James

Solid, engaging listen, some well-traveled ground

Revisado: 11-11-23

Not a bad book. It’s fast-paced, direct, cutting, and at times, quite humorous. As expected, the first two thirds are a memoir leading up to January 6 and the aftermath. The most interest part of the first part to me was his perspective on how the activist base, and the Tea Party morphed into MAGA. He’s also refreshingly honest around some of the underbelly of Congress, and the ego-driven nature of politics. A good chunk of his bio background goes over his military career which I found interesting. Given his experience there (though Jan 6 is probably why you are buying the book), would have loved to hear more of his perspective on Ukraine, of which he has been an outspoken supporter.

I was a touch disappointed in the January 6 piece. Not his fault really, just that most of it is already well-documented. A notable exception to this was the damning narrative on Kevin McCarthy (which certainly ended up being prelude).

From an Audible standpoint, he is fine as a narrator, which I find is not always the case when it’s not a professional.

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Fascinating, Distrubring, and Flawed

Revisado: 09-12-19

Some positives and negatives with this one:

As others have stated, this story is strongest at the beginning, setting the table for the chaos to unfold. With slight exception from some emotional actions on the part of S Korea’s leadership, it comes off as quite believable and disturbing, but again, loses steam as we progress to 2nd and 3rd acts. Nonetheless, the authors’ apparent goal to convey just how much of a powder keg the Korean Peninsula is, and how horrible the outcome would be in a worst-case scenario, is largely achieved. There are some things that miss the mark for me however, and detracted from the book (spoilers below):

• The idea that there would be no nuclear response from S Korea, Japan, or the US are an NK first strike seems a bit of a stretch to say the least.
• The US military apparently has no “response plan” to an NK nuclear strike, and has to modify a “first strike” plan instead? Doubt it.
• The author needlessly chooses to engage in some #Resistance “fan faction” that is completely unnecessary to the narrative, and really detracts from the story. Trump’s tweeting helping to spiral a situation out of control? Certainly reasonable. Donald Trump getting physically roughed up by a military aide in a literal tug-of-war over the nuclear football? C’mon. Nikki Haley refusing to call Trump in the middle of the night because of rumors of an affair fueled by Michael Wolff’s book? Nikki Haley refusing to give water to a famished child fleeing destruction? Completely pointless. These aspects almost certainly will be gleefully inhaled by passionate Trump opponents, will outrage Team MAGA, but for the rest of us just interested in this topic, really just doesn't add anything.

In sum, in many ways, this story “delivers the goods”, but it’s very avoidable flaws can be quite frustrating.

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A solid but unremarkable retelling

Revisado: 09-05-19

This was “just ok” for me. The author intersperses the game by game journey to the Super Bowl for the 2017 Eagles along with mini-profiles of various individuals. The book while a solid re-telling of the story, doesn’t offer a ton of things we don’t already know if you’re a big Eagles fan. This largely isn’t the fault of the author as so much as already been written and said about this team as I review in this the fall of 2019. The highlight for me were a few things I don’t know about some individuals the various “bio interludes”. Another highlight was some of the story pre-2017 that set the table for the season. That left me wanting more. Lastly, the narrator tries WAY too hard to show enthusiasm at various points. That didn’t work for me at all and was painful at times.

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Enjoyable background to the new "Citadel"

Revisado: 04-14-17

This book gives you a decent story that gives you some background into the "Andromeda Initiative" and the chaos at the "Nexus" prior to your arrival in the game itself. It's a shame that this didn't come out a month or two before the game, as the game does spoil it (but, it's a prequel, so that happens).

The book's strength is in the interplay of the 3 leaders, Tann, Addison, and Kelly, all well-intention-ed but whose dramatically different personalities and approaches compound the problems of the Nexus. While they're largely one-dimensional, particularly the very "Type A", Sloane Kelly, the authors do a nice job of getting you to understand their conflicting perspectives when bouncing around from various points of view. In other words, Kelly seems reasonable when told from her perspective, but impossible to deal with when told from Tann's perspective. The authors left me wanting a bit more with Addison and Nakmor Kesh, who seemed pretty promising.

There were some complaints about the narrator, but aside from occasionally referring to a character named "Spender" as "Spencer", I thought she added to the story.

Narratively, after the initial chaos, the book bogs down a bit in the middle, but then closes solidly as it proceeds along its inevitable path. Overall, I would recommend fans of the games, as it didn't quite hold up to some of the Drew Karphyshyn books, it still added to the enjoyment of the game. If you're a fan, it's worth the listen.

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Long time Silva reader, first time w/ Audible

Revisado: 03-28-17

Despite being a big Daniel Silva fan, he'd gotten into a bit of a pattern with: Big Incident Occurs, Gabriel pulled out of retirement, Female asset in peril, the team saves the day (though always a fun ride). He charts a bit of a different path here, particularly with a "buddy cop show" dynamic with a character from an earlier book, that is enjoyable (no spoilers). The intensity and fun is sky high as ever, and as always, has chilling parallels to today's headlines.

I was nervous about the narration having read a ton of Silva's books but never w/ Audible. Overall, it was pretty good. The voices used by the narrator were largely good, and didn't really deviate from what I'd imagined. The only exception was the returning character referenced earlier, which the narrator made an absolute hot mess of.

Overall, if you like this genre, Silva is absolutely top notch. They're enjoyable reads, and I always find myself learning something. And if you're a reader taking the Audible plunge, it didn't detract from it one bit.

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Solid beach read and valentine to 80s geek culture

Revisado: 05-27-15

Overall, this was a rather enjoyable listen. For anyone whose formative years were in the 80s, and particularly if you enjoyed video games, this was a fun trip down memory lane. Wil Wheaton was an inspired choice as the narrator and does a really great job of bringing the world to life. Interspersed with the barrage of 80's pop-culture that defines this novel, was the creation of a dark dystopian world, that left me wanting more.

I can't quite give it five stars though, as I found the novel to be a bit too "black and white", with very one-dimensional characters, This, combined with a romance that seemed a bit tame by teen-novel standards gave it a bit of an "after-school"' special feel. Given how well the author constructed the dark dystopian world, I guess I expected something a bit edgier. Overall though, it was a fun read that I'd recommend to anyone interested in the subject matter (which is certainly the target audience here, so my ratings assume this applies to you), it left me wanting more at the end of the day. If 80's pop-culture and the movies, music, and video games that make it up don't interst you, then I'd be hesitiate to recommend this.

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An absolute must for Star Wars fans

Revisado: 06-30-13

What did you love best about Path of Destruction?

A great origin story of Darth Bane, a fascinating character. The story really moves at lightning pace.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Bane is an obvious choice, but the cast of supporting characters is excellent, with Githany being a standout.

What about Jonathan Davis’s performance did you like?

I was a bit skeptical getting my first audio book not narrated by the outstanding Marc Thompson. Davis was terrific however putting his own stamp on the characters. Davis seems to be a tad darker in tone, but that makes sense given the dark subject matter. His narration and the production quality are terrific. I certainly wouldn't hesitate to purchase a narration from Davis nor Thompson.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Nah, though when pulling into work when listening to this during my commute, I wasn't to happy to stop the story many times.

Any additional comments?

Highly recommended, and can't wait to move on to the next in the series.

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