A Peculiar Peril

The Misadventures of Jonathan Lambshead

By: Jeff VanderMeer

Narrated by: Raphael Corkhill

A Peculiar Peril is a head-spinning epic about three friends on a quest to protect the world from a threat as unknowable as it is terrifying, from the Nebula Award-winning and New York Times best-selling author of Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer.

Jonathan Lambshead stands to inherit his deceased grandfather’s overstuffed mansion - a veritable cabinet of curiosities - once he and two schoolmates catalog its contents. But the three soon discover that the house is filled with far more than just oddities: It holds clues linking to an alt-Earth called Aurora, where the notorious English occultist Aleister Crowley has stormed back to life on a magic-fueled rampage across a surreal, through-the-looking-glass version of Europe replete with talking animals (and vegetables).

Swept into encounters with allies more unpredictable than enemies, Jonathan pieces together his destiny as a member of a secret society devoted to keeping our world separate from Aurora. But as the ground shifts and allegiances change with every step, he and his friends sink ever deeper into a deadly pursuit of the profound evil that is also chasing after them.

Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year - 2020

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

©2020 Jeff VanderMeer (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

Very fun!

Such a wonderful book! I hadn’t expected it to be funny, but the humor made it really fun to read! The manner of humor reminded me of Douglas Adams, at times.

Only 4 stars on the narration because I didn’t feel that the narrator accurately captured how a teenage boy would express himself. Apart from that character, he was an ace narrator.

To the author: the quiz at the end was clever. : ) I’d answer e. All of the above. I look forward to the second book!!!

epic fantasy

another great book by this author. its like Lord of the rings mashed with Harry Potter mashed with hitchhikers guide with a bunch of awesome weirdness on top.

Beautifully woven world, weird roundabout story

About halfway in I was ready to get out but had to stay the course. I’ve loved his other books, but this was entirely too long and lacked action to keep all the tangents moving along.

Exhibition writing

This was quite the interesting read, coming from a 40 year old that reads a couple of books per week, ranging from nonfiction, biographies, scifi, fantasy and lots of YA and kids book since I like to keep up with my 9 and 12 yo children.
I originally read this hoping to find a book to suggest to my 12 year old but soon realized this was not it, I struggled finishing this book, it was very long which would be fine since we do series all the time, but unfortunately I never cared much for any of the characters or the story, you spend little time with any of the characters and even when you do, you never connect with them, the story would jump around plenty.
The imaginative nonsensical, almost funny but not really. I am curious about the author since the scenarios and the characters, a combination of creatures, animals and objects, were really wild and this is why I feel like this was a professional writer pushing to see how far he could go, no editing and just practicing to see how crazy things could get, again I'm not the target audience and if you are a fan of this author I'm sure you would love his book, however for my introduction to his writing I was not impressed, I will try a different book and see how it goes.

It's a teen fantasy adventure novel

Pretty good. Didn't have any moments that bored me. I didn't cringe to death.

It felt almost there

I thought maybe I was distracted the first time I listened to it. That maybe I’d missed something that made the story comprehensible and cohesive. There are definitely parts of this book that I’m eager to hear continued. But there’s also like... pointless word vomit. The antagonist side of things is almost unbearable.

FAB!

Seriously loving this book by Jeff VanderMeer​! It is like Animal Farm and Harry Potter had a baby while watching Locke and Key in Hill House! I highly recommend! The reader was also a perfect choice.

Weird, quirky and hilarious!

I loved this book! The narrator was fantastic- his delivery of this bizarre and crazy story was perfect. I found myself laughing out loud on many occasions. The book itself is definitely odd and eccentric- but if you love weird humor and nonsensical universes as much as I do, definitely give this one a go. I’m really looking forward to the next installment.

Wow! Highly imaginative and fabulous performance!

This is a fantastic story that is just as much fun for adults! VanderMeer is a master at creating worlds and filling them with wonderful, wacky, endearing and horrifying characters. This adventure across worlds made me laugh out loud many times! Also felt grossed out, scared, and endeared to the most unexpected characters. Hold on for the ride as this narrarator brings them all to life with perfect timing and fun voices, putting on a magnificent performance. The mystery continues and I am looking forward to Book 2!

Very weird and rambly

This was a very odd experience after reading and enjoying a number of the author's more serious books. It just feels all over the place, unorganized and rambly, way more than I expected with the switch to YA literature. There are things I liked in the moment, but it was weirdly hard to follow on the whole. It's tough to come up with a strong score because I didn't exactly hate it, but I can't say I really liked it either. So, kind of a "middle of the road, leaning negative" feeling overall.