Becca

Finally unabridged!!!

Revisado: 09-29-21

Look these are my favorite Star Wars books. I grew up on Rogue and Wraith Squadron. The abridged audiobooks were so disappointing and this loving rerelease is the way this story was meant to be heard. The book remains a classic but now we get all of the music, sound effects and more you expect in a Star Wars audiobook. It’s worth it just to hear the narrator swap voices for Emtrey’s “scrounging” mode. What a treasure. Bring us the rest of the unabridged books Audible!!!

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Solid Star Wars, but not the best

Revisado: 10-10-19

The story and characters were pretty solid, but I found myself missing the kind of pilot action Stackpole and Allston brought to Rogue Squadron.

This book is half spy craft and half Squadron stuff, and I definitely enjoyed seeing B-Wings get some love and adored having a queer POV character who doesn't die or have their romances alluded to rather than expressed.

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Potent world building and a perfect narration

Revisado: 01-29-19

It's like Master and Commander, but with dragons. I mean that in the best way possible. The book is a delightful mix of historic fiction and fantasy, but not drenched in magic.

The world Novik creates is fascinating, and while some may find the social encounters tedious I loved seeing the ways in which adding dragons changed society.

The narration is spot on and makes this a highly enjoyable story.

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A delight for fans of the book or movie

Revisado: 05-14-18

This is an excellent telling of Murder on the Orient Express and works well as an audio drama because so much of the story is dialogue.

While those who have never read the book or seen a film adaption may not find this the best place to start, I think existing fans will enjoy this version.

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I didn't hate it but I don't think I "got it"

Revisado: 03-30-18

This novel is in many ways more like a collection of short stories or even fairy tales held together with a larger framing story. The stories match the medieval setting and often mirror or parody legends and fairy tales, so the subject matter is often suitable grim and violent.

The writing is engaging and pulls you in, and most of the stories are enjoyable in their own right, though obviously not all will be enjoyed by all. Still, I honestly think I lack the literary/historical chops to grok the big picture or the point of this book, so I imagine those more well versed in Arthurian lore will get more out of it than I did.

The protagonist is pretty unlikeable, and the book has a lot of the sort of sexism you'd expect from a medieval setting, but at least at the end the hero is self aware enough to recognize he's potentially a villain.

It's a hard book for me to review because I can see the glimmers of what's behind the curtain even if I don't fully perceive what's backstage.

The narration is quite good and matches the immediacy and abrupt nature of the writing.

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Sherlock Holmes meets modern Los Angeles

Revisado: 02-10-18

A re-imagining of Sherlock Holmes that does enough to pay homage but still breaks away enough to stand out among the countless takes on the character.

IQ is in many ways a re-imagning of Sherlock Holmes in modern day LA, but while the lead is brilliant and flawed he is not just a simple reskin of the existing character. His sidekick is named Dotson and rhymes with Watson, but again the character serves as a new take on the role of side kick and not just Dr. Watson transported to a different time, place and culture.

The book gets started with an exciting and very unique cold open as IQ runs down a pedophile, and the meat of the book is half mystery solving and half an origin story for IQ, and I enjoyed both components. The mystery involves a plot to murder a popular rapper, while the origin story looks at a genius left to make his own way in a harsh world at a young age.

I cannot relate at all to the reality of living somewhere like Compton, so I have no idea if the take on hip hop culture and life in the hood portrayed here is accurate or a caricature. I enjoyed the characters for the most part and was invested in IQ and Dotson's development as well as in the outcome of the investigation.

I really liked the way the Ide made IQ intelligent but also grounded. Some of his observations were long shots, but others just felt like good reasoning paired with exhaustive grunt work, which I appreciated.

On an audio note, Sullivan Jones did a splendid job with the narration for IQ. His voice and pacing were pleasant to listen to, and he excelled at giving most of the major characters a unique voice. You could always tell which character was doing the talking, even without X Said prompts, but it wasn't like each character had an outrageous accent or anything. The book moves between frantic action and surprising emotion, and Sullivan keeps pace.

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A grim and gritty setting with characters to match

Revisado: 02-03-18

Note: I received a promotional copy of this audiobook.

Titan's Wrath is set in a future where ruthless corporations run everything and parts of our solar system have been settled. We follow a washed-up, alcoholic bounty hunter as well as a young, naive freedom fighter who is leading the residents of Titan in a revolt against the status quo.

The first part of this book moved too slowly for me and embraced too many cliches, but a twist in a major character's arc made for a much more interesting Acts II and III, and it also served the purpose of validating earlier complaints.

Part of the problem in getting into the book is unlikable protagonists, but that complaint is partially resolved by the twist part way through and that dislike ends up being a pro rather than a con within the context of the story. (hope that's vague enough not to be a major spoiler.)

Parts of the world building were interesting to me, even if some bits of tech seemed more fantasy than science fiction. I liked the corporate-dominated setting, particularly the bits of the story set on Mars and the interactions with the Church of the Three Messiahs.

The book features plenty of action and a lot of violence, and many of the characters are macho and ready with one liners for each situation. Still, the story is an enjoyable use of cliches, especially as you get farther along and the arc of one of the protagonists character development becomes more clear.

That said, I think the tidy resolution was a bit of a cop out, and I almost would have preferred a full descent into evil rather than a last-minute, partial redemption.

On an audio note, the narrator does a respectable job, 3/5 stars. He manages most of the gruff male characters quite well, and his voice for most of the female leads was different enough to read feminine but not falsetto enough to be off putting, however one female character's read did come across as more shrill than anything else, which was a bit grating and made me grow to dislike the character more than I would have otherwise. Still, overall a good read.

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Magic for young readers at its best

Revisado: 01-03-18

Dealing with Dragons was one of my favorite books as a child, and I recently listened to it again as an adult.

As far as books for older children/younger teens go, this is about as good as it gets. The story is breezy but not without impact, and it has a charming sense of humor that keeps the plot moving along while poking fun at countless fairy tale tropes. All of the tried and true truths of the genre are parodied here, and it's one of the book's strong suits.

In addition to the fun take on fairy tale classics, Dealing with Dragons is a great book for young people, particularly young girls. Cimorene rejects so many helpless maiden tropes and instead is clever and loyal and determined through thick and thin. While the book parodies many fairy tale tropes, it also makes a point to rebut some of the more egregiously sexist themes of classic fairy tales and fables.

I can't say how this book holds up if you read it for the first time as an adult, but it's a book I'd strongly recommend to readers of the appropriate age or anyone who enjoys satirical takes on classic fairy tales.

The full cast production available through Audible is good but not amazing. It's great to have unique voices for many of the cast and I think the narrator does a great job of carrying the story, and the dragons are appropriately gravelly, but, I think because the books are meant for children the speed and cadence seemed a little too slow or nursery-rhymish for me personally.

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A must listen for Star Wars geeks

Revisado: 10-09-17

With 40 short stories this is sort of a mixed bag, but most are enjoyable and several are excellent. Some are serious, some are silly, and some are meta while others clearly aim to be canon.

If you obsess about Star Wars, this is a wonderful insight into A New Hope, but if you're not into all the inside baseball of the universe you may enjoy it.

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A satisfying Star Wars adventure

Revisado: 08-19-17

Allegiance is one of my favorite Star Wars story because it shows Stormtroopers who are human and believe in a cause. It also heavily features Mara Jade, which is also fun.

The title is also the theme of the book and we follow Jade, five storm troopers, Han and Luke as well as Leia as the action unfolds. The storm troopers are the main characters, and the five make for an enjoyable cast of heroes to root for. The excellent narration helps, as each of the five gets a unique voice to go along with their personality.

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