A Swashbuckling Adventure in the Sky

The Adventure of Anastasia Hawke: The Celeste Affair
Author: D. Alan Lewis
Narrated by: Kat Marlowe

A stirring steampunk adventure from the mind of D. Alan Lewis. The stakes are sky high in The Celeste Affair for ace spy Anastasia Hawke. Set in the Civil War era Anastasia must find the courage to fight personal battle all the while preventing the war in North America from escalating worldwide. A well-paced swashbuckling exploit filled with sword fights and airship combat this is sure to keep you entertained.
Do not listen to this expecting to hear another tired steampunk story. Alan has an interesting take on the tropes we often see in the genre. Listening to his stunning visuals I could taste the bitterness of the sea mist, almost smell the grease and hear the grinding of gears. Between the action of the story and the depth of his all too human characters you too will be drawn in from the first chapter.
Here a confession must be made, I do not usually listen to audio books because I do not care for being read too. That being said, Kat Marlowe did a very good job of getting and maintaining my attention to the story. She has a lovely voice which is easy on the ear and she enunciates beautifully. I could listen to her read the phone book. Her reading in this case is a little flat. Almost as if she never took a breath. Her attempts at changing voice for the different characters, while clearly differentiated who was speaking was also mildly distracting. In this instance. I believe varying her pitch and rhythm would have sufficed. Her attempts to deepen or affect accents drew me out of the story. Because of this I found myself with a need to listen multiple times before I felt had the entire story.

The Adventure of Anastasia Hawke: The Celeste Affair

Thank you for reading,
Ernest Russell