George

A good engrossing fantasy yarn.

Reviewed: 20-01-25

I enjoyed this book and am moving onto the next one in the series (the author at the end recommends reading one of his short stories first, which I shall endeavour to do before book 2).

Yes, it's another dragon rider book, but it has enough variety to not make it more of the same.

There's a good balance of world-building and and storyline to satisfy both demands.

All in all, a credit well-spent and I want more.

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Finally gets into its stride...

Reviewed: 02-12-24

After a fairly ropey start to the series, book 4 is a good read.

The first three books having been a bit chaotic, in Book 4 the author settles down and writes a good story, concentrating on characters and plot rather than indulging himself with gimmicks and it works.

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It's worth a credit, but doesn't meet the hype

Reviewed: 02-12-24

This is an ok post apocalyptic adventure series.

I bought it because it was heavily advertised as being hysterically funny - the new big thing in comedy writing. It isn't. There are a few laughs along the way - but nowhere near enough to allocate it into a comedy genre.

Construction-wise, it's a mess. The world-building is sloppy, without any apparent rules, and sometimes just a bit silly. Any gimmick the author thinks of just gets thrown in because "why not". He gets away with it. Just.

By the end of book 3, I was a bit bored and was about ready to give up with the series, but he just managed to pique my interest enough at the end to get book 4.

I am glad he did. Book 4 is on another level. He settles down and concentrates on storyline and characters and it works. Book 4, I properly enjoyed.

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A good listen - worth a credit

Reviewed: 23-04-24

JDL Rosell has created an interesting new fantasy world, with an original mythos set in it. The world-building is well-paced and adequate (although I would prefer a little more, but I know I'm at the extreme edge of the scale in this way: I like big info dumps and I know that many do not).

There are a few areas where the author's lack of experience of the things about which he is writing show through, but none of it is excessive. Some of the weapons stuff and quite a lot about horses (the way they ride straight off at a gallop and the constant references to the noises they make (horses in real life are not very vocal - Hollywood sound editors are obsessed with editing in whinnying, neighing and snorting anytime a horse is on screen for three milliseconds but actually they can go for hours without making a sound. Plus, no one who works with horses day in day out would refer to the smell of stables as "stink".)

With regard to the narration, I'll start by saying that Imogen Church is a good narrator and she reads very well. However, I find her style a little too comical for the genre, Some of the voices are just that bit too exaggerated, too "am dram", for a serious genre (yes, I know there are quite a lot of good humorous quips, but they don't need to be said in humorous voices). If it were a rom com, then it would be fine. In fantasy, for me, less so. Silly voices for characters are a bit like silly names for characters - they only belong where they belong.

In particular, the voice she has chosen for Isla, the protagonist's main side-kick, just really doesn't work for me. She sounded more like a chirpy hairdresser than a seasoned Ranger, touted as likely to be next leader of the Lodge.

(Plus, her decision to pronounce the name "Isla" as "Ease-la", rather than the traditional Scottish "Eye-la", made my teeth itch the whole way through the novel.)

But, the main reason for the loss of a star for performance is that she commits what, for me, is the ultimate narrator's sin: she whispers.

I am hard of hearing, so volume control is critical for my enjoyment of an audiobook. Imogen Church not only whispers when she thinks that the narrative calls for it, but she also has some characters that she sets with a permanently low voice.

The result of this is that I was constantly having to stop the story, rewind, adjust the volume and then do the same thing back again when I'm suddenly deafened by the return to normal volume or, even worse, emphasis.

It drives me mad when I am constantly having to fiddle with the volume and quite often caused me to shout "Stop ******* whispering!!!" at the speakers. It doesn't matter how good you may be at reading or doing voices, you're no use to me as a narrator if I can't hear you.

I initially deducted two stars for narration, one for the inappropriate voices and one for the whispering, but that really wouldn't have been fair. Imogen Church really does read well - it just didn't work for me.

I have bought volume 2 - so that always says something.

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A different take on the post-apocalyptic novel

Reviewed: 07-04-24 Listener received this title free

NOTE: I was given a free copy of this book to review. This has not influenced the honesty of the review.

I have listened to a lot of post-apocalyptic novels recently and this one is certainly different. Did I enjoy it none-the-less? Yes.

Will I buy the next in the series? Probably. It's not my favourite novel, but it has left me wanting to know what happens next?

Probably my major criticism is that it has also left me wanting to know what has already happened? Personally, I like a lot of world-building in my novels. I want to know know the what, why, when, where, how and who of everything. This one starts out vague and continues vague throughout. I often found myself wondering why the main characters didn't ask each other more questions about how sh*t went down? Actually, some of the reason for this does become clearer (but not much) towards the end of the book, but that doesn't stop me from having been miffed by it in the earlier stages,

Even given what I know (and don't know) at the end of the book, I still feel that the author does rather too much of making her characters not talk about things not because they have any real reason to, but because it's a useful plot device. I don't really like that.

The narration is generally good, although I feel that Shannon Nicole Locke does rather over-act a bit, especially during the apocalypse itself. Occasionally a bit screechy and shouty.

However, the reason for the 3* review for the narration is that she commits, frequently, my all-time arch-hate of narration. She whispers.

I am hard of hearing. I have to set my volume quite loud to be able to hear anyway, but if the narrator suddenly lowers the volume of the narration, I have to stop, break the immersion, rewind, adjust the volume and listen again - at which point, knowing my luck, there'll immediately be a really shouty bit and I'll get painfully deafened further before I have to go through the whole volume-adjustment process again. This is even more of a pain if I am driving, which is when I do the majority of my listening.

If you'll pardon my shouting for a second: DON'T WHISPER! EVER!!!

I don't care if the main character's love interest is just dropping the love-bomb at the time of their imminent death at the denouement of the entire novel (which doesn't happen in this novel - that's not a spoiler). I don't care if the author writes that the character is whispering so softly that it's hardly audible - if you read it so that I can't hear it, you are of no use to me whatsoever.

Imagine you were reading a book where the printer suddenly makes the typeface so small and pale that you have to stop reading and go and search your cupboards for a torch and a magnifying glass before you can continue. That's what narrators do to the hard of hearing when they actually whisper.

Change your intonation, your speed, your emphasis, whatever but *don't* change the volume (for my version of deafness, raising the volume tends not to be as much of a problem, but it probably is for others.)

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Harry Lampeter continues to entertain

Reviewed: 29-03-24 Listener received this title free

NOTE: I was given a free copy of this book to review. This has not influenced the honesty of the review.

Another enjoyable tale of Harry Lampeter and the return to steam. If you enjoyed the previous ones, you'll enjoy this one. Roger Ley continues to broaden his world without getting repetitive or stale and the narration by Craig Bowles remains good.

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More good stuff from Harry Lampeter

Reviewed: 03-03-24 Listener received this title free

NOTE: I was given a free copy of this book to review. This has not influenced the honesty of the review.

This book is quite short, containing a series of connected Harry Lampeter anecdotes, but none of them seem too short. If you enjoyed, the first book(s), then you are likely to enjoy this also. Craig Bowles continues to please as narrator.

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Different to the others - but good nonetheless.

Reviewed: 25-02-24 Listener received this title free

NOTE: I was given a free copy of this book to review. This has not influenced the honesty of the review.

I enjoyed this prequel to the Harry Lampeter series very much and it answered a number of questions that the original series left unanswered. It explains how we get from where we are now to the state of the world of Harry Lampeter.

It is quite a different style to the main Harry Lampeter series, but enjoyable none-the-less.

The narration was generally good. No complaints worth writing about,

I would definitely recommend reading this before starting the "main" series.

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Sorry, but I wasn't gripped

Reviewed: 14-02-24 Listener received this title free

NOTE: I was given a free copy of this book to review. This has not influenced the honesty of the review.

It was a mildly entertaining story, involving quite a lot of detailed sex scenes. It was erotica, but, eroticism being a personal thing, I did not find all of it erotic.

I'm not sure that I agree with its self-description as "a comedy". Some parts were certainly funny, and I did have a few laugh-out-loud moments, but, personally, I wouldn't class it as a comedy.

I thought the final denouement was quite good - I hadn't predicted the ending - but I suspect that had I not been given a free copy in return for a review, I might well not have bothered to carry on listening to the end.

I found the narration quite limited. Very little differentiation in voices and a slight tendency to read the sentences as if she were reading a shopping list.

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A good start for a new series.

Reviewed: 08-02-24 Listener received this title free

NOTE: I was given a free copy of this book to review. This has not influenced the honesty of the review.

I enjoyed this book. Good characters, good action, good pace, well narrated. Well worth a listen.

My major criticism would be that it didn't have enough world-building for my tastes. I wanted more of the history how things came to be how they are. It didn't stop me enjoying the story, but it did mean that I didn't enjoy it as much as I might have...

Edit: I would recommend reading the prequel "The Digital Meltdown" first. Much more world-building in there,

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1 person found this helpful