This is one of the most professional-sounding podcasts I’ve ever heard in my life. The music is well-written, well-produced, and reliable, the audio quality is spectacular, the promos are well-timed and fitting for the audience, the “old timey radio ads” are HILARIOUS and brilliantly done, and the voice-over work is nothing short of inspired. I don’t know if Alex and his lovely wife have received any professional voice acting training, but their performances were lively and moving; often the emotion behind certain lines were enough to bring tears to my eyes, moreso than I would have experienced just reading them.

The story is compelling from the get-go. The characters are well-established and surprisingly realistic for the genre. So many authors choose to stereotype their characters in the fantasy realm that it takes away from the experience, and don’t get me wrong – Alex’s characters definitely fall into certain predictable categories – but in this case, the characters make decisions that somehow manage to fit them while also taking the reader by surprise.

Maybe I’m gullible, or easily distracted by good writing, but I did not predict any one of the twists that occurred in this podcast novel. Alex subverts tropes throughout the story until you don’t know what’s going to happen – and in fact, the fate of the world itself was, for me, in question until the very last minute. I truly did not know what would happen.

To get a little finer into the writing style, I have never heard such interesting, unique, yet utterly understandable visual descriptions in my life. Everything from a character’s appearance to the way the sunlight glints off a piece of glass is verbally crafted to sound exactly like it must look. Even the most obscure and unusual descriptions gave me a complete image of the world. It would be a lie if I said I hadn’t dreamed of a few of these images over the last few weeks. Alex White even writes fight scenes imaginatively and descriptively, so that they are at once exciting and understandable – and trust me, that is no small feat!

Like Paul, who reviewed this audiobook before me, the episodes were the perfect length for my daily commute, only I was able to fit two episodes into each trip, allowing me to knock out four episodes per day. Also like Paul, I was listening in only one ear, which I believe contributed to some issues where the music overwhelmed the speaker until the voice was obscured.

I have listened to dozens of audiobooks over the last two or three years, and this is only one of two that I have saved in my iPod to be listened to again. That is how special it is. It’s truly a masterpiece, and I cannot wait to start listening to the prequel! And the sequel! Please? Write a sequel?

I really enjoyed this one, it appealed to the pulp nerd in me. I searched Podiobooks looking for Steampunk books and up this popped. There is a debate akin to a holy war going on over what does and does not constitute Steampunk that I’m not going to get into right now. Suffice it to say that The Gearheart does have airships and appears to take place in a world on technological par with our late 1920s to early 1930s. It’s a world where magic is hidden, alchemy is suspect and a group with one incredibly cool name (Seekers of the Arcane Unknown) hoards secret knowledge and practices the forbidden arts. It would appear to be closer to Dieselpunk than Steampunk, with a hefty dose of magic thrown in for good measure. Normally, I don’t care to have my genres all that mixed, but Alex has made it work very well. So, call it whatever makes you the most comfortable, you’re almost guaranteed to enjoy it.

We open in a gritty, noir atmosphere. There’s a warehouse heist replete with wise guys, Tommy guns and soul swords, topped by a biplane’s strafing run and a Bruckheimer explosion. Then, the action starts. It’s an ensemble cast of distinct characters that almost fits the classic quest model. We have the naïve youth, the experienced mentor, the love interest, the lovable rogue, the plain spoken fixer and the impenetrable warrior, among others. They retrieve the magical whatnot from the warehouse and set off on the heroic quest.

Here’s where Alex goes sideways. It’s not the classic quest model after all. The Seeker organization isn’t what it seems. Corruption has crept in and governments are plotting to diminish the Order. Villains flourish, heroes die (including one shocker I won’t spoil here) and our besieged group reluctantly finds itself in a race to literally save the world.

Each of the 37 episodes is set up like an old movie serial reel: a brief synopsis then straight into action for about 20 minutes, followed by a short close and some of the funniest faux commercials I’ve ever heard. Each episode ends in an evil cliffhanger (including the last one). I was fortunate enough to download all the episodes at once from Podiobooks and so was spared the agony of waiting a week between each of them. The episodes clock in about 20 to 25 minutes in length apiece; perfect for my day job commutes. The exceptions to this rule are the final three; episodes 35 and 36 are double length and 37 is triple length.

Alex is a jack-of-all-trades, writing both story and soundtrack and performing the male voices and soundtrack (with the occasional guest artist). His wife Renee handles the female characters. Both actors have more than sufficient range to provide separate and distinct characterizations for the cast, although one character’s accent required a couple of episodes to settle into a regional one I could recognize.

The pacing and delivery are transparent, so much so that I found myself resenting the end title when the music began playing under. That’s a thumbs up to the quality of the writing as well. Though, there were a couple of places where I was taken aback. One instance is the description of the shapeshifter’s teeth. They were described as ebon and sharp, invincible with the ability to puncture and rend everything. The teeth were glassy … Glassy? Hmmmm. Not a show stopper, just not the choice I would have made. These instances were few and far between. I mention it because the overall quality was such that it made these instances stand out.

Technically, there were some episodes where the end title music tended to overwhelm the dialogue. Your mileage on this may vary, however. I was listening to the podcasts on a single ear Bluetooth headset. Better headsets may very well diminish or remove this issue.

The story line started out with a bang and keeps up a fast pace through the first 18 or so episodes. Then the pacing slows. In comparison to the first half of the podcasts, it almost wanes. However, that doesn’t last long, the action picks right back up and the series finishes with a bang, a zinger and an unexpected twist.

The Gearheart has an open ending. Given the amount of craft I’ve seen invested in this, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a sequel. I know I’d like to see one.

Seriously, thanks again!

There are a lot of characters and sub plots to follow and sometimes I found that a little overwhelming. A few characters could have been left out and things could have focused more on the main plot, it felt a little distracting with so many things to follow. I also had a tough time grasping the world that the players operate in. There are magicians, but also androids, and pistols and cars, but also swords and body armor. So I never did quite figure out the era that the story took place in.

If you’re looking for a good steampunk adventure, listen to “The Gearheart”!

I was astounded at the quality of the recording, voice-acting, and, most of all, writing. At this point, I would place this book in my top 3 favorite audiobooks of all time. The company it keeps are Stephen King’s “Darktower Series” and Douglas Adam’s “Hitchiker’s Guide” Series. That is pretty good company if you ask me.