Neal T.

Too Much Cursing, Not Enough Cohesion

Revisado: 08-16-21

First of all, the narration was excellent. I thought he did the Japanese mannerisms very well. Five stars to Mr. Degas.

Other than that though, I wouldn't recommend this book. There are too many main characters too soon, and it bounces around between them that there's no sense of cohesion and flow in the story. I'm 12 chapters in, wanting to like several characters, but just can't because it bounces around so much that I can't get to know them well enough. You're basically getting a jumble of short stories with the same overarching theme. On paper, that may sound fine, but not all jumbled together in one book. There's also way too much cursing. A little is fine when it's really needed, but it's not needed in most cases here.

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Christians Beware [Includes Minor Spoiler]

Revisado: 05-31-21

If you're a Christian, I cannot recommend this book to you. For one thing, there are quite a few instances where the characters take the Lord's name in vain. There is also a fair amount of cursing besides that. There are some Christian undertones in the story, but they're a mix of Catholic, Mormon, and probably some basic Evangelical. I also noticed a works-based salvation being emphasized at one time..

SPOILER ALERT

There is also a situation where the main character and his wife get separated and he presumes her to be dead. It's quickly revealed that she's not dead though. Nevertheless, he goes on to fall in love with another woman. While this might make sense from the story perspective, it's not at all good from the Christian's perspective when we are shown the truth from the beginning.

If you're looking for good Christian fiction along these lines, then I'd recommend Mark Goodwin's books. If you're not concerned about the Christian undertones and won't be looking at this from a Christian perspective, then this might be for you.

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Slow Burn That's Worth the Wait

Revisado: 08-31-20 El oyente recibió este título gratis

First of all, it's always a pleasure to listen to Kevin Pierce. He doesn't necessarily have a wide range of male voices to pull from, but he does female voices real well.

This series started off a little slow at first, but once it got going, it was a real fun ride. I liked the secondary story arcs that were added in books 2 and 3. All in all, this was very enjoyable.

The characters were believable. At first, Marcus Battle looked unstoppable, but then he started making mistakes. I didn't have much hope of Lola as an interesting character at first, but she really grew on me. Likewise, the villains were nasty enough to hate and root against.

All in all, this was a real fun ride. I would certainly recommend it to others. I may get the next books in the series at some point, but on its own it was quite fine. I also really appreciated the reluctance to use cursing in 99% of the series.

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Better Than Expected

Revisado: 07-22-20

I'll admit that I normally don't go for mysteries. I received this audiobook for free in return for an honest review. Honestly, I was very impressed. The story moved along nicely with suitable highs and lows throughout to keep the pace under tight control. Each character was unique and excellently developed. Once the villain started talking, I found him to be really creepy, which was intended I'm sure. The narration was also outstanding--between the slight southern drawl of Sarah Armstrong, to the hispanic characters, to the men. It's been my experience that most women struggle to convey convincing job with male voices, but Debbie Andreen did a very satisfactory job with the only exception being the reporter who sounded a little too much like a child. That's not enough to deduct a star from narration though. All in all, a very enjoyable story that I'm glad to have experienced. I'd definitely recommend this to mystery fans.

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4.5 stars

Revisado: 06-28-20 El oyente recibió este título gratis

This novel had a common arc that went through most of it, which kept my interest. There wasn't really a definitive climax though, same as the previous novel. That's the only reason why I docked a star, but everything together in this book makes it more like a 4.5 rating. I've really grown to like Joe's neighbors. Sarah was a real standout especially, but all of them are very good. I would recommend this book.

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Excellent

Revisado: 06-28-20 El oyente recibió este título gratis

The more I listen to Louis L'Amour's writing, the more I like it. Riders on the Tumbling K is more of a collection of stories than one continuous story. That's the only reason why I docked a star. Still, the first two stories about Ward McQueen as well as the followup about his segundo were excellent. They're short, sweet, and loaded with Americana. The narration also hits the mark really well. Randal Schaffer can do gruff, smooth, and feminine voices real well. Plus, his natural voice works really well for the occasional info dump.

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Good stuff.

Revisado: 06-25-20 El oyente recibió este título gratis

American Survivor is pretty standard as far as prepper fiction goes, but that's not a bad thing. I liked that it was fairly lighthearted. I had a hard time liking Joe when he was with Madison. Really that whole story arc was a bit awkward. Everything else was pretty good. I liked how the community was brought together. There wasn't really a climax though, nor build-up to a climax. There was a cliffhanger though, and I will certainly listen to the second book in the series.

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Middle of the Road

Revisado: 06-22-20 El oyente recibió este título gratis

The novel started off all right with the actual start of the outbreak, but then jumped 18 months in the future. I was disappointed about that. Rather than show him struggle and develop the skills he'd need later in the story, Ron Cutter had just about everything he needed from very early on. Some of the details were a bit odd too, like the characters relying on 22s rather than higher caliber weapons for killing the zombies. Likewise, Ron's relationship with Jean was very peculiar. There was sex before it made sense. Things got better overall as the story progressed, but certain details were still odd. There was never any talk of Ron and Jean getting married, but still he considered her his wife. Well into the novel, the zombies really didn't pose much of a threat save for one incident.

The story didn't really have a distinct villain or end game that it was building towards. What villains there were didn't really put up much of a fight. There wasn't really a climax either. Everything just became too easy for the characters. While this is part of a trilogy, I felt that this particular novel ended the story enough that I really don't have a desire to continue the series.

All of that said, the writing itself was fine. The narration was excellent. I just felt that the overall story arc left something to be desired.

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Outstanding

Revisado: 06-20-20

My uncle used to rave about Louis L'Amour, so when I got the opportunity to listen to this one for free, I jumped at the chance. Suffice it to say, I was not disappointed. In fact, it's made a new fan out of me. Sure it's a bit on the short side, but you can't go wrong here. Great characters, great story, great narration. There's no cursing and no sex either. Five stars all around.

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Anti-Climactic

Revisado: 06-17-20

From the start, I could tell that there was something missing. Don't get me wrong, it's fairly well written and entertaining. It kept my interest all the way through the end. But there was always a little something that made it fall short. Predominantly, the characters didn't struggle enough. That had it too easy. The bad guys didn't put up enough of a fight. And in the end, the story was anti-climactic. There were several places where the story could have been improved, but wasn't. This novel showed that the author has talent, but he needs to improve his storytelling. In the end, as one of the main characters says, "Nothing we did made a damn bit of difference." That pretty much sums it up right there.

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