Second Hand Curses

by Drew Hayes

[EBookObsessed]

I loved everything about this Second Hand Curses: the characters, the story twists, the way the story unfolded, the narration. It was creative and entertaining, and I hope there will be more to come.

This story was a treat to find. I am a fan of author Drew Hayes and I follow him on Twitter and on Goodreads so I was quite surprised to see Second Hand Curses come up on my Audible recommendations. I hadn’t heard anything about this Audible Original story, and I am so glad I didn’t miss it.

Let me tell you about all the great things about Second Hand Curses. The twisted fairy tales follows the trio known as The Bastard Champions: Marie, Frank and Jack. I am going to tell you as little as I can about them since part of the fun is uncovering exactly who they are in this world of fairy tale fiction. But I shall tell you that they are a considered “cursed monsters” but have learned to use their curses to help others for the right cost. They consider themselves scoundrels and live by few rules but they are loyal to each other and never turn on a client once they take on a job.

These Bastard Champions are on a quest to kill the Blue Fairy. All fairies known by a color are dastardly and untrustworthy. Actually all fairies are evil but the ones named for colors are the worst and the Blue Fairy needs to be taken down. Marie, Frank and Jack know that the Blue Fairy might be too powerful for them, but they aren’t deterred, even after they come to realize that the Blue Fairy has been laying a trail for them to follow and begin to fear they are walking right into a trap.

Along the way, they can be hired to help, for the right amount of gold. You didn’t read the fine print and after helping win the Prince’s heart, your Fairy Godmother is now coming to collect an unbelieveable price; call the Bastard Champions. A swindler with a pipe wants you to pay the an exorbitant price for rat removal and makes off with the town’s children; The Bastard Champions can help. You kiss a frog who promised to be a handsome prince and now you at stuck sitting on a lily pad; who you gonna call? That’s right, The Bastard Champions.

All the little vignettes are creative twists on your standard fairy tales and make great stories of dastardly deeds that require the help of the Bastard Champions. There are additional stories blended in where we learn more background of Marie, Frank and Jack and which are part of their quest to kill the Blue Fairy. And it isn’t fate which controls this world, it is The Narration. There are points in the story where our main characters are aware that things have lined up a little too conveniently and that The Narration must be at work.

The overview of the story given in a narrative while the individual characters are each voiced by a different narrator which brings a nice dimension to the story. For example, Marie was narrated by Tavia Gilbert through the entire story and this was much better than in the audiobook version of Six of Crows where each character’s chapter was done by a different narrator who gave a different voices to the separate characters.

I know that not all of your are fans of audiobooks, but this is an Audible Original and therfore, only available as an audiobook. If you have hestitated to give audiobooks a try, this is a great choice since it was a great presentation of a very clever and entertaining story.

I would HIGHLY recommend you give Drew Hayes and Second Hand Curses a try.