The Super-duper Amazing Silver Golem

My childhood has returned, I see.

Revisado: 05-30-20

Not ashamed to admit that the motivation for my purchase was 100% nostalgia and even now the 90's references make me smile and reminisce. It was also interesting to hear someone else read it and test my memory of what those books were like. The narrator did a great job and I was surprised how well the audiobook experience held up.

The story itself is very comicbook-like and the idea begins simple enough; Five kids bump into a dying alien who gives them the ability to change into, or "morph", into any animal or creature with DNA. These kids then do what they can to sabotage the hidden enemies of Earth, the Yeerks. The Yeerks plan their domination in secret by taking over the brains of their hosts, many of them human, so these kids don't know who else to trust. Using only their creativity, what resources were available in the late 90's, and the abilities of any animal they are able to make physical contact with, these kids do their best to save the human race.

I am honestly shocked that in today's world of remakes and super hero movies no one has tried making the Animorphs a theater going experience yet, but I guess the nostalgia train hasn't reached that stop yet. Listening to these books was a nice and hopeful start though.

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Science fiction crash lands into history.

Revisado: 01-05-20

This audiobook experience was as wonderful as it was attention grabbing. Alternative histories, space warfare, and time travel are not exactly new roads for the imagination to travel down anymore, so it can take something a bit extra to make a story really stand out. The way this story was written in a balance of creative thinking and action is so impressively smooth that even the most distracted listener will be dragged into the scenario.

J.D Ledford's narration is brilliant; bringing a depth to the writing and character's emotional states that might not have been noticeable otherwise. The story itself makes one think and consider the consequences of the characters' actions; If raw advanced knowledge is power, then what value, protection and risk does that offer the knowledgeable in a time of primitive conquest and violence? This book might have been first entry to an upcoming series, but it does make an impression that leaves the imagination yerning for book 2.

This book is recommended to listeners who would love a creative exercise laid out within an action setting.

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Interesting, but...well...it's also very weird.

Revisado: 12-18-19

This must be one of the most absurd, random, yet well narrated detective stories out there. In a way, part of the entertainment becomes seeing how far down the rabbit hole the author gets with this story over the story itself. The plot slowly builds into something tangled and downright bizarre.

The whole thing starts off in a simple pace; two strange cases followed by an odd pair of detectives in a science fiction Los Angeles. However, things spiral into chaos as the author keeps dumping more and more science fiction crazy on top of already nutty twists and turns until there is so much stuff pushing believablity that a reader might simply check out just trying to follow it. The narrator does a heroic job of keeping events comprehensible, but the plot itself, while absolutely bloated with concepts, is probably stretched out a bit to long for it's own good. The end result is something different, but difficult to really hang on to the closer things get toward a conclusion and the conclusion is as over-the-top strange as the rest of it. A listener might would likely end up as dumbfounded and slightly unsettled at the end as they were at the middle.

If it was more self aware, "The Big Sheep" could have been a comedy, but it isn't. If the scientific concepts were more invidually explored, it could have been solid science fiction, but it isn't. If the characters were more active and solved more puzzles instead of solutions finding them, it might be a mystery, but it isnt.

It's not a bad book nor is it a great one. "The Big Sheep" just very hard to define. As such, this book is recommended to listeners who don't mind something so outside the lines that they are not sure how they feel about it hours after the last sentence.

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Entertaining, despite minor issues.

Revisado: 12-06-19

There are plenty of LitRPG books out there and some are far less thought out than this one. The plot here was good, great even, considering the genre. The story has a beginning, middle and end with goal driven characters that experience change and hardship. These things may sound like they sould be a giving in any story, but many LitRPG pitfalls revolve around a well built setting or concept populated with aimless characters with little to no purpose in mind. In other words, all stats, no substance.

Thankfully, this LitRPG author thought of the story he actually wants his characters to experience. They aren’t all believable characters, but the results weren't bad ether.

That being said, this audiobook could have been much better if the author made more assumptions that the reader has played videogames and RPGS before. Far to much of the narrator's skill was wasted on mimicking game tutorial menus or repeating messages.

There was also the mistake that memes somehow replaced actual humor. It made the main character seem like he had some sort of disorder whenever the book had him actually speak. As long as the main character, Rocky, was described as having a conversation or internally planning, he seemed understandable, but then the immersion would be shattered by a random and barely understandable out of context media reference. It didn't help that the narrator gave that paricular character a voice that seemed to be designed for maximum irritation.

Still, it's not a bad LitRPG book and may be worth a look to those who enjoy them. If the author keeps trying to flesh out more of an array of relatable characters and round out the ones he has, then a book 2 might actually worth watching for.

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A funny space adventure and a great sequel.

Revisado: 11-10-19

After trying and failing to put the space adventuring life behind him and get a normal job, a space pilot with a history of not making the wisest decisions ends up taking a job with someone historically untrustworthy. It's one more risk to help him finally move on from his past...and, of course, things start tripping hilariously sideways almost instantly.

Yahtzee Croshaw's snappy and sarcastic sense of humor really comes out in this hilarious sequel to the first book "Will Save the Galaxy for Food". The ways he can twist his voice to match the ludicrous diologue the cast of the characters make is well done and funny to listen to. The actual plot, even as a prop to hold up the humor, is thought out and entertaining to follow with an ending that both completes this story as it's own adventure, yet leaves a tiny cliffhanger that is just intriguing enough to hope that a book 3 is in the works.

This book is highly recommended to those who grow up on space faring adventures, not for the science or space, but for laughs at the goofy out-this-world scenarios and characters that come with it.

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Nope. This was murder on my gag reflexes.

Revisado: 04-28-18

The first one was gross, but funny gross.
This one is gross, but vomit inducing gross.

The difference between the two was a matter of balance.

The first Critical Failures book leaned towards poop jokes, but still had enough various other elements to keep it from overwelming the story. There was still a plot and other gaming culture jokes to give a break from all the cursing and bodily function issues the characters had. Overall, it was still a fun book.

Now, the second book...well...there is almost no balance at all. In fact, this audiobook leans so far into the fowl stuff that it goes from funny, to monotonous, to flat out uncomfortable. The stop button had to be pushed when this listener reliezed that not only was nothing really happening overall, but the author was getting a little to enthusiastic about  things being shoved up the orc characters' rear end.

This book just isn't worth the trauma to one's imagination and can only be recommended to listeners who are into mentally scarring themselves.

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Full of magical and snarky ridiculousness.

Revisado: 04-28-18

Do you enjoy humorous sarcastic and pessimistic viewpoints on overblown controversial topics in a ridiculous fantasy setting? Then this audiobook might be the time waster for you!

Listen to Yahtzee Croshaw narrate his own wacky story about hidden magical communities, political rights for interdimensional blob creatures, underprivileged possessed people, incompetent monster hunters, really good memories, and a mysterious serial killer. It's goofy and nonsensical satire for those who need something to chuckle at while on a long drive.

Highly recommend to people who enjoy jokes pointing out that the glass is half empty in a sea of irony.

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A perfect recipe for intense laughter.

Revisado: 03-20-18

A prequel to the first two books of the "Space Grifters" series,  "Out of the Soylent Plant" explores the first tangled and out of control encounter of the humorously unlucky robot Sasha and the incredibly reckless hairbrained schemes of Rex Nihilo. The story mostly centers around a plan to get off a planet ruled by an evil company that forces it's citizens to eat horrible food, but there is also a shorter two hour story at the end of the main audiobook that recounts a tale of a simple smuggling run going sideways by Rex making it more complicated than it needed to be. Both are great stories written with a lot of thought and self aware humor.

Simply put, this audiobook is a roaring good time that will have you laughing like a lunatic for hours. The narrator here, J.D. Ledford, just makes the audio experience absolutely perfect here. Her range for all the wacky characters is spot on and she hits every comedic cue in the writing. If she keeps this level of quality up in her narration for all her future audiobooks, she could easily be one of the most sought after on audible in the next few years.

This book is highly recommended to listeners who just want to laugh. There is no required reading from the first two books in order to enjoy it and no need to take in a bunch of new science fiction concepts here. It's straight self aware comedic gold, designed for people who just want to enjoy a ridiculous setting with ridiculous characters.

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A quieter Elder Scrolls experience than imagined.

Revisado: 02-17-18

Anyone who knows of The Elder Scrolls usually is certain of one thing; they will never be able to get enough Elder Scrolls content. It a widely known award winning videogame series focused on immersive fantasy roleplaying in a highly detailed world. This audiobook "The Infernal City" is based within the setting of that videogame series.

As a result most listeners might assume that a series that is all about exploring an epic fantasy world filled with action packed adventure and danger would have an audiobook that reflects that, but only one of the three main characters gets into any actual combat. This book also ends in a bit of a non conclusive whimper that more or less triggers the question of whether or not the story is even planning to continue in a different book.

The narration was excellent, however, and the flavor that makes up the richness of the setting is there. It's only the storyline itself that seems to wonder around.

Three main characters make up the bulk of the story,  a minor Breton (elf) noblewoman who dabbles in adventure and alchemy, her laid back childhood Argonian (lizardman) friend, and a disillusioned prince trying to rescue them from a otherworldly floating city that feeds on souls and contains a strange and ruthless society. As personalities these characters are entertaining, but the events surrounding them tend to wonder. The first two characters spend the book learning to adapt and survive amoung the people that live in the floating city, while the prince avoids assassinations while following a mysterious character around that knows how to get to the city.

This book is an odd example of great thoughts, discriptions and ideas that, dispite being interesting, can't seem to fold together into any great and memorable whole. This audiobook is recommended to listeners who grew up and enjoy the elder scrolls universe, but listeners new to the setting might feel a bit bogged down attempting to learn it for the first time.

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A creative 1912 classic that shows its age poorly.

Revisado: 01-15-18

This book, written by Arthur Conan Doyle in 1912, has some science fiction creativity within it that was ground braking for it's time. A pocket world discovered by explorers filled with strange ape men, tribal wars and dinosaurs? It's wonderous, thrilling and adventureous; the Jurassic Park thought up before Michael Crichton was even born.

Unfortunately, it's also very, VERY dated. No only is the language use very aged, but certain aspects of social perspectives of the otherwise humorously flawed main characters would be considered flat out extremely racist today. It's a terrible shame, really. The setting of exploration would make for a great movie, but the script would have to be heavily modified in order to avoid upsetting everyone in the theater.

This book, even though it is a classic, can only be recommended to those who  relieze that some books have not aged in a way that reflect modern values. It's a product of it's time and it shows, sometimes in some very negative ways.

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