AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: A Million Ways to Die in the West by Seth MacFarlane read by Jonathan Frakes ★★★★☆

Mild-mannered sheep farmer Albert Stark is fed up with the harsh life of the American frontier, where it seems everything and anything can kill you: Duels at high noon. Bar-room brawls. Poisonous snakes. Tumbleweed abrasions. Something called 'toe-foot'. Even a trip to the outhouse. Yes, there are a million ways to die in the wild, wild West, and Albert plans to avoid them all.
Some people think that makes him a coward. Albert calls it common sense.
But when his girlfriend dumps him, Albert decides to fight back - even though he can't shoot, ride, or throw a punch. Fortunately, he teams up with a beautiful gunslinger who's tough enough for the both of them. Unfortunately, she's married to the biggest, meanest, most jealous badass on the frontier. Turns out Albert has just discovered a million and one ways to die in the West.

Overall Rated: 4/5
Narration Rated: 3/5
Story Rated: 3/5

This is my first audio book and review. I watched the movie a while back and if you’re a fan of MacFarlane, the funny and somewhat offensive man behind Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, American Dad! and two Ted movies, you’ll probably give this a hit or a miss, depending on your mood. I mean, it’s my first audio book so I don’t know what I was expecting.

I’ve read about three western books, with all too serious themes of revenge, so this is anything but that. It’s a simple story about Albert Stark who complains A LOT. He can’t seem to do anything right. He backs out in a showdown, triggering his girlfriend Louis to dump him for a rich mustachio man Foyt. He’s fed up and is about to make plans to go to San Francisco when he saves the life of newcomer Anna, who teaches him how to shoot a gun and making Louis jealous. Because I’ve seen the movie, I know what happens, and the storyline was predictable. Plus, there wasn’t any deep literate prose, just crude comedy about the Wild West that was made to entertain you.

Let’s talk about the narrator, Jonathan Frakes. He’s narrated two Star Treks Next Generation books and Gulliver's Fugitives by Keith Sharee. Frakes has a kind of deep voice associated with western movies, which I liked as it did transport into the frontier world. It was easy to listen with laugh out loud moments depicting how stupid living in the Wild West can be. It sounded like the script of a movie, or a comedy show rather than an actual novel. However, I wasn’t too fond of his Chinese accent. It wasn’t all too pleasing to hear and it wasn’t done well. I’m glad it was only a few lines and it’s the same with the sex scene which was funny and cringey (on purpose I guess). The pacing was good, and he does tend to speak fast which I had no problem following.

There are seven parts, and each is about 40 to nearly 60 minutes long. It flowed very well because I wasn’t aware the next chapter had started. Just don’t listen to it with small children around as there are some swear worlds shouted rather than said. I wouldn’t mind listening to any future narrations by Frakes.

A Million Ways to Die In The West is good for those who want to be entertained and not worry about the audio length or deep prose.

Written By: Seth MacFarlane
Narrated By: Jonathan Frakes
Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd.
Date: March 2014
Duration: 5 hours 2 minutes
Genres: Western, Comedy, Satire & Parody
Started from March 1st to March 4th.