Episode 2: Ayúdame

I love this series, it’s truly one of the best I’ve read in years. The bonus content, however, is irking me. The sound effects and music are wonderful, but the POV of the previous season’s winner being boiled down to “look at my new haram *smarmy chuckle* I get to repopulate my world one child at a time” is a take so horrendous that it diminishes the impact of that season’s retelling in the original material. It’s supposed to be a man broken, simultaneously relieved that his family has survived and horrified at what he has been forced to do to ensure their survival… the bonus content turned him into a man who wanted to be a king of his own world until he realized it was decimated, but hey, at least he gets a ton of ****now. It destroys the emotional impact of the scene completely. The broadcaster commentary also feels like it was written by someone who doesn’t actually understand the point of the series. Two former crawlers bickering over who “won”?? The former crawlers are -to a man- no better off than slaves for CENTURIES after their culture, world, and people were mined for entertainment and resources!! “Take it from us kids, stay in school. Look at us! We went to college, did well in the crawl, and now we are rolling in cash” makes it seem as if 1) the wider universe particilates in the crawl as crawlers rather than just the citizens of the mined planets, 2) the crawl is voluntary, and 3) the crawl is a great way to make your career skyrocket. Half of the plot of this series is the fact that even after the crawl most crawlers are destitute. It feels like the Hunger Games viewed through the lens of District 1 citizens who never actually competed in the Hunger Games. It’s not driving the storyline forward, it’s actively undermining it. For the voice actors, the production team, the author, I have no opinion beyond a raucous standing ovation, five stars across the board!! For whoever wrote the sidebar commentary in the bonus content, however, I feel like we didn’t read the same books. I don’t claim to have developed any sort of nuanced understanding of the overarching themes beyond the obvious, but even the obvious themes felt missed by these takes. I really wanted to love this version as much or more than the original books and the original audiobooks, but the weight of the loss and the depth of the trauma feels so minimized by the very characters who are supposed to drive that tragedy home in the reader - the former surviving crawlers… and every single time it feels minimized or flippant, it’s a direct result of the writings of the bonus content.

Amazing story only gets better and better!

beat damn story ever

This is without a doubt my favorite audio book series! On my 3rd listen, never gets old

12/12

You guys are killing it with this! I am getting addicted to this more than the goblin gals were addicted to that llama ****! Please! make this a series! Its soon good! Jeff Hays, and to the rest of the Soundbooth Theater cast, you are all awesome! Now, on to the next episode! 🤩

In love with how fun the recap episodes are! the performance was incredible

Amazing rendition, cant wait for yhe rest of the series!