A Carriger Quartet

by Gail Carriger

Four original, unabridged, full-cast productions of Gail Carriger's most beloved fantasy short stories:

"The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn't, the Mummy That Was, and the Cat in the Jar": A mummified cat, a secret agent, and an aristocrat entangle Alessandro Tarraboti (father of Alexia Tarraboti from the Parasol Protectorate series) in a rollicking, wry adventure into the supernatural secrets of ancient Egypt.

"Marine Biology": Inconveniently a werewolf, unexpectedly alive, and secretly gay, marine biologist Alex finds himself forcibly shackled to a flirty merman on the hunt for some sinister selkies. An unconventional romance between impossible partners told with the kind of wit and comedy that made Gail a household name.

"Fairy Debt": Despite being a fairy, Cups can't grow wings due to a death promise to a local king. Entering service in his castle as the Least Jester, she must find a way to earn her wings while navigating the hazards of cupcakes, tea demons, and the occasional Earth dragons.

"My Sister's Song": Fantasy, history, and subversive strategy collide in this Roman-era tale of a warrior, Mithra, who must repel an entire legion alone and armed only with a very peculiar weapon. Her sticky solution to this impossible problem must be heard to be believed.

Featuring performances by fellow fantasy writers Philippa Ballantine, Chris Lester, and Tee Morris as well as an original soundtrack by composer Danny Schade.

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Short Stories, Steampunk, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Fiction

3 pages, Audible Audio

First published December 1, 2015

About the author

Gail Carriger writes comedies of manners mixed with paranormal romance (and the sexy San Andreas Shifter series as G L Carriger). Her books include the Parasol Protectorate and the Finishing School series. She is published in many languages and has over a dozen NYT bestsellers. She was once an archaeologist and is fond of shoes, octopuses, and tea. Join the Chirrup for sneak peaks of upcoming giggles: http://gailcarriger.com/chirrup

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Fairy Debt" is a fun, humorous (almost too cutesy for me, but ymmv) fairy tale, featuring a disguised and under-powered fairy and a plain but pleasant princess. Suitable for readers of all ages -- something I've never said about a Carriger book before! I'd recommend it for people who liked Dealing with Dragons or Over The Hills To Fabylon.

"My Sister's Song" is an unusual military action story set in opposition to Roman expansion.

"The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn't, the Mummy That Was, and the Cat in the Jar"
A rompy adventure starring Alessandro Tarraboti, father of Alexia from the Parasol Protectorate series. I only read the first book of that so I don't know if he features heavily or if we are supposed to like him, but I totally didn't. If anything, I found his antagonist's position more sympathetic. I'm not saying I need the MC to be a great person; I'm fine with antiheroes, but it didn't seemed to framed like that. If the tone is light-hearted adventure espionage it is kind of ruined for me when the protagonist cold-bloodedly murders an innocent person. And trying to make it seem less awful by making the person badly dressed and lacking in social graces actually makes it worse. Also, definitely going for historical authenticity in terms of racist and classist attitudes.

"Marine Biology" is a fated-mate romance with a werewolf and a selkie, also a crime investigation. I had read it as a stand-alone and found it a bit slim so I didn't listen to it again.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four short stories. Good, but I would have liked if two of them had been a bit longer!

[Kym · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an audiobook containing full-cast performances of 4 Gail Carriger short stories. The full-cast recording was okay, but I would have preferred one excellent professional narrator to several people who don't do voices well. So, a star lost to mediocre performances, because who really knows how truly good the stories are? The production values were a little better than average.
My favorite of the 4 was Marine Biology. MAlex is everything those of his pack are not. Or maybe it's more accurate to say that his pack is everything he is not. They are your average super-masculine types who like to fight, he is not and does not. They are stereotypical werewolves (big hairy guys who work construction and ride motorcycles), he is not (he's a thin marine biologist- microorganisms, not fish). Their reading habits involve the back of cereal boxes, his involve post-modern literature. They are straight, and he...is not. He is closeted because, well, big hairy guys who fart and scratch. Anyway, his pack alpha assigns him to liaise with a couple of merpeople in from the coast looking for some members of the Irish mafia. Nice mystery, sweet relationship development between Alex and Marvin. There's nudity (clothes don't magically appear when someone shifts back to human) and some kissing. This is the only one of the stories that can even come close to being called a romance. In my humble opinion, I think a first person POV would make it better.
Fairy Debt is a typical tale about a fairy getting her wings. Cups is the fairy in question, and she ends up in the court of a human king to work off her late mother's debt.
In My Sister's Song, Mithra is a scout for her village. After a particularly nasty defeat to the Romans in which her commander was killed, she is the highest ranking person. She carries the news of the defeat back home. She and her fellow villagers have to devise a plan that will keep the enemy, which is marching ever closer, at bay.
The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn't, the Mummy That Was, and the Cat in the Jar finds Alessandro Tarraboti (the father of the Parasol Protectorate's Alexia Tarraboti) in Egypt. He is investigating the report by an archeologist of a mummified werewolf. If you've read the Parasol Protectorate quartet, you might get some insight into Alexia. Or not. He has a different mission in life.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trying to rate this just on the writing of the stories themselves is hard. The performances were just so distracting!

The stories are okay. Fun, but it's really hard to separate them from the production as a whole.

[Badseedgirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a wonderful set of 4 short stories, although I had already read "The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn't" but it was nice to hear the full cast version.

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read, and quite enjoyed, Carriger's "Finishing School" series, so I thought I'd like these stories. Mostly, I didn't really like them that much. I'm not sure that I would have enjoyed them more if they were not done as a multi-cast performance with sound effects. I wasn't especially impressed with the format - it mostly just seemed like background noise...like having a story read to me in a room full of people having other conversations.

The merman/werewolf one was super campy and rather ridiculous...didn't like it at all.

The one about the honey was my favourite, although if the Romans really wanted to secure the area where the story took place, they would have sent far more than 100 foot soldiers at a time, wouldn't they?

The fairy debt one was a bit thin - just not much of a story there.

The last one was also not my cup of tea, although I hadn't read the Parasol Protectorate series, but I'm not inspired to do so now.

Seems a lot of other readers quite enjoyed these, so give it a go - you may enjoy it more than I did!

[Altivo Overo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four short stories, one of which links directly to Soulless and The Parasol Protectorate series. All are entertaining and witty, as we have come to expect from the author.

The last details an event with Alessandro Tarrabotti (Alexia's father) and his man Floot that takes place in Egypt many years before the first novel about Alexia and Lord Maccon. No spoilers here, but this one provides intriguing details for those who have read The Parasol Protectorate novels.

The full cast audio presentation is very good, and was produced by Carriger herself.

[Erica Domander · Rating 1 out of 5]

Might have been the odd choice of audio-production with echo for internal thoughts but this did not live up to my expectations of something from Carrriger at all. Everything felt exaggerated and campy in a bad way instead of a fun way.

[Allyson Orr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan of the audio production on these. The stories were only OK. The last one was a bit better because I already had some background info on the characters.

[Victoria Pring · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marine Biology- 4 Star
Though I absoloutly adored this book I do suspect that this is mainly because I have read the San Andreas shifter series and therefore loved having it as a backstory. I think I would have enjoyed this as a full book. ||Bit more time spent with Marvin as a moody emo boy facinated with our geeky teen alpha, perhaps a little more time loofacinateAlec's old pack||? That being said though I do think readers of the main series will all enjoy this short story.

Fairy Debt- 5 Star
I thought this short story was so sweet. I really liked the characters. I found it funny the king had spent years trying to rescue a fairy so he could get a fairy godmother for his daughter yet he hadn’t realised he had been successful.

My Sisters Song - 3 Stars
I liked the idea of this more than I liked the story itself. The fairies ||defeating the Roman army with their cunning|| was brilliant. Also the fact I was able to google it and find out that "Mad Honey" did cause the death of 1000 Romans was pretty cool, the issue is I enjoyed reading the information about the real event more than this story||. I do praise Gail for making me learn these bizarre history facts though.

The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn't, the Mummy That Was, and the Cat in the Jar- 3 Star
This is my least favourite book in the parasolverse, though it is a nice bit of background the charachters just didnt grab my attention as much as the ones in other books. Did make me want to reread the paraolverse again though.

[Daný · Rating 2 out of 5]

The audiobook contains four stories:

"Marine Biology": prequel to the San Andreas shifters novels (which I haven't read). Way too fast for a performance with multiple voices, bad sound quality (some of the voices seemed to echo or something), clunky changes between voices.

"Fairy Debt": better performance/audibility, though a bit fast. Light-hearted and fluffy story, fun but not overly special.

"My Sister's Song": also performed okay-ish. Something about the Romans invading ... somewhere and being beaten by trickery. Not bad but also not extremely exciting.

"The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn't, the Mummy That Was, and the Cat in the Jar": prequel to the Parasol Protectorate (and Custard Protocol) series. Alessandro Tarrabotti, his valet Floote and the future mother of Alexia in Egypt. Bit messy but fun to get some further info on the characters (I read the rest of the books).

Overall, I wasn't too impressed by this set of stories.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marine Biology
Full-cast recording of the first Sumage book, which I read. Glad I listened to it. It’s good.

Fairy Debt
Cute. I found the narrator for the female lead’s voice too perky and she spoke too fast. Nice story.

My Sister’s Song
A short story with a magical race, actually I’m not sure. There are few details given. Doesn’t matter. The Romans come to attack the kingdom and are defeated with poison honey. It’s rather bloodthirsty and interesting. Indeed these are full-cast recordings, which is different and I like it.

The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn’t, the Mummy That Was, and the Cat in the Jar
I have a feeling that I would’ve enjoyed this story more if I knew the rest of the series & characters. Still, I enjoyed this story - the adventure was exciting, the locale different, and the dry wit/sarcasm was perfectly done.

Bought from audible.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marine Biology 4.5 stars: Only really good story in the bunch, and the quartets saving grace. Minus half a star for the character of Janet. Also the actor who voiced Alec lisped. On an audiobook. Unacceptable.

Fairy Debt: 3 stars, cute if a little unoriginal.

My Sister's Song: 2 stars - barely even a story, more like an exercise from a writing workshop. Also terrible production on this one. It's hard to understand the narrator with the sound effect of tromping feet in the background.

The Curious Case of the Werewolf that Wasn't: 3 stars. This story was also very short and perfunctory, felt more like a couple of deleted scenes than an actual short story. Disappointingly not up to normal Parasoleverse standards.

[Lisa Tollefson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, Gail offers a good read. The 4 stories were all fun, and it was well enough performed. What kept it under 5 stars is:
1. The woman who played the part of Cups speaks so fast I began to wonder if they'd speeded up the whole recording to make a time goal.
2. The extra sounds in the background were distracting. It wasn't bad when I was at home, but listening while driving was work, and I had to backtrack a few times to figure out what the characters were saying.

I liked the Alexander Tarabotti story. We don't hear much about him in Alexa's books. Well now I know why. He's not a pleasant man. But I understand him somewhat better now.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

I found the stories entertaining with the first one, Marine Biology and the last, The Curious Case of the Werewolf that wasn't, the Mummy that was, and the Cat in the Jar, to be the best of the four.

This audio book was a full cast narrative and I don't think that it added much, if anything, to the stories. I think I would have been better off if I had just read them myself. I did find the stories to be witty and funny, classic Carriger but I am rarely a huge fan of short stories and all four left me wanting more out of them.

[Shanan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn't really what I expected. I was really looking for more stories in the world that Gail Carriger created for the Parasol Protectorate. Only one of the stories in this quartet has anything to do with that world. And I think because my expectations were a little different, I spent more time confused about how the story I was listening to related. However, each of the stories was fun to read. The one that was a prequel to the Parasol Protectorate was my favorite.

[Deborah D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

If it were not for the story 'Marine Biology' this would not have gotten rated above a 2.
The performance skills of the "actors" harmed the enjoyment of the listen.

But the core of the first story was excellent in many ways. Interspecies, romance, family tensions and quirks surround a young, gay werewolf who worries about what his family would say...

[Lori S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable short stories, including Marine Biology, the first of the San Andreas Shifters stories introducing Alec, Marvin, and Alec's older brother Biff (Brian), who's one of the MCs of Sumage Solution.

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big Gail Carriger fan, and these 4 stories surprise and delight as only she can. I especially appreciated the full-cast performances, by many names I recognized as a long-time podcast listener, names like Tee Morris, Pip Ballantine, and Chris Lester. Thoroughly enjoyable all around!

[Jo]

DNF

Two attempts at the audiobook book and I still can't get through it. I don't like the production. Echoy thought effects make them difficult to understand and in some places, performance is too fast without clarity of speech to compensate..

[Big Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked two out of the four stories. The Curious Case of the Werewolf that Wasn't - where we are introduced to Alessandro Tarabotti and not only get a glimpse of his character, but learn how he met Alexia's mother. The other story is, My Sister's Song, which is about a thwarted Roman invasion.

[Aisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars - I liked it and I liked the continuity with her other works, but the audio full cast version doesn't bring too much more to the table that I enjoy, for whatever reason. Perhaps I just wasn't a fan of these particular voices.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed these stories. I love other books by this author, listening to these makes me want to go back and pour over the other series.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun set of stories. I really like Carriger's writing.

[Heather-Lin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't what we expected. I think the audio performance detracted from the stories in most cases. The one we enjoyed the most was the final one about Alessandro Tarabotti.

[Lisa Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting little bit. Four stories, all pre-parasol, I believe. One a short story about Alexa's father. If you're a fan, it's worth a look.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mildly interesting supernatural short stories. Werewolves, mer-creatures, a young fairy, and an unknown Egyptian god.

[Zandra is now on StoryGraph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good stories, poor narration at times.

[Dan Panke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring stories.,,

[Elly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Niet mijn ding. Onïnteressant.