Ian Rowlands

Not the Scalzi I love

Revisado: 06-26-23

Oddly enough, it’s only the add-on “codas” that really work for me. I’ve like Mr. Scalzi’s other books, but the set-up for this one is long and creaky, and the characterization too long to TV SciFi soaps the book parodies.

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Jolly fun, let down by the performance.

Revisado: 01-02-21

This is great fun, and it’s a fair plot — but the author could have spent more time reading P. G. Wodehouse for period fidelity. And an English reader would have avoided the dreadful errors in pronunciation. No educated English reader would rhyme “mater” and “pater” with “matter”, pronounce “Morris” as “Moors”, or wrongly accent “Fenella”. Producer, please fix this for future episodes!

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Lightweight, but fun

Revisado: 05-12-20

There’s really nothing new in this “great course”, but it’s a decent flyover of Price Albert’s career. Perhaps there are no great new insights to be gleaned, but an evenhanded view, with a nod to major earlier sources, is a pleasant way to spend a few hours.

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Not Grainger's Best, Short, Poor Value.

Revisado: 11-22-19

OK, I get that this is first in a series, but I was really disappointed after the excellence of the "King's Lake" books. The central characters are shallow, and the plot is contrived. Seems Mr. Grainger has more background to draw on for the police procedural.

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A Great Improvement, but still SHORT.

Revisado: 11-22-19

The second in this series is much better than the first -- perhaps because of the "reality" of the background of an army veteran, struggling with the necessities of war. But the "Willow and Lane" partnership goes nowhere, as Willow is all but invisible. Either they get it together, or I'm out of her!

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Feels though it was cut to size

Revisado: 09-13-19

This is a pretty decent story, well read -- but the plot deserves more fleshing out. Characters and story lines are left hanging all over the place, and the wrap up in the epilogue feels very rushed. M/s. McTiernan should write the full-length version!

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Decent Plot, Engaging Characters, Weird Narration!

Revisado: 03-19-19

Sophie Allen is a charmer. Her team seem ok. The villains are suitably villainous. A simple story gradually gets more complex, but the clues are all there and the denouement works well. The locations are good, and well described. Who decided that it made any sense to have an Australian Narrator? Nothing against Cat Gould ... but she reads Australian, and this book is English. The characters are very specifically located, and her accent and bogus attempts to simulate regional presence just don't work. Is it that Tantor has a stable of narrators? For some reason I've found the same problem with other Tantor productions.

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The Minds That Reshaped Thougt

Revisado: 07-10-18

To make the intertwined lives and ideas of Danny Kahneman and Amos Tversky understandable is an achievement. I had to listen in chunks and then stop to digest — and to pursue references cited. To see how these two men forever reshaped our understanding of understanding, and the vast impact of their ideas, has been thrilling.

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Better Story, Performance still a huge miss

Revisado: 06-11-18

There's a decent plot, and the use of the fenland marshes as a back drop works well. The prime actors are engaging -- and M/s. Ellis has a nice line in nasties and dark threads to a story. The denouement is a little forced, but the book is still worth a pass. What baffles me is the use of Henrietta Meire -- a skilled actress in regular work, and performer on other audio books -- but unaccountably unable to pronounce common English words and handle the very specific regional accents. Perhaps Tantor has a stable and she's the best fit? Whatever the case, it detracts from the experience. With a better performance and some tighter editing this might even be a four star listen. Given that there are many less expensive books on audible, it's disappointing.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Stuck with it -- Wish I hadn't: Poor Performance.

Revisado: 06-07-18

Joe Jameson trained for the stage and has narrated a lot of audio books. I'm going to assume this wasn't one of his best. He doesn't get accent or tone of voice right ... unless he's trying for parody. And he was the best of the cast, by a fairly long way. It's a decent story -- The modern day consequence of nasty Cambridge high jinks, and captures the feel of the post-Thatcherite political scene.Sadly the ending is (no pun intended) a cop-out. I like more character to characters, but that might be just me. All in all, OK for beach or in-flight listening. Not worth an Audible credit..

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