The Wandering Inn by Pirateaba – An Audio Book Review

An inn is a place to rest, a place to talk and share stories, a place to find adventure, or a starting ground for quests and legends.

It is in this world, at least. To Erin Solstice, an inn seems like a medieval relic from the past. But here she is, running from Goblins and trying to survive in a world full of monsters and magic. She’d be more excited about all of this if everything wasn’t trying to kill her. But an inn is what she’s found, and so that’s what she becomes; an innkeeper, who serves drinks to heroes and monsters.

Actually, mostly monsters. But it’s a living, right?

Author: Pirateaba

Publisher: Podium Publishing

Genre: Fantasy/LitRPG

Series: The Wandering Inn #1

Run Time: 43hrs 10mins (1,235 pages on Kindle)

Audio Release Date: 10th September 2019

My Rating of ‘The Wandering Inn’: 4 out of 5

Purchase: Audible, Amazon

Review:

Despite the 4 star review I (I had to knock it down from a five for something small and editorial more than anything) this was easily one of the more enjoyable books I’ve gotten through this year.

I’ll start by saying that it’s an incredibly slow-burn type of book. But it’s slow-burn in the tantalising, I look forward to getting to the next chapter kind of slow-burn. Rather than the ‘well, you’re padding the word count, aren’t you?’ type. The author does an excellent job of painting a day in the life of someone from our world unexpectedly waking up in another one. So many books in the genre paint it as something that would be non-stop action from the moment of waking up until the end of your time there, whereas this one takes the more realistic approach of getting to grips with your surroundings, making friends, learning the language etc …

I’ll dive right into why I marked it down, before gushing on with more praise. Essentially, this needed a more thorough edit than it was given. At multiple points there are continuity errors that would otherwise have stymied the plot if they hadn’t happened. At one point there’s mention of certain characters not being able to read, yet later on ‘well, I read it on that sign’ pops out of their mouth. At others, they use their hands to do all sorts of useful things, despite their hands being bound, and no explanation to them being freed.

But, I suspended my disbelief as the story was truly engaging and enjoyable to immerse myself in.

One thing Pirateaba does better than most authors I’ve come across, is make you feel for literally everything. Not only the primary characters, but the ones you think are just there for a bit of filler as well. He also makes you care about the world more than you ordinarily might. By the end of it, I found myself feeling like I was part of the world, or it had at least been a place that had long been on my list of ‘places to visit’. He also hammers home a range of emotions (this is added to expertly by the audio book’s narrator, who does one of the best jobs on audio book narration I’ve come across. And I’ve listened to A LOT of audio books).

In short, from start to finish, The Wandering Inn is a beautiful book.

The main characters are both from our world and both unexpectedly end up in a fantasy one. A fantasy world where levelling up and earning skills in your respective ‘class’ mean you can do great things. These characters, Erin Solstice and Ryoka Griffin, are two young women from two very different backgrounds. It’s wonderful to have both of their stories along side each other as you get a much more complete image of the world Pirateaba is creating.

I’m uncertain when I’ll dive into book 2 (there’s 12 at the moment, so plenty to get absorbed in), as I’ve listened to some fairly long audio books recently and would quite like a short one as a change of pace, but the author has done such a wonderful job that, even if it were a case of years, I doubt it would feel like any time had passed where memory of the setting is concerned.