Rated R

By: Mike Leon

Narrated by: Buzz Blackburn

It's crass gun porn filled with fanboy pandering action movie references.

Do you like action movies? Do you like dark, edgy, hard-boiled heroes? Do you like fully automatic weapons blasting guys' heads off? How about product endorsements that are awkwardly placed between depictions of intense violence?

Yeah? Then this book is for you!

It's about Sid Hansen. He's a mega badass who kills anybody who stands between him and what he wants. And what he wants is to get laid and eat submarine sandwiches. Great aspirations aren't really his thing.

It's also about the total skankbox on the cover. But let's not talk about her, or the third of the novel spent setting up the plot. That stuff is boring. Let's talk about explosions, cheesy one-liners, car chases, knife fights, villains with exotic weapons, cars that blow up for absolutely no reason, and firing two guns whilst jumping through the air. That's the cool stuff, and Rated R has it in spades.

Once the exposition is over, and the body count starts climbing, this story goes from a hard R to a really ridiculously rock hard R that will blow your nuts off.

©2014 Mike Leon (P)2017 Mike Leon

Splatter house pulp action at its best

Take kill bill Sin City. Pulp fiction roll it all together mix it up sprinkle little extra sex on top and you get rated R, The story is packed with a probable action undefeatable villains undefeatable heroes doing battle against each other. You've got ninjas, high school drama, sibling rivalry and more stereotypes than you can shake a stick (or bat) at. Get ready for an improbable romp and enjoy. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Awesome!

Listens like an action movie complete with product placement. Plenty of action and lots of humor. The narrator was awesome and really made the story. I highly recommend this if you're looking for something a little off beat with a lot of laughs. I received a free review copy of this audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

Interesting concept

Interesting concept that almost worked too well. Mindless action works in movies because it’s eye candy... in the book it works against itself because we all know what is going to happen at every event in the book.. good guy wins by the most obvious action trope possible. There isn’t a plot question to make us wonder. So what makes a reader continue to turn the page and why did I say “almost”? Well lucky enough for this book there is just enough humor and satire to keep you entertained throughout. Not great but if you want to read a satire send up to the 80s action movies of your youth.. this is the book for you

Fun New World Order Super Soldier Adventure Ride!

Would you consider the audio edition of Rated R to be better than the print version?

I didn't read the print version so I can't really compare the print version to the audio edition. I can say that I was entertained with how Buzz Blackburn portrays the characters and their unique personalities.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Hands down Sid (Jeremy) was the best. Just your typical super soldier killing machine oblivious to societal norms trying to be a normal guy. The guy was killing since he was a toddler and his first word was kill but all he wants is to work at Game Stop and have central air. Awesome.

Have you listened to any of Buzz Blackburn’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is my first audio book narrated by Buzz Blackburn so I can't compare to his past performances. I can compare Buzz to the many other audio books I have listened to in the past and say that his performance in my opinion is in the top tier. There were a few times I felt he was just reading a script but for the other 95% of the time the performance was excellent. From the slutty teen voice to the dark baritone super killer voice and to the voice of Sid's blood lust brother Vincent, Buzz did an excellent job keeping all the characters unique and entertaining.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The book was a great action packed roller coaster of a ride with excellent dark humor throughout. It wasn't a drama story with any particular emotional scene bringing you to tears or anything. I suppose the most moving part of the story would be when Sid the super killing machine begins to fall for Lily the high school super slut.

Any additional comments?

This audio book is a really fun listen and had me laughing throughout. I definitely look forward to more books by Mike Leon and narration by Buzz Blackburn. I've read other reviews where the book is compared to a Quentin Tarantino film. It's true. There were excellent corny one-liners throughout. The story even included a weird story line cut-in where Lily the teenage slut was suppose to die and the story line was somehow altered by the strange appearance of Quentin Tarantino. I kind of rolled my eyes at this one but Buzz did a good Quentin impersonation. Buzz also does an excellent Adam Sandler impersonation. Hilarious! My favorite quote of the book, "Now I'm just a threat to myself. Fuck! This is the biggest mind fuck. You are hands down the worlds worst dad." The audio book is a really fun five and a half hour listen. If you don't mind the violence, sex, and profanity (as the title Rated R obviously suggests) then you'll enjoy it.


"This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review."

Over the Top Mayhem, totally worth a credit

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

I think this book is what would happen if Quentin Tarantino had created a Deadpool-like anti-hero story (and yes, this opinion may have been biased by the Quentin Tarantino cameo in the story). The book is FULL of snark, action and sex. It's unapologetically profane and totally entertaining. I'm actually kind of sad that this is the only thing I could find on Audible by Mike Leon and Buzz Blackburn. If you enjoy stuff like The Expendables and Deadpool, you will enjoy this book. If you're easily offended, you'd best stay away.

Great story, Great Narrator

Very well done story. Lots of action, humor and gore. Take all the greatest action movie tropes and throw them into a mixer with some great humor and bloody gore and you get this book. Never quite takes itself seriously even though the characters are fully committed to the roles they play.
Add to all this the fact that at 1.5times speed, the narrator sounds a lot like various South Park characters, and you have a whole new level of excellence.

Liked it.

“I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.”

Unusual Listening Experience!

Rated R: The Postmodern Adventures of Kill Team One, Book 1 written by Mike Leon and narrated by Buzz Blackburn is one of the most unusual listening experiences I have ever had as a reviewer. This audio-book was a not politically correct, violent, sex-filled, story with graphic language and complete and total fun. This was like a time machine back to the late 80’s and 90’s where you could see a great mindless Rated R action flick and not have to worry about any PC casting choices just good gratuitous violence and naked women that have minimal reason to be in the story.

The main character is Sid. Raised from birth to be the best at killing it is all he knows. He takes a job at a video store in hopes to form a normal life meeting while on the run from his past meeting Lilly. Lilly is the Goth hot girl with serious issues. She has a Stepfather she wants dead and decides to manipulate Sid like all men into doing things she wants to be done. The action starts when Sid’s clone brother escapes from prison and the killing begins. This is a fun crazy wild ride and makes you nostalgic for old 80’s action flicks. The product placement commercials are just funny as hell.

This is one audiobook that will hold your attention if it is something that is a genre you are interested in listening to. The pace is fast. There is plenty of action, with a lot of violence, and funny dialogue. If you were a fan of the 80’s and 90’s actions movies like Commando this would be the audio-book that would hold your attention for a few hours. I found it to be really fun to listen to. The over the top action and the craziness was a fun escape for an afternoon.

Buzz Blackburn did an amazing job with the narration on this audio-book. This performance had a wide cast of characters and he gave each of them a unique voice and just really did an over amazing performance. This was the first time I have heard a performance from Mr. Blackburn but I am going to look for more of his work in the future based on this performance. The production value of the audio-book was of high quality. The Audio-book is published by Mike Leon and the audio-book was crisp and clear through the entire production.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author/narrator/publisher.
Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog.
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A fantastic mix of action movie and cliche.

If Deadpool were a teenager, (and a bit more sane) he would be Cid. I really enjoyed this book, it was a fun listen that had my attention the whole time. I think the closest anology is a Michael Bay movie.
I have to mention that I requested this book from the publisher, and was granted a copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

Good Listen

I was pleasantly surprised that this was actually a pretty good listen. There was a lot of gory violence and foul language but it fit into the story well. The narration was excellent even though I didn't really like the voice of Sid. He was suppose to be an 18 year old boy, but sounded like he was a middle aged, two pack a day smoker.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.