Carol Ann Smith
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The First Battle
- Warriors: Dawn of the Clans, Book 3
- De: Erin Hunter
- Narrado por: MacLeod Andrews
- Duración: 7 h y 26 m
- Versión completa
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General
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Historia
The rivalry between Gray Wing and Clear Sky has driven a bitter wedge between the forest cats. As Thunder and Gray Wing struggle to find a peaceful path for the future, tensions are growing. What began as a misunderstanding between two brothers has spread far and wide - and now every mountain cat, rogue, and kittypet in the forest will be forced to pick a side.
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AMAZING!
- De Jennifer en 11-20-22
- The First Battle
- Warriors: Dawn of the Clans, Book 3
- De: Erin Hunter
- Narrado por: MacLeod Andrews
Warrior cats can be fun but.....
Revisado: 01-07-25
I love how though it has been many years, I still find the world of the Warrior Cats engaging. What I really didn’t enjoy about this particular book in the prequel series is how the author is trying to make the readers sympathetic to Clearsky. He is the main antagonist of this series so far. He is narcissistic, but gaslights his clan to think everything he does is for their best interest. He is cruel and uncaring when he banishes injured members in his clan. He will attack and harshly punish any cat that doesn’t blindly accept what he says. He is basically a dictator brainwashing the clan, but the author is really pushing the concept of seeing him in a sympathetic light. They would have had a better chance of portraying Clearsky as a complex or troubled character with remedying qualities if he wasn’t so selfish, manipulative, and abusive to his clanmates and outwardly aggressive to rogues and rivals. At this point, Clearsky is just evil. I am not going to be sold if he gets redeemed later in the series. It would be the equivalent of trying to redeem Tigerclaw/Tigerstar or Scourge.
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House of Teeth
- De: Dan Jolley
- Narrado por: Josh Hurley
- Duración: 7 h y 15 m
- Grabación Original
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Historia
There’s more to the swamplands than meets the teeth. In this supernatural tale of magic and mysticism, Henry Lemarchand grew up in Philadelphia knowing very little of his family—his father disappeared when he was young, leaving behind only a strange pouch of animal teeth. When he is sent to the Louisiana bayou to spend the summer with his eccentric uncle and cousin in their decaying ancestral mansion, Henry learns about his family’s supernatural legacy.
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A comment
- De Mark E Higgins en 12-10-19
- House of Teeth
- De: Dan Jolley
- Narrado por: Josh Hurley
It was fun
Revisado: 01-07-25
A fun, simple yet engaging story for younger readers. I loved how they built up the lore for the power system and setting. It gave me the feeling of a superhero origin story at the end. My only critique is that for a backwater, very rural, and very small town in the south of the States, the townspeople were very diverse in ethnicities. Is that a bad thing, no. The pop culture references made by the characters imply that the story is set in our modern times. For me personally though, I lose out on realism when authors are made to add certain details that would not usually be seen in the setting that they have developed. That aside, a memorable and enjoyable story.
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Kinetics
- In Search of Willow (Volume 1)
- De: Arbor Winter Barrow
- Narrado por: Benjamin Thao
- Duración: 10 h y 40 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Eugene was only five years old when he burned his house down and nearly killed his mother. Fearing his powers were too volatile, his parents had the memories of his powers and their secret society of super humans erased. Ten years later, that secret is revealed when a classmate goes crazy and makes Eugene’s whole school see their own nightmares. His classmate is only the beginning. His best friend Willow can heal all wounds, his father can turn invisible, and his brother can make things explode. Before Eugene can come to terms with having unusual abilities, Willow is kidnapped.
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Just should have sent a message
- De Carol Ann Smith en 01-07-25
- Kinetics
- In Search of Willow (Volume 1)
- De: Arbor Winter Barrow
- Narrado por: Benjamin Thao
Just should have sent a message
Revisado: 01-07-25
After finishing this book, all I could think was “just send a letter”….. A lot of confusion and some of the pain and suffering that occurred on this adventure would have been avoided if the main characters had just sent a letter to each other. Or a message or something!
I enjoyed that one of the characters helped me to endure the stupidity, naivety, and weakness of Eugene. I also liked that this character’s sexuality was not his personality. He had a definitive character first. That is how you can relate to a person even with significant differences. And I liked the powers showcased and the secret societies.
I don’t think the quotes before every chapter, both real and made up, were necessary.
Honestly, an amateur writer with a great story concept. I enjoyed the overall story, but it isn’t enough to convince me to read the next book. The writer has more room to grow.
I listened to the audiobook version, so this next critic is about Benjamin Thao, the narrator. He has very limited range as a reader. All the female characters sound the same. Very few of the male characters had distinct voices. He pronounces certain sounds incorrectly. He can read aloud well though. The audio had issues. There were some chapters that just repeated certain phrases again like a scratched CD or corrupted audio.
The main character Eugene was a weak, dumb, irrational, immature, and bumbling idiot. I wanted to see if he could grow and redeem himself. Maybe he could change my mind. His growth has to start from somewhere. Well, his growth would have to start in the next book because he really doesn’t change in this one.
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The Good Dog
- De: Avi
- Narrado por: Robert Ramirez
- Duración: 4 h y 37 m
- Versión completa
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General
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Historia
The 300 dogs of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, all know their places. At the top is McKinley, a malamute who’s head dog of the whole town. All of the dogs - and McKinley’s human family - rely on him to protect them and maintain order. Avi, the Newbery Medal author of Crispin: The Cross of Lead, peeks into the secret lives of dogs in this thrilling adventure tale. Robert Ramirez’s narration gives voice to a dog willing to risk any peril to do the good thing.
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Very entertaining, finished it in one day!
- De Pedro en 06-21-15
- The Good Dog
- De: Avi
- Narrado por: Robert Ramirez
A disservice to dogs
Revisado: 05-27-24
I disliked the character McKinley, and the authour did a disservice to dogs. Tell me how does a dog build resentment towards humans, side with a wolf that initially wanted to attack his boy owner, and come to the conclusion that dogs should not be led by humans, but work alongside them like independent equals?? This isn’t Erin Hunter’s Survivors. That kind of thought process with these dogs does not suit the story of this book.
Mild Spoilers ahead - By nature, McKinley as a Malamute should be a friendly, gentle, and somewhat protective personality. Instead, we get a more cat-like personality with contempt for humans. He was basically annoyed that he had the “responsibility” to look after his boy owner because the parents were negligent. I did not care for the parents' nonchalant parenting at times, but as a dog, McKinley should love having a job and be loyal to his humans. Why then does McKinley think and behave like an annoyed teenager given a baby-sitting job?
Also, besides admiration, McKinley has no other reason to side with the wolf and start body slamming and pinning humans in defence of the wolf. The wolf is a stranger to McKinley’s territory and family. He should have been a protector or defender first, not a wolf sympathiser. McKinley is also a very insensitive and inconsistent pack leader. He treats the other neighbourhood dogs pretty callously except for his best friend and the greyhound.
In the end, an annoying main character, and a barely decent story.
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Hunters Unlucky
- De: Abigail Hilton
- Narrado por: Rish Outfield
- Duración: 24 h y 18 m
- Versión completa
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General
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Historia
Storm is born into a world of secrets - an island no one visits, names no one will say, and deaths that no one will talk about. The answers are locked in his species' troubled past, guarded by the fierce creasia cats. But when Storm's friends are threatened, he decides that he must act, pitting himself against the creasia to show that they can be resisted and outwitted. To prove his point, he must stay one step ahead of clever hunters, who have more to lose than Storm imagines.
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McCafferyish
- De Jim "The Impatient" en 11-15-17
- Hunters Unlucky
- De: Abigail Hilton
- Narrado por: Rish Outfield
It wasn't overhyped
Revisado: 12-31-23
I bought this book for two reasons: The story and genre really interested me, and I needed to see if all the "hype" that I saw in the reviews were worth it. Most of the reviews seemed to have been written by people who were following the author for a while, and I figured the reviews were biased and overhyped. I was determined to see if this book was actually a 2/3 star story vs the 4/5 star ratings. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised.
Pros:
• Character development was well done. Especially for one of the antagonists that becomes an ally.
• I can clearly see the love and care in building the story and characters.
• The author has a good talent for writing adventures. I was intrigued with learning and exploring the world that the characters lived in and discovering the mysteries along with them.
Cons:
• I listened to the audiobook version which had errors such as delayed sound or skipping in the audio. There was also poor enunciation of some words at times that I had to give up on what phrase was being said by the narrator.
• The beginning of the story had a character giving a small introduction of the circumstances of this world. It was done mostly through exposition and unfortunately, it contained a long-winded monologue of thoughts that dragged out far too long. I started to consider, maybe this story isn't that great. Having finished the book, this monologue still hasn't left my mind and gave this book a stain for me.
• Another problem I had was the fact that I didn't have a clear description of what a Fery Shaft looked like. I just imagined a long tailed llama based on the novel. If you are depending on the book cover to do the describing for me, then we should written a visual novel. Tsk tsk.
• The main story is about one character but the book was meant to tell the life story of many other characters, so you start to think that this isn't our main character's story, it is all of the characters' stories which can be a bit distracting. I also could not help but feel that the author was more interested in writing the story of the characters that were mentioned in the past. If that is how you feel, write that story! It sounds pretty interesting to me. I felt like as she wrote this story, she was really thinking about the other one. So I got distracted by that too.
• If you came in the fighting, there will be some, but more of the book focuses on history of the world, stories, diplomacy/politics, and character stories.
• There was possibly a pseudo-homoerotic relationship between two characters.....maybe. She has written more mature and LGBTQ themed books before. It doesn't destroy the story nor was it any huge focus. It was actually kind of sweet and well written. However, I felt like something was trying to be snuck past me and, totally subjective opinion, but I do not want something snuck past me or anything too subtle because then, I missed the point. And then, I'm annoyed (like I said, very subjective thought but this was how I felt).
• The climax at the end was a bit rushed. A lot of the action or the resolution to the fighting was handled "off-screen". The fighting descriptions definitely took a back seat. Do not expect any Warrior Cats level of detail for the action at the end of the story.
• It took longer for me to finish the story overall, and I think it wasn't fast pace enough near the ¾ of the story. I didn't have the mood to put in that gear to speed through the book.
• I do not plan on reading the other books in the series. The author explores more mature themes and to fulfill the other story she wanted to write about, the Cressia. Though, there is one short book that focuses more on the characters from this book (Ferry shaft and Cressia), some of their history in more detail, and doesn't have the mature themes, but I'm still not interested.
So despite the number of cons being larger than the number of pros, why would I give this story a 4 star rating? The pros were executed that well. I read the patience, love, attention to detail, and time that went into crafting this world. This isn't Tolkein type of writing (Tolkein wasn't on mortal level if you ask me when it comes to world-building), but excellent writing was there. The story was not perfect, but I definitely was in their world and I enjoyed the time there. This is a treasure that is becoming harder for me to find as time goes on. I always try to highlight excellent stories and share those gifts to others. It was definitely the author's goal, to share a well crafted treasure.
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Ascendant
- A Dragon Rider Fantasy (Songs of Chaos, Book 1)
- De: Michael R. Miller
- Narrado por: Peter Kenny
- Duración: 17 h y 55 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Holt Cook was never meant to be a dragon rider. He has always served the Order Hall of the Crag dutifully, keeping their kitchen pots clean. Until he discovers a dark secret: dragons do not tolerate weakness among their kin, killing the young they deem flawed. Moved by pity, Holt defies the Order, rescues a doomed egg and vows to protect the blind dragon within.
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Great Fantasy Coming of Age Story
- De ZC en 11-20-20
- Ascendant
- A Dragon Rider Fantasy (Songs of Chaos, Book 1)
- De: Michael R. Miller
- Narrado por: Peter Kenny
More than "generic"
Revisado: 12-12-23
I saw some reviews regarding the book to be a generic Eragon story. I feel there is nothing wrong using a previous story as inspiration and then making it your own especially if done well. This was an entertaining story with unique differences, but I had a few problems with the audiobook version, though.
There were ridiculously long pauses in-between sentences to the point I believed the chapter had ended.
The dragons sounded like Yoda or a muppet but it was tolerable. I had once listened to the audiobook version of Eragon. Sapphira was Yoda! I know the narrator was going for deep and non-human voice, but Yoda! Took me right out of the story. The muppet voices were much more tolerable......though if anyone is turned off by the voices for the dragons, I don't blame you.
Other than those issues, the story was very good and entertaining. The second book........ the problems increased!
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The Green Ember
- De: S. D. Smith
- Narrado por: Joel Clarkson
- Duración: 7 h y 55 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Heather and Picket are extraordinary rabbits with ordinary lives until calamitous events overtake them, spilling them into a cauldron of misadventures. They discover that their own story is bound up in the tumult threatening to overwhelm the wider world.
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Not Just for The Elementary Age Group
- De Chelle en 08-27-15
- The Green Ember
- De: S. D. Smith
- Narrado por: Joel Clarkson
Great start, terrible middle and end!
Revisado: 12-10-23
Green Ember started well but as soon as the main characters were at the hidden village, the story dragged terribly. The characters were crying most of the time, telling stories, talking and there were no stakes. Was this really meant for children? It was so boring. It became passive in the story-telling. The only character I rooted for was Picket. They were worried with how he was processing the trauma he went through, but he was courageous and straight to the point when it came to asking questions. He also had flaws. Far from a perfect character. Anyway, the story-telling was too passive and though I understand why it was slow in the middle; to allow for lore and world development, but it was frustrating. Not for me
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