S.S.

My Favorite SiFi/Super Hero/Fairy Tale

Revisado: 03-06-24

My father first read this book to me when I was 12 or 13 (with minor parental content edits) and I loved it so much I reread it again myself in spite of my learning disabilities. My dad was so happy he wrote a thank you letter to the author.
Close to 30 years later I still love this story. Years ago I remember hearing it had mixed reviews because it's different from Mr. Koontz other work but I liked that it was less dark and more SiFi/ super hero/ fairy tale as I thought of it when I was a kid. I always hoped he would turn this book into a series but I haven't heard anything to that effect.

The story starts with our soon to be heroes being accosted by a syringe wielding megalomaniac. Jillian a cynical comedian, Dillon an optimistic artist and Shepherd, Dillon's autistic younger brother all end up on an unexpected detour into strange as they try to evade gun toting bad guys and find a new equilibrium in their suddenly changed world.
I'm used to reading this book to myself and hearing my own interpretation of the characters voices in my head so it took me a while to adjust to the narrator but once I did he was great. I have no complaints. I'm currently listening to this book with my 14 year old and he's loving it. We now have 3 generations of Koontz fans in my family. Happy listening.

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A generational classic!

Revisado: 02-18-24

The story was better than I remembered and I remember it was great! My dad read this series to me when I was a kid and I loved it. He was great at making the story come alive. I did not inherit that gift so I decided to share the listing experience with my kids instead. We laughed all the way through. The narration was wonderful and I have now made more great memories of these books with my own kids. I highly recommend The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe and Life, the Universe and Everything. My husband said So Long and Thanks for All the Fish wasn't really appropriate for our kids ages so I'll be rediscovering it on my own.
In the first three books there is some minor swearing and a couple of very brief mentions of sex or things sex adjacent that go by very quickly. When my dad read these books to me he was easily able to edit those out. I discovered it was a lot harder to skip over while listening because they went by so fast. As always, parents you know your kids best so use your own discretion. My kids are in the preteen to early teens category so I use things like this to start conversations about life, the universe and everything. Happy listening.

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A generational classic!

Revisado: 02-18-24

The story was better than I remembered and I remember it was great! My dad read this series to me when I was a kid and I loved it. He was great at making the story come alive. I did not inherit that gift so I decided to share the listing experience with my kids instead. We laughed all the way through. The narration was wonderful and I have now made more great memories of these books with my own kids. I highly recommend The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe and Life, the Universe and Everything. My husband said So Long and Thanks for All the Fish wasn't really appropriate for our kids ages so I'll be rediscovering it on my own.
In the first three books there is some minor swearing and a couple of very brief mentions of sex or things sex adjacent that go by very quickly. When my dad read these books to me he was easily able to edit those out. I discovered it was a lot harder to skip over while listening because they went by so fast. As always, parents you know your kids best so use your own discretion. My kids are in the preteen to early teens category so I use things like this to start conversations about life, the universe and everything. Happy listening.

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A generational classic!

Revisado: 02-18-24

The story was better than I remembered and I remember it was great! My dad read this series to me when I was a kid and I loved it. He was great at making the story come alive. I did not inherit that gift so I decided to share the listing experience with my kids instead. We laughed all the way through. The narration was wonderful and I have now made more great memories of these books with my own kids. I highly recommend The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe and Life, the Universe and Everything. My husband said So Long and Thanks for All the Fish wasn't really appropriate for our kids ages so I'll be rediscovering it on my own.
In the first three books there is some minor swearing and a couple of very brief mentions of sex or things sex adjacent that go by very quickly. When my dad read these books to me he was easily able to edit those out. I discovered it was a lot harder to skip over while listening because they went by so fast. As always, parents you know your kids best so use your own discretion. My kids are in the preteen to early teens category so I use things like this to start conversations about life, the universe and everything. Happy listening.

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Enjoyable

Revisado: 02-16-24

I got the Kindle version when the book first came out and really enjoyed it so I was hoping the audiobook would be good. I was not disappointed. In my opinion the narrator was an excellent fit for the main character and did well with the male characters as too.

The story moved forward at a pretty even pace and felt very much like a beginning or a prequel. That's not to say it wasn't a complete story because it was. No cliffhangers here thank you very much!
I felt like I was being introduced to the neighborhood and the time period. It's set in the 60's which is a couple of decades before my time but the author is good at her craft so it never felt too foreign.
It's a mystery but not an edge of your seat or Sherlock Holmes kind. For me it skirts the edge of cozy. I just wanted my knitting a blanket and a cup of tea.
I really liked the main characters. They were intelligent, resourceful, relatable adults and I look forward to hearing more about their lives and future adventures. Thank you Mrs. Diener for another fun, low stress story about adults who act like adults. I will be buying a physical copy of Ticket Out ASAP.

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I have Re listened so many times!

Revisado: 01-18-24

This is a fun light read that I thoroughly enjoy and have re listened to regularly since I bought it years ago. I can honestly say the same about every other book in the series. I have read and enjoyed most of Mrs. Diener's books. She consistently writes characters that are relatable, intelligent, resourceful, brave and mature.
The FMC of this story is Rose and she is all of the above. Her relationship with the AI Sazo is heartwarming and entertaining.
The MMC Captain Dav Jallan is also a real adult and I mean it in the most complimentary way. No alpha-holes here, just a man who is confident and competent shoved into a challenging and frequently murky situation.
I don't want to say to much so I'll just add that the romance was nicely woven into the story and didn't overshadow it so I think it can be enjoyed by a wider audience. There are a few "kissy" kind of moments and a sex scene but it's easy to tell and easily skipped if you prefer. There is also minimal bad language.
The only negative thing I have to say is that at one point Captain Dav Jallan changes his position on a course of action rather abruptly and I've never been able to figure out why. Maybe I keep missing something? Regardless I enjoy the rest of the book enough that I ignore that one annoying out of character blip.
Overall it's a good story about people I like and I recommend the entire series. If you enjoy it I also recommend Mrs. Diener's The Verdant String series. It isn't on Audible but you can get it on Kindle and buy the paperbacks on Amazon. I have all of the above in case of the apocalypse. Happy reading/listening.

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The first book was fun the second was ok...

Revisado: 10-03-22

I really enjoyed book 1. It was fun and I would consider it fairly light in spite of some of the topics that were briefly touched on. Once I cringed my way passed the overdone and completely unnecessary lusty inner monologue at the beginning of book 2 I enjoyed it also. This book might have been ok but I couldn't get passed the new narrator's incredibly bad "British" accent. On top of it the fmc sounded like an impression of a bad impression of the always lovely Marilyn Monroe. Between that and the fact that the author made not asking questions a (very irritating) feature of the fmc I couldn't take it any more. After the first couple of chapters I skipped to the end to see what happened and I will be returning this book. The only thing that kept me listening as long as I did was Ash. She was an interesting character in a sea of awkward and I would like to find out what happened to her. I believe she is the mc of the next book so I will probably get it on kindle and have my accessibility screen reading function continue the saga in a blissful monotone.

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I'd give this book 2 1/2 stars if I could

Revisado: 07-25-21

I made it through 6 hours of old lady "jokes" and finally called it quits. Talk about beating a dead horse.
The main character is 40ish (which isn't actually old) although the way she and others went on about her age you would think she was 70.
Well placed insults and sarcastic self depreciation can add humor and insight into a character. Unfortunately this author doesn't seem to understand subtlety or comedic timing or that pulling off the same joke multiple times requires both.
This book could have been really fun. Instead her age became the plot and all the interesting parts of the story faded into the background. Shouldn't someone have pointed out and fixed this problem before the book was published?
I was very irritated because I mostly liked the main character. She was resourceful, determined, hardworking and had a pretty good attitude all things considered.
If you can ignore the shortcomings you may like this book. I will be returning it unfinished. Have publishing standards always been this low? So disappointing.

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Still Good

Revisado: 03-12-21

This book was as good as the first one so I will be continuing on to the next book. I'm still surprised I liked it given that I really dislike other books by this author.

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Pleasantly Surprised

Revisado: 03-12-21

I have tried to read/listen to two other Breene books and couldn't finish either of them because the main characters were annoying so if I see a new book by this author I usually ignore it. All my go to authors are busy writing right now which is great for the future but decidedly less great for the present. I try to give authors multiple chances and it has been a few years plus this book is in the included titles so I gave it a shot. I'm glad I did because I was pleasantly surprised. I liked the main characters, the world and story kept my interest and the narrator was pretty good. My only complaint with the narrator is that there are a group of boys that I think are supposed to be 15 or 16 and they all sound 10 or 11 which was a little weird since they are training to be in the military and have to fight and kill people. Overall I was entertained and I am continuing on with the series.

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