Christopher J. Gilmore

It’s ok to not hire Will Wheaton to read every nerd adjacent story

Revisado: 02-08-24

It’s ok to not hire Will Wheaton to read every sci fi or nerd adjacent book. I had the same problem with his reading of this book as I have with every Wheaton read book I’ve listened to in the past (looking at you ready player one).

Wheaton reads every character with some combination of:

Smug exasperation
Smug incredulity
Smug sarcasm

His ability to make every character sound, at all times, as if they are on the edge of telling the funniest joke and the best one liner even if the dialog is in no way funny, is truly impressive. The effect of his narration style is it makes every character and most overall situations extremely off putting to listen to. If this is how everyone in this world talks, I would never want to spend any time with any of them. It feels like he’s narrating a reading of a Big Bang Theory episode, along with the expected laugh track.

Some of this is on the author but it’s exacerbated by Wheaton reading them as if they are a group of college bros constantly trying to one up each other in energy and wit.

This, by the way, also applies to narrative descriptions of whatever is happening around them and to me it changes the tone of the book completely to that of one, long, constant joke.

TL;DR cool idea undermined by thin, almost nonexistent plot and character I would never want to spend any amount of time with

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Struggled to finish this

Revisado: 07-13-23

The plot is almost non existent. More like a series of short stories strung together to give the appearance a plot. What is there is so painfully on the nose about technophobia because it strikes so close to current reality that there's nothing left to the imagination. Sure I guess that makes it a little frightening that we'd be that close to some of this but the parts that do stray into the sci-fi future take such logical leaps as to be utterly ridiculous. People just accept ridiculous stuff without any pushback and it's wild. Every character sucks and the ending is signaled form 100 miles away. I did not like this book.

Then there's the narrator which does a passable job but reads everything like they are exasperated at all times and everyone is whining constantly. it's exhausting.

Would not recommend.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Good but not great

Revisado: 06-01-23

Solid 3 stars from me. It was just kind of fine which is a little disappointing because the first 1/3 of it really captured my interest.

Starts off strong with a lot of interesting ideas about blood based identity politics and dystopian world building but doesn't quite live up to its promises. I had a feeling what the "twist" was going to be before it's revealed and I thought surely they won't go there, it's too obvious of a metaphor but nope, they went there and that's where my interest took a nose dive. At least they had a few original ideas presented about certain aspects of said "twist" but it took something that originally felt more like a clever social commentary into cliche that I wish it left alone.

The characters were great though. I think the only one that I didn't enjoy was the teenager but that's because of the narrators choice of how to portray their voice. they leaned waaaay too far into 80's valley girl and it was challenging to listen to. But otherwise the narrator does a decent job.

Overall it was fine. loved the first bit but kind of struggled through the rest of it and the ending didn't really stick the landing for me.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

An even worse version of The Village

Revisado: 10-14-22

Comparisons to M. Night Shaman's The Village are inescapable for this title. They are so similar it feels like it could be fan fiction. It also inherits all the worst parts from that movie. Starts off pretty strong with an interesting mystery...which then signals the answer to you so soon and so hard that the reveal in the middle of the story falls completely flat.

The biggest sin is making Travis have supernatural powers that go nowhere and have no reason to exist in the story other than to try and sell you on a vibe that the book does not deliver on.

much like the movie this was inspired by, it had a strong premise that quickly left me wanting and unfulfilled.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

not as good as the first book

Revisado: 09-20-22

The narrator is phenomenal. Let's just get that out of the way. I think I would've gotten bored had it been anyone else. the first book had a central mystery and moved along at a brisk pace, this one often felt like a story in search of a plot. not nearly as much detective work as the last one, didn't add much by way of expanding on previous world building and the central mystery wasn't as interesting.

it was fine but I expected more after liking the first book so much.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Overstayed it’s welcome

Revisado: 03-18-21

The story was intriguing at first but it lost steam for me in the last 1/3 of the book. It really didn’t need to be as long as it was and the author recycles a lot of adjectives, in the same way smoke and shadow swirl and fill the room.

The conflict was hazy and the characters goals were unclear. The ending left a lot to be desired. Nobody learns anything except how to be better at being the most toxic in a toxic relationship.

The narrator was phenomenal though. Glad I read it but ultimately disappointed with the experience.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona