G. Kenney

Starts out good and just gets better

Revisado: 05-28-24

Set in a gaslamp fantasy world, Grand Tour: The Brass Queen II is beautifully written and a joy to listen to. And the excellent performance by Erin Bennett adds to the pleasure. Author Elizabeth Chatsworth's worldbuilding is rich, detailed, and altogether fantastic. The protagonist, Constance Haltwhistle, needs to accumulate a certain number of Enigma Keys in order to get her home back again. That would be easy, right?, if only the fierce minions of the Swedish king weren't out to get her. Can even the dashing cowboy Liberty Trusdale protect her? Or is he, too, a double agent? Honestly, I couldn't put this book down. Highly recommended.

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Great worldbuilding, suspense, and romance!

Revisado: 08-25-23 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Time of the Draig is a suspenseful time-travel story that begins in a dire future in which America is engaged in—and losing—a high-tech war on its own soil. This apocalyptic setting is juxtaposed with an eleventh-century Scotland where battle is conducted on such a small scale that every individual sword-wielding fighter matters.

Linking these two worlds is the brilliant physicist Major Samantha Sykes. To do this, she utilizes an unknown and otherworldly object known as UNK-05. But the two halves of UNK-05 have been separated, and if she cannot bring the two pieces together and hide them from those who would misuse their power, the timelines of both worlds may be destroyed altogether.

Complicating the situation is the fact that the laird of the Draig clan in ancient Scotland has his eye on the goal-driven physicist and will stop at nothing to claim her as his own. It’s a claim she doesn’t want to resist, but to save his entire world, she must.

This is a most engaging read. Truth be told, there were times I had trouble putting it down. The characters—even minor ones—are very well and engagingly portrayed. The stakes are high, time is short, and sometimes the crucial mission is just going to be impossible. Will love truly prevail?

I highly recommend this book to anyone who’d like high suspense along with their romance.

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Fantastic in every way

Revisado: 01-12-22

This is an incredibly imaginative story, well told. What could be better than an unlikely romance between two strong-willed and engaging characters, who incidentally also manage to save their world? I can't think of a single thing that might be improved, unless I could find some alternate dimension where I might enjoy this book for the first time all over again. Kudos to the author and the performer! Highly recommended.

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Time for Allon to retire

Revisado: 07-28-20

I am a fan of Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon books, and so I bought this one as soon as it became available. Allon thinks about retiring--and soon--throughout this book, and sadly, I have to agree with him. It's time. The book has one main idea: oh, if only the Gospels, written years after the fact and responding to the political climate of the times, hadn't wrongly blamed the Jews for Jesus's death. It has one plot line: the murder of a pope. A lot of repetition from earlier books, and not much suspense or danger.

I think Silva is a good writer, and I hope he finds some other dynamic, danger-facing protagonist to work with after Gabriel Allon retires.

As usual, George Guidall does a fabulous job of the audio performance.

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Fell totally flat

Revisado: 11-09-19

Besides for an okay performance, this book fell totally flat. It tried to be humorous, but the jokes weren't funny. It didn't seem to have any redeeming qualities. I wanted to return it *on principle* but couldn't, since it was free. You get what you pay for! Give this one a pass. It's not worth the storage space.

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Fantastic story, unfortunate narration

Revisado: 11-09-19

This is a great story. The characters are unique, believable, and likeable. It's a real page-turner at the end. I wished that the end *was* the end--but hey, it's a fantasy--magic, end-of-the-world doom and all--and they usually do come in a series, so what did I expect? I guess I'll be buying book 2 in the series.

The one bad aspect of this book--and it really was pretty bad--was the performance. I regret having to say this because I know how hard actors work to perform a book. But this person mispronounced so many words, continually throwing me out of the story, that I wished I had more time to read from an actual book. Additionally, he sometimes started a quote that must have been from one character in the voice of another. And you can't tell from listening where there's a break in a scene or a switch in POV, leading to some confusion, and again, throwing me out of the story.

If you'd like a gripping tale on the border between fantasy and SF, then this book is for you. Get it electronically or in paper, though, if you have a choice. As for me, I'll put up with the annoying performance to continue on to the second book.

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Fascinating material, could use some editing

Revisado: 10-19-19

This is an important part of history that made the world what it is today. We in the Western world should know it. I recommend it strongly for this reason alone. Additionally, it sheds light on the conflict between world unification and tribalism / nationalism that is roiling the world today--another strong reason for reading this book. I would like to give it all five stars, but it really should have been shortened, especially at the end. I mean, really, do we need an epilogue ("afterward") AND an afterward? Especially when much of the material is repeated? No, but I can see the love that shines in the creation of this book. And you will too, if you look for it. Put up with the repetiveness. Read the book. You won't regret it.

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Thoroughly delightful

Revisado: 08-01-19

I couldn't stop listening! Difficulties mounted on difficulties for the heroine, yet of course she and the protagonist persevered through it all. Great story, and excellent performance. Highly recommended!

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A wonderful, imaginative story

Revisado: 11-02-16

What did you love best about The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin?

The story is delightful, and the main characters are well drawn. The protagonist, thirteen-year-old Rachel Griffin, has a close-knit family and a perfect memory. This is her first year at Roanoke Academy for the Magical Arts, and we watch her develop friendships and the beginnings of her first love interest as she also learns how to rely on herself instead of her parents. And rely on herself, she must--for her fellow students, and ultimately the school itself are under attack from forces wielding powerful, evil magic.

What did you like best about this story?

This is a great book for pre-teen and teenage girls, for Rachel is a role model of a girl who can take on challenges and succeed. At the same time, it is a well-written, intelligent book that does not talk down to its young audience. And Rachel's friends, especially the orphan Sigfried Smith, are interesting characters in their own right.

How could the performance have been better?

The actor has a lovely voice and enunciates clearly, but she was tripping all over her tongue trying to produce the accents that all of the many characters--from all over the globe--have. The accents are not authentic and in many cases indistinguishable from one another (and when an Australian accent sounds vaguely Eastern European, that's a distraction!). The actor would have done better simply to read the book in her own accent, differentiating the voices of the characters by tone or some other means. Also, I couldn't figure out why the chapter numbers and names were spoken with a phony-sounding British accent while the narration was in an educated American accent.

There was an additional problem with long spaces in odd places in the middle of sentences. These were disruptive, as it sounded. Like the sentence was finished, when it wasn't. This problem was especially pronounced. At the beginning of the book, and by the end. It had disappeared. (And I will now stop writing the way the actor talked. You get the idea.)

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There wasn't just one moment, but I especially liked how the author showed the moments of change when Rachel was growing up. She referred to the "needle of the compass" of Rachel's loyalty and trust, and we watch Rachel learning not to do what an adult tells her, just because they are an adult. Instead, she weighs the moral imperative--a friend's life in danger--and takes action. We watch Rachel becoming a hero!

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Story is somewhat uneven

Revisado: 10-04-16

If you could sum up Seveneves in three words, what would they be?

Great beginning, weird end

If you’ve listened to books by Neal Stephenson before, how does this one compare?

I love Neal Stephenson in general, and most of this book was also wonderful. His description of getting a few selected members of the human race into space, how they managed to survive up there, the influence of personality and politics as well as technology and environmental challenges, was just brilliant. The ending of the book, five thousand years later, was a real break in style, research, and overall was not up to the standard that I've come to expect of Stephenson's books.

What does Mary Robinette Kowal and Will Damron bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The performances were excellent.

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