The Colonel and the Eunuch

Daniel York Loh’s narration is the secret weapon of this audiobook. His voice is rich and precise, with a knack for making even the most convoluted sentences feel personal. He doesn’t dramatize; instead, he lets Mai Jia’s razor-sharp prose do the work, his tone measured but laced with quiet menace. The eunuch protagonist, Li Long, is a fascinating cipher—hard to like, impossible to ignore. His journey from obscurity to the heart of a regime’s machinery is brutal, and Loh sells every step of it. The production is pristine, with no distracting artifacts, though the audiobook’s glacial pacing might frustrate listeners expecting something punchier. That said, the slowness is deliberate, and by the final act, it pays off in a gut-punch finale. My only real critique? The colonel’s motivations feel under-explored, as if Mai Jia assumes we’ll just accept his monstrosity without question. Still, the flaws are minor in a story that lingers like a bad dream. Loh’s performance elevates it into something unforgettable.