Ginger

I learned so much, and it was awesome.

Revisado: 12-05-21

I enjoyed this book immensely. It's an examination of the phenomenon of the Vikings - how their culture, identity, religions (the Norse pantheon as well as the sporadic adoption of Christianity), environment, economy, technology, governmental structures, and their tactics lead to their profound and lasting influence on the modern peoples and nation states of Europe and Asia.

Don't be scared off by the reviews that claim this book is too political or preachy. I assure you - this book isn't political at all. Each of the subjects (like slavery, gender roles, power dynamics, etc.) are *relevant* and valid areas of examination. To understand who the Vikings were, you have to ask these questions and look at the archeological record and historical record for clues. I'll explain.

--> Gender roles, hair and dress and grave goods of Viking men and women help us understand:
- whether Shield Maidens really existed
- whether a possible demographic imbalance of men to women created societal pressure to raid
- how a male-focused, valor-seeking culture may have developed and been further amplified by environmental pressures, poor agricultural conditions, etc. and how that influenced most aspects of Viking life.

--> The discussion of gender and gender fluidity is relevant because the pre-Christian Vikings believed in several types of magic, one or two of which can be (oversimplified for this review) thought of as sex magic, one of which may have been practiced by transgendered or intersex people, who held a contradictorily powerful yet marginalized status within the community.

--> The subject of slavery is relevant because it was likely one of the biggest drivers of the Viking economy, a big motivator for their raids, and one of the causes for the widespread movement of peoples including the Viking diaspora itself. The lives of these slaves were horrific; the author acknowledges it, not just because it's true, but because turnover and brutality of their forced labor was inextricable from the Viking wool industry and the western markets that bought and traded in Viking goods.

This book is so much more than just these sensitive subjects, but any study of the Vikings would be incomplete without them. The Vikings killed, raided, pillaged, raped, enslaved for profit, for valor, for status, for territory, for power. They also made beautiful trade goods, crafted stories and song, were master shipwrights and sailors, and built a unique culture. You can't just look at the fun happy bits and ignore the ones that make you feel uncomfortable.

The reader's voice was so robust and expressive I forgive the few potential mispronunciations that rang oddly in my ear. The author's writing was easy to follow aurally, organized logically across the chapters and subjects, and was delightfully narrative in tone when recounting stories of the Norse pantheon. I would have liked to see the maps that were likely quite illustrative in the print version, and there were a few times that I felt the lack of printed spelling of some tricky names and locations.

This hit all the right buttons for me - archeology, history, political economy, the formation of cultural identity. I learned so much, and it was awesome.

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Short and sweet(ened)

Revisado: 03-25-20

What a nice little personal journey of a coffee lover through caffeine abstinence. It has just enough history and science to feel like I learned something. I enjoyed the author's narration, too.

For a LOOONNNGG bit of fiction that touches on the relationship between coffee houses, the Enlightenment, and the Royal Society, I recommend Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle.

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Charming!

Revisado: 02-13-20

The story is rather simple, but it was executed so well in both writing and performance that it didn't need much more of anything.

This was one of the best narrator performances I've heard on Audible so far (out of 40-50 titles in my library).

My only complaint is that it's fairly short. I bought it on sale, but I would not have spent an entire credit on it.

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Interesting world, so-so characters, bad narration

Revisado: 02-13-20

The world building had a lot of potential, but it didn't go far enough. The characters weren't developed, and the plot fell into a barely-there story of a magically powerful but socially isolated man meets annoying, overconfident scoundrel.

The narrator made it much worse. He voiced ALL female characters in a petulant, sing-songy tone. The main female character in particular was done in a horrid, rising inflection that (I assume) was supposed to sound combative and powerful but came across as bratty know-it-all.

He voiced the villains (and also any native of Red London) in a simpering German accent. They sounded spoiled and laughable. Finally, all magic incantations in were breathy and grunted like the speaker was constipated.

It was very difficult to finish. I really liked the concept of parallel worlds linked by magic with London's existence being a linguistic oddity. I bought all three of the books when Audible was selling the whole series at a discount. I'm not sure I'm even going to listen to the other two or if I'm going to return the lot.

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Just a Detective Story

Revisado: 11-01-19

I wanted more stories from the near-future world of _Lock_In_, but this book is little more than a simple detective procedural. I still liked it, but it felt flatter, less engaging than I'd hoped.

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Nonfiction Written with a Storyteller's Skill

Revisado: 07-16-19

True story of a noble statesman, a narcissist assassin, a genius inventor, & an ego-driven doctor.

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Amusing Character Sketches

Revisado: 06-28-19

I felt like the writing was pretty good but still missing something. The characters are believable and charming. The story is a little flat, more of an extended character sketch. Vocal performance is excellent. The narrator nailed the sound of the East Texas twang but turned the strength of it up to a 10. To my southern ears, it both worked and felt like too much.

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Grateful for Audible's Return Policy

Revisado: 05-17-19

Mildly interesting premise written in lazy, boring prose and undifferentiated dialogue. Finished it. Returned it.

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Good story, bad writing, tedious delivery

Revisado: 12-09-15

This charming story is crippled by bad writing and a tedious narration. The narrator's clear, strong voice barely changes between characters and suffers from a plodding and inappropriately crisp tone.

But the narrator can not be blamed for the wooden, stilted dialogue or the inexplicably repetitive descriptions of the action. I don't mean that the word choice is repetitive (although it is), but rather the *action* is repetitive, as if the author assumed her readers would forget what was going on after two minutes and would require a summation every other paragraph. Nearly half the book is spent regurgitating the same scenes, people having literally the same conversations a dozen times; the other half of the book is the characters worrying about those same conversations, and playing them out steam-of-consciousness style.

And why is every single person in the future timeline incapable of following a topic of conversion?! Nearly all of the dialogue was punctuated by Mr. Dunworthy prompting distracted, socially incompetent, and seemingly moronic academics who couldn't remember what they'd been talking about for the past ten minutes.

If you can get through the tedium, the repetition, and the overall whining and worrisome tone, there is a good story to be had. The main characters evoke sympathy and earn respect. You want them to succeed, even as you want the book to hurry the heck up and get to the end.

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