Deana

Classic mystery, forward worldbuilding

Revisado: 10-16-22

The Thin Man, in Space!
The roots of this classic mystery are clear and well honored. Kowal acknowledges them in multiple ways throughout the story. I feel they are honored while creating a compelling mystery. Plus a few minor ones added into the mix.

The worldbuilding: I rather liked it. I can see it as Kowal looking at current US cultural trends and projecting them forward. Though I think the story is set 200 odd years into the future, so maybe not future enough. Yet I can already foresee some people objecting to “Pronouns everywhere!” and the plethora of LGBTQ+ couples in the story. Even though the main couple is hetero.
The use of trauma, a service animal, therapy, really show a deep care and connection to the subject matters. Kowal did her research well.
The book coming out during “Old Fashioned” week, seems very appropriate. All the drinks are a fun touch. Even if many use gin, which is not my drink at all. I plan to try some of the others.

Performance: I really like Kowal as a narrator. Yet having recently listened to her Lady Astronaut books, I can’t help but compare the voices. Her black security officer Maria (SM) uses the same voice as the main black female charters in those books. Not in a stereotype or insulting way, but I could wish for a less direct comparison in the performances. The other MCs sounding like the MCs of the Lady Astronaut books did not bother me, that’s the nature of a narrator.

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Exciting as promised

Revisado: 03-14-22

I follow the author's YouTube channel, so have heard much about the story. It fulfills her promises and more.
Mech warriors, cultural rage, positive show of a poly relationship, and massive fights.
Great end stinger and I'm like forward to book 2.

Narrator had an enjoyable voice and performance. The names were pronounced, not like English. I don't know if they are correct for their Chinese inspiration or not. Given the author, I suspect they are.

MC is filled with understandable rage. I like how she uses it to funnel her actions.

While there aren't any real female friendships shown, there are several conversations between female characters on different topics.

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Read the book over audio.

Revisado: 04-05-21

The author took the classic meme about the overworked historical costume maker and ran with the concept. I liked the concept and the story Nicolas drafted overall. However there were a few choices she made that dragged my overall enjoyment down.
1) The "Debra" / antagonist - is over the top unpleasant. No redeeming features. I prefer antagonist that aren't so clearly meant to be hated.
2) The protag - +4 for it being an older woman. -1 for her to be rather over the top in her grumpiness more than once. She’s highly skilled at her job too and gets the job done well.
Supporting characters vary in dept, some are 3D characters, others are cardboard cutouts that I don’t find much to say about.
Story very inclusive and accepting. A few might say its social justice warrior-ism in print form. Book is based in Canada. The USA is no more, due to reasons, but it is not important to the story, just a few tossed out lines mid-book. Didn't bother me, might bug some others.
The main conflict of the story is resolved. It is set-up to be a series, like on-going serial dramas. Each book with its own conflict with over arching character growth.
As a historian, I like the details thrown in throughout the book. I feel like the author took her time and did fine research for the times she visited. Addressed some of the concerns about time travel and the transference of illnesses.

It was a fun read, but not a wonderful read. If you like lots of costuming details and time travel books, give it a go. But read the book.
Performance notes:
The author is the narrator too. Nicholas needs to either pay for better recording equipment or pay for a different narrator.
There are background noises like mouse click and paper turning throughout the book. The level of her voice keeps changing bases on… not sure, how far she is from the microphone? There is also a hollowness to the recording’s sound. Can’t put my finger on it, but it stand out in comparison to more professional recordings.
Nicholas is also lacking in voice variations. She could do a few accents to make some characters sound different from each other. However, overall she just does not have enough variation in her delivery for the characters to come alive. It’s someone reading a book to you vs. listening to a great performance. It dragged down my enjoyment of story.

I hope there is another entry in the series. I just hope a different narrator is used for the future as well.

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Good Narrator, story pointless

Revisado: 04-12-20

I love Kevin R. Free's voice. So I bought this book because the outline sounded cool. That's all the book has, a good concept and a good narrator.
There is no plot beyond unqualified people exploring new places badly. While others worry about the economic impact in shallow ways or act petty.
There are elements that if they were developed, could have been a great story. But nothing gets developed in any meaningful way.

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I hope you devlop Cryptographer face

Revisado: 11-14-19

Story: This is one I listened to a second time before reviewing. Some of the twists are well foreshadowed on a reread that I missed the first time. Better than I realized during the first listen. I think spy novel readers will enjoy the story. As a fan of Dan Wells, but not this genre of story, I liked the story telling. It took several unexpected twists for me. I also liked that the female characters were competent at their jobs, while surrounded by the 1960s males. The sexism of the time was not fully reflected, but a few issues popped up, thankfully without distracting from the story.
There were times I felt bad for Wally and his self-doubts, yet he’s in the middle of a spy ring so paranoia and self-doubt are almost he same coin in this story.
I think Dall Wells kept the pacing of book very on-point until the roller-coaster end. The story also makes me interested in reading more about the real history, looking up Kurt Vonnegut books, and learning Morse Code - which is a successful story in my world. One well written enough to make me say "I want to know more about X!" I know about some of this Cold War era history, but it’s always great when a fictional story highlights the history and uses real facts to heighten the tensions.

Some format issues:
I don’t visualize words or numbers well. Thus, I admire that Wally and Liza can, yet there were times I really wish I had a hard copy of the book to look at – rather than just the audio book. Maybe I could have seen the codes better that way.
Some people will probably be irritated by the untranslated German in the story. I know enough German that I could understand it easily. The important German words are translated for you. Yet if you are the type that is bugged by untranslated foreign languages – you might have issues. All the characters are living in West Berlin and speak German often, so it’s a realistic aspect of the story. When they have whole conversations – everything is translated into English for the reader. But there are many random German greetings and other words scattered throughout.

Narration:
Overall, I think the narrator did a good job. Originally it was hard for me to tell all the male characters apart, but he either improved or my ears became better at picking them apart. The Germans vs. the Americans were easy to distinguish.
Yet, a few small things kept bugging me. For example, every time he said, “asset handler” I thought he was saying “acid handler.” His German sounded okay, but I’m not fluent by any means. It was said clearly enough that I understood what was said.
His general narration voice was very easy to listen too. I would listen to more by Davis.

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I'm now an Elizabeth Bear Fan

Revisado: 10-30-19

Karen Memory was recommended by a friend, I'm so glad I listened.

Steampunk and real history woven together to make a fun and fast paced story. It made me look up a few real people in history and learn new things. The story also swept me along in its drama and stakes. A great book to pick up when you need a good overcomes bad story.

Story is very LBGTQ positive and handles the racism of the era with kid gloves. Many of the characters have to deal with racism, but the main PoV character is not racist.

Side note: I love when an author can make me hungry in a book. Bear knows how to write about food very well. I want some of Connie's biscuits now. Plus several other items mentioned.

I will be searching out more of Bear's writing.
Narrator:
Jennifer Grace does an excellent job of giving different voices and tones to the various characters. They don't all blend together as can often happen. Some might not like the accent used for a few characters, but I thought they fit the characters.

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A satisfying conclusion in book 5

Revisado: 10-30-19

Story:
Brent Weeks brings the Lightbringer to a satisfying conclusion in book 5. Many threads are wrapped up, some in "surprising yet inevitable" ways. Some threads in a way that felt "well that came out of nowhere." Others in, "Oh that's clever!" ways. There are two I'd give a side eye at, but my skepticism at them does not diminish my overall satisfaction with the book as a whole.

Several expected fights happen, yet at unexpected times. One with heartbreaking results for low stakes. It kept an important character out of the major fight, and led to emotional impact for others. But the fight itself left me disappointed in reflection.

Week sprinkles his reminders of what happened and why minor characters are important in natural ways. Only a few feel like info dumps, but they are kept short. Week's also continues to use word play to make jokes on multiple levels. Gunner continues to make up words to hurt your brain. Week's uses some words that make me grab a dictionary. Yet overall, the use of language just adds to the enjoyment of the story.

This book takes place in a much shorter timeline than book 4. The various plotlines keep pace with each other well, none getting to far ahead of the others.

I know many readers skip the Acknowledgement chapter, but this time you really need to read that section.


Audio narration:
Simon Vance is a skilled narrator. He brings the story to life like he has for the entire series. However, there were several characters in which he failed me. Several important characters voices were too similar, yet I remember him making them better distinguished in the last book. This time they shared scenes and a voice, so I had to listen several times to figure out who said what.

Plus my standard "Why Brent?!" due to the "White" vs. "Wight." They sound exactly the same and both words are all over the story. I became confused several times while my brain took a few seconds to sort the rest of the context.

The Gunner character remains a silly highlight.

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Fast, compelling survival story

Revisado: 06-03-19

This story starts in the middle of the action. I could be expanded, but I think Michael Livingston picked the right moment to start the story. Exploders surviving when all goes wrong in an environment they are not prepared for. The main character does have plot armor, but it’s not 100% protective. This is a short action-packed adventure. I want to learn more from this world.

I will the note, the characters are not Caucasian, but are shown that way on the cover. That makes me sad. The cover’s action represents the action well. Many of the characters are also lesbians. That’s the world building of their culture, which does have historical precedence.

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Powerful, heartbreaking, and wonderful

Revisado: 06-03-19

I bought this due to an upcoming trip to Hawaii. I wanted books about Hawaii written by locals. The history, culture, and feel of the place. This work has all that and more. As a Choctaw, the casual racism of the time is both nothing new, and still heartbreaking to see played out in a different way. The isolation the residents of Moloka’i suffered was all too imaginable. Rachel’s story moved me to tears many times, both in sadness and in joy. I will recommend this book to anyone that will listen to me. I will be getting the second book soon.
Brennert did his research for this work and it shows. I kept looking up more details about the places and the real people mentioned. This will lead down a large rabbit hole.

Anne’s performance of the audio book is my dream type of narrator. Her character voices all sound unique. The men and women and mahu sound like different voices in the right pitch range. There is a melody in her speaking voice that is just soothing. I’ll be looking her up too for more book ideas. I cannot say with certainty that her production of the Hawaiian or Japanese is 100% correct, but it sounded lovely to me. It’s much better than I could have achieved.

I also now see that some people are complaining there is a transgender character "for no reason" in the book. No, look up "mahu" - it is a real thing in the Hawaiian culture. It pre-dates the Christian missionaries. It's not just a thing to be modern and PC. The character also highlighted one aspect of the disease I did not know was possible.

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Alternate history for everyone

Revisado: 08-09-18

The meteor hits in 1952, and suddenly we need to get to Mars before we’ve even reached the Moon.
If you love alternate history, space travel, WASP pilots of WWII, stories like Hidden Figures, or just a strong story – this is your book.

Mary Robinette Kowal knows how to craft a story, and knows how to narrate it to make the story even better. She tries hard to give the different characters different voices, and uses limited effects to make it sound like you are hearing people talk over a flight radio. The emotions she puts into the moments of panic feel real.
She even had a real astronaut beta read her book, so the science and jargon is solid too. The timeline is a little fuzzy, but it can be ignored in alternate history.
What she does address is the racism and sexism of the actual 1950s. It’s not the focus of the story, but does provided the motivation for several plot elements, especially the sexism. Women should be astronauts too!

The follow up should be out in just a few weeks. I can’t wait to learn the rest of the story.

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