Ren: The Man Behind the Monster (Ren Series #1), my twenty-fourth read from author Sarah Noffke . I got this book back in February of 2017 and somehow never got around to reading it. A well written, interesting read, with intriguing, well-developed characters. Up next is Ren: God’s Little Monster (Ren Series #2). (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 - July 24, 2018). ( )

I stumbled on Ren in an anthology and was captivated by this misanthropic, mysogynist sociopath. I'm so glad the author gave him his own arc. I look forward to seeing how the monster evolves. ( )

My original Ren: The Man Behind the Monster audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

When I started this I didn’t know there were entire YA series, The Reverians and The Lucidites, in which Ren appears as a character. It didn’t really matter because this worked as a stand alone with enough information provided to get a feeling for these two series and their settings. In fact, after finishing this, I have become interested enough in this world of dream travelers that I am quite keen on listening to more.

But back to Ren The Man Behind The Monster. This was basically Ren’s autobiography from growing up as a young boy in a tiny, quiet village in England who discovers his special powers to the present day when Ren is in his mid-forties. Ren is the sort of character you can’t help but love, although most of the time he was totally self-centered, arrogant and rude. Initially, he used his skills to manipulate people in order to get money and sex. Quite the jerk and totally full of himself. But he also had some rather endearing moments and by the end, he had totally won me over.

This was a really fun listen and I finished it in one setting. The narration by Tim Campbell was excellent. Ren is the narrator of his own life in this audio book, and Tim Campbell brought him to life perfectly. Very smooth sounding and a pleasure to listen to. There were no issues with the production quality.

I am not sure whether it would make more sense to start with the Reverians or the Lucidites series before listening to this, but if you are already familiar with those, then I would definitely recommend listening to Ren’s memoir because he is a fantastic character, and his story was full of drama, action, romance, humor and great observations on life and people. A really good character study by the author.

Audiobook provided for review by the author. ( )