Harry

Not for Me

Revisado: 05-25-21

This is a great podcast if you want long rants on Lord of the Rings and woke culture. Unfortunately, I wanted to listen to people discuss Pratchett.
I could go on but I won't. I'll just say it's bad. It's trying to justify every joke by today's standards of what is deemed appropriate bad. It's Pratchett meant this (and even went so far as to say in multiple interviews he meant this and nothing else) but let's pretend he meant this instead so the book fits in-line with woke culture bad.
I think people who hate the humor of Discworld and wish someone could come along and make the books unfunny will love this podcast. As the title of my review says though, it's just "Not for Me.:

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

A rare misstep for a literary master

Revisado: 12-10-12

I love reading books written by Jose Saramago. I find him both insightful and tremendously amusing. It is a rare talent that can write the way he can.
Unfortunately, Cain was a rare misstep. It is full of bitterness and hate. I understand that people have different views on God. I am perfectly willing and appreciate reading or listening to others views. The problem with Cain is that Saramago doesn't set up a good argument. He starts by claiming that God is evil and then goes on to show again and again that God cannot be trusted and that nothing good can come of any dealings with God.
I do not fault Saramago for his stance. I have read other books that portray God in a less than favorable light and have loved them.
The trick is that the argument needs to be balanced. Both good and bad need to be shown and then the reader is free to make up his own mind. Here we get nothing but propaganda. There is no intelligent argument, prevalent in all other Saramago works, there is only the one-sided rantings of a bitter man.
This books pains me and writing a bad review for a novel by my favorite author pains me more. Alas, I cannot in good conscience say that this book is anywhere near what Saramago is capable of.
I expected a lot more.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Great Start to a Trilogy

Revisado: 11-19-12

This is a great start to what promises to be a great trilogy. I have been wanting to read this trilogy for a while but never had the time. I am glad that Audible.com finally stocked the unabridged version.
The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because there are a few grammar mistakes. For instance the word dived instead of dove. I found these to be jarring and take me out of the story. It is nothing too bad but I think 5 stars should be saved for perfection.

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Misleading but GREAT!!!

Revisado: 04-09-12

This isn't really the story of Darth Plagueis as the title and description would have you believe. In fact he rarely appears in the second half of the book. It gives very little information on his trying to use the force to extend his life. If Darth Plagueis interests you, this book will hold your interest but not answer all your questions.
What this book really focuses on is Darth Sidious and the events that led up to Episode 1. What I can't understand is why they didn't just call it Darth Sidious. I am sure it would have sold more copies with that title as Sidious is a much more well-known Sith Lord.
Aside from being misleading the writing was great (for a Star Wars book) and the narration was top notch. I will definitely read more Star Wars books in the future.

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esto le resultó útil a 8 personas

Just Like Living Through the Early 60's

Revisado: 02-28-12

I read a review for this book that claimed it was just like living through the early 60's and while I wasn't alive in that time period and cannot say if it does fulfill this quote ornot I can say that I had no idea how boring, repetitive, and pointless the early 60's were. This book had a great idea and had all the potential in the world to be great. I tried my best to ignore the fact that it was written by Stephen King and just listen to it as if it were a normal book. The thing is though that I cannot ignore the fact that it was written by him and therefore have to judge it more harshly. King should deliver a tighter more well-put-together story. He has written some meaningful novels and the fact that this book uses his name in every bit of marketing he should be held accountable for writting something a pointless as this. It barely brushes on the interesting things that could have developed and the ending is both predictable and surprising. When it finished I thought "Seriously? That was it?" - SURPRISE. An afterword by Stephen King tells you that themain character didn't really travel back in time and change the past, which was a load off of my mind because I was worried that he had. Thanks for pointing out that fiction is ficticious Mr. King, we don't want another War of the Worlds situation. All in all it is ok, but Stephen King should be great and not merely OK.

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esto le resultó útil a 11 personas

A Brilliant Begining That Led To A Mediocre End

Revisado: 12-18-11

This book is divided into 3 parts. The first part is what earned the three stars I am giving the story. Parts 2 and 3 were progressively worse. I was left wondering how the author could have gone so far off course and towards the end I was sure that he would not be able to redeem himself. In fact the book ends with the author telling the reader what he should have gotten from the book. This is never a good sign, and basically points to the fact that the author knew he messed up and rather than fix it he just slapped a here is what I wanted to write on the end and actually expects it to be acceptable...WELL IT'S NOT!!!
The sad part is that the autthor does display and immense talent with the first part of the book and if he had only stuck with it instead of trying to turn the story into something it was never intended to be I would have easily given this book 5 stars.
Listen to part one, then listen to something else.

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Great Read of a Great Book

Revisado: 09-28-11

I thoroughly enjoyed both this book and Christopher Cazenove's reading of it. It delivers on every promise it makes and does keep you guessing until the end.
Towards the end of the book, while listening, I felt that some things were thrown in just to make the story longer. A lot of it seemed unneeded. After finishing the book I realized that it wasn't.
I gave the story 4 stars because of this. I think the author could have worked the extra material into the book in a much better way so the story didn't seem to lose direction.
All things considered though, this is a wonderful book and I can't wait to listen to the sequel.

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O.K.

Revisado: 07-27-11

This book was OK but definitely not anything special. The narrator did a good job for the most part, but sometimes his inflection or rhythm would bring you out of the story and focused on him. These are the times when he keeps repeating the word 'said' and while this is normal an unemphasized word he felt the need to overemphasise it.
The story really doesn't go anywhere and while I did care about the characters it wasn't because of this story but rather because I knew them from before. I guess it really did add anything to the characters and before listening to this book, all the reviews seemed to point that this book would change the story we knew and add to the excitement.
Well it changed the story but not in a memorable way at all.
With that said I did enjoy the 1930's setting and think the author and narrator did a good job sticking to the 30's, but it could have been great and not merely OK.

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0 Stars was Not an Option

Revisado: 05-19-11

As others have stated the author's voice KILLED this book. I wish I had never made the attempt at listening to this as now the whole series is ruined for me. I tried turning off the audio after a while and went to find the print version. I kept hearing the voice. Listening to this will seriously make all of Gregory Maguire's books unreadable.
The sad part is that I know he is a decent author and puts a lot of time and thought into his books. Why did they let him read it? Whose idea was that? And who didn't have the guts to stand up and say "This project is going horribly wrong, let's scrap it and start over."?
I am not saying an author shouldn't read their work. Neil Gaiman does it all the time with great results. I am merely saying the Gregory Maguire should not read his works and that by listening to this and how the author imagined it all sounding the book will be ruined forever.

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A Decent Follow-Up But...

Revisado: 05-19-11

The Science of Supervillains is a decent follow-up to The Science of Superheroes. I was happy that this time they decided to stick only to comics in the superhero genre and left Disney characters out of it.
It only got three stars because at times I felt like the authors were really stretching in order to fill space. For instance the Batman villain Poison Ivy does not have and never claimed to have the powers of the plant Poison Ivy. It is merely her supervillain name. I don't think a 10+ minute discussion on the dangers of the plant poison ivy was at all necessary. The worst part is I kept thinking with all the supervillain questions this is taking up valuable space in the book and making it so another villain was left on the cutting room floor.
Also some of the book, much like the first one is now out-of-date. This however is not the fault of the authors as science changes all the time and when you put something about technology in a book, it is bound to be out-dated quickly. I would love to have an update version though.
Also if a third book is to be made, perhaps they could ask fans of superheroes what their questions are and cover those.
All-in-all not a bad book, but coul have used a lot of editing for relevancy.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas