Scott

Awesome book mediocre narrator

Revisado: 01-25-15

A terifically detailed survival book and solid story. I don't enjoy the narrator but he grows on you some. if you're into apocalyptic survival books, this one is top notch and much more realistic than the zombie stuff. I most especially enjoy the realism and believability.

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Not King's Best but Worth a Credit

Revisado: 09-10-14

I found this book a bit harder to get into that most of King's work. Maybe it was lack of - or simply slow - character development. Normally, in my estimation, King does a very good job of making you care about the characters he crafts and ultimately you do with those in Cell as well, but it's slower and less intense. A good book but not a great one. If I could I would give it a 3.5. Campbell Scott does a very nice job of narration.

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Hard to Finish...

Revisado: 09-10-14

I write very few negative reviews but this book has earned one...I have absolutely no idea what the people who compared this to Stephen King's work were thinking. This book was just bad. Not only was there never a scare but there wasn't even tension - minus one or two brief spots where you thought maybe the book was going to take off. Unfortunately, it's stays grounded, boring, long, and painful to get through. If you are interested in learning about black history, black authors, and some black anger maybe it will appeal to you more.

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esto le resultó útil a 9 personas

Only Stephen King could pull this off...

Revisado: 03-26-14

Maybe I'm blind as a King fan but I don't think that any other writer could pull books with such far fetched premises and make me enjoy them this much. The writing is always so entertaining and I come get sucked in to a story that on the surface should be dismissed as ridiculous. This is a book Stephen King fans will enjoy very much. The book reintroduces Dan Torrence as a grown up struggling to get his life together. He's haunted by his past and what happened at the Overlook and how it destroyed his childhood.

It's set in a classic small town that King fans will recognize in spirit and feel. The bad guys are really bad, the good guys are kinda flawed, and the book is well worth a listen.

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A history lesson wrapped in a classic...

Revisado: 03-26-14

I have a new appreciation for French history, enough so that I am now listening to Paris by one of my favorite authors Edward Rutherfurd. Generally I'm not a fan of musicals, but the movie adaption of the stage musical left me wanting more and so, I downloaded the book. I'm extremely happy I did.

Hugo goes off on long tangents that have only a loose connection to what is actually happening in the book. He takes on the church, the government, various levels of society at the time, and provides a rather lengthy description of the events on the battlefield of Waterloo. As a history buff I enjoyed most of the diatribes but a couple did become tedious and left me longing for a return to the story, a fascinating, heart wrenching, amazing story. I've since learned some more about Victor Hugo and have a better understanding for who he was and his mind set at the time of the writing of this classic. It's given me an appreciation that I didn't have while listening to the book but that would have enriched the experience.

It's a five star story with five star narration for me, but it's not an easy listen. The author seems to want you to suffer at certain points. Hugo's protagonist and antagonist are much more complex in the book than could possibly be displayed on stage in the allotted time. This book is worth reading for those that are new to Les Miserables and lovers of the stage experience alike.

Endure the authors detours if you are not one who loves a history lesson, embrace them if you are, but take the time to listen and feel the emotions that Hugo forces upon you and you will love it.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Falls a bit short of other books in this genre

Revisado: 09-24-13

Lyndsay Faye's books and Caleb Carr's period detective novels. It will be interesting to follow the characters in future books. This one did a very good job of setting up the series. The characters are enjoyable and the protagonist isn't so superior that he instantly figures everything out. It was a believable premise and book.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Long and slow in parts but worth the listen...

Revisado: 09-24-13

I loved New York by Rutherfurd and this book fell well short of that for me. Perhaps it's because as an American I identified more with New York and had a deeper interest in the history. However, I do think this was a harder "read" in that the story spans such a long time and so many families and characters. It's still a very interesting book that shed light on a lot of England's long and fascinating history for me. You may want to have another book that you listen to, as I did, during this one so that you can step back and take a breather.

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Excellent series that I want more of...

Revisado: 09-16-13

What's going on here is very interesting. It seems Caleb Carr is writing each book in this series from a different one of the character's perspective. The first book was from the perspective of journalist John Schuyler Moore and the second from point of view of young Stevie, one of the many street kids that Dr. Laslo Kreizler has saved through is institute. There are strong hints in this, the second book of the series that the next book will be written in the words of Sarah Howard.

These books fit all the criteria that I look for - long, entertaining, great reader, and solid historical fiction. Both books feature Teddy Roosevelt as a character and lots of character development and detailed historical setting. I really like these books. If you like mysteries, court room dramas, investigation adventure books, and historical fiction these books are for you.

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esto le resultó útil a 8 personas

One coincidence too much - but still enjoyable

Revisado: 04-26-13

Like the other books in this series this one starts slow before picking up and turning into an enjoyable read. It picks up right where the last book left off and we get to enjoy Matthew Corbett's continuing journey as a budding "problem solver". Unlike the other books this one isn't so much a mystery story (until the end at least) as it is an adventure. If you are reading this for the sleuth aspect then you may be disappointed but if you are reading because you enjoyed the characters and ongoing story line then you will like it. It's an adventure more than a mystery.

Toward the end it gets a little bit fantastical as too many things appeared to intersect for my taste. One of the strengths of the first two books to me was that they painted a generally believable cast of characters. The characters are still true but the story takes certain turns that feel forced. Having said that I will absolutely be downloading the fourth book shortly and am hoping for more - provided the installment #4 doesn't go too far.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

I'm officially a fan of this series and McCammon

Revisado: 04-26-13

These books start a bit slowly but the characters are enjoyable and you grow to know them. Edoardo Ballerini does a great job of reading. His accent is perfect for Matthew and his voice changes are excellent and easily distinguishable. The story line is entertaining and one of things I enjoy most is that while Matthew is extremely intelligent the author doesn't allow him to make absurd leaps to conclusions or seem too super intelligent. Even the heroes of the story have their flaws and I think too often in these books the main characters are too smart, too perfect, too unrealistic.

I am well over 125 audio books in at this point and have only recently discovered Robert McCammon. Starting with Swan Song and now this series - a much different kind of book from Swan Song - I am thoroughly enjoying his writing.

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