Anna Castiglioni Voiceover

Entertaining short stories

Revisado: 12-06-22

The stories are fantastic, entertaining and well-written overall, though the details in some contradict those in others. However, the author notes in the beginning that they were written over 25 years so its understandable that they evolved and changed. Most stories are action and have at least one fight, but a few are more introspective. My favorites are the ones narrated by Sean Astin and Will Wheaton, both about dragons, and Guenhwyvar narrated by Tom Felton. Least favorites are probably the one narrated by Ice-T and David Duchovny.

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Great Acting

Revisado: 03-12-20

Entertaining little audio drama. Story is a little weird at first but gradually unfolds with more detail and *mostly* ties together in the end, though I still had a few lingering questions that were left open -- which I really don't like. Acting is excellent with the back-and-forth banter, timing and everything else. Some of the scenes went on FAR too long, until they ceased to be funny (example, throwing up in the space truck, that voice effect was completely unnecessary thank you). Ties into some very base humanity truths, which is nice, if a little redundant. It was free in my 2-of-6 Audible Originals, so can't beat that.

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Bloody Brilliant!

Revisado: 07-27-19

As a huge fan of both Shakespeare and SW, this review is admittedly biased, I first came across this at Comic Con, bought all three and later the audios here, and listened to this in one sitting while working at my computer. The writing by Ian Doescher is brilliant, flowing naturally and seamlessly from the Poet's point of view, and it's obvious the author enjoyed writing it. I recognized parts where A Midsummer Night's Dream, MacBeth, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, and many others were used as inspiration. I loved how each character is given soliloquies, often from just a single line in the movie. It's easy to understand and follow while multi-tasking (and in fact I think I understand the original plays better than before too!)
Voice acting is excellent, and engineering is well done. The sound effects are balanced and ne'er o'er shadow the narration but compliment it.
The only thing I didn't entirely like was that some of R2-D2's lines are literally written out as "Beep, whistle, squeak..."etc., whereas I would much rather have the sound effect beeping from the movie. However this too is by design, as his lines are ALSO in iambic pentameter!

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Beautiful Adaptation!

Revisado: 06-20-18

Many of us know the classic tale of Romeo and Juliet, and when I saw this new adaptation, I immediately pre-ordered it. One thing that makes this novel stand out for me is the great amount of detail and historic research that must have gone into it: the politics, description of the towns of Verona, Venice, and Mantua, current state of politics and world events taking place at the time, down to the recipes of food served at the banquet. Since I have read the play in English and Italian, and recently visited many of the places mentioned, it was very easy to go back there in my mind. The author even skillfully lifts a key phrase or oft-quoted line right from the play and weaves it seamlessly into the story.

The only problem I had was that since this is an Italian story, on reflection, I thought there should have been a few expressions or phrases in Italian, such as idioms, or at least some greetings when the characters speak to each other. Instead, there is actually some Cockney slang among some servants, which is working-class London! This felt particularly out of place for an Italian setting. I often found myself pausing the audio to think because the Cockney was jolting simply because it's the wrong place, momentarily putting me out of the story.

For the most part, Richard Armitage's narration was simply spell-binding. I have noticed he narrates many classic English stories, such as by Charles Dickens, and is a great choice for a mostly-male cast of characters, and my God, can this man read poetry! That said, his choice of voicing for some of the characters was a bit jolting and out of place. This probably has something to do with the writing, as noted above. For example, Count Paris is from Florence, and at one point it specifically says he and his guards have "thick Florentine accents," yet they are read with the same British as the rest, and the guards speak with Cockney slang! Again, since this is an Italian story, I feel the characters ought to have Italian accents, though since the play adaptation was by Shakespeare, who (rumors aside) was British, perhaps that's not so out-of-place.

The story has a twist ending, which I at the same time liked, and didn't like (how dare he change Shakespeare? lol).

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Harry Potter Meets Assassin's Creed!

Revisado: 10-09-17

Nevernight not only hooked me in the first paragraph, it snatched me by the collar and sat me down in the first row with popcorn and Coke. Vividly told in a nothing-held-back attitude, details flow like music, dialogue is witty and original in the story of Mia Corvere.
Holder Graham reads it with true story-telling passion and skill.
I purchased this audio book with a credit, after a friend recommended the print version.

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Great Concept, Fast Paced

Revisado: 07-31-17

This story centers around a washed-up man named Morgan in the afterthrows of a divorce. When he discovers a friend murdered, he finds himself on the run from the killers, who are now targeting him, and he has no idea why. With the help of his accomplices Sera and Paul, he travels to London, only to find he's hunted there too, becoming entangled in a massive plot involving govenment, intel, and threats of destruction.

The narrative is interspersed with recorded songs by the character Paul, and music that echo the current situation and compliment the story. This concept is what initially drew me to review this book. As a musician myself, I loved the idea of music being incorporated. However, the music itself did not connect with me, but that may be because I'm not much of a Blues fan.

It was a little hard to get into at first, but I think that was partly because the scene shifts around a lot, and the scenes are short, so I wasn't sure who was the main character, but once I got used to that I enjoyed it more. The description is vivid and well-written. There are a lot of twists and unexpected turns which kept me guessing what would happen next. I really appreciate a story that's not too predictable; I like a good balance. That said, there is one particular twist near the end that really made me angry as a listener who is emotionally invested in the story, and I nearly stopped listening right then, but I'm very glad I stayed to the end. The story has many subplots and plenty of action, but some parts just seem to ramble on and my attention waned.

Production quality is mostly good. The narrator's voice is soft and calm, his pace is good and he has good expression and timing. However, except for a hint of accent, or slight pitch, there is hardly any change in his voice between the different characters, which to me is extremely important, as I sometimes lost track of who was speaking, until a tag came up. It would also really help if there was a little pause between the scenes to queue the listener, instead of seamlessly sailing into the next one, and the listener has to catch up. This made the story confusing at times, at least until I got used to it. Additionally, there is some distinct noise in the earlier chapters which is very distracting, sounds like a combination of mouth noise and breathing. Eventually it either stopped, or I stopped noticing. Overall I enjoyed the book; I just had to take it in small chunks rather than extended listening.

I was given this audiobook for a review, but that did not influence my review.

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A Masterfully Told Tale

Revisado: 12-31-16

Any additional comments?

Name of the Wind is right up there with Age of Awakening and Tolkien. Patrick Rothfuss created his own world, with its own myths and stories-within-stories, beautifully told. Kvothe is a musician and student of magic at the University. As a musician myself, I identified and empathized with Kvothe's love of music, and have in fact said some of the same things myself. I'm now listening to it a second time, picking up things I had missed the first time, and enjoying it even more.It took me a few chapters to warm up the Nick Podehl as the narrator, because the first several characters that we meet (except for Old Cob) sound nearly identical, and I could only tell who was speaking by the attributes. However, several chapters in his performance really shines, with authentic and natural sounding accents and interesting characters.
I purchased this audiobook with a credit.

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Sassy, Humorous, Well-written

Revisado: 08-27-16

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

Absolutely, it kept my interest throughout, and I couldn't wait to find out what happened next.

Any additional comments?

I love the sassy one-liners and banter between the characters, particularly Charlie. I began the audiobook not realizing it was number 8 in a series, yet I never felt lost, as there were plenty of background tidbits here and there as it moves along. I thought the plot is very interesting.

The narration by Lorelei King is excellent. Her emotions were good and her Hispanic and Middle-Eastern accents are convincing. I do wish there was more variety of voices, as most of the males sounded the same (deeper and with a dry raspy sound), but fortunately the text has plenty of tags so I always knew who was speaking. All in all very well done.

I am also a narrator. I purchased this audiobook in a 2-for-1-credit promotion.

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Beautiful, Inspiring, Brilliant Storytelling

Revisado: 05-09-16

Who was your favorite character and why?

Probably Liru (sp?), the female student from Mardre. I love her spunk and just her genuine-ness, but it's hard to pick just one. So many of the characters are fantastic, full of depth and personality.

Have you listened to any of Tim Gerard Reynolds’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

None yet, but I will, he's brilliant!

Any additional comments?

It's really something to say, that in nearly 30 hours(!!) of audio, not a single moment was dull. The writing is brilliant, the characters are well developed, real, and you can connect with them. The story is well-paced and full of rich details about everything, but never too much. Nothing is cliche or stereotypical, nothing overdone or underdone. And to think that this whole 30 hr book is just be the BEGINNING, setting up for the REAL adventure in the coming book(s)!
The narration is fantastic as well. While there isn't a huge variety of voices between characters, they are still perfectly distinguishable so you know exactly who's speaking without cues. Great energy and pace.
I'm also a narrator. I purchased this audiobook with a credit.

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Witty, Well-told, Wild!

Revisado: 03-09-16

Any additional comments?

Man, can Rebecca Zanetti tell a story or what. That's not a question. I liked this one perhaps even more than the first audiobook. It's got action, nice plot and character development. There's also some fairly strong hints of a third book, centered around the third brother, Adam. I wonder if he'll mate a Shifter?
My favorite quote from this was something like: "Isn't a Bear just one honey-pot away from crazy?"
The narration was also well-done. Brock Thompson's female voices are very convincing and consistent, though his Russian voices in this book are pretty similar.
I'm also a narrator. I purchased this audiobook because it was on sale.

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