Greg & Amy Norman

A fun story, if a bit similar to Taylor's other work

Revisado: 12-31-24

This was an amusing tale but it's hard not to think of it as in the same vein as the Bobiverse, with a somewhat cynical but intelligent protagonist figuring out clever solutions to out-of-this-world technical challenges using a sentient computer. Think of it as a spiritual companion to that series.

Ray Porter does great narration but his voice and the writing style make it hard not to hear Bob - a feeling that did dissipate quite a bit as the story goes on, until I was pretty fully on-board by the end. I regularly expected the hero to refer to a sentient computer as Guppy on several occasions though (a reference any Bobiverse reader will get).

Overall, the story doesn't go quite where you expect, and without spoiling anything it turns out to be more about of an examination of our modern belief systems and the dangers of disinformation as much as an alien contact adventure.

But hints of classic movies like Explorers and Flight of the Navigator make it a pretty good time.

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Simple but well-produced science story

Revisado: 12-31-24

A bit of X-Files and a bit of Contact. A well-made and well-acted full cast production. The mystery is less important than the impressive amount of personal growth covered in a less than 3 hour story.

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Lovely poetic sci-fi love story

Revisado: 12-25-24

Dense in language but still beautiful to listen to. A sometimes witty and often sublime vision of two star- and time-crossed lovers. I struggled a bit with some of the narrative and reveals, as it dives deep into metaphor (or not metaphor, it wasn't clear) but even then I enjoyed hearing it unfold.

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A fantastic performance of my favorite book

Revisado: 11-10-24

A literary classic, and a wonderful, inspirational tale. Adams spins an amazing, heartfelt story of courage and cleverness, and Capaldi reads it in the spirit of the great storytellers found in any burrow passing legends onto the young.

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An epic tale told masterfully

Revisado: 10-26-24

I thought I really knew this classic Tolkien history, but I really didn't. This is a great summary of one of the major parts of Tolkien's mythology, told in a deeply informative way by two narrators who each tell the story and then interject contextual facts about Tolkien's creative process and other complementary or even deviating pieces of writing. Both narrators do a great job of weaving the tale while also providing the context around the story. Given Tolkien's prolific creativity and the evolutionary nature of his writing, this is the best format for telling this kind of story while also respecting the detailed but still limited insight we have into what Tolkien ultimately wanted the story to be and how it fit into his overall legends.

I'll also add that for any fans of the Rings of Power series, this book provides great context and far more detail about the events that were adapted into that format (for which the title itself is a pretty major spoiler...). And for anyone who isn't a fan of that show and really wants to know the most definitive version of the tale as we know Tolkien intended it, this book is for you too.

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Essential High Republic story, well-told

Revisado: 10-19-24

One of the better High Republic books. A great combination of tension, mystery, and inner turmoil.

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An incredible classic and performance

Revisado: 10-13-24

The most impressive thing about 1984 is that it's still just as frightening as ever, and just as prescient about the systems that control us, even four decades after the time of its predicted events. And this dramatic performance by an incredible cast really brings to life both the bleakness of this reality and the horror of how anyone can be broken. This is one of the best ways to experience this story.

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A light but fun one from Scalzi

Revisado: 10-11-24

A fun premise and entertaining story. It's surprisingly a bit light on actually villainy, dealing primarily with infighting among villainous types once the ball gets rolling. I think it would have been nice to actually see the protagonist at least being torn about carrying out some morally questionable acts at some point to meet his goals. As it is, it feels like another wish fulfillment story by a clever author about a character inserted into an outrageous situation and doing clever things, in an overall tale about greed and workers' rights.

But for all that it's still a relatively short but fun tale, with some intriguing and even laugh-inducing character and even non-human interactions that shouldn't be spoiled.

I'm also a big Wil Wheaton fan but have mixed feelings about his audiobooks - he usually does a great job but I have trouble not just hearing Wil Wheaton. He really knocks it out of the park with this one though - I guess it's the kind of first-person story he's a great fit for.

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Entertaining and mature middle-grade story

Revisado: 10-05-24

Good and surprisingly dark middle-grade High Republic story. Some great new characters from interesting backgrounds, and some major developments that could have significant impact on the rest of this final High Republic phase.

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Essential reading for autists, parents, teachers, and healthcare providers. Well, everyone.

Revisado: 04-09-24

Puts the entire history and current direction of our understanding of autism and neurodivergence into complete perspective. Heartbreaking at times, but always enlightening.

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