Narrated by Gary Furlong
Isobel Starling’s Apple Boy is book one in a series of fantasy romantic adventures entitled The Quiet Work, set in the fictitious land of The Empire of Osia. In this story, a lordling and a farm boy set out on a journey, and end up uncovering a political conspiracy and discovering something about themselves that will change them forever. The story is quite interesting, but the pacing is slow until near the end, and I felt the whole thing could have been shortened by a third and none of the important plotlines would have been lost. I’ll also warn prospective listeners that the book ends on a cliffhanger – although it seems that the next one will feature different characters in main roles.
Our PoV character in Apple Boy is Winter Aeling, son of the Duke of Thorn, who, for reasons not yet explained, has arrived in the small town of Mallowick with only the clothes on his back and no way of getting home unless he can earn some money to pay for transportation. He gets work at an orchard run by the despotic farmer Col Sewell, where his eye is immediately caught by Sewell’s handsome son, Adam. Also catching his eye is the ring the farmer wears, which not only bears Winter’s own family crest, but also contains a magical Star-fall stone. Over the next few days, Win manages to spend some time with Adam – enough to recognise that he likely shares Win’s sexual preferences – but can’t allow his attraction to the other man to prevent him from leaving the farm to travel to the capital city of Serein in order to speak to the Great Council there. When he leaves – having managed to swipe the Star-fall – Adam insists on going with him, and Win then explains why it’s so important for him to get to Serein and how he came to be in Mallowick. Win had been aboard ship on his way to visit his uncle Ivon when he discovered that the ship – the Trojan Star – was carrying slaves. Appalled, Win refused to stay silent and foolishly confronted the captain about it with the result that both he and his valet were thrown overboard – and only Win survived. So now, he wants to inform the Great Council about the slaves, in the hope that perhaps its powerful members can find a way to free them and punish whoever is responsible for their transportation.
After an eventful journey, during which Adam and Win prevent a highway robbery by inadvertently using magic (a punishable offence), they arrive in Serein only to discover that Win is presumed dead after the Trojan Star was lost at sea. Win manages to get a message to his uncle – hoping he’ll be sober enough to recognise him – and is, after that, able to speak with the Council, the members of which are suitably horrified at the story, and have to work out how they are going to proceed against the powerful Twin Kings of Osia, who it seems are intent of regaining control of the city.
This is a long-ish audiobook, coming in at a little under ten hours, but not a great deal actually happens until well into the second half, and the pacing is slowed considerably by the continual interruption of excessive detail. This is one of my major complaints about the book; there is SO much descriptive prose that it disrupts the flow and progression of the story. For instance, every time Adam and Win arrive at a new place, there’s a lot of overly detailed description about the landscape and/or buildings and they invariably meet someone (also described in great detail) who starts in on telling them tales about the place, and while I appreciate meticulous worldbuilding in this sort of story, obvious info-dumping isn’t the way to go about it.
Win’s narrative voice suits his character, although I’m never fond of first person narrators who tell us things about themselves that nobody would ever actually say – like “I combed my flaxen tresses” (not a quote) or “I shook out my unruly auburn curls” (also not a quote, but you get the idea). He’s a nineteen-year-old aristocrat with a very high opinion of himself, but who is intelligent and shows a remarkable degree of resilience given his circumstances at the beginning of the book. He does have a tendency to overstate things, which can make the narrative as a whole feel rather overblown and melodramatic at times, but he’s likeable, if a bit bland. Likeable but a bit bland is how I’d describe Adam, too; he’s not very-well drawn, and I have no idea what he really saw in Winter apart from his good looks. In fact the romance between them is hardly developed at all; later in the book we find out they were “destined”, but that doesn’t make up for the lack of actual romantic development. (And the idea that they were only truly, “life-bonded” after they had penetrative sex as opposed to all the other stuff they did – oral, hand-jobs, rubbing off; if orgasms are involved, it’s having sex in my book! – made me roll my eyes.)
When it comes to the conspiracy angle, I did have to wonder how it was that the powerful Great Council didn’t seem to have read the contract they’d signed with the Twin Kings for the transportation of gold from Osia to Serein, which stated that they would be responsible for the shipment from the moment it left Osia (in the words of one of the Council “We’ve been stitched up!” – which, amid all the faux-historical dialogue and terminology was incredibly jarring). There is some distinctly creaky writing and clichéd dialogue and phrasing to be found, together with some odd grammatical quirks (which always stick out more in audio than in print).
Gary Furlong sounds like he had a blast recording this, and it was his exuberant performance that kept me going through the descriptive passages that felt like they’d never end! The people of the Pasturelands – which is where Mallowick is located – all speak with Irish accents, which gives Mr. Furlong the opportunity to go to town in his natural accent, using it to differing degrees and finding different timbres and pitches to depict and differentiate between the various secondary characters. Farmer Sewell’s dialogue is spoken in a rough, guttural tone, while for Adam, he employs a warm, natural baritone close to his own speaking voice; in fact, one of the reasons I wish part of the story had been told from Adam’s PoV is because I’d have liked to have had those lovely, lilting tones in my ears more frequently! There’s a large secondary cast, some of whom have just a line or two, and all are clearly and expertly characterised and delineated, from Win’s uncle Ivor, whose deep, resonant tones conjure up the image of a large, portly individual, to two unusual bankers (unusual because they’re birds!) who sound fussy, sharp and appropriately bird-like. The portrayal of Win is excellent as well – using a higher pitch and an ultra-posh English accent along with an air of worldly ennui, Mr. Furlong lends real charm to a character who might, in print, have come across as overly arrogant.
Apple Boy is, then, a mixed bag. The story has merit, but its progress is impeded by too many info dumps and too much extended description, and the characterisation is sketchy. Gary Furlong’s highly accomplished performance is a definite plus, however, so if I do decide to continue on to book two, it’ll definitely be in audio.
Caz
Buy Apple Boy by Isobel Starling on Amazon
