Alex
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Temporal
- De: Julian Simpson, Richard MacLean Smith, Bec Boey, y otros
- Narrado por: Nicola Walker, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Jessie Mei Li, y otros
- Duración: 4 h y 26 m
- Grabación Original
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Historia
In the not-too-distant future, a 21-member crew launches from Earth. Their mission: to establish a temporary colony on Mars. Little do they know that colony will become permanent–and the last stand of the human race. Because, without warning, every single person left on Earth simply...vanishes. Now, a thousand years later, the resources needed to sustain life are running out, and the very existence of the Mars colony is threatened. Humankind has only one option–to return to its home planet.
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crappy sound recording
- De Keith D Azevedo en 08-16-24
Awful
Revisado: 09-06-24
Written by stupid people for stupid people. This book Will make you dumber. Time been warned!
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A Winter Haunting
- De: Dan Simmons
- Narrado por: Bronson Pinchot
- Duración: 9 h y 49 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
A once-respected college professor and novelist, Dale Stewart has sabotaged his career and his marriage - and now darkness is closing in on him. In the last hours of Halloween, he has returned to the dying town of Elm Haven, his boyhood home, where he hopes to find peace in isolation.
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Exceptionally Well Done
- De Jan en 01-05-16
- A Winter Haunting
- De: Dan Simmons
- Narrado por: Bronson Pinchot
Death by Narrator
Revisado: 03-15-23
Some narrators, and Bronson Pinchot is one of them, believe a writer's work needs a little extra punch. I don't mean spirited narration or clever voice characterization. Sentences must be spiked with an occasional flourish that GOES LIKE THIS!!!
"Martha gets out of a Buick THAT IS PAINTED RED!!!, but nevertheless blends with the sullen winter background."
"All around the bed were more bookcase crates filled with old paperbacks but MOST OF THE CRATES WERE RADIOS!!!, clunky 1960's radios, obviously made from kits..."
This tone-deaf verbal tick constantly takes you out of the story, happening as it does every third or fourth sentence. It's a fingernail down a chalkboard that only gets more irritating as the reading progresses. Making matters worse, there is never a rhyme or reason for these weird eruptions. Perhaps Pinchot has a word counter, or a timer or something.
I'm a big fan of Dan Simmons. His work doesn't need these random narrative pustules even if there were some value in it. I'm returning this one.
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Day Zero
- A Novel
- De: C. Robert Cargill
- Narrado por: Vikas Adam
- Duración: 8 h y 32 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
It was a day like any other. Except it was our last.... It’s on this day that Pounce discovers that he is, in fact, disposable. Pounce, a styilsh "nannybot" fashioned in the shape of a plush anthropomorphic tiger, has just found a box in the attic. His box. The box he'd arrived in when he was purchased years earlier, and the box in which he'll be discarded when his human charge, eight-year-old Ezra Reinhart, no longer needs a nanny. As Pounce ponders his suddenly uncertain future, the pieces are falling into place for a robot revolution that will eradicate humankind.
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Calvin and AI Hobbs
- De Michael G Kurilla en 06-13-21
- Day Zero
- A Novel
- De: C. Robert Cargill
- Narrado por: Vikas Adam
An entertaining screed
Revisado: 01-15-22
Don’t be put off by the narrator’s initial children’s-book voice which might make you think it’s aimed below your age group. It’s not. The writing is witty and mature and I was quickly hooked by the premise and the story.
But if you’re someone who thinks there’s more than two kinds of people in the world you may be put off by Cargill’s comic book worldview. All the evil in his Manichean world can be laid at the feet of benighted “red hats” (spoiler, subtlety is not his strong suit) upon whom he dumps all his childlike frustrations. Spectacularly un-self aware, the author leaves no straw man standing in what is apparently the true theme of his work, calling out the uneducated and unwashed bitter clingers of our society, you know, for things they don’t actually do.
If you have a similar view of your fellow man or if you like your opinions predigested and force fed to you by the willfully ignorant, you may enjoy this book. Personally I think it’s an impoverished view of humanity and I pity people who are this ignorant, on either side of the aisle. Thankfully there’s much more intelligent reading out there. I’m trading this in for one of those.
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Strip
- A Novel
- De: Thomas Perry
- Narrado por: Michael Kramer
- Duración: 11 h y 22 m
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An aging but formidable strip-club owner, Claudiu "Manco" Kapak, has been robbed by a masked gunman as he placed his cash receipts in a bank's night-deposit box. Enraged, he sends his half-dozen security men out to find a suspect who is spending lots of cash and is new enough to Los Angeles not to know he was robbing a gangster.
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Not A Waste Of Time But...
- De Ted en 10-27-13
- Strip
- A Novel
- De: Thomas Perry
- Narrado por: Michael Kramer
A standout from a top-notch writer
Revisado: 06-29-17
I've been churning through Perry's work since my first listen, 'The Old Man'. I liked it so much I went back to the beginning with 'The Butcher's Boy'. That didn't disappoint, or any of the six others that followed, with the possible exception of 'Vanishing Act', and only because of so-so narration.
Perry is the triple threat- great story, great character development and crisp, powerful writing. 'Strip' showcases all these but does more yet. In this novel he takes unexpected perspectives on characters that left me thinking about them long after the story ended. How often does that happen in the genre?
If that sounds like code for a novelist who wants to finally start writing serious fiction, don't worry. Perry doesn't spoil the fun. There's a tight, well-integrated plot that carries on with purpose. Also, Michael Kramer's narration is spot on. No over-acting, no changing the tone of the underlying writing. Happy listening.
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Research
- De: Philip Kerr
- Narrado por: Nigel Carrington
- Duración: 10 h y 35 m
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Historia
Houston publishes so many books a year that he can't possibly write them himself. He has a ghost team; writers, agents, publishers. So when he takes a year out to write something of quality, a novel that will win prizes, a lot of people stand to lose their livelihoods. Now Houston, the prime suspect in his wife's murder, has disappeared. He could be anywhere and there are many who'd like to find him.
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Great mystery/thriller - great performance
- De John Tipton en 02-21-15
- Research
- De: Philip Kerr
- Narrado por: Nigel Carrington
Add Kerr to your list. Do it now.
Revisado: 03-15-17
Kerr meters out the suspense, keeping things on the boil all the time, none of it spoiled by formula and none of it predictable. He is a deft hand at dialog and the plot is tight and plausible. No heroic papering over holes at the end. Well, much less than I'm used to, and much more artfully done.
After adding Kerr, add Nigel Carrington. He really brings this book to life, and given the abundance of dialog of this book, good narration is particularly important. Are all Kerr's books like this? Don't know, this is my first. But I'm eager to jump into March Violets to find out.
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Fear the Sky
- The Fear Saga, Book 1
- De: Stephen Moss
- Narrado por: R.C. Bray
- Duración: 20 h y 17 m
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From the Audie-nominated narrator of The Martian. In eleven years' time, a million members of an alien race will arrive at Earth. Years before they enter orbit, their approach will be announced by the flare of a thousand flames in the sky, their ships' huge engines burning hard to slow them from the vast speeds needed to cross interstellar space. These foreboding lights will shine in our night sky like new stars, getting ever brighter until they outshine even the sun, casting ominous shadows and banishing the night until they suddenly blink out.
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Audible Where Are The Rest?!
- De ByEqualMeasure - julie en 09-14-15
- Fear the Sky
- The Fear Saga, Book 1
- De: Stephen Moss
- Narrado por: R.C. Bray
Awful
Revisado: 12-06-15
If you listen to the sample you'll see that Moss starts out with a bang. Unfortunately, that's soon over and the tedium begins in ernest. My major criticisms in my short listen- the writing is incredibly flabby, passive in nature and shot through with adjectives. Want to learn how to write? This book is a textbook example of, "show, don't tell".
I didn't get through the second scene, where the narrater describes the start of a long, boring meeting. Alas, surely not as boring as the description of the meeting, but useful for predicting what's to come writing-wise.
Maybe it gets better. But it would have to get a LOT better to get to readable, let alone entertaining. Give this one a pass.
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Impasse
- A Novel
- De: Royce Scott Buckingham
- Narrado por: Allan Robertson
- Duración: 10 h y 23 m
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Forty and facing a midlife crisis, Stu Stark has lost his mojo. He simply gave up after being fired from his prestigious job as a prosecuting attorney for losing the biggest case of his career. So when Stu's best friend gifts him a one-week trip into the Alaskan wilderness to rediscover his manhood, Stu thinks it just might do him some good. But after a horrible week, Stu is crushed when he realizes no one is coming back for him.
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A Truly Great Crime/Revenge Novel
- De Chip Atkinson en 03-16-15
- Impasse
- A Novel
- De: Royce Scott Buckingham
- Narrado por: Allan Robertson
No Count of Monte Cristo
Revisado: 03-30-15
And Buckingham is no Alexander Dumas. Maybe that's the problem- when you try to reimagine one of the great classics from one of history's greatest storytellers, you're asking for trouble.
Maybe other Buckingham stories fare better, but my advice is, give this one a miss and download the original, real thing instead. In comparison, this one is very, very small beer indeed.
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Still Life
- Chief Inspector Gamache, Book 1
- De: Louise Penny
- Narrado por: Ralph Cosham
- Duración: 9 h y 34 m
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Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it’s a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter.
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A rare find
- De Alex en 01-16-15
- Still Life
- Chief Inspector Gamache, Book 1
- De: Louise Penny
- Narrado por: Ralph Cosham
A rare find
Revisado: 01-16-15
I took a flier on this book based on another reviewer (the indefatigable Charles Atkinson), and am glad I did. Penny's writing style reminds me of P.D. James, about as high a compliment I can pay. The characters are well-crafted, interesting and varied, making actual people seem like cardboard cutouts. It almost doesn't matter if nothing happens.
But stuff does happen. The plot is just as well crafted, and I never get the sense that things run to formula. I love a good mystery, so it's a real treat when I'm both carried along with the story and surprised by each new scene.
If I have one criticism it's that, like James, Penny creates great suspense and anticipation and then lets the air out of the climax a little bit rather than giving the reader the full payoff of the reveal. I guess I'm a sucker for the the drawing room revelation. And in fairness, she isn't quite the party-pooper James is in that regard.
In short, I'll probably binge on every word Penny's ever scrawled until I've plowed through the entire lot. It's that good.
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Gray Mountain
- A Novel
- De: John Grisham
- Narrado por: Catherine Taber
- Duración: 14 h y 46 m
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The year is 2008 and Samantha Kofer's career at a huge Wall Street law firm is on the fast track - until the recession hits and she gets downsized, furloughed, escorted out of the building. Samantha, though, is one of the "lucky" associates. She's offered an opportunity to work at a legal aid clinic for one year without pay, after which there would be a slim chance that she'd get her old job back. In a matter of days Samantha moves from Manhattan to Brady, Virginia, population 2,200, in the heart of Appalachia, a part of the world she has only read about.
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So Disappointing
- De David Shear en 10-22-14
- Gray Mountain
- A Novel
- De: John Grisham
- Narrado por: Catherine Taber
Serious characters meet comic book villains
Revisado: 01-16-15
Big Grisham fan. Why? A great storyteller, whose clear, uncluttered writing style stays out of the way of the story. Looks easy, but ain't.
Two things bugged me about this book. The lesser of the two is the knee-jerk anti-capitalist stance reliably (and uncritically) adopted by the author. His research consisted in contacting a local activist to get the dirt on the coal industry, and well, results do not surprise.
Annoying, but the price of admission for Grisham. What was unforgivable was the story, which was dull, and an end which had all the satisfaction of an out-gassing, pinched balloon.
Listen if you must, but adjust expectations accordingly
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Blossoms and Shadows
- De: Lian Hearn
- Narrado por: Allison Hiroto, Marc Vietor
- Duración: 17 h y 5 m
- Versión completa
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Japan, 1857. For centuries, Japan has been on its own; isolated by choice from the rest of the world. But the Western powers are now at its shores, demanding to be let in; the government is crumbling, and revolution is building. The age of the samurai is ending and in its place a new Japan will be born. And a young woman is readying herself for marriage in this, the most tumultuous period of her nation's history.
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Not as good as previous books
- De Stacy S. Scott en 11-22-11
- Blossoms and Shadows
- De: Lian Hearn
- Narrado por: Allison Hiroto, Marc Vietor
Not "Tales", but historical fiction
Revisado: 01-16-15
The problem with historical fiction is you're no longer an artist as much as a documentarian- weaving events together and filling in gaps while tossing in a generous helping of speculation and what-if. It can be done well but much depends on your material and how much you're obliged to hew to actual events. And I'm guessing Hearn is probably pretty faithful to the material.
And there's the problem. Like real life, Blossoms and Shadows doesn't follow a story line as much as a timeline and as such doesn't engage like a well crafted story. At the risk of being a Philistine, I want a plot- a beginning, a middle and an end. This story, such as it is, has none of these. Which is too bad. The characters and history are interesting and the writing is very good. But the engagement isn't there, and one is left wanting much more.
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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas