Oh, there's the same elements in this book as in all the others: Earl Dumarest is forced to do battle gladiator-style for the pleasure of the rich and indolent, there is betrayal by a supposed-ally at the end of the book, he describes his homeworld with the same word-for-word explanation as the other stories, he manages to survive events that handily kill most of the people around him, and two women fall desperately in love with him, using his name with an exclamation point at the start of most of their sentences.
But the plot of this one was at least different: Earl meets a woman and her little boy, who is promptly and brutally kidnapped. And Earl vows to find the lad, Jondelle, and bring him safely home. He gathers clues, and later a team, to accomplish this goal, and searches a dangerous, savagely-backward world for the lost boy.
It is with mixed feelings that I close this chapter of my audiobook adventures. I mean, something had to have been wrong with either me or the books for me to be (quite literally) two years late in completing this audiobook, after I believe I managed to get either four or five books done in 2013. But this one went so well (all things considered), that I imagine I'll miss Earl Dumarest, and his never-ending search for the long-forgotten Planet Earth. Wildside Press has already assigned other narrators later books in the series, which I can rightly assume was due to the lateness on my charges, and even if my readings are substantially better than my replacements' (which is doubtful), is it worth the lost income of, altogether, many fives of dollars?
This is the link to the book over on Audible: www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Jondelle-Audiobook/B01LBFPB24 Scoop it up, if you're of a mind to.
My abilities as an audio storyteller have certainly improved since narrating the first book in 2013 (I was saddened to discover that chirping crickets could be heard throughout the production of one entire book . . . but not saddened enough to re-record the whole project). But I have also learned a thing or two about story structure and writing a series with each of these books I have tackled.
Oh, and I simply have to include the cover art to the paperback version of "Jondelle" I did my reading from. Of the ten books I've narrated, this one easily has the worst cover. In fact, I'd not be surprised to discover it was the worst cover to a book EVER.
Makes me feel a bit better about some of mine.
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