BJ

Horrible narrator

Revisado: 07-06-24

The narrator ruined this book for me. His female voices were not only annoying but actually made me dislike the speaker. It was so bad I never finished the book!!!

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WARM AND FUNNY

Revisado: 04-28-24

A thoroughly enjoyable cozy mystery--fun all the way through along with good suspense and interesting characters including Deeogee. I particularly loved the cooking tips. No longwinded recipes, just clever little tricks to improve your offerings.
Just bought the two follow up audios and hope more of the series will be coming.

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Flosnik is terrible.

Revisado: 10-05-22

Anne Flosnik is a dreadful reader--as many others before me have said. Question: since no one likes her, why did she continue as reader for so long? Nepotism or bad contract?
I love Robin Hobb, but Flosnick ruins her "Liveship traders" which is why I only gave them 3 stars. Read them instead.

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Different--engrosing

Revisado: 10-29-19

I usually stay away from books read by the author, but this author could take up reading books professionally. Lovely voice, lovely understandable accent.

The story is somewhat depressing--reminded me of The Road--except he's wandering about Britain. The dogs are great--not super heroes, but acted like real dogs. One rather gruesome scene with a horse--I hate reading about hurt animals- -but the story tied up nicely.
It's the kind of book that stays with you--like a classic.

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esto le resultó útil a 9 personas

Caleb Does Sound Like a Thug

Revisado: 06-14-19

Reviewer Augustus White hit it right on the nose. Jason Culp does make Caleb sound like a Welsh thug. It’s kinda funny. But with that exception, I thought Culp did a good job. It really is hard on fans—and readers—to change readers midstream.

The story is just as mixed. If you love over-the-top sermons, lectures and detailed descriptions of firing pins, you’ll love this episode. But you’ll also love this audio if you enjoy people outwitting conspirators, hard-fought battles with honorable men on both sides, and brave men/women rushing to the rescue.

I almost didn’t buy this after reading the reviews, but I’m glad I did despite the endless sermonizing.

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Misleading Blurb and Sample

Revisado: 02-15-19

I almost didn’t buy this book because I got the impression from the blurb that it was a dark, depressing tale of prejudice, genocide, war and spiders. The sample was equally misleading—and I would have missed a good thing.
The story –yes, it is about those hated spiders—is warm, upbeat, original and absolutely fascinating. It takes place over several millennia, yet the characters are artfully interwoven, easy to follow and the pacing smooth. The humans are also realistic and fairly portrayed and the ending deliciously unpredictable.

I can’t help wondering about the author: what kind of a mind does he have? What kind of intelligence does he possess that he can dream up a setting like this with the incredible scientific detailing that suspends my disbelief and immerses me in the story? In a way Adrian Tchaikovsky puts me in mind of Peter Hamilton, my favorite Sci-fi savant, who also must have a huge intellect to both imagine and weave together so many details and innovations with accompanying physics and biology.

Don’t miss this great tale. It will stay with me and I’ll listen again.

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A Mean-Spirited Joke

Revisado: 02-13-19

I enjoyed the first two episodes and the third until I got to the end. The author appeared to be neatly winding things up when suddenly he drops everything—like a little kid going ‘nyaa-nyaa-nyaa’. There are tragic endings, and endings that are too sweet or too abrupt, but this was like the author playing a bad joke on the reader—or maybe Abercrombie got fed up or was in a bad mood. I just know that I no longer trust this author and doubt I’ll be buying any more of his work.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

A Relaxed Read

Revisado: 08-08-17

Despite the battles and being a page-turner--excuse me--a listen a little longer audio--I got the feeling the author was relaxed and in no hurry. I enjoyed the details of the protagonist's innovations and descriptions of life on the new planet.

It reminded me a lot of the Martian by Andy Weir.

The story comes alive and i was interested in the characters and what was happening. No one was overly villanous and the stupid got what they deserved.
I've already read book 2 and am waiting for book 3.

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DODO IS A DUD

Revisado: 07-20-17

Based on the theme of saving the magic of witches, DODO charges ahead with a full complement of intellectually challenged generals, pompous senators and other annoyingly villainous bureaucracy interfering with the time travel of the heroic hero and his girl Friday. It’s an unoriginal romp with a few lively scenes and snappy lines, but too late to make this book fun or worth listening to for 26 hours.

My personal preference is for audio books read by one person. DODO is read by a gaggle of performers—none particularly good, some terrible. Tristan’s (Laurence Bouvard) sharp voice pierces eardrums and sets fillings to vibrate. In fact, all the male performers shout their parts.
The female lead, Shelley Atkinson, sounds like a teenager, but at least she can read. I’m not sure if it’s her voice or the witchy plot that made me think of Connie Willis’s Y/A time travel stories. Except for the fuc—ffttt—language, DODO certainly fits a YA theme as does most of the juvenile humor.

Neal Stephenson’s name on what could pass for a YA? I kept waiting for a taste, a whisper from the author of Cryptonomicon and Anthem. Stephenson’s influence finally shows up towards the end with one great scene and several bitingly funny comments, but too late to save this repetitious, overlong ramble. Dodo is a sad contrast to his magnificent, original epics.

Finally, I looked up Nichole Galland wondering why Stephenson would co-author with her. She’s written a couple of undistinguished books, has a background in history but Stephenson has never been lazy doing his own research. Then I saw the magic line: Nichole Galland worked for William Morrow. William Morrow is the publisher of Stephenson’s books!!!

Lesson learned: beware of too many five star reviews that all sound the same. Is there any kind of policing as to whom is writing these reviews?

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Good Fun Romp

Revisado: 05-05-17

I almost didn't buy this because of some of the reviews. Granted its not like my favorites: 'Old Man's War' or 'Lock In', but its entertaining, funny and original, a good space opera and not what I'd call a heavily political story. The various houses are plotting against each other and the Empero but this sets up the story realistically along with the main action of a collapsing empire. Scalzi's humor lightens it all. My only critcism is the length. Nine and a half hours is short for a SF. Seems like someone's trying to increase the income by dividing two books into three!

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