Claire

A chance to see the real person.

Revisado: 01-21-24

Kudos to both Prince Harry and his ghost writer for delivering a book worth listening to. Both men deserve awards for this book. The ghost writer deserves it for taking someone elses words and turning it into a coherent story that transcends controversy and becomes a work of art that millions can enjoy. Prince Harry deserves it for turning the words written on a page back into the story that he is telling you.
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A very simple story

Revisado: 10-16-22

A very simple story, very simply told. It lacks depth and dimensions. There isn't much too it.

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Show, Don't Tell

Revisado: 01-06-22

My hope in leaving this review is that the author continues to improve their writing skills and will, with effort, someday develop into the writer they aspire to be.

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Not the story I thought it would be

Revisado: 01-23-19

Well, I made it to chapter 22 and then couldn't take it anymore. I jumped to the last chapter and finished it.

The author writes well but I found the pacing of the story to be slow and focused more on the heroine becoming an asha (I don't know the correct spelling of asha since I listened to the audiobook). And apparently, it's like becoming a geisha, which can be an interesting story.

It's just not the story I was looking for. But you might really enjoy it.

Emily Woo Zeller did a great job with the narration.

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A Fun Listen with a Fair Warning

Revisado: 05-28-16

Angel Clark did an awesome job of bringing this light read to life. Recently, I've picked up a number of audiobooks that I either gave up on or struggled through so this one was refreshing for me.

As a person who has experienced the culture shock of living in Alabama, I enjoyed the narrator's attitude toward waking up dead there. Finding yourself in any culture other than your own can be a bit of a wake up call. Often, it can be a time to reflect upon the values we are taught and learned to accept, good or bad, and to reevaluate what we believe to be true or right.

Fair Warning:
In my opinion, considering the tone of the rest of the novel, the author became way too explicit in describing in the crisis scene. I recommend that the level of detail in this type of novel be toned down.

I give five star ratings only to books that I would read or listen to again. In this case, I would listen to this book again, but not that scene.

No one paid me, or gave me a copy of this book, for this review.

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Waa! Waa! Waa!

Revisado: 04-21-15

Here's the warning that I wish I had before I bought this book. The main character Michelle is supposed to be twenty-six. But she had the resentful, chip-on-the-shoulder attitude of a forty-six year old divorcee who constantly whines that if anything can go wrong, it will, just for her. This impression of her is reinforced by the narrator's voice which makes her sound middle-aged and tired.

These things can be funny if played right, or fascinating in a character study, but here it reveals neuroses that I'm not sure the author intended to reveal.

The story itself was okay and enjoyable enough that I was able to finish it. However, I don't agree with reviewers who compare this to the Dresden Files or the Hollows since the depth of writing found in those series is not in this one.

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Awesome Narrator!

Revisado: 04-21-14

For me, Jane Eyre will now always sound as she does in this audiobook version narrated by Susan Ericksen. Before buying this audiobook, I had read Jane Eyre twice and Susan Ericksen's finely nuanced reading made made the story new and fresh to me. Every part of the story held my attention. If you are wondering which of the many audiobook versions you should try, I don't believe that you can go wrong with this one.

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Similar to the TV show Lost

Revisado: 04-16-14

Fans of the television shows Lost and Once Upon a Time will probably like this novel as the plot development is very similar. The same pattern of quirky characters finding some bizarre mystery or problem, the search for information, the big reveal, and then repeat, repeat, repeat.

There is a very real sense of being manipulated by ignorance as just enough information is doled out to keep the story going as the reader constantly tries to figure out what is going on until, of course, the writer feels like it is time to end the story. Think of a cat being teased with a toy mouse, occasionally being allowed to pounce on the toy only to find it jerked out of its reach.

Clearly, it's not my type of story. However, as Lost and Once Upon a Time are clearly very popular shows, the novel can and does suit many people. It is also filled with a lot of Easter eggs which will delight many readers.

While I've given 14 four stars, which on my scale indicates a novel that held my interest long enough to finish it, there are some very real problems with the novel.

For example, there is long description about a woman who lives in the building who has credit problems. Unless I missed it, and I'm not interested enough to go back and listen again, she, and her credit problems, have very little to do with the rest of the story and her story line could have been omitted.

I also found the sexual relationships that formed to be more of an afterthought or convenience, as if the characters happened to be there and hooked up. There was little to no real attraction, or love, between the characters described. And again, I'm not interested enough to go back and see if I missed anything.

Overall, the novel is written well enough. But, it could have been much better if the writer had payed closer attention to the relationships between people and the story.

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Another Shallow Romance

Revisado: 07-06-13

First of all, I mistakenly believed from the description of this book that it was a science fiction novel. It's not. Technically, it is a romance. There is so little knowledge of technology represented in this book that the mind link device could just as easily be a piece of alien wizardry as it could be of science.

As a romance, the novel should allow the reader to vicariously experience Ashley V falling in love with with the alien ZXQ-One/Sam. We should learn who these people are from the way they act, what they value, and the world they live in. However, there is no depth to either the characters or the story. The basic story is told so starkly as to be simplistic. It is as if the author were given an outline of a story to write and used the fewest possible words to achieve that goal. Due to a lack of foreshadowing, key plot points appear as needed out of nowhere. Need a place to escape to? Poof! Here is a child who needs rescuing and he will lead you a safe place.

In spite of the lack of detail and logic in this novel, it did hold my interest. I give partial credit to the narrator who did an excellent job, with a nod to the author who shows potential if she makes the effort to grow as a story teller.

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At long last we have the Liadan stories on Audible

Revisado: 09-07-12

Among my favorite authors are Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Their first three novels, Agent of Change, Conflict of Honors, and Carpe Diem were released in paperback form in the last 80s, which is when I purchased my copies. While other books have been placed and then removed from my bookshelves, these books have remained among my favorites. The characters are familiar friends and I always reconnect to them with pleasure.

After these novels were published, Lee and Miller were dropped by the Del Rey after they were asked to write books according to someone else' formula and they declined. It was a loss for their fans and their books fell out of print. Fortunately, Meisha Merlin picked up their catalog in the late 90s and started publishing new novels from them as well. Now, they are being published by Baen. As new readers pick up their novels, they need to realize that the writing is not consistent through their oeuvre, a fault that may be due to different editors. Consequently, I recommend that readers begin with the first three novels published and continue with the books in the order published instead of following the space opera's chronological order. Don't abandon the series because one or two novels aren't as good as the others. This is space opera at its finest and I highly recommend the series.

As for the audio versions, some of these novels were previously recorded and released as audiobooks. Of these, only one, Local Custom, was released by Audible. Now many of the older novels have be rerecorded as the new ones have been recorded and the sound quality is much better. The narrator Andy Caploe does deliver in terms of delivering some of the subtleties of Lee and Miller's writing style. The best narrators tell the story as if they are sitting around the kitchen table talking to you personally. Unfortunately, Andy Caploe delivers the narration in this novel with a slow weightiness that tends to weary and he doesn't do well with the women's' voices. Every word does not need to be treated as if it is the most important word in the world. And while he does a fairly good job with Val Con and Edger's voices, he fails completely with Miri's voice. She comes off not as a young, strong, smart woman, but as a whiny, old woman from New York who smokes and whose voice is lower than a mans. It is a complete miss in terms of representing her character.

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