Ed G

Interesting series. I'm glad I listened

Revisado: 11-22-23

Disclaimer: This seems meant for a YA audience, and I am not in that demographic. Also names I enter if any are phonetic, since I don't have printed books. I'm giving my thoughts on the entire series, not just this last book.

Let's start with some nits.

I found the character names confusing at first. Many of them sounded so similar, mostly due to them being from a different language origin. It took me a while to get them all figured out. Along the same lines, for the first couple of books I didn't find any of the characters to be particularly likable, I came close to not caring enough to get the next book because I wasn't heavily invested in caring what happened to them. I did eventually warm up to them though and as I said, I'm glad I finished the series.

I didn't read the author's BIO before the series, so I was surprised that almost the entire cast of characters were LGBTQ. This is a good thing really. I am all for equality and LGBTQ folks have ben underrepresented for a long time. But this brings me to my final nit. The author seems to bring forth their points with a bullhorn. There is no subtlety.

Still this is a very good series and I'd be interested in reading more from this author. There is good character growth. The plot is fairly tight. Each book left me feeling hopeful that things were on the right path.

I wish we'd had some more background information. Is the Svedrani system a solar system? There seem to be more habitable planets than I'd expect. Are there other systems? Maybe the author will explore these questions at some point.

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Nice little story as usual

Revisado: 06-27-21

I'm enjoying this series. This one was perhaps a bit on the light side. We're getting hints of dastardly plots, but this was all just lead up. We get a cute Sean story as the main plot, and it's okay I guess.

On the negative side, there is almost an hour of "author notes" at the end, and they are insufferable. They may write good stories, but if I met these two at a party, I'd be looking at an excuse to get away from them after about two minutes. If they're going to dedicate a good chunk of the book to such notes, at least get Pearl Hewitt to do half of that. She's been interesting in the past, but this one was all Ell and Michael and I gave up about five minutes in.

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A Challenging Listen

Revisado: 09-21-17

As is usual for a book by Charles Stross, this one is very dense with detail. If you're distracted for even a moment, you should go back and listen to what you missed. It's likely that there was something important and Mr. Stross will probably not repeat it.

I listened to this book twice in a row. Finished it and went right back to the beginning. I'm glad I did because I really enjoyed the story and the second time I got much more from it.

Much of the story takes place in an online game, and the book is written in a POV game style. I'm not a gamer, but even I chuckled at things like "You are in a small room, a large desk takes up three sides..." There are three "player" characters. This took some getting used to, but I ended up liking it.

Halting State was written in 2007 and the author didn't get our present quite right (phones and iPods still separate devices for example), but nothing so flagrantly wrong that it's too distracting.

I am certainly no expert of Scottish accents, but I think the narrator did an excellent job.

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Much better than I expected

Revisado: 05-18-17

I watched two episodes of the TV show and gave up on it. I may have to rethink that after listening to this novel.

Not only did this have a strong and exciting ending, but it held my attention throughout the story. We follow two deeply flawed protagonists through their initially separate plot lines and their rocky collaboration. They are both exasperating at times.

The narrator is excellent.

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Funny, even with the outcome of WW2 at stake

Revisado: 05-18-17

Coming after Doomsday Book, which was a dark as dark can get, we get a light-hearted romp through Victorian Society. Ms. Willis clearly has a low view of Victorians. Pretty much every single member of that society was presented as ridiculous in one more more ways.

We get a good dose of Ms. Willis' thoughts on how time travel is either totally harmless or will end the universe. There seems to be no middle ground.

I enjoyed this book a lot. In fact I've enjoyed all the books in this series. I do wish the author had made an effort to be more consistent especially in the parts of the stories that happen in modern times (mid 21st century).

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Weird but fun

Revisado: 05-18-17

That was one of the strangest books I've ever listened to. The action sequences were so over the top absurd that I basically stopped paying attention to them in any detail. This left me with a humorous story of a remorseless but somehow still innocent serial killer.

Heather O'Neill's narration was spot on. I'll look for her other work on Audible.

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Wondeful complex story, sub-par narration

Revisado: 02-10-17

I'm really enjoying this series. I find the main characters interesting and the plot twists more than satisfying.

I've listened to many audio books. Some narrators are excellent, others not so much. Chris Kayser is one of the latter. How does a person who is being paid to read professionally, knowing his name will appear in the credits, not have enough pride in his work to learn how to pronounce words correctly? How does a publisher like Hachette Audio let such sloppy work out? I try to ignore it, but it really hurts the overall product.

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Aggressive aliens meet feminized humans ...

Revisado: 12-28-16

... and hilarity ensues.

Don't blame me for using "feminized" in this stereotyped way. The author figuratively hits us on the head with this concept with a steel 2 x 4, repeatedly.

Some three hundred years before the time of this book, an act of war of a genetic nature accidentally kills off 90% of all men in human space (700 planets). Women take over (by necessity as there were almost no men left) then end war and genetic science. They also manage to make everyone super polite and they change some family names, Wilson to Wilfem, Johnson to Johnfem, you get the idea. Oh, and sexual harassment seems to be OK now.

Even though after 300 years the male population has recovered, women are still in most positions of authority and there is a "glass ceiling" for men.

What women don't quite manage to accomplish is to have one of their sex be the protagonist of this book. Oh well.

Don't take this book too seriously. Even in all the mayhem, death, and the impending annihilation of humanity, the characters are often joking and chuckling. I enjoyed it.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Excellent book - a little disturbing

Revisado: 12-07-16

I really liked this book and have rated it five stars. It is well written and performed. It has adventure, romance, magic and war. What else would you need?

That said, I found the frequent and often wholesale animal slaughter disturbing. Yes, I know this is fiction and no animals were harmed, but still. I wish the author had found another way.

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Complex and well developed series

Revisado: 07-21-16

Ms. Rusch gives us a set of sympathetic, even likable characters living in a truly horrid society. The Earth Alliance is an abomination - it has sacrificed justice and individual rights in the name of free trade.

But even in this environment, we find ourselves hoping that our heroes will survive and triumph. At the same time, we gain some understanding and empathy even for the terrorists. The terrorists are willing to murder millions, but it isn't without cause.

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