Baskerville Book Reviews

A couple of times in this story, the term “rewind time” came up. I can’t stand that shit. People seriously need to update their vernacular. I’m not going to sit here and pretend to understand how time works. But I’m pretty goddamn sure it’s not a tape that can be rewound and that term, in general, should have died 20+ years ago. Along with all the outdated tech that used tapes.

Ranting aside, I was a bit nervous about this story at first. I loved Brightness Falls and Tethered, I didn’t enjoy The Axe as much because of all the future-themed techno bullshit. My worry was unwarranted, however. This is probably my favorite story so far. I loved this story. It was hard to concentrate as I was choking back laughter at all of Santa’s holiday-themed swears and puns.

Vaughn Ashby has a way of telling a compelling story while also keeping it humorous at the same time. Despite laughing my way through dangerous scenes with the characters of this story, I never felt any less enthralled or interested. I really like how you occasionally get some backstory at the end of chapters and how characters address the reader by talking to them. It adds a lot of charm and character that a lot of other novels couldn’t get away with.

I will admit that one of my favorite movies growing up was Bad Santa. So the idea of an alcoholic, swearing Santa was already something I was very fond of and amused by.

The narrator did an excellent job. His character voices are top-notch, especially his Santa. The audible narration was clean and clear. There weren’t any instances of repeated dialogue or changes in the narrator’s voice.

NOTE: This copy was provided to me free of charge as a digital review copy. The opinions stated in this review are mine and mine alone, I was not paid or requested to give this book a certain rating, suggestion, or approval.

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