Goon Squad

Year One

By: Jonathan L. Howard

Narrated by: Gabrielle de Cuir, Nicholas Guy Smith, Jim Meskimen, Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 14 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

An ongoing, episodic "prose comic" from which the pictures are summoned by the magic of words, Goon Squad is set in an alternate version of modern-day Manchester. Its biggest divergence from the real city is that it - along with most other large urban centers - has a team of superheroes to protect it against unusual threats with which the conventional forces of law and order would have problems.

Goon Squad: Year One offers three action-packed volumes in a single collection:

Goon Squad, Vol. 1: Special Talents

• "The New Girl"
• "Nightclubbing"
• "By the Water, by the Grave"
• "Changes"
• "No-No Dojo"
• "Exterminating Angel"

Goon Squad, Vol. 2: Without Sin

• "A Star in Strange Ways"
• "Holy Fool"
• "Dead Man Tells Tale"
• "A Brief History of the Goon Squad"
• "Tale of Terror"
• "Pomona Island"

Goon Squad, Vol. 3: Old Enemies

• "Life During Wartime"
• "Red Wolf, Red Wolf, Does Whatever a Red Wolf Can"
• "Shadow of the Vivisector"
• "The Man from Switzerland"
• "The End of the Year Show"

©2016 Jonathan L. Howard (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc., and Skyboat Media, Inc.

I hated the music!

Seriously, I almost ditched the whole thing because the interlude music is so distractingly needless and terrible. I didn’t love the female reader’s version of Ian. The higher register made him sound whiny, crass, and just constantly abrupt.
I really enjoyed the story itself, but have to say again, why the hell did they use the reject “Saved by the Bell” intro music. Really bad choice. Especially when the chapter ended on something poignant or deep. Ruined the effect immediately.

More books please!

so, can there please be more books? there has to be more to this series. that can't be the end of the Goon Squad.

Better than expected!

This was a pretty fun series.  I read the three first books and want more.

I disagree with the accent complaints, I think the narrator was consistent and read with great inflection and enthusiasm.

I enjoyed the musical interludes and sound effects.  They gave the story more grit and a film noir type of feel to it. 

Wow

This was everything that a kid could hope for in an audible version of a comic book! Absolutely freaking awesome!

A fantastic story of human heroes

I downloaded this book as it was included and wanted something to listen to and must honestly say that I have greatly enjoyed the tales of these heroes and look forward to more adventures from them.

Good, but hurt by some poor production choices

The narration was all great, but the chapter break music was an unpleasant interruption every time.

The writing was often more rich than I expected for what otherwise felt like YA pulp.

Manchester's Premiere Super Team

I like the Goon Squad series and I hope to see more of it. I like the characters, I like the stories, especially the last one, and I hope Howard continues with it. My one problem is that the narrator wasn't very good when it came to the male voices in the stories. I like her Nadia, but her voices of Ian and Gilbert became grating to me. Especially Ian. I hope that the next stories have more varied narration. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes superheroes.

Good stories GREAT voice acting meh sound effects

Anything Jonathan L. Howard writes I will buy/ read/ listen and these stories about a small team of "talents" (i.e. superheroes/ individuals with significantly enhanced abilities) and the world around them are charming, enjoyable and while not on the level of Johannes Cabal or Carter & Lovecraft series I think are still worth your time and money. Voice acting is top notch. I liked the IDEA of including sound effects to further the experience but I found them clumsily implemented (the narrator describes the sound and then you hear the sound). In this case either leave the sounds out (they're adequate, not amazing) or at least have them occur while they're being described instead of immediately after being described. Very clumsy.
POSSIBLY suitable for advanced/ mature YA fiction readers (the characters are in their 20s and older) but you'd have to make that call. Howard does have the YA novel/ series Katya but I haven't read that so I can't compare.

A lot of fun.

The narration was great, fun style and characters even with some of the darker moments. Can't wait to hear the next volume.

Interesting story with audio embellishments

I liked the blending of narration and background sounds/noises... It was like an old radio play. Stefan Rudnicki's performance as the villain was particularly enjoyable. The only thing I didn't enjoy (hence the 1 star ding) was the obnoxious musical riff at the end of every book/story. It got tiresome after the first one.