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The Vagrant

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The Vagrant

By: Peter Newman
Narrated by: Jot Davies
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About this listen

The Vagrant is his name. He has no other.

Years have passed since humanity’s destruction emerged from the Breach.

Friendless and alone he walks across a desolate, war-torn landscape.

As each day passes the world tumbles further into depravity, bent and twisted by the new order, corrupted by the Usurper, the enemy, and his infernal horde.

His purpose is to reach the Shining City, last bastion of the human race, and deliver the only weapon that may make a difference in the ongoing war.

What little hope remains is dying. Abandoned by its leader, The Seven, and its heroes, The Seraph Knights, the last defences of a once great civilisation are crumbling into dust.

But the Shining City is far away and the world is a very dangerous place.

©2015 Peter Newman (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Military Post-Apocalyptic Psychological Science Fiction Suspense Thriller & Suspense Mind-bending Scary War

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Critic reviews

'For fans of classic science-fiction literature, this is a must-read.' – SciFi Now

'Come visit this brilliantly imaginative land of winged swords and broken solar cells.' – SFX

‘The Vagrant is a joy to read: an original and engrossing world, a strong story and a protagonist who is intensely charismatic despite – or because of – his silence. Newman’s debut is written with confidence, flair and imagination, bringing his dark world to marvellously macabre life’
Adrian Tchaikovsky, Author of Shadows of the Apt series

‘A stunning and ambitious debut novel set in a unique and imaginative world where the only hope rests on the capacity of human beings to love’ Melinda M. Snodgrass
All stars
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I enjoyed the story up to a point but found it almost ruined by the narrator, his speaking voice is flawless but when he did voices for the characters they are almost unbearable, the voice of the hammer sounds like if a cow could speak, the character of harm who I'm guessing is supposed to be likeable is turned into a whiny annoying person who I just wanted to die so I didnt have to hear the voice again, a shame as im sure the book is good

good story, bad narration

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This is a brilliant story written with intelligence, humour and wit. The characters are arresting and interesting - I did not expect a mute protagonist to be so gripping! There is courage in the face of overwhelming odds; evil insidious and terrifying; humour - both human and animal; heartbreak and the wonder of redemption. It's a long time since I met characters as interesting as the eponymous Vagrant, the fascinating Harm and the domineering baby in arms! Will there be a sequel? Oh I do hope so.

Brilliant story, vivid reading

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The narration by Jot Davies is excellent, the story is interesting, the writing is good - but not great, can be a little difficult to follow at times.

Good - but not great..

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This book was not like any I've read before. With 3 out of 4 of the main protagonists not speaking and the poetic brief sketch-like descriptions of the world, events and people intrigued and fasinated me as the story slowly unfurled driven by the reactions of others to the vagrant , the baby and the goat as they travel through a distopian apocoliptic fantastical world. I was always left with more questions every time I paused from the story. Who is the vagrant? where is he going? and why are just some. The answers are revealed slowly and with great care. this book has an old saga/parable like quality that reminds me of beowolf ( i can't really say why it does ,I read beowolf as a kid at school over 20 years ago) and the morality gives an almost biblical taste. Some might say its over written which can often happen with a debut novel but i think the author succeeded in producing a unique and beautiful book. It fasinated me how the characters of this world reacted to the vagrant and his companions and him to them and how his journey changed those he meets and the world they live in
the story is well paced but the naration is a little slow but played at 1.25 speed rectifies this if you find it too slow. If your looking for olts of action and epic battles or you don't like poetry then you may not like this book

intriguing and captivating debut novel

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After initially wanting to put it aside, the book gradually grew on me and I have to say; not too shabb

Grows on you

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The world building and set up is deceptively simple, but deep enough to sustain an interesting, emotional and thoughtful story that made me care about the oddest of characters.
I've never been so invested in the life of a goat before...
Wonderful narration from Jot Davies really helps bring the world to life!

An unusual world, and a deeply 'human' story

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Very mismatched narrator whose tone very much spoiled my enjoyment of the book. His voice for the non humans sounded more like something from Sesame Street than anything else. Also, the voice for the baby is intolerable and grating. Excellent book... Dreadful narration.

Terrible narration

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while the story doesn't really fall into the tropes of epic fantasy, this doesn't detract from it. The Vagrant walks around fantasy and sci-fi in unequal measures on a path woven by turns of phrases and unique metaphors. this is an astounding performance that, often, left me mesmerized and part of this infernal world wrought into spoken word.

It isn't a story where a quest is fulfilled in the traditional sense, but a glimpse at one moment in time in a world. The journey of one man and how his actions and being are ripple in a pond.

Recommended for those seeking a different feel to a travel story.

Language of the scribes!

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I really enjoyed this story. The characters were captivating and the story kept we interested. Definitely worth a listen.

Capitivating Storyline

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Story – 4/5

I found the Vagrant hard work a lot of the time. I had to try really hard to concentrate what exactly was happening, and I am still not entirely sure I understand it fully. I think reading the novel instead of listening probably would have made this easier. It hasn’t put me off though, I just feel like I should re-listen to it. The world is very complex; taking on a fantasy/sci-fi mix of a post demon apocalyptic setting, but with some futuristic technology involved such as brain enhancing chips, rocket launcher weaponry etc.

It is very unique. At first it reminded me of Glen Cook’s style of writing; concise, but rich prose, but in reflection, was probably closer to Mark Lawrence’s Broken Empire trilogy – although still very different to anything I have ever listened to/read. One of my favourite parts of the book is Peter Newman’s use of the English language; his metaphors, similes and use of short sentences were perfect in setting the scene.

The thing that makes this story stand out the most is the prominent parental aspect, where the vagrant is looking after a baby (and a goat!) while travelling an unforgiving and brutal world; carrying an infectious goodness about him that doesn’t really exist elsewhere. It’s unusual enough to write parts of the story from the baby’s point of view, but Newman even writes some parts from the goat’s perspective – and I quite liked it.

The ending was very underwhelming as I thought it was building up to something big, but in reflection – the story was more about the journey. I fully expect Peter Newman to write sequels to this, as people will want to know what happens to that baby when she grows up.

I can see a lot of people hating this one, but I thought it was good.


Performance – 4/5

The performance is a tough one to judge properly. The reading is very slow, with large gaps in-between sentences. I found that speeding it up to x1.25 though was spot on, and removes this issue completely. You may even get away with x1.5.

I quite liked Jot Davies as a reader; he set the atmosphere of the novel nicely by really performing the story. I can see why a previous reviewer has stated the need to add impact to every word, but it worked nicely for me, and maybe felt toned down at the slightly higher speed.

His voice acting was about as distinct as you can get it. There was no subtlety at all, each being extremely different. It did mean you had lots of accents from all around the UK, but once again, this worked for me personally, as he acted them out extremely well. Some of the baby talking moments were a bit much, but these were infrequent.

I would recommend listening to sample to see if you can cope with his style.


Overall – 4/5

Weird…but I think I liked it

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