Bert Edens

A Great Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian / Fantasy Tale

Revisado: 03-16-20 El oyente recibió este título gratis

I have been jonesing for some fresh fantasy novels, so when I found a copy of this audiobook available through the author, I jumped at the opportunity to see what kind of world she could build. Naturally this is an honest review, and the fact I received the audiobook at no cost does not bear into my review.

First, while this is a fantasy novel at its core, it's set in a post-apocalyptic world. Many of the words have traces of Earth in their origins, yet they are also unique. This allows the listener to have an anchor to something relatable, which can be hard with some fantasy novels.

What stuck with me most was the originality of the magic system, which can be hard to pull off, but Anderson does it well. Essentially some people have the ability to use magic, but it is usually limited to a specific skill set, and they must be "fueled up" by eating something related to the power. Cast ice? Eat ice. Fly? Eat bird feathers. And so forth.

The title of the book relates to Princess Nora, who is what they call a frost eater. She eats ice, and it allows her to form ice shapes, make it snow, etc. She gets involved with Krey, who is able to fly and cast ice, which fascinates Nora. The princess discovers a possible treasonous or rebellious plot, and soon she is knee-deep in getting to the root of the problem, along with Krey and Ovrun, and wayward but honest and loyal palace guard.

Soon the three start off on an adventure together, Nora trying to locate a friend of hers from childhood, one she believes was kidnapped. Krey is trying to locate his love, Zeisha, who he believes suffered a similar fate. There's definitely an attraction between Ovrun and Nora, which creates a "forbidden love" theme because of the differences in their societal place, and just enough of her interest in Krey to form a "will she or won't she?" sub-plot.

Plus, the story has dragons, but only two, and they are used in a much different way than is typical, meaning the main characters don't need to enslave or kill them, nor are the dragons terrorizing the countryside. You'll have to read or listen to the book to see how they're involved. :)

Overall, I really enjoyed the story. I knew from the get-go this would be part of a trilogy, and as of this writing, the second book is available for pre-order. The plot moved along at a good pace, both with the main quest and the sub-plots. Even though a book may be fantasy, it still has to be believable or at least give the reader/listener a reason to suspend their disbelief. This book does an amazing job of pulling the reader into the story.

Anderson did her own narration on this book, which she's apparently done on others. I've listened to some audiobooks where the author did their own narration, and while some of them are cringe-worthy, that's not the case here. Anderson does a great job of handling dialogue for both male and female characters, making them unique to the person, while also delivering the prose effectively. If I had one critique, it would be that the narration was just a tad slow, not so much that it ruined the pacing, but it did make for a longer audiobook.

I can't wait to check out the rest of the books in this series, plus I want to go back and check out another trilogy the author has done.

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A Well-Crafted Story With Good Pacing

Revisado: 01-13-20

I had never read or listened to any of Miller's stories, so this was new territory for me. I didn't know to expect, of course, but I was not disappointed. Overall, Miller created a good story that moved along at a steady pace. The tension fluctuated when necessary and the characters were mostly believable. I say mostly because one character's traits were such that as soon as I read them, I knew how the character would fit into the story and plot. There were a couple of other predictable points, but not enough to completely derail the story. It was still a well-done tale.

Caravetta was new to me as a narrator too, but I really enjoyed the way he brought the characters to life. His pacing, tone, and dialogue were done very well. I will definitely look for other stories he's narrated.

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An Outstanding Story From A Great Author

Revisado: 01-13-20

I read this book long ago and really enjoyed it when it first came out, so I knew what to expect with the story. That said, I wanted to give it another go, but this time as an audiobook. I'm definitely a fan of Shirley's storytelling and descriptive prose. He can tell a story like no other. As I listened to this story, I was reminded why I had read the book so quickly way back when. Definitely an amazing story with good character development and plot progression.

I also really enjoyed McDaniels's narration of this story. He did an outstanding job with voice, pacing, character dialogue, etc. I will definitely look for other stories he's narrated.

There's nothing about this audiobook I didn't like, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

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Great Story About A Man Struggling With His Past

Revisado: 01-13-20

I had never read to listened to anything from Scutt before, but he has been well-reviewed, so I thought I would take a chance with this novella. I was not disappointed at all. This was a harsh, gritty story about a Korean War veteran who never really left Korea, and his family paid that price. Scutt progressed the story nicely, and it got nasty when necessary, twisted when necessary, and generally encouraged me to keep listening. I will definitely be checking out other stories from him.

As for the narration, I just have to shrug. Salzman has narrated many other books and has been generally well-reviewed, even on this novella, so I presume others liked his work. But there was something in his cadence and tone with the prose in this story that kept pulling me out of the story. It almost struck me as being computer-generated, but I know it wasn't because his dialogue was outstanding. Unfortunately, anything that pulls you from the story is a bad thing, and that was the case here. I will definitely give a listen to other pieces he's narrated, as I presume this was a one-off or just my impression of his narration.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this audiobook for anyone looking for a quality horror novella.

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Another Great Collection of Stories from Lennon

Revisado: 01-13-20

This was the second collection of stories from Lennon I had listened to, and I was both excited and apprehensive. Sometimes a work by an author can be a one-off and difficult to follow-up on. But I had no such problems with this collection. I love the way Lennon crafts and progresses his stories, moving at just the right pace for the length of the story.

White also did a great job with the narration, as he had with the previous collection from Lennon I had listened to. Great use of his voice for emotion and tone while varying the dialogue between characters. I will definitely be looking for more works he narrates.

I fully recommend this collection for anyone looking for some great short horror stories.

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Great Collection Of Short Stories

Revisado: 01-13-20 El oyente recibió este título gratis

I had not read or listened to anything prior to giving this Audiobook a listen, but I must say I was impressed by Lennon's storytelling. Throughout the many stories contained in this collection, he demonstrated a great skill at crafting and progressing the piece. There was a good mix of weird, scary, and just plain creepy stories.

I also really enjoyed Steve White's narration. He did an outstanding job with the various voices required for the dialogue, and his spoken prose was clear and full of just the right amount of tension.

I definitely recommend this collection to anyone who wants to be creeped out one small bite at a time.

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A Good Horror / Thriller Story With Quick Pacing

Revisado: 10-17-19

I really enjoyed the audiobook for "Escape!", which I listened to during my work commute over a week. The premise is that seven co-workers head out for a weekend escape room team-building adventure, which is supposed to last only 90 minutes. Among the seven is Cheryl, the main character and newbie of the group, having only worked at the company for a few months.

The story moves along at a slow pace until the seven find themselves trapped in an underground escape room they are forced to solve. Oh yeah, it's all put together by someone hell bent on revenge against the more established employees, with Cheryl caught in the middle. As the story progresses, there are tests presented, giving members of the group a chance to atone, with deadly consequences should they not.

I really enjoyed the story and thought it moved along at a steady pace once it reached the horror aspect of the story. You can't really blame it for starting slowly because the progression from casual-team-building-weekend to fight-for-their-lives is necessary. It's all wrapped up with a neat bow at the end. I wasn't particularly happy with how it ended, but that's fine, I don't have to be happy. It just has to make sense, and it does. Kudos to Iain Rob Wright for a well-crafted story.

I had not listened to anything narrated by Aubrey Parsons before, so I didn't know what to expect. My only negative with his narration is that female voices were a little pitchy, which, when combined with a British accent, reminded me of female characters from Monty Python skits and movies. It did pull me out of the story at times, not because of a comical aspect, but because of the voice itself. Otherwise, I thought Parsons did a great job with varying the male voices, and his prose narration was solid and emotive.

Give this book a listen. You'll be glad you did.

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An amazing epic story brought to life

Revisado: 09-09-19

First, let me say I have read this book multiple times, so I was very familiar with the story. It's one of my all-time favorite books by any author and definitely my favorite from McCammon. It's an epic story that really doesn't slow or bog down, and the character development and progression is very natural. There's a reason this was the first audiobook I purchased from Audible.

That said, I thought Stechschulte did a good job of narrating the story, especially with the prose, but his dialogue seemed uneven and off-putting a bit. They didn't really seem to nail the characters, especially Sister, and the way he handled yelling didn't feel natural. But overall, it was a very good performance.

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A great narration of a wonderful story.

Revisado: 09-09-19

I really enjoyed this narration of "NOS4A2" by Kate Mulgrew. She really brought the characters to life with her emotion, inflection, pacing, etc. It was the first book I've heard her narrate, but I will definitely check out others.

As for the story, it was very good too. Part of it was predictable, but not in a "throw the book at the wall" way, so that's good. Hill did a good job of developing the characters and progressing the story toward the conclusion.

Overall I'd definitely recommend this audiobook, and I will definitely be getting a copy of the paperback to read too.

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