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Light and Fun

Revisado: 06-02-24

The audio equivalent of a page-turner and a palate cleanser, this title offers a relaxing step back from world-ending quests to peer into a peaceful vista on a distant shore. The book conveys a tremendous sense of "community" - of characters and friends lending each other a hand or paw out of mutual goodwill to build each other up.

Of course, the dozy peace doesn't last forever, and ultimately the characters must come to grips with both rising mystery and looming danger as echoes from the wider world encroach upon the town. Unexpected twists, new companions, and daring schemes converge to give the title a satisfying edge of tenacity and heroics - like cinnamon spiced atop a savory tea.

The prose in particular merits attention and praise. In a literary world increasingly populated with mass produced web serials, one will often struggle to find titles which add any sort of embellishment to their descriptions. It seems few authors strive to paint pictures with their words, of late. This title proves a refreshing exception to that trend.

It also manages to avoid a literary pet peeve of mine. Very often, in many titles, writers will get lazy and use "[ Character ] said" as a dialogue pointer, to indicate who's talking and when. It's extremely stale writing which gets repetitive and grating very quickly. This novel largely avoids that pitfall by taking the richer, more descriptive approach, using the actions of the characters themselves to direct the spotlight. This lends more dynamism to the piece and helps better immerse the listener in the ongoing events of the setting.

There's little things I could nitpick - but, let's be honest: nitpicking isn't valid criticism. Often times I find myself needing to take a break from an audiobook after a few hours, but this one flew right by in one shot. A worthy addition to anyone's library.

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Abysmal Prose

Revisado: 05-30-24

I forgot how objectively bad the prose can be for this series.

"I AM A KING!" - repeated maybe a thousand times in one chapter?
"But it's slaves!" - repeated another thousand times in another chapter?

Obviously this is a high-output webseries, subject to stream-of-consciousness composition and very little retrospective polish - but that only forgives so much. Eventually the sheer repetition and generally sloppy composition grates too hard on the nerves.

This problem extends beyond simple phrases - even individual verbs and adjectives will get immediately reused, even within the same sentence. And let's not forget how everyone's response to everything seems to be to "stare" at it.

While I generally enjoy the Wandering Inn and wish the author continued success, this book in particular is a DNF for me. Abysmal prose.

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Wikipedia Articles: The Novel

Revisado: 05-30-24

I can forgive the gradeschool level number crunching. I can overlook the rudimentary physics intermingled with magic voodoo space bacterium. I can almost (almost) look past the main character emphasizing how much he... "likes kids..." in one of the opening chapters...

But you lost me when one of your first thoughts when interacting with a new species was "wHaT aRe ThEiR pRoNoUnS???"

Space isn't Twitter.

The novel has a lot of modern socio-political commentary/contamination splattered throughout it, and it gets harder to ignore as the novel progresses and the stakes increase.
As but one example among many, as a lead figure is in the process of assembling a team for a high-risk all-or-nothing suicide mission, the main character's primary dialogue and concern seems to be racism and sexism - making sure this all-or-nothing gambit has "proper social representation." Never mind that the whole species is going to freeze and die if this mission fails - we gotta get our modern messaging out there! It's just comically bad.

And it's a shame, too. Because the story's pacing and use of scene transitions is generally excellent, and the performance is very good. But you can only hit so many potholes before you just get disgusted and veer off to spend your time on a different road.

I will be avoiding future titles from this author.

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Oh, how delightfully British!

Revisado: 07-29-22

As someone who grew up with the likes of Brian Jacques, CS Lewis, and Tolkien, it can be hard to find authors who demonstrate that characteristic British mastery of prose. This title delivers in spades, with candid witticisms and interwoven descriptions aplenty. The narrator's performance compliments the writing wonderfully.

I could criticize the story for its length, perhaps - it feels like it glosses over a lot of potential challenges and obstacles, especially as it gets near the end - but perhaps all that means is that the title left me hungering for more. Whatever its faults, this was nevertheless a very enjoyable listen. Would recommend.

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What an adventure!

Revisado: 02-19-21

One of the strongest works in the legendary Redwall series, the Bellmaker takes the audience along for a rousing adventure across high seas and distant lands, in a compelling rendition of the classic struggle between good and evil. Tenacious heroes find themselves battling against terrible vermin, ruthless nature, and grim odds as they strive to bring peace and freedom to the foreign realm of Southsward.

Courage and valor, humour and tragedy, good food and better companions - it's all here, delivered in the rich descriptive style Jacques has always kept as his signature. The cast does a generally excellent job delivering the performance, and Jacques' narration is, as always, robust and on-point.

If there were any single Redwall audiobook I would recommend above all others, it would be the Bellmaker, You can't go wrong with this timeless title. A wonderful story, for young and old alike.

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An entertaining listen

Revisado: 12-02-20

Well written - good pacing, compelling action, and a few nice plot twists tying everything together. Performance is generally strong. A fine addition to the Audible Originals library, and a fun way to spend an evening if you're looking for a nice piece of good old fashioned Western justice.

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Strong performance kneecapped by weak storytelling

Revisado: 08-23-20

Painful to revisit - character and writing flaws are much harder to forgive once the initial experience of "what's next?" wears away. Socially belligerent, sexist, generally confrontational lead characters who have no idea what they're doing and make hopelessly rash and self-destructive decisions for no good reason.

Parsneau's performance is the saving grace for this volume, and I would almost consider the title worth buying on that basis alone. It's a rough ride, though - you can definitely tell the author's still "learning the ropes."

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