Todd Steele

Great story, disappointing narrator

Revisado: 12-24-24

Another great Hillerman storyline that informs, intrigues, & entertains. Narrator lacked personality and mispronounced too many place names - “Canyon de Chelly” became “Canyon de Shelly” instead of “…de Shay”. The word “Mesa” became “mess-a” Just a couple examples…

Given the importance of local geography and culture to the Hillermans’ series, one might hope the audio producers would invest in research and editing.

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Dated and overly diverse

Revisado: 12-19-19

The author's essays span such a wide range of topics that I can't imagine anyone who would find even half of them of interest. The diversity of topics is compounded by the fact that so many of them are from before the turn of the latest century that they're dated; what might have been interesting 20 years ago has passed into the dustbin of forgotten history and is not missed.

The reader's tone is pleasant enough to listen to, but his pronunciation of specific names, places and vaguely unique words is intolerably bad. It's as if the whole reading was recorded without any in-studio editor to stop and correct the reader's errors.

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Warning: Politically Incorrect

Revisado: 03-20-19

But pretty darned funny. The author’s self-read is excellent. Enough actual wine knowledge to satisfy the informed but not to intimidate the novice.

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Too much royalty

Revisado: 02-10-19

The author’s own delivery of his work is an audio delight and his love for the material self evident. However, his recounting of France’s history is almost exclusively devoted to the royal families up until the late 19th century. There is a disappointing lack of insight into the lives and contributions of the French people themselves. A nation’s history is so much more than that of her few leaders, and that is missed in this book.

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Great story, horrible narration

Revisado: 05-12-17

What disappointed you about Song of the Lion?

The narrator is terrible.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Song of the Lion?

I've read Anne Hillerman's previous extensions of her father's series, and they're almost as good as the originals. I'm delighted that she's chosen to continue the family tradition. But as a recorded book, the narration is so bad I couldn't finish this one.

What didn’t you like about Christina Delaine’s performance?

Her characterizations of Navajo men either sound like a New Jersey wise guy or an Alabama cracker, and nothing like Dine speech patterns. Likewise, Bernie Manuelito's sister sounds like a valley girl.

What character would you cut from Song of the Lion?

The book doesn't need to cut any of them, but the recording needs to cut them all!

Any additional comments?

Find a new narrator before the next book in the series comes out!

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Never before achieved.

Revisado: 02-11-15

The author and producers of this recording have managed to achieve something seldom ever approached: they have discovered nearly the exact intersection of trite and contrived. If you're a fan of real mysteries and police procedurals, skip this one. If you like cheesy comic books, you might like it.

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Wrong narrator for Abbey

Revisado: 02-06-12

I love this book - one of my true favorites - have read the actual book several times before downloading the audio version. I'm also a big fan of Edward Abbey - both his non-fiction and fiction work.

Unfortunately, Michael Kramer was a poor choice of narrator to capture the real sense of Abbey's prose. I've listened to many of Kramer's narrations of mystery and suspense novels, and he's fine for those. But, unfortunately, all wrong for Desert Solitaire.

I was disappointed, too, by Kramer's frequent mispronunciations, especially place names, throughout the narrative. Many of the local place names are tricky, I admit, but either the narrator and/or audio editor need to do their research!

Despite the unfortunate narration, I highly recommend Desert Solitaire. Better the book than this audio version, but better the audio version than not at all.

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Coffee. I need more coffee.

Revisado: 11-03-11

I've listened to 3 other books by Jo Nesbo (The Snowman, The Redbreast & The Devil's Star) and loved them. Headhunters feels like it was written by someone else, and the reader is beyond dry. Deadly dull. I gave up after 4 chapters.

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Horrid narrator

Revisado: 03-14-11

The story itself is pretty cloying to start with, but the narrator is awful. He butchers the pronunciation of place names all over the western U.S., including Alaska, with regularity. Apparently the audio editor was just as uninformed. But even forgiving the consistent mispronunciations the characterizations are cheesy throughout.

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Bombastic without the Humor

Revisado: 12-17-10

I've long enjoyed the wit and sarcasm of P J O'Rourke, even though I usually disagree with his politics. This book, however, proved a great disappointment. O'Rourke is simply full of himself. His efforts to be clever and intellectual fail, and they're merely tiresome.

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