BraveWampa

Phoned This One In

Revisado: 06-22-16

Maybe Simon R. Green is tired of the Drood series. This particular offering seems to have been phoned in. Many of the lines are essentially lifted from the other books verbatim. I'm a fan of Green's writing style. Of all of his various series, the Droods are my favorite, but while certain plot aspects were very unexpected, most of the book was a mish-mashing together of previous Drood stories. All of that being said, this was still an energetic tale full of action and mayhem. For fans, the story provides the expected action and excitement associated with the Droods, but as one listens, it's hard not to feel as though Green himself is over it all. Old fan of Green's or new, Dr. DOA is still worth the credit.

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Potential, Potential, Potential

Revisado: 06-22-16

I gave the book four stars because while the writing style is clunky, the story is imaginative. The writer clearly has potential to deliver exceptional stories. I listen to numerous books each year, and I found the writing to be amateurish, very newbie writer, but I couldn't stop listening because of the compelling story. I plan to buy the next set of book from the series, with the hope that the writing grows in the sophistication that such imagination and creativity deserves.

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great start to a series.

Revisado: 05-29-16

I had to start this one 3 times then got to Chapter 16 and 17 was completely hooked. Looking forward to the War Eternal series.

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Little Detail

Revisado: 02-25-16

This book was adequate in laying out the foundations of the atmosphere and culture in which the crusades took place. However, it lacked a richness of detail that one would expect from an instructor with genuine enthusiasm for the subject. It was presented very much the way a professor would teach a class taken as a requirement, one in which he suspects the students harbor little interest. I have listened to many Great Courses classes and expected the same level of energy displayed by teachers of other topics. This lack of enthusiasmn resulted in straight-forward facts with no added color or nuance, something that, for me, took away from the strength of the topic. Otherwise, the lecture was clear, concise, and informative.

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Lost Me at the Racism

Revisado: 11-17-14

One of the things I love about this story is the introduction of a Hispanic romantic lead. I've listened to all of the stories, but this is the last one I'll buy. The author essentially creates a stereotypical black character, does a slight "flip the script" to give the character a little more depth, then shoots the character. The wrongness of this, after interviewing all "white" characters and one Mexican character . . . this is essentially the Hollywood standard of adding a black character and killing him off so that everyone else can live. It's distasteful in movies, and it's far more distasteful when an author does this. It's written racism, shallow thinking, and offensive in the extreme. I also hate when narrators do a "black" voice as if ALL black people, or Hispanic people for that matter use a standardized dialect. This Scarlett Bernard story leaves me with a sense of betrayal because I believed the world that the writer created would be free of artificial stereotypes that only showed the author's wishful feelings of superiority. It is unfortunate that this story fails this necessary hurdle for culture stories, because if the author is looking for superiority, the writing and plotting is far superior to the second Scarlett Bernard story.

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Decent Sequel

Revisado: 10-16-14

This is a decent sequel to Charming. It is as action-packed as its predecessor. It is also as tongue-in-cheek, maybe even more so. In Daring, we are given more information about Charming's background and upbringing, allowing us to better understand how he came to be who he is. The author also broadens the world, showing us different groups and types of players in a power-struggle between those who want the Pax Arcana to stand, and those who don't. I did think the book was too long, however, the author did manage to keep the tension going. Overall, it's a good story. Were it not too long and a bit too unfocused toward the end, I would have given it five stars. Still, this is a story that is definitely worth a credit.

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Good story, TOO SHORT

Revisado: 09-29-14

I bought this story without paying attention to the length. The story is good. It is complex and interesting, but it's wayyyy to short. I would almost say that it is worth the credit, but I can't wholeheartedly say it and mean it because of the length. So, if you're looking for a short story and don't mind spending a credit on it, this is a decent story. Is it worth a credit without more length? No. In fact, it does seem to be episodic, and you have to buy each story to get the whole story. I would have given four stars if the length had been there. So, again, decent story, far too short, and much is the pity.

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A Good Reboot

Revisado: 09-02-14

Unlike other reviews, I did not find the narrator to be bad. He was simply different from the original narrator. Granted, he was not as good as the original narrator, but he was good enough. He brought energy and effort to a story that I consider to be a good reboot of Farseer series. The Farseer stories are, to me, the best of Hobb's efforts. I think this rebooting, through introducing a new generation of bastards and actors in the series that has lost some of the most significant players in previous tales, is both intriguing and effective. The story does drag a bit in the beginning, but staying with it yields enough excitement to warrant the effort. My only real negative, and the reason I gave the story four stars rather than five, has to do with FitzChivalry's inconsistency. One minute he is protective of his family and determined to keep the safe from political machinations. A moment later, he is neglectful of the safety of his family. When family members talk to him of harm that has come to them, he refuses to believe or see the possibility of danger, this after worry-warting his way through earlier chapters. It caused me, as a reader, no end of frustration and irritation with the character. While this was truly irritating, the story was definitely worth four stars for the complex plot, the careful interweaving and construction of multiple story arcs, and the exciting cliff hanger at the end. Glad I ignored the warning regarding the narrator because with the caveats mentioned previously, this story is well worth the credit.

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Genuinely Boring

Revisado: 07-15-14

The eagerness to anoint this series as brilliant is fascinating to me. Clearly Rowling, writing as Galbraith, is a well-schooled, highly intelligent person. Even so, the story is boring. B-O-R-I-N-G. Galbraith's (Rowling's) extraordinary imagination is tuned toward shock for shock's sake. Galbraith appears to want to make a mark in writing for an adult market through vulgarity, rather than through creative and inviting story-telling. I do like both Strike and Robin as characters. Indeed, all of the characters of The Silkworm are well-developed and interesting. There are no layers to the story, however. As readers, we are introduced to the main character and subsequently shocked by his selfish depravity, all through multiple self-indulgent perspectives. The book is 40+ chapters of, "Are we there yet?" J.K. Rowling is one of my favorite authors. Robert Gailbraith is not fit to shine Rowling's Louboutins. This is not a matter of inability to accept Rowling's new direction. It is, instead, disappointment with the execution of finely honed imagination. Hopefully, with the next book, the two individual authors will begin to mesh, and Rowling will stop feeling the need to turn Galbraith into some kind of bottom-feeding, shock-fest author whose only claim to fame is that he inhabits the lowest depths of Rowling's mind space.

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Premise Nemesis

Revisado: 07-10-14

The narrator was, as usual, excellent. Using his voice, he managed to create emotion, tension, and excitement. The story came alive. As for the book, Correia is one of the best and most imaginative urban fantasy writers out there. The book was somewhat like a prequel as we got to know Agent Franks and were introduced to the backdrop against which the monster hunters must perform their duties. Franks is a stolid, focused character, and the story could have benefited from a bit more of Earl's craziness, but really, the book was as exceptional as always. My only criticism is that it seemed to me that some of the encounters with the Nemesis Cursed could have been shortened. I am a female, and maybe it's a woman thing, but this was the violence that continued too long. Maybe for the guys is wasn't long enough. Great story, though. Looking forward to more.

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