Little delivers but little performance.

If you’ve read Bentley Little you know what is his work is like. ‘The Academy’ is no different. Taking the most mundane scenarios and twisting in the most over-the-top evil is what I enjoy about Little’s works. Granted, it is easy to get annoyed with character traits and actions, however, it gives the same kind of fun as watching a horror film and yelling at the screen for the people to STOP DOING THAT!

‘The Academy’ is a fine jaunt into the world of charter schools (and being married to a school principal, I hear about the real corruption of charter schools all the time) and the whole story falls straight into stereotypical Bentley Little.

BUT, the major hindrance to this audio book is the narrator. David Stifel is bad…very very BAD. He sounds like a mentally challenged Canadian learning English as a 3rd language.

His “girl” voices? These are cringe worthy to the point of wondering whether he as EVER heard a woman speak. And considering there are many female characters, it gets AWFULLY aggravating.

Teenagers? Well they sound like 3 year-olds just beginning to sound out words.

Inflection? Even when the author has WRITTEN what the inflection is (i.e. “he said incredulously”) it appears Stifle does not know what directional words actually mean.

I can’t over-exaggerate how atrocious this narration is. I wish I had just read the paperback. My own mind fills in the audio/visual aspects of Little books so much better. A warning to those seeing the name “David Stifel” as a narrator, avoid the book. Read it on your own.