britishbob

More stodge than plot

Revisado: 11-27-23

After listening to this book I am left with more questions than answers.

A good one might be how comes this book lasts over ten hours when largely it just repeats the same (largely unsubstantiated) information over and over?

The body of the book is a series of interviews with almost no one being named. These interviews make a number of allegations against a few people who are named, and the odd one or two who are not.

This leads to a number of other questions such as why name people such as Dominic Cummings, Micheal Gove etc but leave a shadowy figure known as "Doctor No" unnamed?

If you're sure of your ground why not "publish and be damned?"

As I wrote earlier, the main body of this book is a number of allegations made in interview by people who prefer not to be named against a number of political players (one of them being the current Prime Minister) which tends to tread the same ground over and over until the listener can pretty much predict the next line coming.

So there it is! The short version! Unlike the highly padded book.

Whilst the book itself is long winded and somewhat boring it does pose a question not contained within its pages.

Why have none of the people named (and unnamed) come out and refuted the contents and allegations?

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A rip off

Revisado: 09-12-21

This book goes under the Picard header and while it might be set in that universe it could have been just as easily filed under just Star Trek.

Focused on Riker this book drones on for around 12 hours (which could have shortened to around 6) and Picard appears for around 15 minutes in all.

The narrator is poor and the story contains no surprises. If it was a physical copy I would have thrown it into a trash can.

Needless to say it will take me a great deal to even consider another.

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Just bad

Revisado: 07-22-20

After a (roughly) 6 year wait since the last full length story I had been looking forward to this.

Sadly I shouldn't have!

It sounds like what it is.... Jim Butcher (or his publishers) taking fans for granted and carving one book into two.

James Masters sounds like he recorded with lock down blues.

The story introduced a new villain only to see our hero schedule the battle on his calendar.... Oh and there's another book on the way (surprise.)

Jim Butcher seems to be more interested in other things (like Spiderman) these days and obviously doesn't bother with pride in his work.

Sorry....This is just bad!

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Dead Book

Revisado: 02-27-19

So glad to pop in here to see if it was me or not and find out it's not!

I generally love Peter Clines but even Ray Porter seems to read this book meh.

I've got about 2 1/4 hours left and I'm not sure if I'll finish.

I don't usually read reviews while I'm actually reading the book but as I said I wondered whether it was me struggling or whether anyone else was too.

It doesn't really give me any satisfaction to know I wasn't the only one mugged

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Not one of Clancy's finest moments

Revisado: 12-15-18

In ye olde days of print I read a lot of Tom Clancy so I decided to catch up on some of the audio work.

I regretted this one shortly into it and remembered what had given me the hump about it when I read the print edition more than a decade ago.

Clancy was an author with a reputation for research but I always found he could be incredibly sloppy, especially when his work involved Britain. I hope that his other research was better but on the examples I've heard I maybe doubt it.

Case in point is Patriot Games. Clancy uses as his backdrop the Northern Irish troubles.and its encroachment into England.

No problem with that, in fact it was a good foil to introduce his recurring hero but that's pretty much it .

Once again Clancy engages in sloppy research to bolster the story but as a result keeps removing the reader from suspension of disbelief.

Having lived in England at the time of these troubles and having been far closer to some of the bombings than I would liked to have been I feel a little qualified to comment.

The Irish Republican Army (I.R.A.) was largely divided into two. (and I will come to a point that you will understand)

Sinn Fein was the political wing of the I.R.A.

The Provisional wing of the I.R.A. were the terrorists (I have no doubt they would refer to themselves as freedom fighters.)

Because of this division, in the British Isles they were either refereed to as either "The I.R.A." or "Sinn Fein" depending on the activity and they were known in Northern Ireland as "The Provo's."

At no point were they ever refereed as the P.I.R.A.!

This may sound a little pedantic however imagine trying to read/listen if you were doing so with even just a little knowledge of the history of the troubles to constantly hear/read P.I.R.A.

I believe there is also a reference to the I.R.A. not dealing in "hard drugs" making them look whiter than white. From my knowledge the I.R.A. dealt in drugs in Northern Ireland to fund their weapons/explosive purchases. I don't claim to be an expert, just passing what was common knowledge.

I am wondering if Clancy was blinkered by Catholicism?

So the book is grossly inaccurate however it's a work of fiction right? Sorry. Not when it constantly suspends the readers disbelief .

As for Scott Brick.....I've heard him read better than this. His accents are poor and leads to some confusion when moving betwixt some of the players. In a fairly complicated plot that is not a good thing.

So all in all not one of Clancy's finest moments and rather spoiled Jack Ryan's introduction

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Torture

Revisado: 09-19-18

There is little to say about this book. Even less that’s good. To be fair the concept isn’t bad but the story spend too much time going from point a to point c forgetting that there was a point b somewhere in the middle. As to Liam Owen (the reader.... can’t be called a narrator) if there was one one way to drive off an invading superior hoard of aliens...... have this guy read them a bedtime story.... that will send them home in a hurry. In all honesty it was difficult to grasp how good or bad this book was because of the pitiful reading. The reader sounded happy when portraying the death of a family member. I would live forever not to have this guy read the eulogy at my funeral.

At the end of this book there was an ominous “end of volume one” message. If the publisher and author are serious then I have some advice. Have this book re read by someone with some chops and reissue it to all of the current owners whilst inviting them to the dawn execution (behind the outhouse) of this narrator.

Unless you like torture don’t touch this book with a 10ft bargepole.

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Contractual Obligation Book

Revisado: 08-06-18

With "Peace Talks" obviously at an impasse Jim Butcher spews out this nonsense to fulfill his contractual obligations and quell the discontent in Dresden fans.

I really never thought I would hear a Dresden book that is as poor as this one is.

Only one new story and not really a good one either. the others are barely ok (if you hadn't already heard them or bought them in other forms.) I don't know about anyone else but I buy these books to hear the adventures of Harry Dresden but we have two stories about Molly, and some stories involving a couple of wardens where Harry never really appears except in a name check..

I have no objection to hearing stories about Molly and others but similarly I might not go out of my way to buy them either and I certainly don't expect to hear them when I thought I was buying a Harry Dresden book. I know the cover states "More stories from The Dresden Files." but I don't go to a car dealer and have him tell me a go-cart is a car because they both have four wheels!

The stories contained are poor and seem to have put out in desperation because the promised "Peace Talks" is now so late it might as well be working for an airline.

Had I known I wouldn't have touched this with a 10ft barge pole.

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Meh

Revisado: 12-07-17

This was always likely. The Martian was outstanding and this is the follow up with such high expectations. As usual there will be the usual ravers following along like sheep but at the end of the day this was just a “caper story” set on the moon.

I do think, if Mr. Weir were inclined it would make a reasonable start for a series but even that has been done before and better (The Retrieval Artist series by Kristine Kathryn’s Rusch for example.)

So for all the “push” Audible gave this.... save a credit, this is only meh

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A surprise

Revisado: 05-20-17

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. If you buy it expecting a "standalone" with everything neatly tied up with a bow at the end then you will be disappointed as it is obviously a kick off for a series. The ending is a little unexpected but was obviously written with further books in mind.

The story was reasonably original but in the areas it starts to falter the excellent Todd Bryce has enough in him to keep the listener interested.

I bought both books in the series (so far) at once so it mitigated the low key ending knowing that the second half will follow as soon as I press play and (without hearing the second) I would recommend any potential listener do the same. This is a book I could listen to again.

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A Monsterously Fishy Tale.

Revisado: 05-15-17

I am guessing this author went for a vacation in Scotland and got captured by the myth of Nessie, what we have here is a story so obviously of a foreign land by an American.

Stories (especially audio) rely very heavily on a suspension of disbelief and this one fails spectacularly as the listener is constantly dragged out of that state time and time again with very obvious mistakes.

Firstly, why would anyone have a story based largely in Scotland relying heavily on regional accents choose an American for their narrator unless that narrator was especially gifted? And of course....This one isn't!
Not that he does a bad job, it's just that the material is unsuited.

Now for the author!

I thought that this book must have been written by the comedian "Steve Allen;" so laughably flawed is the execution of the story. Time and time again disbelief is suspended by the most basic of errors which shows that all of the research went into Nessie rather than constructing a story.

I hope the author made money from this book because it's obvious from that research that none was done into life in the British Isles, let alone Scotland.
Obviously I have a small advantage as I was raised in these isles but I say small as I have never been lucky enough to visit Scotland.


So let's dissect some of these flaws and I promise to try not to spoil.....

In the court room scenes the American practice of "Objection and Sustained" are not any part of any U.K. courtroom.

Later the "flawed hero" travels to see a vet on a Harley Davidson which apparently was "magiced" out of his backside!

We are (by this time) two thirds of the way into the book and there has been no previous mention of the hero being able to ride, let alone having access to such a machine.

This aside from the fact that Harley's in the U.K. are as rare as (here it comes....) Nessie droppings. I lived in an area where exotic vehicles were an every day sight but the number of Harley's....... I wouldn't have had to take my socks off to count..... In my life!

At the end of this journey on this American iconic stallion we find that the vet is (what a surprise...) American.

The hero then goes through a song and dance with the vet involving some question of legality where upon he declares that he was bitten by Pit Bull dogs.

Dear Mr. Allen,

Her Majesties Government specifically outlawed Pit Bulls in the year of our lord 1991 under what was introduced as the "Dangerous Dogs Act."

Under this act (after a number of attacks by Pit Bull dogs) the breed was specifically neutered so that it would die out and living Pit Bulls were required to be muzzled while outside.
If any vet questioning the possible legality of what they were about to assist the hero with had been told this story klaxons would have been sounding and the police would have been called.

The area of Loch Ness has so many Americans inhabiting it there would be no room for locals.

Has there ever been a good book where the ever so mysterious (and ever popular stage villains) Knights Templar are involved?

And those are just the flaws that come easily to mind.

I think if anyone is still reading this klaxons will be sounding for them too.

Don't waste a credit, don't waste any money!

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