Undeading Bells (Dramatized Adaptation)

Fred, the Vampire Accountant, Book 6

By: Drew Hayes

Narrated by: Bradley Smith, Carolyn Kashner, Christopher Graybill, Christopher Walker, Eva Wilhelm, Jessica Lauren Ball, Karen Novack, Nanette Savard, Nora Achrati, Shanta Parasuraman, Yasmin Tuazon

After surviving countless perils and dangers, including an examination by the Blood Council, Fred is preparing to take on his most important adventure to date: marrying Krystal. That is, if he can get everything handled in time. Visiting Boarback, hiring new staff, clearing out his schedule for a honeymoon; there’s no shortage of tasks to check off before the big day arrives.

But not everyone views the occasion in such a happy light. With new dangers looming, old debts raised, and grudges rekindled, it’ll take everything Fred has to finally make it down the aisle.

Performed by Christopher Walker, Carolyn Kashner, Nora Achrati, Bradley Smith, Eva Wilhelm, Jessica Lauren Ball, Karen Novack, Yasmin Tuazon, Christopher Graybill, Shanta Parasuraman, Nanette Savard, Nazia Chaudhry, Danny Gavigan, Zeke Alton, Ken Jackson, Alejandro Ruiz, Eric Messner, Marni Penning, Tia Shearer, Chris Stinson, Elizabeth Jernigan, Richard Rohan, Scott McCormick, Terence Aselford, David Zitney, and Colleen Delany.

©2019 Andrew Hayes (P)2021 Graphic Audio LLC

Not my favorite of the series but still very good.

This one wasn't my favorite book. The adaptation is spot on. I still enjoyed the book and can recommend it without reservation. I am still a fan of Drew Hayes, Fred the Vampire Accountant, and Graphic Audio.

Love this whole series!

Agh! This series, in the Graphic Audio dramatization, took me only week to listen to. I can't wait for the next book to be released later this year.

Women written as badasses, men with non-toxic flaws, relationships that are strong and held together with mutual admiration and respect. Drama and adventure, with well-rounded characters and a constantly developing plot.

YA light entertainment

Six parts in, I can say that I still feel this is YA at best, but that's fine, I knew this since the first part. I'm viewing this as light entertainment, palate cleansers between literature or non-fiction.

There's a distinctive politically left-leaning view of the world woven through this entire series. For instance, being good = being kind; better to kill someone than to let them suffer; women are at least as strong as men and often smarter and there's nothing they can't do; the male main character feels the need to constantly highlight and praise the strength of the women surrounding him; diversity in the sense of outward characteristics (like race or in this case species) is holy and good (as opposed to diversity of opinion or character or talents); and collectivism is always better than individualism.
On an individual level, a weak man is as attractive as a dominant woman, they attract one another and are a suitable match; everyone is rooting for a barren relationship to form between the two main characters with no-one having any doubts or even questions. All of these and several details more I'd consider distinctly left-leaning.

A lot of exposition is one of the aspects that put these books in the YA genre. What also makes them YA is the fantasy of the outlyer geek being the hero: gaining popularity, the respect of his enemies, the loyalty of his friends and the love of his ideal woman, all accidentally and purely by being his 'true geeky self'. He fumbles and stumbles naively and innocently along, learning nothing, all the while changing the whole world and everyone in it for the better without even attempting it, aiming at it nor planning for it.

All of that being said, these are still fun enough adventures, especially thanks to the full-cast audio dramatization, and they entertain me while I'm going through an insanely busy time at work; these stories help get my mind off things.
In Dutch we would call this 'dom vermaak', 'mindless entertainment'. As such, it gets 4 stars from me - because this, it accomplishes.

Magic

I enjoyed the book and would highly recammend this book for all paranormal romance readers.

Good story and cool with Graphic version

Good story. Great voice acting. Such a different type of vampire story. Loved the extra sounds minus one thing. I'm sooo not prude but the kissing was weird. Just in this format.

Hit a bit too close to home

Spoilers warning, though I'm not going to go too much into detail:

I've fallen in love with this series simply because of how much I relate to the main character, Fred. This installment of Fred's memoirs hit a sore spot with me though in a way that actually made me cry a little. Despite us all wanting a happy ending where Fred and Krystal get the wedding they plan and deserve, it's no surprise that it gets interrupted and chaos ensues. Ultimately, they're told at the very last minute that they can't have their wedding, and so of course they scramble to do it anyways because their marriage to one another is more important than the actual event.

I'm not sure if it was at all intentional, but this plotline draws a very strong parallel to what many couples with weddings planned for 2020 and early 2021 faced due to the pandemic, including my own. Thanks to the powers that be, including that of mother nature and the government, we were forced to cancel our wedding just weeks in advance of the event after months of planning, preparation, and excitement. Like Fred and Krystal, we decided that being married was the most important part, so we scrambled to meet our parents and officiant in a local park to complete the ceremony without our friends, extended families, and other loved ones able to witness or celebrate with us.

Unlike our book's heroes, we had weeks instead of hours to accept the cancellation of our wedding. We also didn't have any powerful entities trying to literally stand in our way to the elopement. But Fred's comparison of what should have been to what is - where the aisle should have started, the dirt road in place of a dance floor, the place where their friends and family should have been seated - emphasized the loneliness of what should have been a beautiful, once-in-a-lifetime event that they'd out so much effort into putting on. It also emphasized how much more important the marriage itself was and the non-materialistic nature of the true love and support between Fred and Krystal.

I doubt that the parallel here was at all intentional, but the point I'm getting at is that it's written perfectly. It's spot-on and captures the joy, sadness, excitement, anxiety, loneliness, and love that comes with being told you can't have your wedding and then fighting to make it happen anyways. Thousands of couples faced similar predicaments within the least year and a half and it become an unfortunately common experience because of the pandemic. Despite this being a fantasy book about a vampire accountant and badass devil fighting against ancient vampires, powerful government agencies, and literal forces of magic, I found it to be comfortingly familiar and accurate for what they faced. I hope others who have faced similar situations stumble upon this series and find the same comfort in the heartachingly familiar feelings that I did.

Fantastic and fun!

Every book just gets better and better! I highly recommend this entire series to anyone wanting adventure, great fun, and laughs along the way! Looking forward to listening to more of this great series!

5 star series, 4 star book

I’m officially giving all 5 stars because I want to support the series, but in reality this is the only book I would actually rate as a 4. Don’t get me wrong, I still loved it and it’s totally worth a listen (especially if you’re already this far into the story). But overall it was my least favorite. The main plot just wasn’t quite as captivating as the other books, but again that’s a really high bar to reach and this book is still great!

Another winner

I like it. I’ve been binge reading the series so I don’t really notice what to say that I haven’t already said. This series is a good balance of slice of life and action. Great narration.