twilight Zone episode. Everything was over hyped and over acted. While it was nice to hear a character change of voices, he chose to make the boys sounds like Beaver and Wally.

I wanted to like the performance. I just couldn't.

Seems Simple Until the Depth is Revealed

Great writing as always. Bradbury knows how to capture the magical wonder of youth. Still, nowhere as splendid as Dandelion Wine--but I'm not a fan of fantasy per se unless it's the better ones of Steven King. This book might seem a better fit for children/YA than adults until you understand the metaphors revealed three quarters of the way through and Bradbury really starts to shine. Stay with it and you'll be rewarded.

Takes awhile to get going

There is a lot of setup to the story and listening to it can make it difficult to understand or pick up on what is happening in the first 20 chapters or so. That said, there are some really beautiful and philosophical discussions of love, time, and death. While the performance wasn't bad, I think this is a book that may resonate better when read rather than heard.

Three o'clock in the morning horror

Sheer magic - horror magic, that is. Ray Bradbury weaves a tale of infinite imagination with the poetry of life that pulses as rich and strong as we'd all like to experience in our own times. It's not about young, it's not about old, it is about the here and the now and the clarity of the universe some, like Charles Halloway, experience in the deep of night.

science fiction at its best

this is a classic science fiction book, the narration is fantastic and you will enjoy listening to this new version of Something Wicked This Way Comes. if you have any doubts put them where the monsters live and get this book.