AJ

The book needed more editing and advisement

Revisado: 01-21-22

In an ill conceived effort to make a point about sustainable agriculture, this book mixed too much psuedoscience with science leaving it hard to tell where one starts and the other behind. The conclusions drawn from even the science are often wildly overgeneralized. The author's work also suffers terribly from observation bias. This book might have been a fine book if (a) the author would have sprung for a professional narrator, and (b) the author had either stuck to an experiential approach (and not tried to blunder about with science) or had called in a few scientists who was more critical about his views to challenge the science he uses to support his claims so that his point would be better supported in the end product. This book also could have done with some better editing; the contents of this time could have been said in much less time with much less repeating without sacrificing the author's penchants for flowery, dramatic illustrative language. what this book accomplishes in almost a dozen hours at normal speed on Audible could've been done much more convincingly, scientifically, beautifully, and succinctly in under six hours.

[I am in support of Earth friendly sustainable agriculture. I was not expecting to end up leaving a critical rating and a lukewarm review on a book that I agree with the overarching points on.]

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Nothing to write home about

Revisado: 03-01-20

This is the underwhelming action packed Christmas special in an otherwise very good series. It's not awful but it's ability to stand alone story wise is pretty below par when compared to much of the rest of this otherwise interesting series.

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A few bites shy of feeling like a full story

Revisado: 06-21-19

It's funny and cute, sure.... but just when you think the story is really starting to develop the novel ends abruptly. It feels like sitting down to an icecream sundae in a cute ice cream shop, eating a few bites of the most delectable, crave ice cream you've had in a long time... you turn away to tell a friend how good it is and when you turn back you find the server sitting in the booth across from you--- inexplicably polishing off the last of that amazing ice cream sundae you planned to finish! When you ask the sever if he planned to give you another he just stares at you with a look of complete bafflement and says, "I though you were finished--- well, no matter, you're finished now."

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Horrible Narration

Revisado: 01-07-19

I did not make it through the first chapter of this title and wish to return this title because the narrator takes exceptionally long pauses at the end of almost every sentence where you can hear him lick his lips or click his teeth each time. I made it though the first few paragraphs before skipping to a random point in the book to see if the narrator was still doing this and, yes, he was.

I am totally forgiving of the odd stutter, vocal fry, or pop but this was somehow really irritating and a little gross.

Also, while I can hear though his accent fine and would almost like it if not for all the long pauses to listen to a solo performance his saliva move about his mouth, it is a bit thick and some Americans and others from certain regions may have difficulty understanding him.... once again, not an issue I have but if you're an American who has trouble with accents you might want to take that in mind and listen to the sample before buying this so you know you can understand him.

Oh, and tolerate all the long pauses to listen uninterrupted to him sucking on his saliva. Ugh.

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Worth a read even if it is a tad predictable

Revisado: 10-13-18

The story line, especially the meat of it, was predictable and short. But the characters make you want to spend more time with them. It's a cute little monster story with a happy ending.

The narration was clear and nicely done. It wasn't astounding in it's own right but it was good in the sense it did not detract from the novel.

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I was enjoying it until it took an abrupt turn....

Revisado: 09-10-17

It was a good book overall but there were some historical inaccuracies that were racist.

For example, Montezuma and the Aztecs did not think the conquistadors were Gods; they gave them gifts to test the nature of their character, try to secure trade, and barring that as a tribute to be left alone to govern themselves, a common feature of the often used tribute system of the time in parts of Central and South America. The idea that they thought the Spanish were gods did not come about until many years later and was propagated in Spain by the Spanish to match the Spanish narrative that they had devine right over the Aztecs and the Americas. Some of the bits about slavery got a little weird as well.

The author clearly tried but this book could have benefited from more research and/or a historical fact checker who wasn't entrenched so deeply in colonial history that they didn't catch that.

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Over-rated by far

Revisado: 03-22-17

It was more of a random series of events strung loosely together than it was a coherent, engaging story. It might have made a good short story but as a novel it becomes tedious.

The voice acting was fine (even if the children's voices are annoying and a bit grating) but the story suffered from a lack of direction despite being stuck on a path.

I swear, I once wrote a story like this in middle school. My teacher wrote on it, "What is this? Scrap it. You can do much better." The author could have done well with this advice and skipped creating an rather random, surprisingly and strangely predictable, and quite frankly often boring eight hour "you're the master of your own path" parable.

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What happened?

Revisado: 05-14-16

I loved this series but the ending on this one was took too much slogging through. It was about a "fragmented plot" and unfortunately in writing about it the plot of this book went to fragments at the end. The ending was a disappointing and confusing answer key which puts too much time into explaining itself to be good. It should fly. And by "fly" I mean out the window of a train. And by out the "window of a train" I mean because I threw it. And when I say "I threw it", it was because it was a disappointing close to an otherwise great series.

Basically the ending was like a broken vase that seemed hastily glued together with some vaguely plausable but confusing explanation/lie involving a baseball and an open window. The thing came together but it was an eyesore of fragments that never should have been glued together in an otherwise delightful series.

The narration is good for Lemony Snicket-- and Liam Aiken is definitely the right pick for this book-' but the inconsistency for the other characters (who have an accent one second and then the next second don't) kind of gets my goat.... which is a phase I use here to say that it irks me.

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