Shelly

Surprisingly good!

Revisado: 01-07-19

I don't review very often but I feel compelled to review this one. I bought this one expecting something along the lines of Christopher Moore's 'Lamb,' but it is nothing like that. This is the story of Christ's birth told from a wise man perspective. Specifically, from Balthazar's POV. (Although third person.) There's enough history included for verisimilitude, but this is definitely a ' what if ' sort of thing. At times violent and gruesome, and sometimes startlingly lovely, this is a listen more than once book. Five stars across the board. You won't be disappointed.

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Let's Talk Narrators

Revisado: 08-24-18

Not a clue why they chose the male narrator. He should be narrating text books, not fantasy.

On the other hand, the female narrator was fantastic. I was completely gripped by her in the prologue, then they switched to the male narrator and I was dumped out of the story and into 'who the neck is this' land. They didn't actually need the male narrator at all, but if they had swapped him out for the narrator in book 5, it would have been better.

The story was fine. A good finale. I would write more about it if I wasn't so cheesed off about the horrible male narrator. It should be re-recorded without the second narrator. Now I need to grab a hardcopy and make sure I didn't miss anything during the bad voice sections.

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A 'bridge' book

Revisado: 11-13-17

I do love me some Eve Dallas, but I'm not sure this is one of my favorites. (Well, technically, I listen to the books for Detective Peabody, and when she takes this series to a conclusion, she could totally get away with spinning that character into her own series. JMO)

Ericksen is excellent as usual. There can be no other voice for this series. The plotline, however, was rather pedestrian for a J.D. Robb book, and there wasn't enough of the usual long term character development in the story to push them further along. I got the feeling that Roberts simply wrote it to act as a prop for the continuing story arcs in the next book. Not exactly phoning it in, but close. (And after 45 or so books, she could maybe slack off on the 'love' scenes between Dallas and Rourke. We are now fully aware that they still have great sex after three years of marriage, and frankly, it's giving me an inferiority complex. I've started rolling my eyes and fast forwarding through the steamy bits.)

If you're a hardcore fan of this series (as I am), obviously you'll buy it anyway, so you don't need my opinion. But if you're just a 'Dallas Dabbler,' you could totally skip this one and try one of the earlier books instead without missing much.

“AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY”

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Great story; production needs work!

Revisado: 08-20-17

Full disclosure: I purchased and read the print version three or four months ago, but was given a free audio file in exchange for an honest review.

Having read and loved the print version of this book, I was more than excited to receive a promotional credit for the Audible file, because I'm an audiobook junkie. (Aren't we all?) But I found that this book is, if the audio stands as it is without further editing, much better in print.

This book is what I consider neo-gothic. Not quite as brooding as earlier gothic mysteries (see Du Maurier, Stewart, Michaels, etc.) the story nevertheless has all the right elements along with the necessary dollop of the supernatural. The characters are interesting and perfectly written for the first in a series; you never want to get too comfortable with characters that you're going to meet repeatedly or there's nothing new to discover. (Oh, I do love Zeke! Perfect foil for Sarah Bennett. I haven't read the second book yet, but I think his story goes a lot deeper!)

You can read the synopsis yourself, and I won't give anything away. Thomas has a deft hand with sudden surprises and her writing style lends itself well to the story and characters. I was very surprised at how much research she put into this; it wasn't until after I finished the book that I realized how immersed I had been in the setting without being dragged out of it by anachronisms. Too many mysteries these days that are set in a specific period are written by lazy researchers, but Thomas isn't one of them. She uses many tiny details along the way to create a rich, rounded WWII era setting.

Now we come to the crux of my problem with this audiobook. The narrator has a lovely voice, and the rather quiet, lilting quality of it would work well with this author. But poor editing makes this a difficult listen at times. There is literally NO dead air between sentences sometimes. The cuts between paragraphs and the rushed feeling during the dialog could be completely fixed by re-editing this book to provide the necessary pacing. If you do whispersnyc, it does adjust a bit to match your reading speed and that does help. If you are simply listening, I recommend adjusting the audio speed from 1x to .75x to get a more enjoyable (and understandable) listening experience.

Now! On to book two...Weeping in the Wings!

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Wrong Narrator!

Revisado: 09-10-16

The story remains the same; here we meet the intrepid Peabody and begin our journey with her through fabled Egypt. However, for those of us in love with these books and audio versions, O'Malley is the WRONG narrator. There can be no other voice for these books than Rosenblatt, so I strongly urge you to find the -other- version of this one. It was not available for a long time due to some legal issues, but was recently added again. I just downloaded the real Amelia Peabody, and am looking forward to settling in for a nice, long listen. I'm sure Ms. O'Malley is a lovely person, but she is not the voice of this series.

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Pleasantly surprised!

Revisado: 03-12-16

I honestly wasn't expecting much from this title. The premise didn't grab me, even though I am a 'magic' genre person. But someone told me it was a nice read, so I grabbed it when it was on sale, as a back up book if I ran out.

Well, color me happy! I did finally run out of things to listen to while I work, and downloaded it last night. I only stopped listening because I fell asleep at one in the morning. The narrator is a bit...um...enthusiastic, but you get used to it and by the mid-point of the story it feels just right for the tone of the book.

There is a bit of the old blood and guts routine toward the end, but it is rather necessary in terms of the plot reveal, so that you can better understand what the characters are up against. But fair warning and all. Some have said it has 'romance' in it, but I disagree; it simply has character development. That's a good thing, right? It's not like there are clothes being flung over standard lamps every five minutes or anything. It's almost not even there.

The concept of a magician being bonded to only one substance, for life, with which he/she may do magic doesn't sound all that snazzy, but it turned out to be quite intriguing. I wouldn't say this book is great literature for the ages (I was a theatre major so I expect a lot when you're talking about great literature) but it was good, solid, storytelling.

I'm actually going to go buy the second book right now. And I'm out of credits. And it's not on sale. But I think it will be worth it.

Now if I could just get rid of this strange urge to fold origami birds. Hmmm.

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Sneaky, sneaky, Mr. Maxwell!

Revisado: 02-20-16

I don't normally review more than one book in a series. No one needs more than one dose of my opinion on anything. However, I feel compelled to put my two cents in on this series one more time.

My review of the first book had lower scores than this one. But Maxwell has really ramped up his game by the second book, and no sooner did I finish this one than I turned around and bought the third one. I can't NOT listen/read this series now. I didn't get hooked at first, but now I am. And this book contained quite a surprise for me.

Whether intentional or not, what this author has done is to pen a history of OUR current events set into a fantasy world. When you see the parallels between his world and the real world, you can see the entire plot line winding out ahead of you. It makes for uncomfortable listening at times, and there have been several moments when I had to shut it off for a little while to recover from the suspense before I continued on. This isn't light and breezy and he tackles some extremely difficult scenarios with a deft hand.

It would be difficult to actually describe the series without getting a bit too wordy. But I will say that I am highly interested in seeing what happens in the last book, as I desperately want to find out what Mr. Maxwell thinks will happen to us. He's written our story, whether he likes it or not! And if it was intentional, it was rather sneaky of him to spring it on us like this. Well done.

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Difficult to get into, however...surprise!

Revisado: 02-20-16

What did you like best about Enchantress? What did you like least?

The character development was really spot on. I wasn't sure who I wanted to like/dislike, as he has a tendency to show both the assets and defects of a character instead of just creating The Standard Awesome Good Guys. What I liked least was how slow the book started.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The structure of the fantasy world he built. World building isn't every writer's strong suit, which is why most don't write fantasy. But he did a competent job here.

Which scene was your favorite?

Ella's testing scene. You -really- got a good look into her character and the way she thinks.

Could you see Enchantress being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

NO. Hollywood would mess it up, as it usually does. The problem here being that the Lore they live by is difficult to explain without the written word, and might come across as confusing on the screen to those who haven't read the books first. Too much background to deal with, which is easy in a series of books as you can discover the background as you go along. Nearly impossible to convey in a two hour film. Ever watch the 'Dune' movies? Yup. Same principle.

Any additional comments?

I first encountered this novel on Amazon, and got it through the lending program on Prime. However, the first one-third of this book is really quite ponderous at times, and quite slow, so I never finished it. But for some reason, I -really- wanted to like it. So I returned the print version and bought the audiobook instead. -Really- glad I did. Vance does an excellent job here, and I found that once I had gotten through the initial slow bits, the story moves along quite nicely, and by the end I was scrambling to buy the next audiobook. Now I'm in the middle of the third one, and dreading the end of the fourth. The series is like a box of Girl Scout cookies...you intend to just taste it, but then you eat the last one and you're shocked you finished them all already! And wishing for more, but the cookie season is over. So sad!

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Better as audio than as hardcopy!

Revisado: 07-22-15

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

Definitely. I had previously purchased the book and for some odd reason, couldn't ever finish it! When I noticed the audio version, I thought I'd give that a try. The subject intrigued me, and it is a rather steampunk-esque novel, which I love. For me, reading this book was like reading Shakespeare; laborious to get through, but when you hear the performance, everything falls into place. So glad I got the audio and didn't give up entirely. Plus, the narrator was amazing. Perfect accent, perfect tone, hypnotic quality to her voice. Didn't want to stop listening!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Ticker?

So as not to provide spoilers, I will just say:

Evil Laboratory. Oh. Em. Gee.

Which scene was your favorite?

Again...just say no to spoilers!

But I will say that I really enjoyed the technical aspects of the book, especially the detail surrounding how her heart actually worked/failed to work properly.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. Curse you, Needingtomakealiving! You spoil everything.

I did 'forget' to make dinner so I could curl up in my chair with this book and my yarn. No one starved. I might do it again.

Any additional comments?

I so dearly hope she writes a follow up to this book and that this narrator is available to do the job. And that I'm not dead before it happens. (Insert hopeful sigh)

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Mrs. Spock Attempts Fantasy!

Revisado: 07-22-15

What did you like best about The Enchantment Emporium? What did you like least?

Huff is an excellent writer, and this series is one I have particularly enjoyed. I bought the audio version to re-visit an old favorite.

The narrator was another story entirely.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Enchantment Emporium?

When I nearly peed my pants laughing so hard at the horrible narration and my husband and I enjoyed acting out the dialogue, as read by this narrator, as if it were a Saturday Night Live skit.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Teri Clark Linden?

My grandson, Elliot. He is two years old, and might have been able to inject a little bit of emotion into the piece. Seriously...just about anyone would have been better. This woman has a lovely voice, and she would be spot on for doing the audio supplements for history or science texts. But her Vulcan-like rendition made the story extremely confusing...and I already KNOW the story! When the characters are in the middle of the argument and you don't get that from the verbal cues until the fight's almost over...the narrator might be a bit too mellow to narrate fantasy/action novels.

Do you think The Enchantment Emporium needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

It has a follow up book. Two, in fact. I am patiently waiting for someone to get on the stick and produce the third book in audio format. I just downloaded the second one, which has a different narrator, praise the saints.

Any additional comments?

Frankly, this was worth the download just for the entertainment value. The story is awesome no matter what! But it is so rare to get a hold of a book with a narrator this badly miscast...it's actually priceless. Good show, Audible!

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