C. Duval

A wonderful, inspiring, lovely book

Revisado: 11-25-24

It’s difficult to put into words how much I enjoyed this book. Doris, and especially her husband, were direct participants and/or witnesses to some of the most ambitious and profound changes to our country in the 20th century. Dick Goodwin’s contributions to these changes cannot be understated. In some sense, his idealism and vision helped manifest these changes into being through his words.

The story is also about Doris and Dick's relationship - a touching and moving story of love and support. I was inspired, delighted and moved by this book, and for what it’s worth, I think anyone who listens to Doris narrate this book in her own voice will be captivated. I can’t recommend it enough.

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Really thoughtful and engaging.

Revisado: 08-12-24

I enjoyed the first book of this series and this one to me was even better. Without giving anything away, the stakes in this story couldn’t have been higher, so the story was very gripping. The characters were extremely well drawn and compelling.

But the thing I liked most was how the author did such a good job imagining how these characters (human and other) perceived things and thought about them. It was really imaginative and free of easy cliches. And the narrator was wonderful,
Her voicing and delivery of the various characters was so good, it really added to the story. I really enjoyed this book!

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Slow moving, predictable fantasy/romance

Revisado: 07-31-24

If you like very slow building, occasionally steamy romance novels sent in a fantasy landscape, don’t mind a little relatively graphic violence, don’t care too much about world building or backdrop, are willing to accept thinly drawn out storylines and don’t mind seeing plot developments coming well in advance of the chapters where they are finally revealed, you will probably like this book.

If it wasn’t for the sex and violence, I’d have said this was a YA book.

The narration was OK, it suited the book.

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The most imaginative whodunit ever written?

Revisado: 06-26-24

I’ve listened to most of China Meiville’s books, and each one is a breathtakingly imaginative, surreal experience. “Kraken” is no exception, and possibly takes the Meiville experience to a new level. It seemed like every few minutes there was a character, scene or concept so blindingly original that I often had to rewind and re-listen to fully wrap my head around it. This book rewards careful listening, and delivers right to the unexpected and clever climax. And John Lee is an excellent narrator for Meiville’s mind-bending books. Highly recommended if you enjoy having to frequently stop and just shake your head in admiration and amazement at the capabilities of human imagination.

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Good ideas, but...

Revisado: 06-11-24

Note: my review encompasses this and the next book (really they are both pairs of books) in this series.

I thought the idea(s) behind this book were really, really interesting. But for me, the story never paid off. The dialog is recursive and tangential; with lots of exposition. And certain details of the story don't really make sense; for example, how could a society that built a generation starship devolve into such a primitive medieval state after only 300 years, despite the presence of functioning futuristic technology in its midst?

This first book pair was more solid than the second; the second book pair created a lot more questions than answers, and introduced one other twist in the epilog that was just plain weird. The whole thing just never quite came together for me, and I don't plan on reading more in this series.

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Beautifully written, but so depressing

Revisado: 02-02-23

The headline sums it up. A portrait of a future where climate change and other disasters have poisoned the earth and no social progress has been made, rather, society has regressed. Kind of a worst case scenario. The ideas are important, but man it was tough to get through. The writing was terrific though, the characters were compelling and few bright moments were really poignant. Would I recommend it? Yes, but…

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Good If you like Stephen Segal movies

Revisado: 10-12-22

Utterly predictable jingoism with middle-school level writing, formulaic plot and cliche after cliche. The last Sword Maker wants to be a John Clancy book, but doesn’t get there. And if you think John Clancy books are formulaic and cliched, then that’s saying something. Maybe this is YA??

To be fair, the basic idea would have made a great story in more capable hands. So 2 stars.

Bottom line, if you are in the mood for the audio equivalent of a Stephen Segal movie, then this is your book. And there is apparently a sequel.

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Highly entertaining, witty, genre-bending story

Revisado: 06-06-22

I just loved this book. The mash-up of a hard bitten noir detective story with a robot protagonist built for world domination by a mad scientist in a bizarrely twisted city of the future was a fantastic idea, and it led to so many witty, enjoyable scenes and some great dialog. Even the main character's name, Mack Megaton, gives you an idea of what to expect. I would be delighted if there was another novel in this series to come, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. The narration was good too, the narrator 's voice brought that noir quality across very well. Really fun, absolutely worth the price. I'm definitely going to read/listen to more of Martinez's work.

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Good ideas, but anticlimactic. Off-putting narration

Revisado: 04-01-22

I really liked the quantum evolution books. Great characters and clever stories. So I was eager to give this one a try.

This book had some interesting ideas, and the descriptions of Venus and how humans could live there were fascinating.

The description of the feelings of one character experiencing a gender crisis were interesting too. While some people will be turned off by this important part of the book, it was thought provoking for me, since I have never felt any uncertainty and can not imagine how someone could feel this way about themselves. I still don’t really understand it, but reading about how people like this might feel made me more empathetic.

However, I felt the book was ultimately anticlimactic. There will most certainly be a sequel, as the book ends kind of in the middle of the greater story.

I found the narrator’s voice really off-putting. Her vocal fry was really irritating to me, and her monotonic delivery killed a lot of the excitement of the book for me. I almost stopped listening - but had to see how it ended. If there is a sequel I’ll read it rather than listen.

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Outstanding! Unexpected and thrilling.

Revisado: 04-11-21

I chose this book knowing nothing about the author or the story. So I could not have been more delighted with this production. The narrator was fantastic. Clear, not rushed and clearly engaged with the story.

And the story! Nick Harkaway has a kind of meandering narrative style, that reminds me of my own inner monologue as my day goes by. There are lots of non sequiturs, some taken to absurd (and sometimes very funny) lengths, that later in the book always seem to come back around somehow. The story, told from the point of view of two main characters is a delight, a rollicking sort of steampunkish fantastic adventure with the fate of the world at stake. I don’t want to give anything away, I’d like everyone to have the same experience that I had and come into the story with a blank slate. It’s so smart, so well constructed and so full of fascinating characters and imaginative situations, I was sad that it ended. I’m just a guy on the internet but FWIW I highly, highly recommend this book. Outstanding.

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