Audiobook Sample
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- Title: Urchin’s Gambit: A Resonant Saga Novella
- Author: Levi Jacobs
- Narrator: Levi Jacobs
- Length: 01:24:00
- Version: Abridged
- Release Date: 20/10/2020
- Publisher: Findaway Voices
- Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
- ISBN13: 9.78E+12
The moment Levi Jacobs’ voice first crackled through my headphones, I was transported back to that moonlit night in Oaxaca when Abuela Rosa spun tales of trickster spirits – that same raw authenticity, that perfect balance of grit and grace. Urchin’s Gambit isn’t just an audiobook; it’s a streetwise campfire tale that gets under your fingernails and stays there.
Aelya’s world unfolds like the back alleys of Lima I once got lost in during my twenties – all shadowy corners and sudden bursts of color. Jacobs’ narration makes you taste the metallic fear when Aelya finds her dealer dead, feel the weight of those chains as she’s arrested. There’s a particular moment where Aelya describes the ‘lighthair’ investigator’s eyes that gave me chills – Jacobs delivers it with the precision of a knife-thrower, his voice dropping to a whisper that forced me to pause my morning hike and just listen.
What makes this audiobook special is how Jacobs the writer and Jacobs the narrator become one. Like that perfect bowl of pho I had in Hanoi where the broth revealed new depths with each sip, his performance adds layers to Aelya’s character that aren’t explicit in the text. You hear the street-urchin bravado cracking at the edges when she talks about her gang, the barely-there tremor when she mentions ‘escaping the streets.’ It’s masterful character work that reminds me why I fell in love with oral storytelling all those years ago.
The novella’s structure plays beautifully in audio format. The investigation unfolds like peeling an onion (that Atacama Desert memory came rushing back – how the landscape revealed itself layer by layer), with Jacobs using subtle vocal shifts to mark each revelation. His secondary characters are distinct without being cartoony – I particularly loved the weary humor he brings to the lighthair investigator, a performance choice that adds unexpected warmth to their tense dynamic.
If I have one critique, it’s that the audio production could benefit from slightly more atmospheric texture. The story begs for the distant echoes of a bustling cityscape or the drip of water in underground tunnels – elements that would make this already immersive experience truly transportive. That said, Jacobs’ vocal performance is so compelling that by the halfway point, my imagination had filled in all the ambient details anyway.
For fans of Scott Lynch’s Lies of Locke Lamora or the alleyway intrigues of Mistborn, this is essential listening. The fact that it’s free still astonishes me – like finding a perfect first edition at a roadside stall. Jacobs has crafted something rare here: a fantasy that feels lived-in rather than constructed, with narration that doesn’t just tell the story but breathes life into it.
With ink-stained fingers and a traveler’s curiosity,
Marcus Rivera
