tjs390

Great Story

Revisado: 02-12-25

This is such a well-written, intelligent series so far. I almost didn’t purchase book 2 because of the narrator change and I’m not a fan of the voice artists for books 2 and 3. I’m glad I did because the story transcends their performance.

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So Good!

Revisado: 08-26-22

This is a review of Daniel Abraham's "Dagger & the Coin" series, not just of The Spider's War. Mr. Abraham's characters are richly three-dimensional and interesting, and I cared about what happened to them right out of the gate. Even the arch-villains were sympathetic to a degree, which was refreshing in a genre where often the bad guys are just boring.

I found the story - and the story-telling - both complex and rich without unnecessary or jarring plot convolutions that some authors use to move the story forward. Pete Bradbury is now one of my favorite voice actors; his voicing, modulations, inflections, and tones were just right for each character. I never wondered who was speaking at any given time.

All in all, if you're a fan of fantasy epic series where the story is compelling, the characters are believable, and the narration keeps you absorbed, then this series, The Dagger & the Coin, could be right up your alley.

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So Good! And David Morley Hale Is Great!

Revisado: 12-08-21

I have really enjoyed listening to the War for the Rose Throne series. I know many were upset about the change of narrator in Book 3 from John Lee in Books 1 and 2. I thought David Morley Hale was outstanding. I love listening to John Lee; he's the main reason I have purchased some of the audiobooks in my library. However, David Hale was also an excellent reader, and aside from a slight disorientation from having moved directly into book 3 from book 2, I found his narration very fluid and immersive.

Regarding the story itself, although it's difficult to warm up to an amoral anti-hero like Tomas, I really like that even he is struggling with the House of Law and Dieter Vogel's evil machinations. The main characters are multi-dimensional and are truly interesting people, even though I would hate to meet any one of them in a dark alley.

I'm looking forward to the final book in the series, and will definitely look up other Peter McLean and/or David Morley Hale audiobooks. It's definitely worth a listen, especially if you like the grimmer side of fantasy.

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So <yawn> tedious

Revisado: 11-05-21

First of all, I love Derek Perkins' performances. Full stop. The Nightfall Wars? Not so much.

I think Jacob Peppers is very creative, actually, and has so many good ideas. What he lacks, however, is a competent editor/critic who will help him channel that creativity into a tight story with consistent, believable, three-dimensional characters. Mr. Peppers twists his plot lines into knots to create ridiculous situations. For example, when Alesh and Catherine are "forced" to share a bedroom, the scene was completely silly and contrived. The participating characters looked like a pack of vacuous ninnies. A good editor would have sent Mr. Peppers back to the drawing board to come up with some other way for the two protagonists to torture themselves and each other with self-doubt and misunderstood feelings.

A good editor would have pointed out the many, many, MANY grammatical errors, particularly those related to verb tenses. Writing is Mr. Peppers' business and he should be able to do so without grammatical gaffes.

Good editing would also have saved Mr. Peppers' readers/listeners from the characters' endless and often pointless dialogues and inner monologues, many of which occurred during life-threatening situations. You know, like when a monster is getting ready to bite their head off. These occurrences were not only ill-timed, but did nothing to move the story forward. The characters were usually just regurgitating past thoughts, feelings, doubts, memories, dreams, conversations, shopping lists, the periodic table of elements, Hamlet's soliloquy...

My inner monologue? "These morons are the chosen of the gods? Their world is doomed."

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Not Horrible, But Not My Favorite

Revisado: 10-02-21

I know Brandon Sanderson has many, many avid fans, and I do understand why. His writing is beautifully fluid and is without the jarring grammatical blunders of other less skilled writers. The story arcs (ever so slowly) in classic literary style.

However, I have never been able to finish a Sanderson epic series. I love long epic series; I really do, but somehow in reading Sanderson's works, I run out of interest before he runs out of words. It was the same with The Way of Kings - I wanted to try one more Sanderson epic, given he writes in the genre I love to read/listen to, and the synopsis was intriguing, but after 45.5 hours, I'm not going to spend credits on the rest of the series. The characters aren't compelling enough, nor is the story original enough, to make me want to do so. I'm certain the good will prevail and the evil will receive their just desserts...eventually.

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I Just Couldn't...

Revisado: 01-19-21

I listened to Promise of Blood and Crimson Campaign, but just had no interest whatsoever in the third of the series. I just kept hoping the story and the narration would improve. It didn't. All of the young men sounded like old, cranky guys. All of the OLD men sounded like older, cranky guys. Hell, even all of the women's voices were - you guessed it - old, cranky guys. Only the mute character was tolerable - kinda - although she and her boyfriend, even after a couple of years together, had only figured out the most rudimentary "point & nod" communication system. I lost patience with the characters, the story, and the narration. I don't actually care what happens in the third book.

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Worst thief ever

Revisado: 10-22-20

I keep wondering why on earth Jack is considered a master thief when he hasn't completed a single heist without being caught. Maybe he actually succeeds in stealing something without detection before the trilogy is over...?

Jack IS, however, the Master Smirker. This is definitely his favorite facial expression - although "peaking his eyebrows" comes in second. Sometimes he smirks AND peaks his eyebrows, usually at the most annoyingly inappropriate places in the story. Seriously, could the author (and editor) not substitute some other descriptor from time to time?

The compositional and plot weaknesses continue to jar me out of the story long enough to wonder why 1) professional thieves think Jack is successful; 2) Jack has any friends (he's a jerk, really, and his character is about as deep as a mud puddle); and 3) I'm finishing the trilogy at all. Hm. It's probably because of Derek Perkins, one of my favorite voice actors, although perhaps not even his reading can save this one.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas