Krampus and the Thief of Christmas
By: Eldritch Black / Narrated By: Hannibal Hills
Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
Delightful… tho’… a Happily Ever After? …with KRAMPUS…?!?
Right away Krampus and the Thief of Christmas mixes it up with Father Christmas being kinda a toad (No offense to toads… and Happy Krampusnacht, toads!), someone who borrowed oodles of gold from KRAMPUS, why would he borrow from Krampus?!? and who was hemming and hawing about paying it back. Then Krampus offers to forgive the debt… IF… Father Christmas can best him in a card game. No, Father Christmas, noooooo!!!
Then we’re onto one of our heroes in this truly enchanting little tale of Good and, well, not evil, but Not So Good, Gabrielle Green. She and her little brother Percival are staying with their uncle and loathsome cousin Matilda, whilst the pair’s parents figure out a marriage ending. Gabrielle is miserable; Gabrielle is peeved. And Gabrielle would do ANYthing for Percival, including Taking The Rap for all sorts of misdeeds committed by the other kids in the town/village. She Makes Problems Go Away… for a price. She’s determined to buy a ship-in-a-bottle toy for Percival, and the money she makes taking the blame all goes towards that end.
And the notoriety? Well, Krampus is interested. -BUT- while he’s gotten wind of an aTROciously behaved kid, he can’t sense/smell any rottenness about her. How, oh how, to get her to his lair for punishment? Aha! She’ll do anything for her brother, so henchmen of Krampus fool Percival, and he’s carted away to suffer, Gabrielle hot on his heels.
Okay, one more time: Gabrielle would do ANYTHING for Percival, and this includes making a deal with Krampus to see Father Christmas and to steal a golden key. This, she does; no problem. And so she and Percival go back home, but now? Ooooohhh… MUCH different. No signs of Christmas, posters of Goat-y Krampus everywhere! And all is dark, gloomy, shops that were once magical are now closing because there’s nothing nice and no warm hearts around.
The solution: Gabrielle is challenged to return and re-swipe the golden key to return Christmas to its rightful place.
This is just a sweet little Listen, with things and people not so black (Krampus is just being Krampus, and might even listen and be Nice Nice)-and-white (Father Christmas has done poorly by the elves, plus, there’s that problem about not paying Krampus back). Adding to its charm is that Percival, far from requiring Gabrielle at every turn for protection, has his own little character arc whereby he finds his courage and determination.
And what’s the deal with Narrators I’ve Never Heard Before, all doing this year’s Krampus offerings? Hannibal Hills, whozzat?!? does a really good job, making Gabrielle spunky and courageous even when she tries to stay well and truly out of Fixing The Problem. And little Percival? Oh. My. GOSH!!! He sounds like freaking Jon My Fave Ronson when he’s dithering and anxious. I LOVED that!!! Further, Hills carries the action, does the Edge of the Seat stuff to a T, has good pacing. My single ding would be that Father Christmas occasionally seems to be In The Doldrums for a good part of the story.
That would be m’ only Ding!
Surely this is a charming Listen, nice plotting, good pacing, fine narration… AND?
A Krampus that will NOT make your kid shriek in terror. -Granted- the POINT of Krampus is to inspire Terror… but it’s never appealing when your child screams and soils him/herself.
Just saying, ya know…?
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