Julia Felix

Fine, but a little bit of a let down

Revisado: 11-02-22

As always, the performance was good, with the narration not being distracting or difficult to work with (save for an interesting attempt at an American accent, but it was brief and mostly just entertaining). However, while the story did hold my attention, I was a little disappointed by the actual mysteries within it. In the other books, I felt like I was solving along with Strike and Robin, even still surprised sometimes by the conclusion when they explained it. In this one, I felt I knew who the killer must be almost as soon as that character was introduced, and a number of other smaller mysteries (trying not to spoil so I won’t go into them) seemed fairly obvious as well. It’s possible I’ve just listened to enough of these that I know the way the author sets things up, but I also felt like there were still some strange loose ends that were never attended to, and ultimately it felt like the whole story was a little rushed or distracted somehow.

I also felt like there was a weird amount of focus on the subject of rape, and it wasn’t in any sort of poignant way, it was just this lingering note throughout the book that women need to be constantly afraid of being raped. For example, in an important scene, a female character is threatened directly with rape (as in she is told “I am going to rape you”) and it was the most unnatural, out of the blue, forced bit of dialogue in the whole book. Aside from what we had just learned about that persons online behaviors, there was no reason to think they’d do something like that, so it seemed really contrived and unnecessary. Maybe the whole book was some massive statement on rape culture that went over my head? I suppose it did contain some questionable variations on consent as well, so maybe it needs more time to settle to make sense.

Anyway, when the book ended I felt a little confused, like I must have missed something or like more should have happened. It was still a somewhat enjoyable story, but definitely my least favorite of the series so far, and I’m hoping the next one goes back to the old standard.

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It was alright

Revisado: 07-20-21

There were a lot of interesting concepts in this story. I felt like it would have been more effective if it were shorter, as there were things that felt really drawn out and unnecessary. It didn’t help that I could tell how it was going to end about halfway through the book, so I felt like I was just trudging my way through the main character’s deliberations and epiphanies for a lot of it.

But as I said, there were interesting thoughts and takeaways. It’s worth a read if you are interested in the ideas of what it means to be alive, how you may or may not affect the world around you, and other sorts of existential questions. But it is a little predictable and the ending really felt like a cop out to me, so just be prepared for that.

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Alright

Revisado: 04-03-21

It might be because I just finished a particularly good book, but this underwhelmed me a little. The mystery part was good, and it was interesting that the story took another turn when I thought it was going to be over, but I found the characters to be a little shallow, and something about the way women are portrayed rubbed me the wrong way (though it’s hard to describe how).

I did very much enjoy the dated descriptions of technology, and the narrator was great. But while I can see why this book became popular, I just feel like there are other, better stories out there.

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Slow but interesting

Revisado: 07-13-18

I really didn’t like this book much until the very end. It had been recommended to me as something similar to Watership Down, which I don’t feel is a good comparison.

Watership Down was really artfully written to incorporate and explain daily and realistic rabbit life while still telling a story of a great adventure from the rabbit’s point of view. The Bees uses a lot of crutches to explain what’s going on, with lots of human-like objects, expressions, etc., that made me feel like it wasn’t all that necessary for it to be about Bees (it could have easily been done as an alternate universe or future society with humans).

The story was pretty slow, and I spent most of the book wondering where it was going and why I was supposed to care about the main character. However, it all came together in the last 30 minutes of the book, and suddenly it became an interesting story that probably could not have been done without making it about Bees (the mating thing would have been really weird if it were about people!).

So overall I suppose I was satisfied with the story, and am giving it 4 stars instead of 3 because of that. Performance was pretty good with exception to a Glenda-the-Good-Witch voice that the narrator used pretty frequently.

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Intriguing

Revisado: 03-07-18

This book was really well written and well performed. It spoke to me on some level that I can’t quite describe. I’m not even totally certain what it was about, but it was very interesting all the way through, and I have a feeling it’ll be on my mind for a long time.

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Surprisingly Educational

Revisado: 12-06-17

When I very first began listening to this book, I found myself occasionally zoning out and not being particularly engaged in what was going on. However after about an hours worth, I started to notice little tidbits of information that I was finding interesting, and as the book went on I started to realize how much more it was than just a biography of Leonardo da Vinci.

Because of the vast array of interests Leonardo had, you get to learn all types of things about developments in art, science, astronomy, architecture, etc., not just during the Renaissance period, but also how some of Leonardo‘s thoughts and theories were proven to be true even as recent as within the last 15 years.

He truly was a relatable and remarkable person, and I had no idea until listening to this book how much he had contributed to modern knowledge.

There were a couple of things that I didn’t like about this book, but they are minimal:
One, The author’s presumptions about what Leonardo was probably doing or thinking in certain situations. I thought it was over reaching his bounds a little bit, but perhaps there’s something about the author and his authority on historic subjects that I just don’t know.
Two, the sheer number of comparisons of Leonardo da Vinci to Steve Jobs. I know The author recently wrote a biography on Steve Jobs, and it was very obvious that he still had Steve Jobs on his mind while he was writing this as well. It seems a little… Inappropriate? Hard to explain. Maybe I would feel more comfortable with the comparisons if I read the biography on Steve Jobs...

Otherwise, I thought the performance was fine, and obviously the subject matter was diverse and entertaining. Definitely would recommend to just about anyone.

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Good writing, almost unbearable reading.

Revisado: 06-25-17

I'm only about 6 chapters in and I'm not sure how much longer I can make it.

I've so far very much enjoyed two other audiobooks by John Connolly, and knowing I absolutely like his writing style and story telling, figured I'd give this a shot.

I'm sure it's a very good story. I can tell there is some fun writing, though most of the jokes seem to fall flat due mainly to the performance. It's fairly gruesome,but has some dark comedy that I want to enjoy.

But the accents...the accents....it's like a book where every character is Joe Pesci or Rizzo the muppet rat. There may be one or two Al Pacinos in there too. I'm going to try to power my way through it, but yeesh, I kind of wish I could get my credit back.

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Fun!

Revisado: 06-15-17

I liked "The Book of Lost Things" so much I decided to try another book by this author. Comparatively, this one is a lot more kid friendly - not as immature as an RL Stein level novel (as another reviewer said, though I did love those books when I was a kid), but not as dark or gory as The Book of Lost Things. I also enjoyed the little tidbits of information and advice in the footnotes, and the way they chose to present those footnotes made it feel a bit like a William Goldman book.

Overall it's just a fun, lighthearted story, definitely worth a listen!

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Interesting but not very straightforward

Revisado: 05-22-17

I was intrigued by the description of this book, and was caught off guard when, within the first couple of hours, it seemed the Velasquez had been found and proven! I thought to myself, "what is she going to talk about for another 6 hours?" Of course, to my delight it turned out to be more complicated than just that, but I still ended up finishing this book feeling a little confused.

While the author explains in great detail the life and struggles of John Snair, she also goes on long tangents describing and interpreting other works, not just by Velasquez, but other painters. It is somewhat relevant to be story in the sense of understanding what made this painting appear to be a Velasquez, and what made it stand out from other works, but I often found myself not remembering what was going on in John Snair's story by the time she was done with her romanticisms, and by the end of the book I realized I have no idea what actually ended up happening with the painting (though there was an exciting story about Las Meninas being saved from a fire towards the end).

So I'm ultimately a little disappointed, as I don't really think I want to listen to the last 4 hours over again to figure out what I feel should have been a little more central and obvious. Still, lots of interesting facts, especially if you've taken some art history classes in your lifetime.

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Very interesting

Revisado: 04-01-17

Great stories, and it's neat to find connections between them and other myths and sayings. Be aware that the first story is the worst, but the rest of them are pretty entertaining, and the last story is pretty dark.

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