Talechaser

A neat idea, for a niche readership

Revisado: 12-04-18

This book is targeted at that niche readership who are done with or were unsatisfied with Twilight - the eternal population of 'nobody understands me' teens who are want to go further into the lonesome dark. The characters in this have achieved their wishes of 'somebody take me out of here' by escaping to a world in another dimension where they lived the lives of their dreams. But they have been booted back to the real world for some reason, and the parents, finding them unsuitable for family life, have brought their special children to this boarding school for rehabilitation. Here, they waft around disconsolate, in clothes of their own choosing and seek ways to return to their escape world where everyone appreciated them. Needless to say, there is an invisible support staff to take care of their every need, just like at home. Ghoulish murders happen, so not quite done with the twilight, and there's more than a nod to not-their-parents-gender-expectations. There's bullying, and teachers with a past, and pretty boys who can sew, so we're batting a thousand here.

Teenagers and even some young adults will likely love this, especially if they are of the pale-faced, smudge-eyed tragic tribe. I'm not; I wanted to tell the 1st person to pull herself together, stand up straight and do something useful instead of mooning about, so I'm not staying for the journey. But for many, it will exactly hit the spot.

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Interesting background for a background figure

Revisado: 07-19-18

It was interesting to hear this background story for Cortazar, giving us a bit of understanding of how he might have become the enabling sociopath we know. I did get a bit confused with the timeline: we went straight from Eros to the Gates in an eyeblink, and I wondered if I might have skipped a bit. Towards the end, Jefferson Mayes' rendition of The Martian has an amusing echo of Ron Swanson.

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Rich, dense story-telling, beautifully executed

Revisado: 05-13-18

This, and the others in the series, is really near the top of my listening list from the last 20 years. It is so engaging and well-paced. Yes, there are a couple of really annoying characters, but I suppose life is like that and there are many nuanced and enjoyable characters to balance them out. I don't look forward to getting to the end of the books.

I would like to put in a good word for the narrator, Jefferson Mays. He does a wonderful job with the different characters, both male and female. His Avasarala is actually better than the book version: his Avasarala is a lady who knows how to speak properly and does not indulge in euphemisms. She says "arse", not "ass".

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Don't take your guns to space, Bob

Revisado: 01-11-18

Would you try another book from Dennis E. Taylor and/or Ray Porter?

No

What was most disappointing about Dennis E. Taylor’s story?

So we have the universe being populated with AI units based on a nerdy middle class American male SF fan. He likes to play god with aliens and has no concept of females beyond having babies and cooking and cleaning. It's not really clear why the author thought there could only be one Bob type at the start and any others would have to be shot down.The whole narrative is oddly lacking in insight and irony as our character goes from a trashed Earth to other inhabited planets, guns a-blazing, 'teaching' the natives how to arm themselves. The Wild West on Epsilon Eridani. This character doesn't think, he just explores sci-fi tropes. If SF doesn't know the idea, it doesn't exist. The only "science" in the story seems to come from nerd forums in science fiction conventions, as opposed to say the peer analysed publications of working physicists and mathematicians. Seems a bit weird.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Was OK. I mean, given what Bob is, you wouldn't expect him to be that interesting would you?

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from We Are Legion (We Are Bob)?

All the "Brazilliyen" stuff. Why pick on Brazil? Bit unlikely . .

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Trafalgar by proxy

Revisado: 11-12-16

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, if they had read the rest of the series and liked this sort of thing.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Well, I wasn't sitting so there's no 'edge of seat' going on. It moves along nicely enough, although there are some parts of the story that are 'given'. Perhaps we could have heard less of the internal agonies of Renzi. He's starting to develop Hornblower-like neuroses. I suppose the author wanted to make him more than a plot device and he went for sensitive and anxiety-riven. You want to slap his face sometimes.

Have you listened to any of Christian Rodska’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, he's always reliable and enjoyable. Pleasant and versatile voice.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not possible, as it's fairly long.

Any additional comments?

I think I smoke it, as Jack Aubrey would say - why we have yet another naval saga where the hero doesn't fight his ship at Trafalgar. It's writing logistics, cully. If you want a long series, you have to start your hero young and junior. He has to be brave and able, or he's not worth writing about, By the time the war reaches its crisis, he must have had lots of gratifying promotions. He should get his 'step' to post captain before Trafalgar, as opportunities must have been thinner thereafter. He's not captain of one of the famous ships at the battle, because we know them, so he's in a frigate at the time and necessarily on the sidelines. This time, we have one of his protégés on Victory, as a proxy. It works pretty well, though perhaps the structural bones are more visible than usual.

It's clear the author knows his sailoring stuff and is willing to impart, in some detail. In that sense, it's more directly pitched at a nautical-hungry readership than the more ambitious O'Brians, where the sailoring is a tasty side-dish. I like that stuff though.

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The whole series is a great listen

Revisado: 09-19-16

If you could sum up Chanur's Homecoming in three words, what would they be?

Very satisfying conclusion.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Pyanfar, and sometimes her kif ally. The human is interesting, but you see him through hani eyes, which is a bit of a novelty.

What does Dina Pearlman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I have read all the books several times and I still enjoyed the audiobooks immensely. If anything, this reading helps carry you through some of the more complex plot aspects at a suitable pace, and they make more sense this way, more say, than if you are plodding through by yourself, with interruptions. It was always the characters, the humour and the dialogue that got me involved and this is brought out well in the audio version. Cherryh is the only sci-fi author I've found who can do humour like this.

This series of audiobooks would be a very good way for a non-SF fan to try the genre, although it might leave them with unrealistic expectations :-)

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

The final scenes, with Pyanfar and the young male spacer.

Any additional comments?

I wonder how the author would describe the ship's communications tools if she were writing today? All we know about the timing of this story is that it is set in a distant future when humans are wondering the stars, so it's a bit of a pity their tech feels a bit 1980s. Still well worth reading or listening to though and it's a series you can keep coming back to. I wish Cherryh would write some more of them. And we are about ready for a movie as well.

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Boiler-plate box-ticker

Revisado: 08-29-15

What disappointed you about Ordinary Grace?

I was disappointed by the entirely predictable plot and the unlikely characters. We have the Atticus Finch type father who apparently regrets doing his bit in the war (all former soldiers in this story are deeply scarred), the 'Holy child' brother and the early teens narrator with his 21st-century social values plonked into 1961 smalltown USA, with the occasional glance up at Stand By Me. Then there's the parade of falsely accused suspects drawn from the liberal box-ticker catalogue winding up with a smug veil of forgiveness for the guilty party, telegraphed from fairly early on in the story. There's hardly a single liberal trope left unploughed. The dialogue is wooden and the characters are cardboard saints. It's got the feel of something written by an ageing hippy whose recollection of 1961 is largely reconstructed from a wish list.

What could William Kent Krueger have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Nothing. It's irredeemable. If I hadn't paid so much for it, I wouldn't have let it run so long.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

I spent most of the audiobook thinking there was a character called "Emo". Apparently this is Midwestern pronounciation for "Emil", so it's legit, but a bit confusing. Otherwise, narration was OK.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Nope

Any additional comments?

New-age Christians will love it.

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