Daniel J. McGarrity

you can hear the paint drying

Revisado: 04-24-24

Super interesting topic -

insomnia curing narration- can only hang on for 10-16 minutes at a time- such dull delivery- sad

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shmaybe skippy sibling

Revisado: 04-08-23

lots of similarities to craig alansons 15 story ex force series in that the deux ex machina is a snarky smug AI with a british accent/affectation
good story
ray porter needs more variety in his depiction of string women.

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Failure to launch -

Revisado: 02-06-23

Premise sounded interesting- yet the backstory and plot took the entire book to develop- and the layout of the story just never took off- the protagonist has cancer- which carries as much importance throughout the story as saying the protagonist wore a striped hat- it is only nominally important and then, confronted with a highly advanced civilization, is said to be challenging to cure in that new culture- the same culture that has constant reference to genetic modifications-
not bad delivery and story telling- just overall - a yawn inducing story of “when are you going to get to it”

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Shmaybe open ends are more satisfying than tied knots

Revisado: 12-10-22

Just finished the book it was satisfying in the best kind of ways there was no universal tide not to every story line but or a realistic one can say that about anything such as fiction, way to leave off thank you to the author for so many years of looking forward to putting my headphones on thank you to the narrator for the enjoyment of keeping my headphones on and thank you to everyone else who made it worthwhile for the author to keep writing the story

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Image a status update every 4 minutes

Revisado: 04-18-22

I gave the first book a shot, really enjoyed the premise- i’ve purchased the 5 books available because i do like continuity- the story is fun - the narration engaging- but there is only one point that keeps it from being fully engaging.
The main character, and other characters intermittently- “level up” their abilities of magic and combat as the story progresses- what is jarring after a while is the sheer amount of time devoted to each moment of contact between the main character and whomever he is fighting- the 30 second interlude explaining what kind of attack, what kind of damage, what kind of lasting impact, takes the momentum away from the story because it happens EVERY TIME the main character is in combat- and, because it’s the main character - that happens quite a bit- the secondary subjects of the story have an intermittent connection with that story feature, which during the first book was interesting, during the second book- a little tedious - and by the third book- it’s just deadening- there is so little interest in hearing a 30 second aside about what is going on with each strike or spell - and it can get longer if one of those intermittent moments for other characters occur together- i’ve sat through a 4 minute recitation of powers being used, catalogued, and if the hits did or did not do damage - it makes you wish you had a book so as to skip past all that.
beyond that, pleasant enjoyable story with engaging characters - little heavy on contemporary 21st century political viewpoints - but it stays within character so while a bit pedantic- it’s tolerable.

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Skippy the Love Bug

Revisado: 04-07-21

The main story, Merry Band of Pirates vs the Kitties and saving the earth, has taken a particularly good turn, yielding to a realistic strategic stalemate. This was a particularly strong story line, one I feel could be explored for several books.
However, the author wanted to balance the romantic scale for Bishop, creating a 5-10 chapter interlude that kind of needed to be fleshed out, but feels more like it was squished in. It could have been brought in using flashbacks or asides, keeping comedy high and Harlequin romance to a minimum, but it wasn’t terrible, it simply needed more action and less romance.
The book, and storyline, are a solid success, and many fans needed to get over a cliffhanger and embrace the serial nature of the story., the strategic plans of the story interspersed with RC Brays unique delivery makes the book a lot of fun

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change title to PERSISTENCE

Revisado: 12-29-20

I get it, you’re smarter than all of us, and you have a lot to say.
Changing the title of the book would indicate how we need to approach it. I have read, and listened, to many, maybe all, of David Brins books- i would pay more money for the development story of Earth during the Uplift war series, Glory Season, was fascinating, and Earth, a masterpiece.
However, in every book, Brin has an expositional bone about every character, providing not just granular detail, but molecular, eg- instead of saying “spaceport” it’s the “XYZ spaceport” that has a long history, which he then takes 3 pages to illuminate, it is great backstory, but it kills, deadens, stops in the tracks, the ACTUAL story.
I get it, it’s his style, but with Existence, I am 5 chapters in, that’s almost 4 hours, and not a single clue what the story is about, I know he likes to weave things together, but there are significant gaps in the weave that prevent anyone really who isn’t in isolation, from wondering where-oh-where has the plot gone.
If you want top notch astro physics, and really science grounded science fiction, Brin is the absolute master, yet, his later works- Kiln People, and this one, show that he is reading too much of his own press, and has taken his exposition to its exponential conclusion.
This may very well be a good book, but it is better read than listened to, because you can skip pages ahead more easily and get past the gobbledygook than you can with audio only.

it’s a shame, but the devil isn’t just in the details, he smothers you with them.

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Entirely forgettable - pure SF pablum

Revisado: 10-08-20

You remember those kids from high school who were
always so earnest in their devotion to some obscurity, whether it be the correct pronunciation of elvish or Klingon- who agonized over star fleet registration IFF codes, or reviewers who digested a thesaurus?
Well, this story is straight from the SF club study hall complete with long asides, deep cuts, and comedy riffs- I’m sure some will love the super loose adherence to a story line that is rooted in farce, but as a consumer, I was led in by the pretty glowing reviews of the book and, for lack of a better way of expressing it, feel like I walked into an Adam Sandler movie when I was led to believe it was Adam Driver.

Your mileage may vary of course, but for me, i’ve got an 8 hour put me to sleep tape in my audible library now.
Good luck

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Worst audio experience in an Audiobook ever..

Revisado: 07-03-19

To begin, this isn't much of a new story beyond a 45 minute aside we could get in half a chapter of any of the excellent books already here. The story, such as it is, suffers from
Horrendous vocal performance and inexcusable audio inconsistency
Unspeakably bad plot development, opting for a cast ensemble approach to work that is clearly not familiar to the actors
Trying to build a book on canon by entering in a story that seems almost as if it were ghost written...it is truly dreadful writing.

The vocal performances, with the exception of Zachary Quinto, are either dull, read as though each word was carved from wood and placed on the table in front of the actor, or simply performed by middle school summer theater actors..It is clear that each performance was recorded by itself so no flow from actor to actor could be developed. As an example, the British spec ops actor and an alleged US general have the dual problems of inconsistent recording, poor choice of actors, and near criminal under acting.

The antagonists of the story, between grumbles and growls that take up almost half of their speaking parts, are so difficult to tell apart one is left wondering who is mad at whom, and what is it going to take to make the story do anything more than constantly, and I do mean constantly, reference the last Alanson book or throw in a peppering of "shmaybe's" and skippy laughs.

This book, which attempts to preempt it's criticism by calling itself a "radio play" had an interesting hook, but spent so much time referencing canon, that it spent no time becoming canon..

If I were Craig Alanson, I'd pull together as many Mavericks stories and get them out as soon as possible, The continued adventures of Skippy and Joe Bishop, and their Earthside adventures deserve much better than this,
Let it fade into oblivion or get attacked by some Sentinels, but get thee out damned spot..

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Sorry for the Pollyanna, but this is worth it!

Revisado: 02-12-18

Would you listen to Artemis again? Why?

Absolutely, Ms Dawson brings the same enjoyment for voices like RC Bray and Will Wheaton, you are immersed in the story and the slight tweaks of the voice keep you engaged and caring about the other characters.

What other book might you compare Artemis to and why?

Any of the RC Bray novels in terms of acting and delivery, as for the story, I'm at a loss for what is essentially a "caper" story to save the world, nice twist towards the end in that regard, but the girl on the moon is really really good

Which character – as performed by Rosario Dawson – was your favorite?

There was very little problem with individual characters maintaining their own identity, until you get to her former friend, that was a good character that didn't have much swerve from the main characters personna. Other than that, it's a "take your pick" situation with who is best.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Nothing extreme, but I did laugh out loud often.

Any additional comments?

Generally, more women need to be tapped to read SF books as well as action, their inflection is outstanding and while gender isn't a precursor to do something, there is more than enough positives to start seeing the percentages starting to rise to reflect the 51% of humanity they comprise. Would LOVE to "see" *hear a side by side reading of Andy Weir's The Martian with RC Bray and then Rosario Dawson..would be very cool

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