Michael

Necessity is the mother of invention..

Revisado: 03-05-14

This was a really enjoyable listen from start to finish. If you enjoy problem solving, entertaining science and ultimately a good adventure written in an entertaining style with plenty of humour and nicely maintained narrative tension then this will not disappoint.
I loved it.

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Requires investment, doesn't quite deliver.

Revisado: 02-16-14

So, I read the reviews and appreciated that this novel is detailed, with a lot of description and hard science - that's OK - I like that. The problem is that there is just not enough narrative drive and character development to sustain the detail. Like everyone else (or so it seems) I found the scene changes with no pause whatsoever (why audible, why??) very hard to follow unless I was concentrating very hard, and like others before me, had to restart after about 6 hours and listen more carefully as I felt I had missed too much detail on the varying threads. With the restart came an expectation that the work I put into listening to this novel would be paid off in the longer run with deeper enjoyment, but unfortunately it never happened for me and I only just made it over the line, finding the ending in particular rather tedious. I have listened to the Pandora's Star series and found John Lee a little better in those, although there is so little variation in his voice characterisations that he doesn't elevate the material the way a really good narrator can. Unfortunately that's exactly what this novel needed.

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Great!

Revisado: 05-25-13

My 9 year old daughter loves this audiobook and has listened to it over and over gain. She is a fan of Jaqueline Wilson and previously wouldn't listen to one of her audiobooks unless it was narrated by the author. Finty Williams has changed her mind - this is definitely her favourite by far.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Great storytelling from a different viewpoint.

Revisado: 01-29-13

Really enjoyed this story from the perspective of a young girl fostered into a Munich home during WWII. There are many great stories from the war and this one stands out for it's authentic feel and the less commonly explored perspective of the German townsfolk. An amusing, moving and fascinating work. The narration was wonderful and I enjoyed the snatches of accordion music (relevant to the story) played prior to each chapter.
Well worth a credit.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

One of the best..do yourself a favour!

Revisado: 12-20-12

Great story, great listen, beautifully read. This is a moving story that will transport you and transfix you. Stephen King is at his peak here, in non horror/pure storytelling mode, and I don't think there are any novelists who can better his ability to capture a scene, a moment, a sound or a feeling like he can. I've read the book, seen the movie and now listened to the book and enjoyed every moment of all of them.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

5 Star reviewers have been socially engineered

Revisado: 07-25-12

An interesting and mostly entertaining story but like some other reviewers I was annoyed by Kevin's massive ego and protestations that he had never harmed anyone or hacked for his own personal gain and that he was unfairly pursued and punished. He conveniently ignores the impact of his deceipt and manipulation on the numerous unsuspecting decent human beings he "socially engineered" by taking advantage of their tendency to trust and help others for his own selfish purposes, or the cost to the various organisations he targeted (let alone the authorities), in terms of loss of data (which he happily admits he shares with other hackers) and of time and resources spent trying to stop him.
Towards the end of his time on the run his description of his various exploits did become very repetitive and I found myself hoping out loud the feds would catch him to avoid yet another description of how clever he was at outwitting another poor innocent to steal some more code for no more reason than the thrill of it.
Having said all that, most of the time I did enjoy this book, and the performance of the narrator was so good that I had to go back and check it wasn't Kevin narrating the story himself. As noted in the headline - anyone who feels sympathetic to Kevin after listening to this (and there are obviously plenty out there) shouldn't be embarrassed to join the throng of Kevin's dupes - this is probably his most successful piece of social engineering yet...

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Great idea, well articulated

Revisado: 04-15-12

I found this to very enjoyable on a number of levels and would highly recommend it. It's a pity the second and third books aren't up to the standard of this one.

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Plodded to the finish

Revisado: 04-15-12

Had to read the second and third books to find out what happened in the overall trajectory of the series, but ultimately I found the second and third books disappointing, a little boring at times, only held together by the occasional plot twist, and finally I was glad to be finished.

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Not as good as the first

Revisado: 04-15-12

Had to read the second and third books to find out what happened in the overall trajectory of the series, but ultimately I found the second and third books disappointing, a little boring at times, only held together by the occasional plot twist, and finally I was glad to be finished.

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Enjoyable and interesting story

Revisado: 03-21-12

Enjoyed the evocation of the era and the details surrounding the lead up to the assassination. It was just good and enjoyable storytelling, and even better, a good ending, which isn't always the case with Steven King novels - I note in his afterword, he credits his son with providing the ending and maybe that is why!

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