BDW

Still Feeling Cold

Revisado: 03-23-17

Only once before have I felt as bone-deep cold as I do having just finished "The Bleak December," and the book that did it to me was Dan Simmons' "The Terror", also in audio form.

The great thing about audiobooks is that you get every word the author wrote. There's no looking at the page, deciding it's all just description of some place that doesn't matter that much and skipping over it.

But if, like me, you listen to your audiobooks during your commute, you may find yourself rewinding more than usual to catch something in this one. Every time my attention wandered just a little, I found myself suddenly in the midst of a new situation or lacking some key detail. Summers writes leanly. Not as leanly as, say, David Morrell, but the focus of this book is very much on the story. And the setting. New Hampshire itself might as well be a character given how much it interacts with the other characters and services the story.

Some characters definitely distinguished themselves to me. Wes and Melody were immediate favorites. Gordon as well. The people in this story are real. Most are good, but flawed.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and if I didn't immediately want to dive back in and read it again, it was only because I need to warm up for a while first.

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Extremely hard to follow

Revisado: 09-13-16

I've enjoyed many full-cast productions & dramatizations. There are ways of writing these things that seem unnatural in isolation, but are required for full enjoyment of the material. Lacking a visual element, characters greet each other by name and discuss things that are happening right in front of them in ways people never would.

None of that happens in Locke & Key. I'm sure it's an absolutely amazing graphic novel, but this "adaptation" feels like everyone sat down with a copy of the books and simply read (and acted, often extremely well) the lines, including the scene transition bubbles that often appear in the first panel of a new scene.

Other reviewers have commented on the lengthy musical passages. I suspect these were added to provide background in a serialized version of this work. Here, though, lacking credits and introductions, it just seems extraneous.

It's not all bad, though. The character actors delivered absolutely amazing performances. And the story, what I was able to follow of it, was outstanding.

Too often, though, I ended up realizing hours afterwards what had happened in an earlier scene, only after characters talked about it later in the narrative. So all my complaints are with the script and the lack of effort put into properly preparing this material for audio-only presentation.

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I just stopped caring

Revisado: 01-28-16

Would you try another book from China Mieville and/or John Lee?

I've always enjoyed John Lee's narration of Peter F. Hamilton's works, and I really enjoyed "The City and The City". So yes, I'd try another book by either.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

What troubled me as I worked through the book was that John Lee's voice kept making me think I was "reading" a Peter F. Hamilton book, and I was constantly being disappointed by the descriptions of things and the level of detail in the book. Then I'd remember it was Mieville and would cheer up again for a while until, once again, I'd realize that I was disappointed. I ended up with about 4 hours left in the book and just turned it off to listen to something else. It just didn't grab me at all. I don't want books to make me work to stay interested. Mieville's other books have kept me enthralled, so I'm not sure what happened here.

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A tough ending to a promising series

Revisado: 12-08-14

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

If you really need to know how it ends, then yes, but I'd suggest buying the book and skipping to the last quarter or less.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I'd have cut. Ruthlessly. All that stuff on prehistoric earth? Gone. Wheaton? Gone. Too many new characters, too much time spent on paths that seemingly went nowhere. By the time I got to the part of the book that really interested me, I just kind of half-listened and watched the time count down until it was over. I can't really tell you now precisely what happened, and I have no desire to go back and listen or read it again to find out. And that's sad because Card is a much better writer than this book would lead a new reader to believe. There were just too many balls in the air, and too many that didn't matter.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

Ram Odin, I think. As the book wore on, they grew harder and harder to distinguish, and not just because the narrators had trouble differentiating the different versions of each character.

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