Anonymous

Uneven but still worth a listen.

Reviewed: 11-04-19

I use the word “uneven” to describe both the writing and the narration. The story is a little over-written, by which I mean there is too much internal philosophizing on the part of the characters. It feels like the author has substituted moving rapidly from one character’s POV to another’s for true pacing of the story. Having said that, there are some great characters here, and I especially enjoy it when a male author manages to write fully formed women characters,, as that’s pretty rare. The women in this story demonstrate plenty of agency, if sometimes with mysterious motives.

When I say the narration is uneven, I mean there is a huge difference between the quality of the two narrators. Xe Sands does an excellent job of creating different voices for each character, and of making them sound like real people. When I first heard her speak, I thought “wow, unusual” and I wasn’t sure I was going to like it. Reader, I fell in love with it.

Contrast this with Hoffman, who nearly ruined the listening experience for me. His Irish and British accents are execrable and very inconsistent from one instance to the next. His dialogue is very unnatural-sounding, and indeed his pacing and delivery sound like someone reading a language they don’t actually speak. Weird pauses and strange inflection had me scoffing and even cursing aloud. Not a way to enjoy a book.

Overall I did enjoy the story. I read many post apocalyptic novels and this was one of the good ones. I see people comparing this to The Stand, which is my all-time favorite, but Wanderers has an even more original “hook,” which I daresay makes more sense from a biological and epidemiological perspective. It’s also a pretty astute commentary on the current political and social environment. I just wish they’d chosen two great narrators, instead of one 5-star narrator and one 2-star.

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1 person found this helpful

Excellent listening experience

Reviewed: 10-06-17

I realize it’s unfair to compare Hill to his famous father, but I find it impossible not to, having been a King fan forever. Hill does not suffer in comparison at all. He’s a great storyteller, and has a deft way with language/descriptions. This is an imaginative post-apocalyptic tale with a lot of heart-definitely character driven, but the premise is pretty scientifically solid as well, something I think is underrated in post-apoc stories in general.

I was unsure about Mulgrew as a narrator, at first. Although I loved her Captain Janeway, I didn’t think her voice was one I’d want to listen to for hours in end. I was SO wrong. She did an amazing job of differentiating the character voices and the performance was overall very subtlety wonderful. There were a couple of spots that were oddly “shout-y” but otherwise I enjoyed it immensely. Highly recommended!

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17 people found this helpful

A Note from the book's Narrator

Reviewed: 09-21-16

Any additional comments?

The reviewer Manstein was correct that there were some quality issues with the book in chapter 1. These have been taken care of and you can download this audiobook with confidence. If you previously bought and downloaded the book, removing it from your library and redownloading will replace the book with the new one. We apologize for the inconvenience.

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Fascinating, horrifying, and ultimately inspiring

Reviewed: 04-16-16

Would you consider the audio edition of The Demon of Brownsville Road to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the print version, but I was quite UNimpressed with the narration. I'm actually wishing I'd just gotten the print version of the book, since it seems fairly well written. Difficult to tell from this performance, however.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator's reading style is extremely monotonous, lacking in inflection in a most unnatural way. Every sentence sounds exactly the same, regardless of its structure or emotion. I made it through the audiobook because the story was very interesting, and because the dry, robotic style of the narrator allowed me to tune him out for most of the book, but there were still many points where I was jarred out of the story by his odd inflection, or lack thereof.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

I was fascinated by the author's description of the Passionist convent and order

Any additional comments?

This is a wonderful story, and appears to be decently written, but I simply cannot imagine why/how they cast this narrator.

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3 people found this helpful

Excellent book and performance

Reviewed: 04-16-16

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely. It was fascinating and I learned so much. Larsen never fails to disappoint with his extensive, meticulous research of his subject, and in the way he manages to bring dry historical fact to life on the page. Brick's narration style is absolutely perfect for nonfiction-easy to listen to, neither monotonous nor overly dramatic, and nicely paced.

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Interesting story, decent narration

Reviewed: 02-24-16

What did you love best about A Most Haunted House?

Quite a spooky tale. The narrator's accent, although one I'm unused to hearing, seemed to fit well with the locale of the story.

What did you like best about this story?

The device of alternating narration--reading of the transcripts of interviews, I believe?--was a difficult one to parse and narrate, but it worked reasonably well. The narrator's pacing is nice and even, and he is easy to understand despite his unfamiliar (to me) accent.

Which character – as performed by David Ayers – was your favorite?

I wouldn't say I had a favorite character, but I was impressed with the narrator's ability to differentiate between different characters speaking, especially since there was no discernible break/chapter title between switches in point of view, other than a pause.

Any additional comments?

I really disliked the use of sound effects in this recording. It appears that the narrator attempted to differentiate switches between the two characters' points of view by adding some sort of background to the man's part--it sounds like a coffee shop or restaurant, dishes clanging, people murmuring, etc. It was quite unnecessary and distracting, since the narrator was already doing a good job of suggesting the different voices by making his voice/inflection smoother when the lady was speaking and a bit more forceful and jerky for the main guy. Even the secondary characters each had their own distinctive voices. He did a great job with that, and the cheesy sound effects are unneeded and annoying.

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