Esben Meulengracht

I gave up

Revisado: 09-23-23

I know people love this series but it does not work for me.
I got through the first book which was kind of long and cliche with a weak plot, but also a little funny in places.

For the second book the author has abandoned the concept of plot. Rincewind and his little band of freaks just randomly stumble from one thing to the next.
They fall of the edge of the world, then they are on a flying rock, then with some druids, then inside the Octavo, then in hell, then with some horse tribe, then they meet some trolls etc. Etc. This is where I gave up and quit.

Rincewind wants to return home to Ankmopork but there is no clear explanation as to why he does not.

There is zero character development.

Other characters are introduced then forgotten. Just like all the characters from the first book who are not in this one.
Everything is just props for Rincewind to whine and whimper his way through the world.
There is a kind of thin plot line with a comet you just know will not collide with the disc.
Also for a book which takes place in a magical world there is very little magic.
The author has locked himself into the funny concept that Rincewind cannot do magic, while his companions are not wizards.
Since he is also neither brave, funny or emphatic it is kind of hard to actually like Rincewind all that much as a main character.

All could maybe be forgotten if the book was funny but it is not. I laughed a little one or two times but that was all.

If you thought the Hitchhikers trilogy was funny you will nok like this series. It is not on the same level at all.
I will not read more of them.

The narrator has an interesting dialect and does a decent job but the constant overflow of funny voices just adds to the massive level of listening fatigue you will experience towards the end.

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So disappointing

Revisado: 09-23-23

The narrator is OK but she gets to be so monotonous and boring.
Wish they had male narrators for the male characters.
This book started out fairly interesting but it never delivers.
In the end I gave up two thirds of the way and could not finish it.

There are three plot lines:
First is the development of the spider civilization on planet. This quickly becomes repetitive and dull.
The spiders die and are reborn though generations with the same names (Porche and Bianca).
You never relate to them thanks to this weak idea and since they are spiders it is hard to feel any real connection to them.
The science via dna mutations it relies on is wrong and unbelievable.

The second story arc follows the humans on the space ship.
The same overall idea is present here as well with time passing through generations.
This story arc is incredibly boring from the go and never picks up.
Am I supposed to root for the main character?
Or even for the humans as a race when they all behave like idiots.
There are different religious wars going on but they are never explained or made believable or relatable.
The main character is constantly put into hypersleep, woken up, kidnapped, rescued then the whole thing repeats.
Other characters are introduced but you will not be able to remember them after five minutes, and anyway they will be dead the next time we revisit the sleeping /awoken main character.
He himself is so boring and one dimensional that his name eluded me even while reading the book.
The science is again shockingly weak. These humans have been able to reverse engineer ancient tech and travel lightyears into space to colonize.
But their computers have no firewalls or defenses and can be hacked and shot by a satellite of the same tech generation.
Presumably a large ship build in a period of violent religious wars on ancient earth would have defensive capabilites.

The third minor plotline revolves around the human/cyborg in the killer satellite.
She could have been interesting but few chapters are devoted to her and her state of mind is not explained.
Again the science is poor. She is fused with a powerful AI and capable of controlling the spiders and warding of the humans but cannot realize that her initial experiment has gone wrong.

Overall a weak mess of a book with poor narration
Not recommended.

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Fantastic

Revisado: 09-23-23

This is such a great book. Hearing it as an audio book was a great experience as well, the narrators are fantastic and perfectly fit the characters.
Especially the grandparents I loved those narrators.
The main character Oscar is actually pretty annoying and egoistic but he is a kid so....
A few plot elements are left unresolved like what was in the safe or what happened to Oscars friend mr. Black. This type of thing does not normally bother me but since this book has no real plot to speak of (it is more intellectual/philosophical musings and parallels to ww2) it would have been nice if the author had followed through on the few plot elements that exist.

But overall highly recommended.

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Disappointing

Revisado: 09-23-23

Narrator first : she has a great voice but uses the same excited/tense style both for when the main character is in deep trouble and when she is having sex. There is very little nuance to her although on the surface she does a decent job.
In a book with so many male characters one of which is Riddick I wish they had a male narrator as well.

As for the book I really wanted to like this pulp fiction space opera pixy book.
The main problem is not that the plot and characters are lifted straight off other sources (Riddick, Dune etc.).
It is the weak follow-through on the initial build-up.
The story starts great with the introduction of an exciting setting, the strong main female character and Riddick the dangerous criminal.
The first few chapters are an exciting jailbreak but then the plot dies.
The main characters inexplicably fall in love leading to two unacceptable results. Firstly the female lead throws away her entire legacy and position. Secondly the male lead goes from dangerous killer to misunderstood puppy who only says things like "I got you Ada" over and over.
Very little further happens plot-wise.
The secondary characters are equally weak and unconvincing.
The sex is totally unexciting and rather embarrassing.
The complex Dune-like dynasty politics promised early on turns out to be a primitive round of verbal and physical /gun-point threats to win your way.
In the end it just sizzles out midway and I cannot imagine reading the next book.
I have a hard time understanding who this book is for.
There is no science in it do pure space opera which is great in its own right.
But then you have the explicit sex which leaves out kids and deviates from normal space opera setup.
Not recommended.

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Loved it

Revisado: 06-18-23

Great great book in its own right and as part of the Earthsea trilogy.
Much better than I remembered it, the narrator does a fantastic job bringing the main character to life with all her feelings and woes.
Ged is great as well of course, very believable as a real wizard, not all mighty like in other series.
The worl building is great, Earthsea is so believable and real.

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Awesome space opera

Revisado: 05-31-23

If you enjoyed The Martian you should like as well.
It has elements that reminded me of We Are Bob as well - and the same excellent narrator as that book.
Audible should make narrators clickable for searching, they are as important as the writers.

Hail Mary is an armageddon story overall and a praise to science as the solution.
But really it is about hope and friendship.
The story is fun and full of twists to keep it entertaining, while also containing a lot of science explanations. A lot!
The main character goes through some interesting personal challenges and developments.
I found the friendship at the core very gripping and believable.
The narrator again does an excellent job with lots of emotions. In addition there is a novel use of music/sound unique to this audiobook.
Highly recommended.

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Long but very good

Revisado: 05-08-23

Like most SK novels this is too long at 24 hours. The first 6 is a gripping but complete non-magic prologue to the main fairy tale story arch.
Slow down your inner pace and enjoy this beautiful novel.
The narration is superb with nuance and feeling, a perfect match for the main character.
The world building is great, borrowing from many known stories as well as Kings own older works.
Many questions are never answered and some key story drivers (like the dog) make little sense, but I chose to ignore these smaller faults.
The main character goes through a hard times, then rids the world of all villains in 24 hours with no problems really. This was not to my liking but it is a fairy tale after all!

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Really entertaining

Revisado: 03-23-23

I really enjoyed this book.
It contains a lot of exciting stories about Duffs life. While not as explicit as The Dirt still very entertaining.
To me Duff was always the guy from GnR but after reading his story, GnR seem like a minor part of his life really, with his amazing transformation to family man, student, business man and part of a larger music scene.
The narrator is great and even does some good British voices.
Highly recommended.

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Fantastic audio book

Revisado: 02-03-23

Having not read the graphic novel I was still able to follow this with no problems.
The first half is one long connected story.
The second half is more fragmented but still great.
Some of the stories and characters are outright scary and creepy.
If you like the novels of Neil Gaiman you will likely enjoy this, but it is pretty dark.
The performances are amazing, it is more of a stage performance than a regular book.

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Awesome

Revisado: 04-29-22

Much more in depth and detailed than the movie (a few hours too long actually).
The story of MC is unbelievable and at times heartbreaking.

The narrators are all excellent.

Well worth the listen.

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