Existentially Challenged
Series: The DEDA Files, Book 2
Written and Narrated By: Yahtzee Croshaw
Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
The Out-ing of Magic? AND Sensitivity Training?! It aaaaallll is Hitting the Fan!!! HiLARious!
Ahhhhhh, after the wildly hiLARious Differently Morphous comes the wildly hiLARious second in what ‘twould appear to be a new series where outrageous magic meets cultural (hyper)sensitivities.
Now that the cat is outta the bag, the Ministry of Occultism has morphed (Excuse the pun) into The Department of ExtraDimensional Affairs with brand new subgroups graciously, or not so graciously, CRAMMED down all operatives’ throats. Victor and Adam have been split up, but Alison (She of the eidetic memory and… not much else?) has still been paired with Doctor Diableri.
Oh, and Purple and pointy hats are now part of the uniforms for the Department. Welllll, maybe the pushback is a tad too fierce for the pointy hats.
When a new law SOMEHOW passes in the government, outlawing Magical Misappropriation, the operatives of the new Office of Skepticism are in demand. Aha, thinks Alison: NOW we’re getting somewhere. Where, before the law, she and Diableri woulda been on the outskirts, keeping his outLANdish behavior where it could be kept all hush hush and NOT in the way, now it’s become: Diableri Unleashed.
A new, well, uhm, cult has sprung up: Modern Miracle, which holds masses where Healing is on offer, and then the cheap beer flows. Miracle Mum and Miracle Dad showcase their daughter Miracle Meg: SUREly, this is exACTly what-all kinda nonsense needs to be investigated! EsPECially as dead bodies kinda sorta keep turning up around the Healings.
Add to that the DESperately bored Victor has found, not true love, but even better: An Archnemesis (WAIT! Adam cries… You have an Archnemesis NOW that we’re not a pair?!) and things keep getting better. Throw in social media bloodhounds who stream EVERYthing, sprinkle a bit of Departmental shaming, top it all off with the modern Church having to defend itself as being a huuuuuge entity that has nooooo basis for its claims of miracles (Thereby leading to a face-off between an American Evangelical’s faith-healing and the Wonders of Miracle Meg), and Croshaw just lets it aaaaallll hang out, lets it aaaallll hit the fan.
The only thing better than his writing, with his MULtitude of priceless similes, is his narration. Here he does the honors for his own words again, so we’re privileged to get the many varieties of cape-swirling and mustache-twirling of Diableri, the earnest fumbling of Alison, Victor’s despair and growing attachment to an Ancient that tried to possess him when he was but a lad but whom he now unburdens himself to, Adam’s longing to be an investigator of note… even when he’s soooo not hitting the mark, and the ever-cool and emotionally-detached Elizabeth, who’s just trying to keep things from getting too terribly messy as all that sh** flies all over the place. Then too he does a Bible-thumping TV Evangelical from the States in such an over-the-top manner that it all fits together to make sure that, no matter who you are or what you believe: Whether you’re a Liberal or a Conservative? Dude, you’re gonna get skewered, deSERvedly so. Lighten up!
We’re far too sensitive; we judge far too easily. And rest assured that Croshaw (Looked him up on Wikipedia, and he’s just a pup! Born in the 80s… okay, pup to meee!) will be roasting the lot of us for, El-Yetch Willing (Listen to the audiobook, it’ll make sense) for aaages to come.
Checked out his vaaaaastly sparse blog, and tho’ he does indeed plan on furthering “The DEDA Files” with more installments, he’s off to do the final in the “Jacques McKeown” Galaxy trilogy. So tho’ I’m so sad that I shall have to wait, at least I can get some more Croshaw In-Your-Face Humor by hitting the second in that series, like, soon!
I PROMISE!!!
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