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Wonderful story, and very well read

Revisado: 11-06-17

I received a copy of An Unconventional Mr. Peadlebody for an honest review. I hesitate to give an audiobook a 4 or 5 star rating unless it is really above average. I have no doubt that this book deserves a 5 star rating. Both the author, D.L. Gardner, and the reader, Brad Wills, created a wonderful story, and I will listen to it repeatedly. The story was very engaging. I hoped to listen to it over a few days, but the story flowed so well that l played it without pause, and only regret that it is over. The ending was very satisfying, and left no loose ends. Surprisingly for a vampire story, it was refreshingly different from any vampire story I've read or seen.

The story was very well written. Often I was impressed by how well the author described the scenes, not just the details, but how nicely they were described. Wonderful word choices abound. The characters all have different and very believable personalities. The reader, Brad Wills, does a fantastic job of infusing these personalities into their dialogues. Not only do the characters have distinct voices, but the way each talks shapes a mental picture of what the character is like. The readers pacing is also very good. In short both author and reader deliver a fantastic job with this audiobook.

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Where history and Fae meet

Revisado: 10-09-17

I enjoyed reading Thread of a Spider by D.L. Gardner, but I wondered how to pronounce the Irish names like Ailis, Eistir, Pàdraig, Fianna and Fin Haden Rath. I was delighted to learn that an Audible version was available, and that the narrator, Lee Brophy, is Irish. The author gave me a copy of the audiobook, and this is my honest review.

Thread of a Spider is very good and extremely well written. It is both a thrilling historical fiction about teen siblings caught up in the Irish Rebellion, and a fantasy story about a boy who is spirited away by the fae and his sister's efforts to bring him back. These two subplots are expertly woven together, and both are brought to a satisfying conclusion by the end of the novel. At many points during the story I was impressed with details that made the story seem so real, and how well the dialog was written.

Although the book is a joy to read, the Audible version is even better. Lee Brophy does an excellent job reading the story, and changing his voice as different characters talk. The lilting Irish accent is a joy to listen to, and adds realism to the conversations between the characters. The pace of the reading varied with the tension of the scene, adding drama to an already exciting story. I highly recommend listening to this book.

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Good tale with a fascinating proponent

Revisado: 06-28-17

This tale, the third of a twelve part thriller series, finishes Angelique's investigation of a mysterious train wreck in Mongolia. Although it answers many of the questions raised in the first three parts, it opens more new mysteries for each one that it resolves. This work leaves you yearning to read the next part.

The strength of the story is the main character, the investigative reporter, Angelique. Often the main character in such a thriller is almost superhuman, a member of an elite covert operation, backed by a team with incredible resources. No so Angelique, a very human protagonist, often on her own with little but her wits to help her, and sometimes her best guesses are wrong and lead to bad results. She has more in common with Kolchak the Night Stalker, a very human character, a reporter using bluff and wits to solve problems. This is what made the story really interesting. Angelique even suffers from a potentially crippling disability, but it is mental rather than physical. With the help of medication, she keeps this difficulty hidden and under control.

The writing and narration for this part are proficient. While I rate this part with only three stars, please bear in mind that it is only a part of a larger whole. If I were rating parts 1 through 3, I would give it 4 stars, as the larger portion, taken together, is better than any of its parts were individually.

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Well done suspenseful tale

Revisado: 06-25-17

This is the second of a twelve part series, and it assumes that you have already read or heard the first installment. This portion of the story is suspenseful and rather hard to put down. Like the previous part, it finishes with a cliffhanger. The end of this story comes at a good point where the reporter is beginning to unravel the mystery, and the reader is starting to appreciate the scope of the problem and cares about what will happen next. I look forward to part 3.

The work sometimes suffered from dialog that used a lot of pronouns without being clear about whom the pronouns referred to. Similarly, the narrator at times did not read different characters with sufficiently different voices, making it hard to tell who was saying which lines in a dialog. These were both rare and minor issues interfering with enjoying an otherwise good tale.

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Stay tuned for the next episode

Revisado: 06-23-17

In fairness to what may become a really good international thriller, I should point out that this short work is merely the first installment of a 12 part serial. If you like your thrillers in a dozen episodes connected by cliffhangers, then this might be a good book for you.

On the plus side, the writing and narration are both technically proficient, the main character is engaging, the background details are well researched, and the story has many exciting moments. At the end of it, you want to read more.

On the negative side, the story seems to include elements that don't really advance the plot. The episode seems too short to spend time wandering from the plot. For example, the father, the brother, the divorced husband, and arguably even the photographer don't add much to the story. Perhaps their parts eventually become important in later episodes, but they seemed like filler in this part. Meanwhile the episode ends on a cliche cliffhanger, and even worse, without the main character having accomplished anything. Had she solved part of mystery first, there would be more reason to care about this damsel in distress.

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Good story, read well with character's emotions

Revisado: 06-23-17

Interesting story, glad to have heard it. Imagine a Disney movie in an original space opera setting. If that appeals, you would probably enjoy the book or audio version. I did. Story is complete. It does not end with a cliff hanger.
Reader does good job of projecting character's emotions, and reads very well. On the down side, and these are minor points, her voice does not change very much when conversing as either main character. One technical issue, you can sometimes hear reader's breathing between lines, which is mildly distracting.

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