The Beast of Talesend: After Beauty and the Beast

Beaumont and Beasley, Book 1

By: Kyle Robert Shultz

Narrated by: Joel Daffurn

Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme...

...Disney got it wrong.

My name is Nick Beasley. I’m the one they call when things go bump in the night...because I can always prove that there’s actually nothing to worry about. After all, magic and monsters aren’t real.

At least, that’s what I’ve been telling people for a long time. But now that I’ve been magically transformed into a big hairy monster, I’m not sure they’re going to believe me.

And no, a kiss won’t help. The only person who may be able to fix me is the enchantress who did this to me in the first place.

She says it was an accident, but I’m not sure I can trust her. Why would the Beast Curse randomly crop up again after hundreds of years?

And if it wasn’t an accident, what might the person responsible do next?

I have to protect the city of Talesend from the monsters in the shadows...even if one of the monsters is me.

Disney meets Dresden (with a pinch of Discworld) in this 1920’s urban fantasy. Don’t miss out on the series fans are raving about.

2018 Realm Makers Alliance Award Finalist

©2017, 2018 Kyle Robert Shultz (P)2019 Kyle Robert Shultz

Awesome!

The narrator was very good! Not how imagined them, but pretty close as for as you get. I love the humor in this! And the way everything is put together is cool! Crispin is by far my favorite character! And Nick being grumpy is just spot on! I did feel like tings were rushed at time though. Other than all that though it was an excellent book! Kyle Robert Shults is my favorite author of all time! I have, and will continue to recommend his books to others!

An Incredible book

This is a great example of what a self-published book should be. It's beautifully written with a nice balance of whimsy blended with notes of horror. The tone of the whole book is decidedly light and buoyant while the subject matter, especially some of the fairy tell retellings, are dark and sometimes well over the line of "creepy". The main character's voice is strong and the side characters play their supportive roles brilliantly. Across the board I say this is a great story and a quick, easy read. Well worth picking up and supporting an author who obvious put a great deal of thought and work into his world.

A funny, fun, fairy tale

I read this book a couple years ago, so when the author offered an audiobook if I’d leave a review, I jumped at the chance.
Normally, I stick with more serious fair, Sanderson and sci-fi, but this book interested me because it’s told from the perspective of the Beast (well, a beast) and is written as a a comical adventure, not the usual YA romance. It’s a clean story, appropriate for all ages, and has good humor. Even though there’s a lot of humor, it has more serious moments.
I really enjoyed this book, and would highly recommend it.

A great audio adaptation of one of my favorite books!

I already love this book (and the rest of the series so far), and as a big fan of audio-centric methods of storytelling, I was really excited when the news came out that it was getting an audiobook adaptation. I’ve been looking forward to hearing this (and the other Afterverse audiobooks so far) ever since they released, and having just finished it tonight I had to write a review to share how much I enjoyed it!! Joel Daffurn was an excellent choice of narrator here — as the books are already written in 1st person, he is tasked with essentially taking on the personality of the POV character (the famous, or maybe infamous? Nick Beasley) throughout all the narration. Daffurn does an excellent job of this — Nick’s dry, highly skeptical nature shines through very well in the narration, and Daffurn does a great job bringing to life the other characters in the book as well (I especially love his impression of Crispin, Nick’s younger, dreamier, rather-irresponsible-but-still-incredibly-lovable brother). In short, I very much recommend this audiobook adaptation if you’re already a fan of Beaumont and Beasley, or if you’re one of those readers who, like myself these days, often finds themself more inclined to pop in earbuds and press play than open a printed page.

Always a favorite!

This is my second time going through this story... and I think the Beaumont and Beasley series is one of those you can read or listen to every couple of years and never get bored with it. The wit and humor is spot on! Definitely one of my all time favorites.

Epic Storytelling

This was SO good!!! Having read the book several times, it was awesome to hear the characters come to life. I listened to this with my little brothers and we looked forward to listening to this everyday.
Kyle is such a wonderful, imaginative author and Joel Daffurn did such a great job bringing his characters to life.

Delightful!

Very much enjoyed this story. Love that there are multiple references to familiar fairy tales. There are hints of stories past and characters whom I hope to see in future stories. This book would be particularly appealing, I think, to ages 11 and up.