P. Walsh

Another great book with a great narrator

Reviewed: 05-23-22

This book is solid, though it gets a little draggy right towards the end, but very enjoyable. I have a stack of other books to listen to and I'm probably just going to buy the next book in this series because I don't want to wait. Between this series and the Children of Time books, Adrian Tchaikovsky is turning into one of my favorite authors. His books translate very nicely into audio, which is the only thing preventing me from reading all of them in a week (I still listen at 1.25x because I am impatient).

Ben Allen continues to be a wonderful reader. I really hate readers who do bad voices for one gender or the other. When a male voice is reading female lines, they often come out as though the character were unintelligent or bored. Allen does a great job making female voices sound just as their characters are described. He also does a fantastic job differentiating different characters, even ones with the same accent. I generally don't need to have the book tell me who is saying what, since the voices are distinct. While I'm not overly fond of his New York-ish accent (as a New Yorker myself), he's still consistent enough among those characters to make it sound like an accent all its own. I'm excited to see it looks like he'll be reading this entire series. He could read the phone book to me, and I imagine I'd still enjoy it.

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Audio recording uneven

Reviewed: 11-07-21

The book is enjoyable. I quickly adjusted to the pronoun use that others have complained about - it's no big deal. The story is calming. What is a little annoying is parts where the narrator's voice changes pitch or tone much lower, possibly as a part that got recorded over later. That took me out of the story every time. I can't tell if that's the performer or the engineer at fault.

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2 people found this helpful

Good story, really great narration

Reviewed: 06-25-21

Slowish start, but it serves the story. the narrator has the perfect voice for this story and differentiates characters well. This isn't my usual kind of book, but I really enjoyed it. Recommended!

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Heartwarming, but not funny

Reviewed: 01-06-20

You might see the performers and think this is going to be funny. There are funny moments, but it's not really an overall comedy. I found it really hard to finish because it dragged in a lot of places. The end seemed sort of abrupt given the buildup.

The good: Auntie Ana was fabulous! If someone wants to write a book about her and she narrates I'd listen to it. I have a lot of characters in my family, so it was like listening to long-lost relatives. Her husband was a great foil. Karen's character had a lot of potential. I could see some more fun with her.

The boring: The first chapter is like an extended version of the public radio sketch from SNL. I almost turned it off at that point. While I like that sketch, there's a limit. The Narrator is so dull and unfunny even though written comedically he could be entirely removed as a character, though the voice actor did his best.

The so-so: The Drunkles (druncles?) would have might a great sight gag. As this is only on audio, they came across as terribly stereotypical and almost painful. The character development is a bit uneven and also hyper stereotypical.

The production quality was great and I really enjoyed listening to so many voices. The actors were all great. The music was great. The story was only so-so.

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Enjoyed more than I thought I would

Reviewed: 12-28-19

I'm not sure why I picked this up - maybe it was one of the Audible Originals monthly choices? Anyway, it turned out to be a good pick. It was very entertaining, and the narrator was enjoyable to listen to. In fact, I'll probably look for other books she's narrated. The main characters all had identifiable voices and speaking patterns. It was immersive enough that I said, "Fun, fun, fun!" out loud as one of the characters and was disappointed that no one around me got the joke. I do like science fiction but I am not a fan of game shows or reality shows, but it works for this book.

One thing I did not like was the singing. In several parts of the book, there were song lyrics, and I think it would have been much better to just read the lyrics than to sing them. The singing was painful to listen to. It's not that the narrator can't sing, it's just that the songs had no real tunes and seemed to drag on. I should say that I dislike song lyrics in books anyway, but I always read them. I just don't sing them in my head.

The romance-light was a little contrived, though it did provide additional motivation for a character who mostly stays off stage as a support to the main character. It wasn't terribly distracting if you're one of those people who hates unnecessary romantic stuff in your sci-fi. Yes, I would be one of those people.

There were quite a few caricatures in the book, which would normally put me way off, but it fit in the tone of the writing pretty well. The bad guys are obviously bad guys, though not always. The good guys are usually easily identifiable. So, this is not a mentally challenging book to listen to, but enjoyable if you need a brain break.

Even if I did get this book for free (don't quote me on that because I really don't remember), it was totally worth a credit to listen to. The content is appropriate for older teens, as long as you don't mind them hearing some swear words (justified during tense situations) and referenced sexual activity.

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1 person found this helpful

Will there be more?

Reviewed: 09-07-19

This story's world is begging for more stories in the future!

It's a different sort of story in the sense that you're plopped into the middle of something you don't understand. If you read a lot of speculative short stories, that's not uncommon, and I wonder if some of the negative reviews are from people who aren't experienced in reading that sort of story. You have to leave yourself open to learning about the world without being told about the world directly.

The characters were interesting and the narration was good. The accent was a little tough to follow at the beginning because some of the spoken words sounded like different words than they were, but once things got going it was obvious that it was the perfect voice for the story. The plot follows a good pace and the descriptions of situations and locations are excellent.

If I had one quibble it would be that the end is very sudden. One minute everything is dire, the next minute there's what could be construed as a happy ending. It's almost like the author hit his word limit and cut it short. I guess my other not-so-positive comment is that the characters do not match what's on the cover. The cover is beautiful, but it would be nice if it more closely matched the descriptions of the characters in the book since those descriptions are so rich.

This story could certainly be built on in future books. What happens afterward? Do they change the world or get stuck in painful reality? Does a new generation step in to fight the good fight? I would be interested in hearing more.

I know that some listeners found the opening of the story upsetting or offensive. I found it to be more emotional than physical. It's hard for me to get upset about characters who love each other. The scene isn't gratuitous, and it sets up some of the reactions of the characters later in the story.

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Great story, but much too long

Reviewed: 07-15-19

I love this author, but this book could have used some editing. There was too much detail about things that didn't impact the story at all, which made the book feel very bloated. While the back stories sometimes seemed to meander, they did have a purpose, so those are not the problem. The problen was in the long stretches of technical information. It felt like the author was being paid by the word in those segments.

Thr narrator has a nice voice, but he struggled to keep the accents consistent for each character. I had to rewind periodically so I could figure out who was talking, which I don't normally do. Female characterizations were sometimes just plainful to listen despite the narrator's obvious commitment.

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