Part-Time Gods by Rachel Aaron / Bach Narrator: Emily Woo Zeller
Series: DFZ #2
Published by Audible on July 2, 2019
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Length: 11 hours, 8 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Purchased
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm
Life in the magical mess of the Detroit Free Zone is never easy. When you’re laboring under the curse of a certain prideful, overbearing dragon, it can be down right impossible.
My name is Opal Yong-ae, and I’m a Cleaner. At least, I used to be. Thanks to the supernatural bad luck that turns everything I do against me, these days I’m more of a walking disaster. Getting rid of this curse is the only way to get my life back. Unfortunately, dragon magic is every bit as sneaky and deadly the monsters behind it, and just as hard to beat.
But I’ve never been one to take her doom at face value. Cornered doesn’t mean defeated, and in an awakened city that rules herself, dragons are no longer the biggest powers around.
Part-Time Gods is the follow up book to Minimum Wage Magic, which was storage wars in a magic city where someone seemed bent on killing the main character. This DFZ series is set in the same world as the Heartstrikers series, after the events of the last book. You don’t have to have read the Heartstrikers series to enjoy time in the Detroit Free Zone (DFZ), but it is great to see some cameos of characters I liked from that series and see what the mortal spirits are up to.
One of the coolest things about this series is the setting. The DFZ is a city run by a magical God, it has buildings that move and change. If you default on your rent, then your place goes on the auction block, for someone like Opal and her newly acquired partner, Nick, bid on it against others, for the opportunity to make money on anything left inside and clean it up for the city to rent out again.
Opal has a few problems in her life right now. She tried to outwit a dragon, who just happened to be her father (long story) and ended up with a huge loan to pay off to him. She was doing really good at it too until said Dragon put a curse on her to make it even harder for her to make the money to pay him back. Dragons. Now with the help of Nick, a cybernetically enhanced human with a questionable past, Opal is trying to find a way to not default on her load so she can be free from under anyone’s control.
I do like Opal for the most part. She has a lot of magical power potential and has tried her entire life to do anything with it but unfortunately most of the time it just ends up blowing up in her face. Girl also has some HUGE daddy issues, probably to be expected when you know you were named Opal because you are seen by your father as a pretty stone of little worth. Opal has a huge chip on her shoulder and she is going to prove to everyone that she can do it all on her own.
Opal has a lot of things to overcome in this book and her own stubbornness might be one of them. Growing up with a Dragon as a father, I can see how/why Opal has such a huge stubborn streak, but it definitely isn’t helping her in a few instances in this book. Seriously she paints herself in some huge corners and it got a little frustrating.
Good news is there is a smidgen of a romance happening between Opal and Nick. It has a few kinks in it but I liked the start up of a possible relationship between them. We also get some time talking with the Spirit of the City and we get to see some of the motivations of a god walking among the people.
The downfall is this story doesn’t wrap up at the end, we are left with a bit of a cliffhanger and will have to wait until the next book to see how all of the events play out.
I enjoyed Minimum Wage Magic just a little more than Part-Time Gods, just because of the situation Opal was in, how laser focused she was on the tree she missed the forest. Still a lot of things happened and I have some big hopes for the next installment.
What was I supposed to tell him? That I’d gone on a journey of self-discovery through a never-ending forest and received a magical potato from a dead Shaman who was also a satellite body for the god of the DFZ? Even I thought that story sounded fishy, and I’d been there.
What in the world did you do to make Yong so mad? The Dragon of Korea normally loves mortals. Seriously, last I heard, he had two hundred of you death-bound critters scampering around his lair! That’s the dragon equivalent of being a crazy cat lady, you know.”
Narration:
Emily Woo Zeller did a great job with Opal and the rest of the cast. I really liked her portrayal of the story and she lent some authenticity to Opal’s Korean heritage. I liked her enough to look up her catalog of work to see what else she has done. I look forward to listening to her narration of The Bride Test and The Poppy War as I’ve already got those in my library.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Emily Woo Zeller
Audie award-winning actor, voiceover artist, dancer, and singer Emily Woo Zeller (member SAG-AFTRA) is based in Los Angeles, though her work has been seen and heard internationally. Her wide range of work has included theater and extensive dubbing for film and television in Southeast Asia. Emily’s lifelong theater and dance work includes performance with Ellis Wood Dance, Dutch Kills Theater, FACT/SF, Facing East Dance and Music, Oracle Theater, and physical theater collective Lampazo Group.
Audiofile Magazine named Emily as one of the “Best Voices of 2015” in Nonfiction and Culture for her work on THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP by Marie Kondo and “Best Voices of 2013” in Nonfiction and Culture for her work on GULP by Mary Roach. Awards include 2018 Audie for FIRE ROAD by Kim Phuc Phan Thi, Ashley Wiersma; 2015 SOVAS VOICE ARTS AWARD for THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP by Marie Kondo; 2015 Audie Nomination for her work on THE BEAM: SEASON 1 by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant; Audiofile Magazine Earphones Awards for narrations of THE POPPY WAR by R. F. Kuang; FIRE ROAD by Kim Phuc Phan Thi, Ashley Wiersma, AFTER THE ECLIPSE by Sarah Perry, KITCHEN CHINESE by Ann Mah, UNDER A PAINTED SKY by Stacey Lee, THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP by Marie Kondo, GULP by Mary Roach, and TIES THAT BIND, TIES THAT BREAK by Leslie Namioka; the 2009 Tristen Award for Best Actress as Sally Bowles in CABARET; and the 2006 Roselyn E. Schneider Prize for Creative Achievement.
Emily holds a degree from the University of California, Berkeley in Dance and Performance Studies, with a minor in Nutritional Sciences. She is a certified yoga teacher.
About Rachel Aaron / Bach
Hello, my name is Rachel Aaron, and I write the Heartstriker books, a new Urban Fantasy series about misfit dragons, starting with Nice Dragons Finish Last. I also wrote The Legend of Eli Monpress fantasy series for Orbit Books about a wizard thief and the poor bastards who have to try and stop him. PLUS I’m also the author of the new, rolicking fun Science Fiction romance Fortune’s Pawn under the name Rachel Bach. Confused yet? I know I am!
I was born in Atlanta, but I currently live a lovely, nerdy, bookish life in Athens, GA with my lightspeed son, perpetually understanding husband, and fat dog. Besides my own books, the internet knows me best for writing very fast. The best way to get to know me is probably to read my blog or follow me on Twitter or Facebook.
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I fully intend to read this series, maybe even buy it on audio. I have KU but I love Emily Woo Zeller.
I have totally enjoyed her works in this world. Nice Dragons Finish Last and the Heartstriker’s series is so underrated.
I need to finish her other series but I”m really curious about this one as well
O.o which one? I haven’t read The Legend of Eli Monpress yet since it currently doesn’t have an audiobook.
Cliffhangers are something I will never understand why its used so much in UF….I just don’t care for them. But that is just my personal preference. Great premise though.
She doesn’t use them very often, but I remember on in the Heartstriker’s series too on book 2. So maybe that is just the way she writes.
The titiels and covers are such fun. I should try this series and meet these characters!
Storage wars in a magical city. How could it not be good. 😛 Hope you find the time.
i like the look of the book, but a cliffhanger…i have too many stories where i never find out the ending
I think she had a little cliff hanger in another series I read by her in the 2nd book but then the series 3rd book had a more solid ending and the 4th book had a decent epilogue so you know what happened to all the characters later.
This sounds like so much fun – both books. I really need to see if the Heartstrikers series is available at my library or such. So many great books!
Jen the Heartstrikers series was so much fun. They are on Kindle Unlimited if you have that. If not they aren’t badly priced $4.99 for the ebook. But, I hope your library carries them cuz that’s free.
This series isn’t as good as Heartstrikers, but I did enjoy the first book in DFZ series. I need to grab this one. Great review.
Melanie @ Hot Listens & Books of My Heart