Dylan

Pretending not to be Lord of the Rings

Revisado: 02-28-23

This book is full of false promises. The entire time I kept listening, there were such obvious comparisons to Lord of the Rings paired with equally differences that seemed to promise that THIS story is different.

They all either didn't pay off at all - which was most of the time, or they paid off in the final 45 minutes of this 28 hour book. I felt as though this entire book was just the first 1/3 of what a normal fantasy book would be, and to be left this this feeling of "I've spent 28 hours being disappointed by this book, for the book to suddenly hint that the series as a whole will be better" is kind of terrible.

As for the performance, specifically, it was very bland. Now, for this Tolkien-esque style of fantasy, I think it's rather fitting to have a more professorial-sounding narration. However this narrator over-does it and sounds more like he's reading an Encyclopedia vs a fantasy epic.

Basically, the book would be better if it didn't pretend to be more than just a knock-off of Fellowship of the Ring, and the bad taste it leaves in my mouth is only because it kept telling me it would be different/new, and then never was (until the final 45 minutes). Now it just feels like a complete gamble whether or not the next books in the series will be better.

I have other series to finish, and they have earned my attention a lot better than this book has.

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Great, But Really Dated

Revisado: 08-12-22

Fantastic Story, but some parts were tough to get through.

The story of Jack's growth is incredibly heartfelt and inspiring, and it's shocking how "low" the fantasy is vs. the scope of the story. there are some moments that legitimately pass into "genius". However...

Basically there's just a few things in this book that really make it feel like a product of it's time. 40 years is a long time, and it requires getting over a few mindsets of the time (such as):

- The only black characters are two "jive talkin'" blues musicians, which would be excusable if there were only one, and multiple other black characters. This stereotype is just too obvious and could've easily not been SO stereotypical.

- There's a few scenes where basically the only mention of gay people are to say they're pedophiles... which is all kinds of messed up.

If you can get over things like this, you will enjoy the book heavily. If not, just skip to The Dark Tower series and relax and enjoy.

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I really liked this

Revisado: 07-19-21

For those worrying about the "intrusive" music - it fits wonderfully, and if anything the idea of all of these reviews mentioning how distracting it is will make one think of it too much.
instead, I compare this to something like The VVitch or The Lighthouse, a more modern horror story where various disturbing imagery (along with music) is meant to carry an eerie vibe throughout - and in this respect I think the story succeeded heavily.
Neil Gaiman is a master at narrating his own work, and I'll never tire of his voice.

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Neil Gaiman Rocks

Revisado: 06-15-21

You can hear how much Neil Gaiman loves these stories through both the words and his performance. Who better to tell "Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology" than the author himself?
I loved every moment of these stories, and Neil Gaiman really drives home the tragic aspect of these gods while also having fun with the odd, childish cartoon-logic of them as well.

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A Perfect Sequel for a Perfect Book

Revisado: 01-15-20

I listened to the first one because I heard it was the only book to receive all 3 major sci fi novel awards. I was blown away - So naturally I picked up the second one, and it was everything I could have hoped for in a sequel.

Story-wise, it was a great twist on the first. Many of the themes that Leckie explored in the first book were looked at in a yet deeper way in this book, and she has an amazing ability to establish characters - further strengthened by Adjoa Andoh's incredible performance (she gives each character a distinct voice that always reflects the character very well).
This book also had a mystery element unlike the first one, and it allowed the story to propel itself in a way that Breq Mianaai's meticulous planning was able to do in the first book. naturally both her planning and the mystery both paid off superbly at the end.

As for Andoh's performance in particular, I can't say enough how much I love it. Her voice is so wonderful to listen to, and she helps to create such a expanded world by altering her voice for the characters, and I can't possibly imagine this book without her voice involved.

10/10, I can't wait to listen to the final installment next month.

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Probably a better read, but still perfect!

Revisado: 12-03-19

i absolutely adored this book, a quick listen and really really REALLY well performed. I honestly can't give enough 5-star reviews just for the voice acting alone, but the story itself, the motifs and themes, were stellar! (no pun intended).

I've never seen a book address the concepts of empire vs periphery, emotion, the self (and cognitive dissonance), and the importance of diversity in such a creative way, and I absolutely plan on recommending this book to others - let alone the fact that I'll definitely be listening to this again!

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A Magical Book

Revisado: 09-09-19

Clive Barker has written the single best fantasy story I have ever heard, and written magnificently. There's real emotions and life lessons in this book, and the story overall is fantastic. I was at the very end of the book and I still couldn't predict where Barker would take the narrative!

What makes the book even better is the absolutely superb narration. Simon Vance perfectly voice-acted every character to the point where you could hear their personalities in their speech patterns. Clive Barker's vivid descriptions are done such a service by being read in this man's voice.

10/10. 37 hours is a long time, but I can see myself listening to this many times in the future.

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Ahead of Its Time!

Revisado: 06-24-19

I will admit I only got this book because it was written by Yahtzee, and I was a big fan of his show Zero Punctuation around the time this book came out, but I truthfully never got around to listening to it.

Now that I have, I recommend this to absolutely anybody who enjoys the fantasy/sci-fi genres! Not only is the story itself incredibly original, funny, and overall just enjoyable, but Yahtzee's own performance is perfect for it. He gives every character their own distinct voice and mannerisms, and the incredibly dry wit of his writing was meant to be heard in his own voice. I think something this nihilistically hopeful was probably a little dark in 2010 (the internet era of I Can Haz Cheezburger?) - the main character's goal for most of the story is to permanently die, after all. However it seems to fit absolutely perfectly in 2019, and I can easily see myself enjoying it all over again in the coming future.

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Overall Enjoyable but Felt Lukewarm

Revisado: 05-21-19

I enjoyed this performance, but a few things just really kept it from being what I think would be amazing.

First, the narrator did the best he could. He gave everyone a different enough voice where you could follow the story and grasp who was who a lot easier, but it brings me to the second point:

Because the book takes place in a traditional Murder Mystery Mansion, there's a lot of scenes of people huddled together, moving from room to room, deducing stuff out loud. In this respect, both the writing and narration made it very difficult to remember who was who - specifically Lombard and Blore (and sometimes Armstrong) just started to blend together for me, and I lost track of the mystery more than a few times throughout.

Overall I did enjoy the story, and I thought the narration was done very well, my one problem just felt big enough to me to ruin my score.

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