Red Equinox

By: Douglas Wynne

Narrated by: Susan Saddler

Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

The Red Equinox has dawned, and the old gods who have slept for aeons are stirring.

Urban explorer and photographer Becca Philips was raised in the shadow of Miskatonic University, steeped in the mysteries of her late grandmother's work in occult studies. But what she thought was myth becomes all too real when cultists unleash terror on the city of Boston. Now she's caught between a shadowy government agency called SPECTRA and the followers of an apocalyptic faith bent on awakening an ancient evil.

As urban warfare breaks out between eldritch monsters and an emerging police state, she must uncover the secrets of a family heirloom known as the Fire of Cairo to banish the rising tide of darkness before the balance tips irrevocably at the Red Equinox.

©2015 Journalstone Publishing (P)2016 Journalstone Publishing

Modern Lovecraftian Classic now on Audiobook

Red Equinox has received praise as a must-read for Lovecraft fans; and it is! Now you have a chance to listen to it, too. Even though I have already read this book, I was excited to listen to the audio-book. I really enjoyed revisiting the characters in this story, and reading the book beforehand only enhanced the experience of listening to it.

At first I was taken aback by the narrator. She has a perky, upbeat voice and I wasn't sure how a voice like that would do with a horror/ weird fiction tale. However, her style grew on me. Her vocal characterizations made each character sound unique, so there was no trouble differentiating them during dialogue sections. She did a great job capturing their personalities through voice.

The story itself translates very well to spoken word. It was about ten hours long. I have a long, boring commute to and from work, and listening to this made my commute way more enjoyable. The pacing works well for audio, and I found myself paying close attention, even though I already knew what was going to happen.

The quality of the recording was very crisp and clear as well. There are no sound effects or background music, but it really wasn't necessary. Overall I would highly recommend this audio book to any Lovecraft fan, and those who enjoy horror and weird fiction.

Decent story but narrator was no good.

The narrator's horrible voices and incorrect pronunciation of place names almost ruined this book.

Good Story; Not Good Narrator

The story is fairly standard, but slightly above average, lovecraftian fare.
The narrator does a fine job when telling the story for the POV of the main character but insists on different accent for other characters in the story and it doesn't work.

Not the best narrator

while the story was very good, the voices the narrator chose for many of the characters did sound appropriate for a horror story. some did not even match the accents of the area the area the character was from.

Story good, narrator horrible

The story was pretty good but it would have been more enjoyable if the narrator wasn't terrible. It would have been more engaging in Siri had read the book. The accents she came up with sounded like parodies of caricatures of imitations of old Saturday morning cartoon characters. Correct pronunciation? No need! I almost stopped listening several times just because of the narrator. The story was a good bit of Lovecraft-y horror though. I'd definitely be interested in seeing what more the author has to offer.

Original spin on modern-day Lovecraft

Where does Red Equinox rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It was definitely among the better Audible purchases in my library. She gave Becca a solid voice and kept the narrative smooth throughout.

What other book might you compare Red Equinox to and why?

This is a hard comparison to make. You can't fairly compare this to Stross' Laundry files because those have a more comedic bent than this. If I had to draw a nearest comparison to another title I'd choose Howard's Carter & Lovecraft. Great characters that engaged you. The Mythos tales don't update very easily, but Wynne pulls off a believable heroine facing an avatar/harbinger of Nyarlathotep in a 'modern' Boston. I was hesitant with the clandestine agency (SPECTRA) at first, but that is also played well.

Have you listened to any of Susan Saddler’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was my first go-round with Sadler as a reader, but I enjoyed the performance quite a bit.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Dread, but not for anything other than the dread commonly induced by good cosmic horror. The urban exploration stuff had me on the edge of my seat. Well done.

Any additional comments?

A great tale. Kudos Audible and Journalstone for a smooth performance of this story. Looking quite forward to seeing the sequel (Black January) in this series on Audible. Highly recommended!

Solid modern-Cthulhu Mythos for any Lovecraft fan

Wynne's Red Equinox is a satisfying and fun read. Initially, the story does begin slow, but not in a boring way. Wynne spends an appropriate amount of time developing a solid first act and introducing the readers to his diverse group of characters. The main character, Becca Philips, was intriguing to follow. As stated in Red Equinox, Becca is amongst the least likely of people who, put in her position, could interact with the events in Red Equinox. As the story picks up and SPECTRA is introduced, the post-911 realism and seriousness begin to become apparent and makes Lovecraftian threat both modern and chilling. Much of this apocalyptic dread is reminiscent of the television series, Fringe.

However, admittedly, my favorite elements of the story were the references to other Lovecraftian works. This is not merely due to the enjoyment of Easter eggs in literary works, but because Wynne does a fantastic job at taking aspects of several of Lovecraft's stories, and sewing them together to make a cohesive masterpiece. Some of these range from some standard Mythos elements, such as the Black Pharaoh and mentions of the Necronomicon, but also more obscure references, such as Lovecraft's From Beyond.

The narrator, Susan Saddler, does a fantastic job at bringing the main character, Becca Philips, to life and makes her seem like an actual, struggling person, especially in some of the more emotional moments of Becca's story. Unfortunately, Saddler struggles to create convincing voices for the other characters. In defense of Saddler, the characters in Red Equinox have various different cultural and ethnic backgrounds and, thus, have or were given distinct accents and dialects which makes the struggle completely understandable.

Cool premise

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No, I like the bones of the book but I didn't care for how it was fleshed out.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Red Equinox?

I didn't find one.

What three words best describe Susan Saddler’s performance?

Her narrators voice is strong but her charter acting (accents and male voices) is a little jarring

Was Red Equinox worth the listening time?

No, it didn't feel like a novel that lived in lovecraft's universe but read a brochure and told a friend all about how great it is.

Any additional comments?

The protagonist is unlikable.

great story, awful narration

the story was awesome. a very worthy addition to Lovecraftian lore, but the narration was terribly offputting. her "voices" are painfully distracting.

the narrator sounds horrible..

seriously! she sounds like a cracked out saturday cartoon character gulping helium after smoking enough crack to kill a blue whale. then played at high speeds.

i keep losing track of whats going on in the story because shes gking so fast with so few pauses that it all seems like one giant run on sentence, no pauses between sections or scene changes. and in an attempt to make the characters distinct they all have these horribly done stereotypical accents at a shrill screech just below a badly tuned bandsaw running against a chalkboard.

im not using hyperbola when i say its just like a bad saturday morning cartoon.