Jay Sylvano

Excellent, No Thanks To Audible

Revisado: 01-28-25

Great prequel to the series. 5/5
Narrator nailed it. 5/5
For some stupid reason Audible has bleeped out all the cuss words, and I don’t know why. This isn’t YA fiction, and even if it were, a couple of F bombs won’t traumatize anyone. Ugh. 4/5

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Painfully Predictable and Shallow

Revisado: 10-12-24

If you like complex characters with distinct personalities, engaging and believable dialogue, a plot that progresses in unexpected ways and engages you both mentally and emotionally, then boy is this not the book for you.

The reader does her best with it, so she gets 4 stars.

The protagonist (Lily Blossom Bloom… yeah) is absolutely perfect in every way. If asked in a job interview what her weaknesses are, she’d probably say she’s too hardworking and too much of a team player. She is also apparently the most beautiful woman in the world, which might explain her lack of a personality.

Some spoilers now:
The antagonist (Ryle Kincaid… yeah) is so transparently awful from the moment he’s introduced that the author has to desperately explain Lily’s attraction to him with nonsense about how his presence makes her dizzy with its sheer sexual magnitude. There is no illustrated chemistry between them beyond physical attraction, so when the abuse you know is coming (the foreshadowing is not subtle) finally comes, it truly is baffling why she stays.

The story follows a painfully predictable pattern of highs and lows. Boring filler, flashbacks by way of Lily’s teenage journal entries addressed to Ellen Degeneres (I hope the author got to meet her talk show idol after publishing this because it can be the only good reason for including Ellen this much) then things in Lily’s life start to go really well, so much so that she will be thinking to herself “Best. Day. Ever.” And that’s how you know Ryle is about to do something abusive, shattering her best day ever. Over and over.

Finally there’s the One True Love (Atlas Corrigan… make it stop) who we meet through the Ellen letters and know is going to show up as soon as it’s convenient to the plot, which he does. He is as perfect and gorgeous and bland as Lily with a +2 in protectiveness stats, and the majority of the book is spent going through the motions mentioned above until they can finally end up together. Guess whether or not they do.

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Decent Overall

Revisado: 12-29-19

While Williamson writes a little too much and too pretentiously about himself for my taste, the subjects he explores here are interesting enough that this isn't a big deal.

The reader, Stephen Graybill, has a great voice but reads too quickly, sometimes mispronouncing a word or messing up the rhythm of a sentence. It wasn't too distracting, but definitely noticeable.

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An important story and a powerful performance

Revisado: 08-20-18

We very rarely get to hear the accounts of young women from North Korea who are trafficked and end up living as undocumented sex slaves in China, because they rarely escape. This account from a young woman who went through it and found freedom is commendable and beautifully written. Don’t let the narrator’s accent put you off. It can be a bit jarring at first because her annunciation and pronunciation is different, but it will grow on you, and in the end it adds to the story.

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Good Story, Poor Narration

Revisado: 10-05-15

Would you consider the audio edition of Year of Wonders to be better than the print version?

Nope! I will be now be purchasing the print version to see if I can finish it in that format.

Would you recommend Year of Wonders to your friends? Why or why not?

Yes, it's an interesting account of the plague told through the eyes of a strong protagonist with a moving backstory.

How could the performance have been better?

The reader narrates everything in a board, emotionless monotone that makes it sound as if she's stoned or really uninterested in what she's reading. I fell asleep on two occasions and my mind would wander when I did manage to keep awake and try to listen.

Any additional comments?

I'm sure this is a good book and I'm sure I'll be able to get into it much more in print. Consider listening to a sample before purchasing the audiobook.

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esto le resultó útil a 20 personas