Just One Damned Thing After Another

An Audible Original Drama

By: Marty Ross

Narrated by: Gemma Whelan, Ben Miles, Jonathan Bailey, Zara Ramm

Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

Time travel meets history in this new drama adaptation by Marty Ross.

'So tell me, Dr Maxwell, if the whole of history lay before you...where would you go? What would you like to witness?'

When Max, a recent ancient history graduate, is offered a mysterious job at St Mary's Historical Research Institute, she quickly comes to realise this isn't any old stuffy research library. At St Mary's the historians don't just study the past - they revisit it.

What begins as an academic exploration of events, such as the Peterloo Massacre, takes a dark and dangerous turn, and the historians of St Mary's soon learn that it's not just history they're fighting....

Follow the tea-soaked disaster magnets of St Mary's as they rattle around history. Because wherever these historians go, chaos is sure to follow.

Starring Gemma Whelan (SAG nominated, Game of Thrones, Gulliver's Travels), Ben Miles (SAG nominated, The Crown, V for Vendetta), Jonathan Bailey (Broadchurch, Leonardo, The Mercy) and Zara Ramm (narrator of the original Chronicles of St Mary's audiobooks), this Audible Original production will transport you to iconic moments throughout history, from the Cretaceous period to the destruction of the Great Library at Alexandria.

©2017 Marty Ross (P)2017 Audible, Ltd

Critic reviews

"A Terry Pratchett- and Neil Gaiman-inspired adventure." ( NME)

"If you’re already a fan of the series, this is a no-brainer." ( Starburst)

"Once you've started listening, you'll find it hard to stop until the story is complete." ( Sci-Fi Online)

"What begins as an academic exploration of events such as the Peterloo Massacre, takes a dark and dangerous turn...." ( Daily Mirror)

I wanted to like this so much more

Great cast, outstanding source material but it just didn't translate to this format. The sounds effects were mostly distracting and there was so much yelling and heavy breathing that it just became annoying half the time.

thrilling

amazing cast. listened to every minute on the edge of my seat! highly recommended.

It's...okay

It's not bad. Well-researched. Voice actors are great. It just...didn't hold my interest for some reason. And felt kind of...heavy? Idk how to describe it. Maybe it just wasn't my cup of tea.

great and then turns to poorly written

as others have said; it gets scattered in it's presentation and needed some editing. I really was enjoying it and around chapter 8 the tone changed. It was as if the author was told to "sex" it up and suddenly we have an erection and "F" bombs that didn't fit the story and I had been listening out loud on a car ride with others. Im not opposed to these events but it was like watching a PG movie and suddenly it becomes a poorly written R one. The premise was fun and I really wish it had stuck more with adventures in that history adventure idea while still including the introduced "challenges". Narrator was good but male voices were not always obvious.

Didn’t care for this version

Liked the original if you had not read that you didn’t quite know what was going on! Even with all the side effects!

So Well Done

First of all, both Jodi Taylor and Zara Ramm are treasures, and I am so grateful for their talents. Taylor’s St. Mary’s universe is one so many of us adore, and Zara Ramm is always the perfect Max…bring on the tea!

I found this Audible production to be fantastically well done, and I wish that -all- of Taylor’s St. Mary’s titles could be brought to full life this way.

Zara Ramm is so ridiculously good at differentiating between the characters’ voices—she is a towering talent—but it was so much fun to have this particular novel made real with all the different characters and sound effects (I didn’t think it was possible to dislike B*tch Barclay more, but the actress who voiced her was so good!)…Sussman in particular truly showed up, for better or worse, as a complicated and conflicted character. Arguably the only misstep for me was Leon…the actor who voiced him was great, but Leon’s character was quite different from his much quieter, more nuanced, slow-burn novel persona.

Fans of this series might have quibbles with minor differences in the story…I couldn’t care less about those. I was just glad to get my ears on this.

I really hope there are more St. Mary’s books that will be done as Audible Originals. (I haven’t found any thus far if they have). All I can say is a genuine bravo to Audible and the cast for such an entertaining listen.

Awesome ! Btw - the actual book is by Jodi Taylor

Loved this adaptation of the first book of my favorite book series . Highly recommend you read the books first before listening to this adaptation .
The only thing I didn’t like was that Ross changed some things from the book - which weren’t necessary . Stick to the book Marty !
Hope he will continue to adapt the rest of the books - the actors were WONDERFUL !

Quite Unexpected

Would you try another book from Marty Ross and/or the narrators?

Not sure...I was left a bit bereft after experiencing this version of Jodi Taylor's classic St. Mary's adventure. It felt like something important was missing and I couldn't put my finger on it at first, but then noticed some of my favorite characters were missing.

What could Marty Ross have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

It was perhaps a bit too much huffing and puffing throughout, like the characters were out of breath. It became distracting.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I always,always love Ms Zara Ramm's narration. She brings everyone to life for me. The other narrators fell a bit flat, but that's probably because I'm used to Zara Ramm doing all the voices. If I had never listened to the original St. Mary books, I might have enjoyed it more.

Do you think Just One Damned Thing After Another needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Not for me...I much prefer listening to the original St Mary books by Zara Ramm.

Any additional comments?

I'm glad I made this purchase, it was different from the original in that it was a drama and I like to try new things. I was just a bit disappointed that it was so very different from the book.

just plain fun!

Has a little bit of everything. Drama, battling, history, humor, romance, and all with a British accent. very fun listen that lasted all the way through a very long road trip.

Nonstop

Like the tile says, just one damned thing after another. The story is never dull. Always something happening. Great performances from everyone. Lovely voices to listen to. Good audiobook overall.