Teri

Weak by comparison

Revisado: 07-26-23

I really love the Peter grant books, but i had an open mind and great hopes for this story and the USA locale. The story and supernatural elements are lacking in frisson, not as stylish or clever as the London books, very weak in the humor department. The characters all blend together and no attempt is made to make anyone memorable. The male voices are just awful, choked and strangled in a weird nasal tone.

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Still a fan, but not enough character development

Revisado: 03-20-16

I love this series, but this is the first book which I felt was a bit lacking. Anne Bishop has set up so many great characters with potential for interesting interactions, but it doesn't get explored in this book. It's mostly about big "social" changes and movements, but most of the action takes place outside the narrative. The plotting feels sloppy to me, like it's being driven by its own momentum and not the hand of the author. Bishop is really good with the ordinary aspects of life, and so I've always enjoyed reading about the work and activity in the liaisons office and the courtyard, and the interactions between the humans and the others. With other humans and others in far flung locations to follow, it feels like the original characters are not getting much attention. Tess, Henry, Sam -- they are barely in the book at all. Bishop throws in a scene at the end to advance the Meg-Simon relationship, but it seems like an after-thought to satisfy the fans.

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Too immature for me

Revisado: 05-16-15

I usually enjoy YA books but this was too young for me I guess. Virtually no female characters, it's like they didn't exist. The premise was interesting and had a lot of promise, but the characters were virtually interchangeable and the plotting clunky. At one point in the story, during a climactic scene, the narrative stops while the plot doubles back for some long exposition. And the narration was horrible .... I actually thought it was being narrated at 2x speed he was speaking so quickly! No variation in tone, just a breakneck race to the last page.

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A slog thru a toxic marriage

Revisado: 07-18-12

Very disappointing if you are expecting anything close to a thriller or even a mild mystery. Nasty unlikeable main characters whose bad qualities just get worse. Some surprises, true, and some interesting commentary on modern tabloid entertainment. The writing is good, very descriptive, and the inner dialog is very well done. I just wish the characters were saying something that was of interest to me. I got tired of saying "I cannot BELIEVE these people!"

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Extremely original and sets up the 3rd book well

Revisado: 05-26-12

This may be even better than the first book. With the Nazis out of the picture, and Britain's enemy now the Soviet Union, the focus shifts to activities in the UK instead of jumping back and forth between Germany and England. The Nazis were comic-book evil, and the soviets are largely unportrayed, so the Eidolans can successfully emerge as the main antagonist. Gretel remains a mystery, but gets some really good scenes, as does increasing sympathetic brother Klaus. While I'm not sure I completely follow the discussion of timelines, which twist and are twisted like Gretel's braids, I do like the ending and haven't a clue where the story will go in Book 3.

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First Third Captivating, the Remainder Deadly Dull

Revisado: 03-27-12

While the characters and their relationships were developing, the book was very good and held my interest. Once the characters became involved in politics and social issues, it ceased to be original and the people just ended up getting jerked around by historical events. There was very little to differentiate one downtrodden lower class kid from another .... Billy or Grigori, not much difference between these hard working good guys. I wish the author had spent more time on the nuances of the characters and less on the politics of the day. He had nothing new to say on the subject of the Russian Revolution. He should read Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna and see how to write a novel about human beings and their place in historic events.

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Too much lame romance, not enough lore

Revisado: 04-14-11

I was constantly cringing at the silly romance and hoping for something to happen. Alas I was disappointed. I wish iTunes/Audible had a jump forward button so I could skip the lame scenes. The setting was promsing -- a world of vampires and witches and demons, mixed with some academia -- but it all seemed secondary to the author's need to play out these incredibly cliched romantic scenes. Yuck!

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It really kept me hooked .... not bad at all

Revisado: 03-03-09

I'm surprised at the bad reviews this book has received. I found it much more compelling in terms of an interesting narrative than half of what I download here on Audible. Though it got a little out there during the last 1/4, I found the rest of the storytelling top notch. I liked the symmetry between the worlds, and there were other nice devices as well.

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Pratchett getting better and better

Revisado: 02-14-08

Supremely entertaining with loads of lovable characters. Though Pratchett is technically working in the realm of light fantasy, he certainly doesn't shy away from complicated ideas. In this book, for instance, someone has built a physical contraption with tubes and liquids that mirrors financial factors at work in the Ankh-Morpork economy -- that pretty much blew my mind! I wish Bernanke had one of those!

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Gaiman is a great narrator!

Revisado: 02-14-08

An excellent and entertaining tale that blends fantasy with modern reality. Gaiman has an imagination that really appeals to me because his extravagantly colorful concoctions are always nourished by a genuine affection for human foibles. What really surprised and delighted me was his rich narrative voice -- he does lots of subtle accents and has a warm musical tone. I was disappointed not to find more of his books self-narrated!

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