Ashley Reedman

A fairly fresh epic queer fantasy

Revisado: 04-03-24

The narrator did a great job, and the story was compelling with perhaps a generous 4/5 on originality. There are few queer fantasy novels out there that are well-written. While this isn't my favorite of the list I've listened to, it's a stand-out of it's own. The first half was hard to stick with - not quite a page-turner for me. But perhaps the last 3/4 had me at the edge of my seat and excited to pursue the sequel. Good on the author for supplying a decent queer epic fantasy to the small list of books in the same genre.

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Good story, great performance

Revisado: 05-29-22

As someone who was "there" for Sylvanas's "turning" in Warcraft 3, and had always been taken by her character and struck by her story, I jumped to purchase this book when I saw it in my 'new fantasy' recommendations. The story does gloss over the known events in the game to reduce redundancy in favor of new material, but she did a wonderful, haunting job on Sylvanas's turning by Arthas, and her gentle spiraling into the Dark Lady we know. I hadn't played the game in years, so I didn't know much of the more recent events without looking it up so perhaps some more time on those would've been helpful, but the author did just enough detail for me to understand.

Above all, I was thrilled to know that the book narrator is Sylvanas's voice actress in the game, and she did an absolutely fabulous job here. She knew when to apply rage, mirth, panic, and affection precisely in her voice and in the lines of other characters.

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Great for Chemists and Economists

Revisado: 01-17-20

I am neither of these, so story-wise I feel like if Mr. Weir spent less time explaining the finest details of chemistry, then perhaps the story could have been developed more. The story is good overall though, and Rosario Dawson did an excellent job as narrator.

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An Entertaining New Direction

Revisado: 11-11-19

The first of this series remains my favorite, but this is a great second. Robin Sachs does an excellent job as narrator, though we will miss Christopher Cazenove. The short story that follows the main story picked my spirits from the deflation I sometimes feel when I come to an end of a good story. The necromancy, magic and macabre isn't as prevalent as we see in the first book, but it remains as clear as ever that Johannes is as resourceful as he is dangerous, despite the very human aspects that make him so relatable (and, in my opinion, lovable) to "non-dangerous" people.

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A Refreshing Twist on Robin Hood

Revisado: 11-11-19

This book surprised me. It was well-written with just enough female empowerment to not overpower. I appreciate this new take, and am pleased that it actually made some sense and make you believe that yes, this could be what actually happened (maybe short of the love story that I didn't expect) in place of the "Robin Hood" legend we know. I don't typically look for romance of this type, but I appreciated that it wasn't at the forefront. And the delivery made me interested in Meagan Spooner's other fairy-tale twist on Beauty and the Beast. This book deserves more credit than it's received, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for something different in the fairy tales we know.

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Hitchhiker's Guide meets Johannes Cabal

Revisado: 11-11-19

This was a delightful listen. I love a good bit of British humor, particularly when combined with somethings as nebulous as religion, and Martin Jarvis delivered this entry beautifully. I docked my "story" score a little just because there were moments where the narrative was hard to follow - sudden shifts to unknown characters before returning to the main plot again, threw me a little bit. But, the climax came together well and everything made sense. I would recommend it to anyone with a sense of humor and an open mind.

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Not as good as its predecessor

Revisado: 11-11-19

It might be because much of what was in this book isn't as surprising as one would think after learning about women's daily life in Unmentionable, but this book didn't quite have the hold on me that Unmentionable had. Still, I'd recommend this to anyone interested in the psychology behind childbearing and childrearing, and the unique way in which it is told lends more to this audible entry than most books of this type. And, the author, as before, does a good job of taking you out of contemporary thought and into the mind of a Victorian, bringing you to appreciate the difference of how you think you would feel, and how you would truly, actually feel as a true-as-blood Victorian.

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esto le resultó útil a 6 personas

A pleasurable read, like it's predecessor.

Revisado: 11-11-19

Short of some writing "faux pas" that were also present in the first installment of this series, including unnecessary redundancy of how the characters felt about one particular thing or another throughout the book, and maybe some narration issues that I think should've been cleared from the beginning, such as how to pronounce a character's name, this series is truly unique and clever. Each book (the first I read, this one listened) kept me on the edge of my seat. They pull at your emotions in the same way the characters' are pulled with each new turn. Even though there were some similarities between plot formulas used for each book, each of the characters are different and show growth throughout. The two main characters also remain a favorite of mine in terms of fictional couples. I was also thrilled to see Moira Quirk and Saskia Maarleveld as narrators for each character, as both are very talented.

I think some people might be put off by the story's climax, but if you think about it for a minute, it was a wise decision on the author's part considering the story's overarching conflict (validity of magic vs non-magic in battle), looping everything together.

The stories as a whole are not without issues, but I've never found time spent on these stories a waste. (Which is an unusual place to be in.) I mean this as a complement to the author, and do hope she continues the series as she's found a fan in me.

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A Wonderfully-Produced Classic Gothic Romance

Revisado: 10-10-19

This story remains a favorite of mine, and I was thrilled to see that it was produced as a dramatization through Audible. The voice acting is spot on, with narrative thrills to spare. (Even the conclusion left a particular thrill the book failed to give.)

(For anyone interested in getting the book on Kindle (highly recommend), I recommend getting the Scholarly Edition as it fills some holes and succeeds in deepening the story for the reader even more.)

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A creative feat with one looming issue

Revisado: 08-19-19

I absolutely adored these books until this one, largely because the main character spends half the story trying to decide which beau should be her boyfriend. It's hard to take the character seriously if that's where her head's at much of the time. Otherwise, the creativity and plot are one for the steampunk echelons. And Moira quirk is a delightful narrator as always.

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