Nate Card

Excellent love story

Revisado: 09-07-22

This rivaled the Notebook! A little steamy, but I loved it! A great love story.

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Waste of time

Revisado: 08-13-22

Worst book I read this year. The setting was a mansion with limited interest, the overall plot has been done much better in other stories, and the characters were too numerous and too dull. The Dutch House was one of my favorite books of the last year… disappointed in this one!

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Story and Sacrifice

Revisado: 05-11-19

Seven Blades in Black marks a step forward and an achievement in the career of Sykes as a novelist. A smart, tightly written story with compellingly human characters, 7BiB is an exciting and entertaining listen. But what makes this story so impactful is how each of its elements cohesively works together to emphasize 7BiB’s central theme: Sacrifice.

Sacrifice permeates the story: the characters, the settings, the plot, even the mechanics of this science-fantasy world all hinge on sacrifice. Many of our greatest stories use this same theme, but 7BiB strives to expand its possibilities. In addition to more common variations on this theme: sacrifice of self, body, life, time; 7BiB asks what if you sacrificed your faith? Your relationships? Your identity? When is sacrifice worthwhile? Or justified? The magic system in particular encapsulates this theme beautifully: 7BiB’s world contains a variety of types of magic users, but the universal rule is that each “style” of power has a cost that is often appropriate (or appropriately ironic) and feels very logical in this setting.

I also appreciate how Sykes approaches world-building in 7BiB. A major trapping in science-fiction and fantasy is how you introduce a reader to your completely alien world. It’s a difficult balancing act: too much exposition early on and the reader becomes bored, too little explanation and the reader is confused or lost. 7BiB is a masterclass in this concept: the world and its mechanics are revealed piecewise throughout the story as they come up, and in a straightforward manner as if the protagonist were giving the reader a tour. This actually makes a lot of sense in-story due to a clever framing device in which the protagonist is recounting her actions to someone who is only slightly less ignorant than the reader.

Despite how approachable the story is, 7BiB is also gleefully bizarre. If the prospect of Tarantino’s Kill Bill set in a science-fantasy world is not weird enough, 7BiB is also partially influenced by John Carpenter’s The Thing and even 90s role-playing video games. While listening I could almost see the dialogue appearing as white text in a blue box (if you understood that reference, you’ll have a good time with this book).

The last praise I’ll heap on 7BiB is how gratifying the story ends up being. Despite its designation as the first part of a series, 7BiB tells a complete, self-contained story that left me highly satisfied, which is so refreshing in the mercilessly serialized landscape of modern fantasy novels. Not to say that I couldn’t imagine the story of 7BiB continuing, which I would be excited to experience.

To sum up, Seven Blades in Black is smartly written, entertaining, thematically cohesive, delightfully weird (yet extremely approachable), and highly satisfying. I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants a rich, full story.

P.S.
May’s reading is clear, engaging, and fun to listen to. No worries there.

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esto le resultó útil a 11 personas

Honest and Approachable

Revisado: 04-15-18

The Virility Paradox is an honest exploration of how testosterone affects men, women, and modern society. I emphasize “honest” because, to me, that is the most striking feature of this work: the author is always careful to point out the distinctions between accepted facts, hypotheses, and his personal opinions; any data or statistics presented are clarified with how they might be misleading or insignificant. I find this honesty refreshing in the overwhelmingly sensationalized landscape of modern pop-science.

The value in reading The Virility Paradox comes from understanding the benefits and risks of both raised and lowered testosterone. Indeed, this is the titular “paradox” the author explores in detail. In addition to delving into topics one normally associates with testosterone (sports, sex, aggression), the author also demonstrates the significant impact testosterone has on other aspects of life: careers, aging, even poetry.

Often during my time with this book, I have reflected on how testosterone has influenced my life, behavior, and decisions. By helping us see through the fog of our hormones, we stand a chance of wresting a modicum of control from our biology. This, to me, is the greatest treasure to be gleamed from The Virility Paradox.

This book really comes alive for me during the author’s personal anecdotes, which he uses to frame each concept he explores. The author is a doctor who studies, treats, and specializes in prostate cancer, so most of his stories are about his patients, but a few are about his family or himself. Every anecdote feels personal, sincere, and heartfelt. Some are tragic while others are humorous. They serve as a kind reminder that there still are people (like the author) who dedicate their lives to good and valuable things that improve the world.

As for the vocal performance, P. J. Ochlan’s diction and inflection are always clear and appropriate, which is all anyone can ask from a non-fiction reading.

I heartily recommend The Virility Paradox to anyone who enjoys learning, especially about themselves. The author explains his research in an approachable and enjoyable manner, so fear not if you do not have prior knowledge in this subject; I certainly did not.

Happy listening!

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Chaos and Characters

Revisado: 12-20-17

The City Stained Red is a fantasy novel, but only in an aesthetic sense. Sure, there's magic, monsters, demons, and swordfights, but the author has chosen to subvert standard fantasy storytelling tropes like heavy exposition, heroic protagonists, or even a clear division between good and evil. These subversions all feed perfectly into the central theme of the novel: chaos. The world of The City Stained Red is dirty, disorderly, and cruel; and the protagonists (I hesitate to call them “the good guys”) are not here to fix it.

The story opens in medias res (kind of), so instead of learning about the protagonists via exposition, their characters are revealed through their actions and interaction with each other and the world. Each has a unique way of coping with the immense chaos of the setting, so any reader will be able to identify well with at least one of them: whether the reader would just want to leave the chaos behind, try to find personal connection in the chaos, try to help others in the chaos, be at home in the chaos, look down on the chaos through a lens of simple axiomatic truths, or try to control the chaos by (literally) burning it all down.

The structure of the story eschews standard fantasy arcs like redemption or ordained quests, instead choosing to follow this scenario to fruition: what if six uniquely powerful people with various levels of decision-making skills entered a city like Jerusalem at the peak of Roman occupation? “Powder keg” is an understatement. The protagonists are broken people in a broken world, so of course their stories can come across as dirty and disjointed. One character is revealed to be a terrible (almost vile) human being, but instead of being given a chance for redemption, his arc completes when he realizes and accepts that he is a monster.

I do not want to leave the impression that this book is overall dower or dreary; it is actually a very fun read. The author often portrays the most chaotic moments as whacky hijinks; the dialogue and descriptions are freckled with wit and hilarious analogies. David DeSantos’ performance is fantastic: despite the large number of main characters, he is able to make each voice instantly recognizable and characteristically appropriate. Bravo! I sincerely hope that Audible commissions his performance for the other novels in this series.

If you enjoy fantasy novels, read this book. If you enjoy wit and humor, read this book. If you are in the mood for something unusual, read this book.

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esto le resultó útil a 16 personas