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VERY muddy audio

Revisado: 07-25-24

I was very interested in this story, but the very muddy audio made it difficult to listen to on my earbuds and impossible on my car audio system. I even tried adjusting the EQ on my different devices, but with no improvement. I'm going to have to return the audible version, but will probably purchase the Kindle version to finish the story.

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UGH! What a waste of talent!

Revisado: 05-02-19

The voice actors were excellent, but the story was not worthy of a dramatization. Also, the sound effects and background music were ridiculously over-the-top and annoying!

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Narrator hard to listen to

Revisado: 05-05-18

I really couldn't give this one a chance because Scott Merriman's narration was so annoying that after 2 hours of listening to him hyper-pronounce hard consonants, I just couldn't listen to him another minute. Also, although his narration couldn't be described as robotic, he spoke in the EXACT same "voice" for every character - adult or teen, male or female - which made it very hard to understand who was speaking. I will probably try reading this one on my Kindle.

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Image-driven Lacking Plot or Character Development

Revisado: 03-29-15

Some novels are plot-driven and some are character-driven. The Night Circus is description-driven. The writing is undeniably beautiful and almost ethereal with detailed descriptions of a most unusual circus and its magical attractions and the striking appearance and awe inspiring performances of its illusionists. At first, this was enough. I was totally “seeing” all the magic, feeling immersed in the setting, and thought “WOW! This is going to be GOOD!”

Unfortunately, that feeling of awe and immersion did not last, because what The Night Circus does NOT do is deliver adequate plot for the length of the novel, or give the reader any reason to care about any of the many characters as they all remain one-dimensional. So many characters, so little development. What there is of a plot is spread rather thinly between the copious descriptions of the circus. The moving back and forth of the time line doesn't seem to accomplish anything other than a little confusion.

Jim Dale's excellent performance kept me listening even after the story became tedious. If I had been reading instead of listening, I might have given up at about 40% of the way through.

Although the prose is beautiful, I did not feel compelled to “bookmark” a single passage. As a matter of fact, now, just two days since finishing this book, I don’t seem to remember very much about it at all. I remember that there was a circus – at night. I remember there was an illusionist – but I don’t remember anything about her routine. There might have been some red-headed twins with kittens. Wasn't there a contortionist? And some folks with red scarves. Nope… fading … fading…. forgotten. Perhaps that bookkeeper/assistant fellow (Marco?) cast a forgetting spell on me.

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Excellent Narration - Interesting Story

Revisado: 01-30-15

Reading the summary of this book, it seems to be something I might tolerate reading for a book club, but not the kind of novel I would choose to read on my own. So, I’m not sure why I purchased this when it was a Kindle Daily Deal two years ago. Maybe I was thinking I should expand my horizons by reading outside my usual genres. Maybe I was still in an acquisition frenzy attempting to load my new Kindle to create a diverse digital library. Whatever the reason, I’m sure I intended to read it, but it languished in my Kindle queue until last week when I was using the Kindle Audio Companion search to find an audiobook. “The Last Talk With Lola Faye” popped up and I decided it’s time had come.

I’m certain that the amazing performance of narrator, Aaron David Baker, enhanced my enjoyment of this novel. Since this story is told through a dialogue between two people - one male, one female – it had to be a challenge to make the voices of each character distinct enough to avoid listener confusion. AND, when a male narrator manages to do a female voice without sounding like a drag queen, I always give an extra point. Baker managed this.

Surprisingly, I really enjoyed this novel. Although not an actual murder mystery, it is a mystery ABOUT a murder.

Luke is shocked when Lola Faye, the woman Luke was certain was his father’s mistress, shows up at his book reading/signing 20 years after his father’s murder. She doesn’t give the impression of being very intelligent, but she proves to be quite manipulative, and the next thing Luke knows he has agreed to talk with Lola Faye over drinks.

The longer they talk the more Luke realizes that not everything about the events leading up to the murder were as he thought. As a matter of fact, Luke slowly realizes that there were many things about his family and his life that were not as he thought.

Although I found Luke to be an unlikable, arrogant character, and I was never sure how I felt about Lola Faye, I really enjoyed the story - especially the slow reveal of the unknown (to Luke) information. I even liked the redemptive final chapter which seems to be the one thing most reviewers didn’t like or for some reason didn’t understand.

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HORRIBLE NARRATION!

Revisado: 03-06-14

The narration of this novel by Flo Gibson was so difficult to listen to that, although the story seemed intriguing, I couldn't continue listening. Although she has a very expressive reading style, her voice is obviously quite elderly. She sounds like she is at least in her late 90's and would be a very good narrator for a story being told by an elderly woman, but for this story it just didn't work.

It was bearable enough for the narration - like your grandmother telling a story - but as soon as she would try to "do the voices" of the characters for the dialogue, she would sound even older, and I was completely unable to imagine the young people of the story. I sometimes get annoyed when male narrators do the "drag queen voice" when they read dialogue for females of a novel, but, eventually, I get into the story and hardly notice it any more. It was impossible to get over Ms. Gibson's elderly voice when she was reading the dialogue of the young female protagonist or any of the other characters under 30 in the story.

I will try to find another narrator for this novel or just read it on my Kindle. A good lesson for me to listen to the sample before buying.

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Absolutely delightful in every way!

Revisado: 08-24-12

With brilliant writing and captivating story-telling, “To Say Nothing of the Dog" is an absolutely delightful book and Steven Crossley is an exceptional narrator! Highly recommended for sci-fi fans and anyone who enjoys a really entertaining story.

I usually have a love/hate experience with audio books, because too often a narrator can ruin a very good book. But still, I listen, because I have never seem to have enough time to SIT and read, and I use audio books to multi-task during “hands and eyes busy” activities like driving, gardening and housework. Often I’m enjoying the story while frequently cringing at the narrator’s style. However, Steven Crossley actually enhanced my enjoyment of this book with his remarkable performance. He has an extraordinary talent for doing “the voices” of multiple characters and making them so distinct that they are immediately recognizable. Best of all, he somehow manages to do female voices without making them sound like drag queens – an almost impossible feat for a male narrator.

I note with great excitement that Mr. Crossley also narrates Jerome K. Jerome's “Three Men in a Boat" which is referenced frequently throughout this book. Guess what my next Audible selection will be?

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Absolutely BRILLIANT!!

Revisado: 07-07-12

Susan Duerden did an absolutely brilliant job of narrating this exceptional novel! I am certain that my enjoyment of "Embassytown" was significantly enhanced by her performance.

This is my first exposure to the writing of China Mieville and I am so blown away. This is best scifi I have read in a very long time. A mesmerizing story populated with fascinating characters - human, alien and machine - set (mostly) on a planet at the very edge of the known universe.

I just can't find the words to express how amazing this novel is. Highly recommended for any SciFi fan and for anyone with an interest in language.

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Possibly good story ruined by narrator

Revisado: 07-06-12

The narrator did an exceptional job when she read the dialogue. She was able to give each character a distinct “voice” and even did a believable job with the voices of males and children. Unfortunately, when she read the narrative between the dialogue, she rattled it off in a repetitive cadence that wasn't exactly monotone, but reminded me of someone reading a laundry list. I kept trying to stay with it because the story seemed interesting, and the parts of the story with dialogue would recapture my interest, but ultimately, her boring recitation of the narrative lost me. I'm going to repurchase "CIty of Masks" as an eBook and give it another chance.

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