QuillBall

Amazing Character Development

Revisado: 04-13-19

A story of three lives and how they relate to each other. There is much depth to each person, you get to know the individuals, but there are still parts of them you have to wonder about. The ending was inconclusive. It left you to finish the story on your own, which I dont really care for, but honestly, it seemed fitting this time. There's not much happening besides feelings and daily life events, but if you love to get to know characters deeply, hear them and feel they are alive somewhere, you'll like this book. The narrator was fantastic as well. very good voice changing for each character and well acted. I will read more books by the author and narrator.

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Poor Story and Narration

Revisado: 11-19-18

I struggled to finish this. The narration started off horrible. Way, way over acted. I've actually started this book three times but could not stand the first chapter. since I was past return date I decided to give it a 4th try. I made it through, but it was suffering the entire way. The same things happening over and over throughout the story just made it seem to go nowhere. The last chapter was just as overrated as th e first. I was glad when it was over. I'm not sure if a different narrator could have saved this book though.

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Not scary, dull narration.

Revisado: 12-14-17

I don't understand the great reviews for this book. My favorite stories are haunted asylums, so I was eager to listen to this one. I couldn't have been more bored. I think the fault lies with the narration. It was so bland. No different voices for the characters, no difference in tone or emotion during scary parts. His voice was thee same when they were in a parked car, chilling, as when they were running for their lives. I got distracted and thought about my Christmas list, or fell asleep while listening. Very disappointed. I doubt I will read anymore in the series. Maybe if a different narrator is used.

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Kept me up late!

Revisado: 11-19-17

I very rarely give out 5 star reviews. A book has to meet many criteria to earn one. In short, they must be totally engrossing, easy to follow, put a "mental movie" in my head that follows along with the narrator, and I become emotionally invested in the characters. There's more, but these are the hardest to meet. This book checks all my boxes. I stayed up too late listening. The narrator was outstanding too, and I don't prefer female narrators. Great with all the voices make and female. There's not much I can say for criticism. I will definitely read more from this author.

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Engrossing!

Revisado: 05-21-17

I was very surprised by this book, as I'm not familiar with the author and this is the first of herr books I havre listened to. I feel the quality of wrriting in horror fiction has decreased in the last few years and I've been disappointed more often than not with what's been offerred. I was not dfisappointed with this book in the least.

The Vanishing is a quite refreshing and original haunted old house tale. What's great about it is an inventive plot, deep character development, and enough scare and suspense to keep it all moving. The estate is well described and I felt immersed into the world Wendy Webb put out there for me. No flowerry language or too much detail as is the case with so Manny other books of the same genre. On the other hand this did not feel like a B movie. Its very well written. I was pulled into the plot and I couldn't wait for time to listen, because there was a carrot in front of my face in regards to the mystery inside the plot all the way through the story.

As far as the narration, I thought it was well done in general. The narrator mostly succeeded in giving different inflections to the individual characters and it went smoothly except for a questionable accent I found pecvuliar. This did not annoy me to the point that it lessened my enjoyment of the book.

I'll definitely be listening to Wendy Webb"s other books.

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Too much of nothing going on

Revisado: 05-18-17

What disappointed you about The Punished?

This was a VERY long book, and had nothing much going on. I thought it was very repetitive, not scary in the least, and boring. I thought of returning the book, but I was so far in, and it was a very effective sleeping pill, I decided to go on with it. I finished it, and moved on with relief to the next book in my library. I didn't understand why anyone would rate this book higher than a 3 star.

What could Peter Meredith have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

It needed a good edit to make it shorter. It needed more action, it needed more horror.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The performance was just average.I really can't judge it because I'm not sure if the narrator failed me on this story, or the writer did. Or both.

What character would you cut from The Punished?

I did not really like any of the characters unfortunately. I don't really even have to like them, especially in horror. None of them gave me much of a feeling of well...anything.

Any additional comments?

I wish the best for this author. I suggest if you have an editor, to get a new one. If you are going to to psychological horror, there has to be more to it than squeaky stairs and weird kids.

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Edge of my bed, gripping story.

Revisado: 05-18-17

What made the experience of listening to Alex the most enjoyable?

I could feel in my own bones the father's fear, desperation, insanity, and annoyance at was was happening. Ian is a very personable character, and I felt the author did an excellent job putting Ian's mind into your own. What this man goes through is a nightmare, and I felt every bit of it. I could not stop listening because I wanted to know WHY!!!!??? The filler in between hauntings is even good. It's definitely a satisfying piece of horror. I rarely give 5 star ratings. I save those for books the really pull me around by my hair. This one did.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Oh, Ian by far. I really felt for him. I was desperate for him, sad for him, broken for him. I wanted to see him...get out of that mess.

What about Marc Vietor’s performance did you like?

You know, the best narrators don't really make you think of their performance, they just make you feel the story and pull you in. He was perfect.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. But I love listening to horror stories right before bed. I save that for "my time". I stayed up way too late so many nights with this book though, lol.

Any additional comments?

Keep writing, I'll keep listening!!! I'll be looking for more of your books Mr. Nicolai.

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Where to start...

Revisado: 05-18-17

Would you try another book from Patrick Logan and/or Michael Pauley?

I'm not sure. I'm staying away for now.

What could Patrick Logan have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

The female main character is irritating. She also says the "f" word far too many times, and with such gusto and sarcasm, it is uncountable. It gets in the way of the story and though the "f" word family (-er, -ing, etc) doesn't bother me, it's so overused by this annoying character that I was totally over it half-way through the story. I started hating the character and hoped she would die in the mental hospital they were stuck in.

What aspect of Michael Pauley’s performance would you have changed?

I think his voice is very robotic and slow. It took a long time for me to get used to it. In fact, I just passed on the book "Skin" because in the first five words of the sample audio clip, I knew it was him. I looked up all the books he has narrated, an this one was in the list. Which reminded me that I needed to review it. He needs to be less intense during the less intense parts of the story, and he needs more inflection in his voice.

Did The Seventh Ward inspire you to do anything?

It inspired me not to read the next in the series. Honestly, the series itself is good. I enjoyed the first book, Shallow Graves, very much. The "fu**ing woman" hadn't shown up yet, so it was much better than the second book.

Any additional comments?

I have a feeling that the female character (Shelly, I think), is going to be central for the rest of the series, so unfortunately, I probably won't be listening to another unless I read reviews otherwise. It's a shame that this one character is killing the series for me. I would have preferred Robert alone. The additions of the two sidekicks makes the second book a little slapstick. I don't like much humor in my horror. And stupid, profanity-laced humor is off-putting for me. Maybe I will try again someday.

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Wasn't Impressed

Revisado: 06-18-16

I think performance audio books are a great concept. I like that each character has its own actor, the music helps set the pace and mood of a scene or location. I have not had the pleasure of listening to many performance audioooks but the few I've come across have been done well. However,I felt Locke & Key disappointed me on several levels.

First, I have to admit I'm not a big fan of Joe Hill. I read Horns and I didn't like it. It went to far into the fantasy realm for me, it was just too weird and kind of silly. I decided to give Locke & Key a shot because the summary interested me and the performance aspect sounded fun.

Honestly, I feel the performance ruined this book. The actors weren't necessarily bad, although sometimes they went way over the top with crying or making weird noises. The problem for me was that the experience was akin to watching a movie and turning down the screen brightness to solid black. In a movie you see the "unspoken details". You see the situations the characters are in, which fills in the blanks during the dialogue. With the screen totally black, you miss out on very important visual clues that would have helped tell the storyi n a richer, more understandable way. Imagine the scene from Hannibal, when he is shown in his mask. Imagine if it was just music, with no narration whatsoever. The whole scene is lost. Movies aren't meant to be just listened to. It is assumed you will also be watching, so thete is no need to add to the dialogue to tell the story.

This is were Locke & Key failed for me. While listening, I was very confused with what was going on, because the dialogue really gave me no clue. There needed to be a narrator setting the scene, or the dialogue needed to be written in a a way that gave the listener more of those visual clues that normal audio books are able to deliver. It's like the editor of Locke & Key stripped out everything but dialogue from the manuscript. I'd be interested in reading the actual hardback version, to compare.

As for the story itself (what I could comprehend of it), it was definitely unique in a good way, though still a bit too weird and fantasy-based for me. However, I would have liked it much better if the stage had been better set throughout the book. I was just not that impressed by it.

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Too much silly relationship drama...

Revisado: 11-07-13

What disappointed you about The Shuddering?

Was this supposed to be a horror book? Did I miss something? The first chapter hooked me, but but then it went all character building and relationship drama for the first third (at least) of the book. I finally gave up because I couldn't deal with the 90210 storyline, I didn't really care what happened to the characters anyway.

Has The Shuddering turned you off from other books in this genre?

Nope.

What aspect of Luke Daniels’s performance would you have changed?

The female voices were very bad. :( Otherwise, he was good.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment. For sure. I'm not sure I will read anything by this author again.

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