Struggling with the Narrator

I started this series because I was completely blown away by Hazard and Somerset, coming to the party late, but as a result getting the whole series on Audible straight away. Therefore I got used to Tristan James' narration and have found the change in voice here to be disappointing, despite North and Shaw being completely different characters. Being one of my favourite narrators probably helped too!

I tend to avoid this narrator by contrast, his voice is too bland, no edges to it, so I find myself loosing concentration regularly and having to rewind to listen again, when I zone out yet again. The inconsequential banter between North and Shaw is also a distraction, which I have not really warmed to during this series, but because it's by Gregory Ashe I needed to finish it. The overlaps with the Hazard and Somers books are a treat though, so reading this series does enhance the Union of Swords books. Recommend anything by this author, even if his characters are often not very likeable, Shaw just irritates me, but I love North. That probably says more about the writer's abilities than mine as a reviewer!

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Murder, Mayhem, Violence, and Humor

Declination: the deviation of a compass needle from true north, the extent of that deviation.

Shaw’s note: example – that time junior year when North insisted he could find his way out of the corn maze blindfolded and ended up in the hospital with a minor concussion.

North’s note: better example? Shaw thinking fajitas are better than tamales.

Shaw’s correction: disagreeing with you doesn’t count as derivation just because your name’s North and anyway, you were the one who made out with the scarecrow after you hit your head on the wagon.

North’s correction: that scarecrow was f-ing hot. Period.


Sometimes I finish a book and I can’t wait to share it with the word. I write the review immediately and get it posted ASAP. Other times I listen and can wait until the next day and meander my way through my thoughts. Then there are books where I have to reflect upon my response. Parse my feelings to determine how I felt during the listening and how I feel now that it’s over. Would I recommend the book? What stuck with me and what did I forget? What do other listeners need to know? Would I listen to this book again? Or others by this author – in this series or other books?

Okay, so I’m now through most of those questions and I’m going to share my feelings. First, what I remember. The violence. I listened to Triangulation and LOVED it, so I leapt on Declination, breathlessly waiting to see what mischief North and Shaw were going to get into this time. Upon reflection, there was violence in the previous book. North had endured physical abuse by his husband and, finally, that man had received his comeuppance. Pure violence, but there seemed to be some justification for it. The violence in this book has far more shades of gray. I also occasionally wondered how everyone around them didn’t comment on the obvious injuries.

There is humor in this book. The löwchen puppy, to be sure. I love the antics of animals, and the men’s secretary Pari was back with all her craziness. Then there is the amusing dialogue. The following exchange, for example:


“He tried going peegan, actually,” North said.
“What’s peegan?” Truck asked.
“Paleo and vegan. Lasted about two days.”
“I missed tacos,” Shaw whispered.


The little exchanges between the two men are adorable. There’s witty banter and snark galore. I like those moments in books I read.

There was also the weird issue of time in this book. It takes place in a very short timespan and yet it felt like there was so much going on. Tons of action, right? Kept me on the edge of my seat. Then the guys would have sex. Weird sex. And then Shaw would freak out. I kept thinking, how do they have time for this? I mean, the bad guys are right there! Not to say the sex scenes weren’t good. Just weirdly timed.

I did enjoy the book and if there is another one, I will definitely read it. I feel like North and Shaw still have lots of stuff to work out between them and I want to see it. Now they seem firmly together, I want more sanity. But keep the snarky humor.

Finally, I want to give a shout-out to the narrator, Charlie David. I can still hear his voice in my head as I’m writing this review. I really like his style and I love the different voices he gives for each character. Again, stellar job. So although this wasn’t my favorite book, I would recommend it. Just consider yourself warned.

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Good story

The concept is interesting and well written. The characters are likeable and the narration is good.

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Spectacular Series, Charlie David is Perfect!

Gregory Ashe has thoroughly won me over with his intricate, clever, and very entertaining series Borealis Investigations. As a mystery/thriller, this ended up being one of the best stories I’ve read in ages, and the array of characters Mr. Ashe dreams up are spectacular. From start to finish, this has been one enjoyable ride!

I highly recommend doing this series in audio. Performed by Charlie David, the characters in Borealis Investigations fit beautifully with his narration style. His ability to portray North’s raw vulnerability, when it breaks through his usual smooth confidence, and Shaw’s pain as he relives the heartbreaking moments of his past, is impressive. Mr. David infuses so much raw emotion into his performance, it’s really something special. Plus he keeps the good times rolling along, and makes the most of the wit and humor in Shaw and North’s banter.

The overall story builds gradually, throughout the three books. This is an intricate plot which unfolds so seamlessly I didn’t even realize how brilliant it was till the ending. Kudos to Gregory Ashe for his ability to craft such an amazing mystery!

As for the romance between Shaw and North, it’s a true slow-burn, beautifully done, and so worth the wait! Gregory Ashe writes deliciously sensual sex scenes, and I couldn’t wait to see what would happen to this pair in Declination. After Shaw’s experiences with Matty and Jadon, to see the person he can be with North is incredibly moving.

North is a such an interesting character. Watching him deal with Tucker's drama, navigate his relationship with his complicated father, and process everything that Shaw brings out in him, I loved seeing him grow and change throughout the series.

These two men have fantastic chemistry: as friends, as work partners, and most definitely as lovers. They just need each other so thoroughly, it’s a marvelous love story. An excellent friends-to-lovers romance and a first-rate mystery, I sincerely hope this is not the end of Borealis Investigations.

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Well-executed conclusion

This audiobook (read by Charlie David) was given to me in exchange for an honest review. Since Amazon rejected said review due to its obscenity and I am unable to find and eliminate those flaws I am trying to do my part by posting it here on Audible. If you are better acquainted with Amazon's methods of censorship and can pinpoint where I went wrong, please feel free to tell me!

First of all: Gregory Ashe is amazing. I still feel like I struck gold when I first encountered his Hazard and Somerset books at the end of last year, and I have been busy reading his backlist ever since. It is rather unfathomable to me how anybody can produce that many gems on such short notice. Usually good things take time but thank God Gregory Ashe didn’t get the memo…

I like the structure of the Borealis trilogy, the way its protagonists started out in Orientation, the various levels on which it played and the way all these levels came to a very well executed conclusion in this final instalment (= the cases of each book, business trouble, relationship trouble, the looming past, the long-fostered feelings between North and Shaw, the central thread of Shaw’s search for the “Slasher”,…)

Not everything is peachy though.

I cannot decide whether I would have started do lose patience with Shaw during this book anyway, or whether it was the way the narrator Charlie David presented him that turned me off. In the previous books (which I read on my own in the ebook versions) I liked him as a very peculiar and unconventional guy. Troubled, yes, but with reasons and within reason – I understood the attraction North felt and shipped their coming together.

In “Declination” Shaw started to grow on my nerves as a whiney egomaniac of the sort that likes to dish out but does not have the backbone to take. Whenever he was confronted with hard truths he resorted to prepubescent girlish behavior.
(“I hate you!” – cries and runs away…)
I was not impressed.
(That he cheats at cards fits his profile accurately – at least this author is consistent with his characters…)

I increasingly found myself encouraging North to kick Shaw to the curb and find a better man. I liked the scenes when he called his boyfriend on his self-indulgent bullshit. But why would he ruin my fun later by apologizing when all he did was tell Shaw the truth? The final chapters of the book showed how right he was to warn Shaw.

Maybe the author took a bit of an easy way out concerning North’s abusive past. North simply closed that door during book 1 and said to himself “I am finished with that shit.” And he is. It never crops back up again. During book 2 and 3 he is the picture of a loving, sympathetic boyfriend and acts as a bulwark between Shaw and rest of the world and even against Shaw’s inner demons. How is that possible for him to do so shortly after escaping his very own private nightmare? That seemed a bit superhuman for my taste, and it shifted the balance between the two men towards a hazardous lopsidedness – Shaw cast as the demanding, self-centred diva, North stuck in the role of Knight in Shining Armor. (The pigeon holes are waiting…)

Some of Ashe’s literary tricks sadly don’t translate so well into the audio version.

(With Hazard and Somerset it was those little “corrections” that both his protagonists used to clean up their own Freudian thoughts. Narrator Tristan James read them without any change in his inflection which was why they went completely over my head. I only learned to appreciate them much later when I had the ebook in my hands: They were not only highly entertaining for the reader but rather important tools to show the discrepancy between self-perception and reality, between the way H&S wanted to feel and the way they really did.)

In “Declination” it is small stuff like Truck’s self-proclaimed pronouns ze and hir, which sounded like some strange fake-French accent in the audio version. If you see them written on page they are actually quite funny.

I am not too happy about the narrator’s input during the emotional scenes. In my opinion, Gregory Ashe pens relationship scenes so masterfully, they don’t need any additional drama. The way Charlie David reads them is the way Hollywood often falls short by overdoing human emotions. Even worse are the sex scenes. The narrator sounds like a cheap phone sex operator which made me cringe – something that has never happened before while reading a Gregory Ashe novel, so I am quite sure it is not the book but the narration.

Charlie David made a really good job of the fight scenes, though, and increased the suspense thanks to his quick-paced reading. (I usually flip quickly past these scenes and only skim to get the gist. But the narrator really had me hooked!)

All in all, “Declination” is exactly the highly entertaining, intelligent book I have come to expect from this author, and I am very grateful for the gift of this audio version, even though I liked Shaw better before I heard Charlie David’s portrayal of him…

But what is it about that major cliffhanger at the very end of this novel which is supposed to be the third and therefore final part of a trilogy??? I sincerely hope that Gregory Ashe plans to open another chapter in this series just as he did with H&S / A Union of Swords.
(And cliffhanger or not, the relationships of his protagonists keep growing more complex and worthwhile with each book, so lets not stop this train now…)

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A gripping read with a dash of humour, compelling and believable

I received this audio book as advanced listener copy.
I already had the e-book for a while but I set it aside for a session and I am glad that I had done so. I read/listened to the book over two days but in less than 24 hours as the tale gripped me, so when not reading in bed I had my headphones on whilst walking, cooking and gardening as I had to find out what happened next.
The core story from books one and two continues and as such brings us Shaw and North's evolving relationship; funny, painful and beautiful. As well as the ongoing crime story that is important if you want to understand Shaw. Here we get some more answers. This unfortunately means you have to deal with some unpleasant and greedy people but it makes you value the simplicity and good in others.
What I liked about Gregory Ashe's storytelling was how he gradually wound up the tension and gave us a story that was believable and compellinging, but with those dashes of humour from Shaw and North that gave us a few moments to catch a breath.
The narrator Charlie David continues to give the characters their individual voices. He is a gem.
The ending was interesting! I'm hoping that Hazard and Somerset can help out in the next book.

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North & Shaw- Leave logic at the door.

I'm a fan of Gregory Ashe's Hazard and Somerset but I reached my eye-rolling incredulity limit with the ridiculousness of North and Shaw. They are just terrible investigators. It was like the author was gaslighting the reader- North and Shaw messed up over and over, and yet he kept telling us what clever men they are. There was too much tiresome childish bickering. They were totally unprofessional and reckless. Who would give these guys a million dollar contract for investigation? They did dumb things, like entering and searching Jaden's house without donning gloves first or considering that the house could be bugged. And then goading cops in a cop bar- which got them no new info, just a good beating.

Then there is the waste of space 'secretary' who was constantly bickering Shaw. Every time that happened was irritating and pointless. It's not fun banter. Pari is so neurotic and aggressive she'd be fired from any job. What does she do anyway, just compulsively eats and abuses her employer? I wonder if Gregory Ashe dislikes women because in all if his books there hasn't been one likeable female character. The few female characters in his books are evil, bitchy or just plain psychos.

The thing with making a plot THIS tiresomely complicated is that unless you have a fantastic editor stuff gets missed and with this series there are so many of inconsistencies. For instance, the dog was used as a prop device to start an argument that then led to sex but there was no mention of moving the dog from the bed. Did they have sex on top of the puppy? Also, while on the run Shaw suggested they dump their phones, and head back to the city, they do so, then Shaw gets an email...on his phone??? These are inconsistencies that should have been caught and edited out.

Ashe has a formula with North and Shaw. When a choice has to be made, instead of taking a common sense, logical route, both of them make the worst choices and end up in bigger trouble.

I'm in lockdown, so listened to this series to pass the time. I wish I hadn't bothered.

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