Mel S.

Great refresher for self-assessment, short & sweet

Revisado: 01-10-22

While it is nothing super groundbreaking, sometimes it is useful to just refresh yourself on these strategies and take stock of yourself and the effectiveness of your past goal-setting. This is short enough that it is not a huge commitment if you want to get some tips when setting new goals or projects, and I found the checklists and slight pep-talk-esque tone really motivating. Many of the tips I had heard before, but sometimes you just need to be reminded of something really obvious to realize it is something you've neglected, and some of the lists included tips I hadn't thought of before. Admittedly, I don't usually read books like this, so someone more well-versed in the self-help or goal-setting book space may find this repetitive, but I think this is a great condensed version of the information for people like me who don't want to deep dive, they just want a little guidance and some timely reminders on how to get out of your own way every now and then.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Engaging plot, good characters, weaker narration

Revisado: 06-29-18

Generally, I was pretty engaged with this story, and for 3/4 of the story it is a solid 4 star read for me. However the last 1/4 drags much more, and was harder to engage with. I think as long as the main characters are interacting with the secondary and supporting characters, I liked it much more. It was the parts where Lia was on her own or just with Corvin that fell flat for me. Additionally, the narrator had the tendency to overact, leading to Lia sounding like she was on the verge of tears pretty consistently, and also to over-enunciate dialog, which wasn't helped by the lack of contractions and more stilted language. Plot-wise, the story was really interesting, and I liked how we learn about the world and situation along with Lia. I'm not sure I'm on board with the magic/religious system, which we don't really get a clear picture of outside of an attitude of if you believe you can do something, then you can.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Engrossing plot, simplistic writing style

Revisado: 04-18-18

If half stars were allowed, I would rate the story 3.5 stars rather than 3, because I enjoyed this story a lot, and the plot kept me very engrossed. In fact, I had trouble putting this audiobook down because the plot kept me wanting more. However the writing style can be very simplistic, with lots of short sentences and straightforward delivery. On the whole, I don't mind this and it makes sense for narrating character's point of view, but it did lead to several instances of conversations in the vein of "He said - I said - He said" and when what the characters are actually saying is only 2 or 3 words long, these conversations become a bit stilted (in printed form, this may not be much of an issue, but in an audio format it becomes much more apparent). Additionally, this made it difficult to follow the aging of the characters - for the most part, they speak the same way when they are 12 versus 20. But on the whole, this book surprised me with it's complexity and the world that was created, and I really loved the characters. The bonds that form between different characters and the way those connections evolve over the course of the story is extremely well done, and I really loved growing with them.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Good story, but not my favorite narrator

Revisado: 08-05-16

This book grows on you as you listen to it. The beginning is rather plodding and the story and writing seem very simplistic. However, as the book progresses, the plot gets steadily more complex, and my interest grew with that complexity. I saw another review that said something along the lines of every 20% their investment and enjoyment of the story increase from "meh, this is ok" to "holy cow that was amazing", and that ladder-like increase in enjoyment is definitely true for me as well (though I never really got to "amazing" but I did really like it by the end!).

However, I'm not the biggest fan of this narrator. He did a great job with the male voices, and bringing emotion to the dialogue, but his female voices drove me a little nuts. Mostly Marcy - and she talks a lot. It's one of those things that I did get used to, but never really enjoyed.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Enjoyable, but nothing groundbreaking

Revisado: 03-08-16

I liked this story, and it has a lot of promise. It wasn't anything particularly special, but it was an enjoyable read, hence 3 stars. It feels a lot like older fantasy story, where the language is more formal and the interactions feel rigid and constrained by expectation, and I think that is where the book fell flat for me. For some characters, that type of language made sense: the residents of Annwn are from an older time and society when that type of embellished speech would be more popular, but Richard and Bran are from present day America, and Bran even grew up on the streets, but they use the same overly formal language which felt contrived and pulled me out of the story. I believe this is Shawn Speakman's first novel, so I am interested to see how he develops as an author, as the story itself is complex and very promising. Therefore, I found this book perfectly passable, and am interested to see how the series develops.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Engrossing, if not particularly enjoyable

Revisado: 03-08-16

This is one of those weird cases where I'm not sure if I really ENJOYED this book, but I couldn't put it down. Miriam Black has a really crude attitude and vocabulary that didn't really resonate with me. I wouldn't consider her badass so much as a bad-mouther -- she has enough self defense to keep herself safe(ish) in her transient lifestyle, but she talks rougher and cruder than her skills can really support. But regardless of my relative apathy towards her and most of the characters, the book moved quickly and was action packed, simply pulling me along in it's wake. This book culminated with a feeling of setting a stage for much more expansion in the next installment, similar to the end of a TV pilot, and I would be interested to see if the series improves for me.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Author's passion really shines

Revisado: 03-08-16

If you have even a passing interest in linguistics and the evolution of language, I would definitely recommend this. You can tell the author is really passionate about the subject and presents an interesting and well supported theory about the influences on the English language that don't seem to be widely held or taught, but his arguments seem sound from my outside-observer-with-a-passing-interest perspective. I found this book interesting and accessible, and I didn't need any prior knowledge to understand what he talking about. I think this book will have something for people knowledgeable on the subject as well as for people exploring a new topic.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Not my favorite thing, but I would read more

Revisado: 02-04-16

Based on content, I would give this a 3 stars. I liked it, and the stories are masterfully crafted, but short stories rarely land with me. This is my first Vonnegut experience, and I definitely think I would pick up more of his full length work, based on what I saw here. The first two short stories were rather depressing and intriguingly strange, and my contentment with the stories went up as the book progressed. My favorite was the penultimate work, a nonfiction essay Vonnegut wrote in 1992 that I might briefly label as Vonnegut's take on "white guilt", but that is far from an all-encompassing description. If I were to rate it as an audiobook, I would bump it up to 4 stars! The narrator, Luke Daniels, is supremely talented! And as I said, short stories aren't really my cup of tea, so I probably would not have finished this without how much I liked this as an audiobook. Plus, the short stories are each between 20 and maybe 45 minutes for the most part, which made it great for listening to basically a whole story on my 25 minute commute to work.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Fascinating and well researched

Revisado: 06-14-15

A really convincing look at the evolutionary aspects of warfare and how mankind developed as one of the only species on Earth that kills others of our own species, particularly how sex and biological stimuli play into it. The book seemed well researched, and makes a lot of sense. It looked at primate, particularly chimpanzee, society, as our nearest genetic relative, and also applied it's findings to humans from early hominids to modern day warfare. There was in depth analysis of the roles sex plays in the development of war as a species, and how sex continues to play a role in current events and current wars, which applies not only to wars in third world countries where subjugation of women is a blatant affair, but to the US Iraq war and modern US events. It was really fascinating, and I appreciated that the authors, while making this case, make sure to point out that even if war is an evolutionary trait, that does not mean it is predestined or even preferential for continued species existence. Their argument is not to be used to excuse war, it is a case of understanding the root of an issue so people can determine the best way fix it. Really fascinating!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Enjoyable, different from the movie

Revisado: 06-12-15

The movie is what eventually directed my attention here. I was intrigued by the premise of a boy discovering he could teleport, but the execution of the movie left me underwhelmed. I was interested in the source material, since it was highly likely it would be better. Which is definitely true, but I found out the movie hardly follows the book at all. The book is much more character driven, with a lot more development of David's character, following him as he discovers his ability and how his life progresses. It is not a high action thriller, especially the first half, but in the second half we do see an escalation. A lot of the book, David's power isn't really the main focus - instead we are following the story of a teenage runaway in NYC who happens to have the ability to teleport, though I have to admit "jumping" definitely skews the end result in his favor.

Overall, I was suitably impressed with this book. While I find David a bit whiny at times, he seems very realistic for his situation, and his life is interesting to follow, even if it's not the danger-around-every-corner type of gripping tale. The narrator did a great job, and I'm glad I took the chance to read this.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña