B. Williams

This one hurt

Revisado: 04-30-25

Was really looking forward to this one as I’m a big fan of a lot of PFHs other work but this one was such a slog I only made it to chapter 7 before calling it quits. I feel like all these positive reviews are being a bit dishonest for some reason.
The setting itself feels overstuffed and everything requires lengthy exposition which is bad enough, but the narrator, my god. Im sure he would sound great reading some Charles Dickens but an accent that strong with a sci-fi book was about as jarring as having Parker Posey going full White Lotus narrating a book by Ian Banks.

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Prepare to be lost

Revisado: 03-03-25

While I loved Captives War, this felt like a bit of a mess, not just because it’s all about an aspect of the universe that the first book never really mentioned, but because it jumps around in time so much it’s hard to figure out where you’re at at any given moment…to be this confusing in a three chapter novella is kind surprising.

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Expanse who?

Revisado: 02-19-25

First things first, I don’t know who wrote the description for this book but it is more than just a simple tease of what the book is about it is the entirety of the plot which is a little weird.

This book really showcases the Corey Duo’s greatest strength, character and unobtrusive world building. From the way future humans build structures, the cultures of multiple alien species, all the way down to the blink and you’ll miss it explanation as to why the humans you’re reading about seem not to know about earth, it is all handled deftly with little obvious exposition.

My biggest take away from this book though is that I almost feel like it grazed me with PTSD. It’s been a long time since I’ve had nightmares because of a book I was reading but this managed to affect the animal parts of my brain that reject captivity so much that I had not one but several in the course of making my way through this.

This book isn’t what expected but already it promises to outshine The Expanse in both its scope and intensity. Highly recommended.

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He caught lightening in a bottle TWICE

Revisado: 09-10-24

I was hesitant to listen to this one after I found Artemis kind of disappointing compared to The Martian, but on the insistence of a coworker I gave this a shot and am so glad I did.
I don’t envy Weir his specialty because while the science he uses in his books isn’t really complicated, there is a lot of it and it is woven seamlessly into a really exciting high stakes story. I was shocked to find that I was just as engaged…if not more…as I was with The Martian. Brilliant book. If you are a science nerd you’ll probably reach your conclusions quicker than the main character does but seeing the deductive path laid out in this fashion is engaging and exciting. You’ll love it. Also….ALIENS!

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A different yet worthy sequel

Revisado: 01-03-24

Just like the previous book this one was excellent and the narrator for the audiobook is absolutely perfect. I was kind of surprised because of the wildly different nature of the story but I ended up enjoying this one almost as much as the first one.
One minor criticism though, while I do love Harris’s style of character and dialogue writing, her imagery during high intensity scenes can be a bit lacking and occasionally leave the reader floundering for something to latch on to.

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Probably my favorite retelling of the Edda

Revisado: 12-15-23

Not remotely as “faithful or complete” as Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology which had a lot of poetic license already, but this is infinitely more enjoyable. No, you won’t get grand battles or perfectly painted scenes, what this is is a brilliant character study with probably the most perfectly chosen narrator I’ve ever heard for an audio book. Now to dive directly into the sequel which is bound to be a wild ride. Love this one.

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Same old same old

Revisado: 06-14-21

It’s hard to write a completely objective review for this (audiobook) as a fan of the initial iteration of this team put together by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning during Annihilation Conquest. That being said, the rewrite by Bendis meant to bring them more in line with the movies is known to me and I understand the thinking behind trying to capitalize on the movies.

So here, the problem arises that when you try to ape the movies in tone over and over again the themes become stuck in a rut. As you probably already know the theme is “family from strangers” blah blah blah. Fine the first 3,000 times you see it but frankly regardless of how original a story is, if you don’t switch up the themes occasionally then even new material feels like the same old same old. It doesn’t mean the writing is bad, just more predictable than it should be. This has kind of been the problem of every writer for GotG in the comics since they were changed/retconned.

For the audiobook itself, my criticism is the same as others I’ve seen. At times Rocket and Quill’s voices are indistinguishable, especially if they’re yelling, which can be a bit confusing at times, mostly during action sequences. I also feel like the sound design was a little lacking in parts as illustrated by someone walking into a Kree lab and you hear the squeaky hinges on a door...doesn’t really make a lot of sense.

All in all, while the writing, dialogue, pacing and everything is decent, inconsistencies in the audio and an extremely predictable plot by way of the theme makes this an average experience all the way around. Only check this out if you’re just dying for some GotG content.

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Don’t expect an objective viewpoint

Revisado: 05-13-21

Got this audiobook hoping for an objective history on the government’s psychic research programs but Jacobsen wears her biases on her sleeve. This finally becomes explained at the end of the book with her own account of her interviews with Geller over the years.
The rest of the book is meticulously detailed and very thorough, but it is still tainted by the authors personal bias, although it does remain interesting.
The only other issue I had with this otherwise ok audiobook was Jacobsen’s performance as narrator. She reads so incredibly slow, this is the first audiobook I’ve ever been able to listen to at 3x+ speed and still understand every word.

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It’s alright

Revisado: 02-26-21

Informative if a little dry. I’ve read/listened to a decent number of pirate history books at this point and if you have too this is good but not what I’d call necessary reading. The broad stokes of Blackbeard’s career are mostly what people have to go on so it feels like there was a good bit of filler in here.
Still well done, I was just hoping for more about the man than I’d already heard elsewhere.

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Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy with violence

Revisado: 06-15-20

The title to this review pretty much sums it up. Amazing production, performance, and story. Dan Abnett proves once again that he’s the only person that should be allowed to write a GotG story.

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