OYENTE

Adnan

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Brutal human conflict in zombie apocalypse

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 11-28-15

Gus is back in this book along with his unique humor and pragmatic solutions for various disasters. Captain also makes an appearance though to a lesser extant. Book starts with Gus living in a colony with peace for last few years. One horrid tragedy spur him into action which takes him onto a chase to save friends' lives. Book, like previous ones, is pretty violent and most of it is being inflicted by humans onto other humans. Zombie threat forces people to make choices which will provoke thoughts on morality and practicality. People with practical knowledge are highly prized, but should such people be allowed to complete freedom at the expense of others for a community? Of course, Gus drew a very clear line and listener will end up cheering for him even as him being the underdog. Book has a complete and satisfying ending. I really enjoyed it. Narration of course is topnotch. I highly recommend this book

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Great start, and potential for an epic series

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 11-14-15

Book starts off slowly and it even seemed that it is another monster hunter type book in fantasy setting. However, author delivers a thought provoking story with depth and complexity. The story surrounds a paladin type person Ashok Vadal who is a protector of law dispensing justice as he was taught; however, Ashok begins to question the law itself as the society is built upon cast system where some of the cast had no rights. Ashok's struggle while discovering the truth makes of an intriguing story line. There is political element that is quiet prevalent in the story that basically want status quo at the expense of unjust cast system that is in place. To round it off, there are monsters, wizards and magic aspects as well. Over all, this book sets up a foundation for a story that could mature into a great series.

Interestingly, there are some elements that seem to be taken from Indian society (such as the cast system) and even name 'Ashok' is Indian. Certainly it is not a commentary on Indian culture or religion, but it is interesting to see what could have been the inspiration for author while writing this book.

As usual, Tim Gerald Reynold's narration is great. And as other (5 star) books, I didn't mind the busy traffic while listening to the book. I would recommend this book and look forward to the next in series.

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esto le resultó útil a 48 personas

Story with humor, complexity and with good ending

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 09-14-15

Clash of Iron is sequel to Age of Iron and lives up to the expectations. This is a solid, entertaining book with some interesting historical background from Roman culture. Angus mentioned that Roman part in the book is accurate with few exceptions.

Book has much larger scope compare to the first one where Roman plans to invade Britain, and things are much more complicated due to politics/power grab within Britain's local tribes. There are more down to earth elements as well such as romance between Dug/Lowa and parent/daughter relationship between Dug/Lowa and Spring. Angus does a great job of mixing these themes seamlessly while adding humor that is not only unexpected but also very genuine. Sean is prefect for this book that his rough voice works well in delivering all elements of this book. Sean did well to the point that I laughed at humor and felt uncomfortable with some of the brutality and violence such as crucifixion. Book has a pretty good and satisfying bitter-sweet ending, so waiting for third book will not be too bad.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book and I highly recommend it as I wait for the next book in trilogy

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Elegantly written classic fantasy with a twist

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 06-07-15

This book is captivating, well written and even better narrated. Book starts off depicting a simple life within a village where Gen (a bard apprentice) had simple life full of adolescence challenges including his crush. Author does a great job providing details about the village life in a beautiful way which hooks reader into the book from very start. Things start to move when Shadan (main antagonist) shows up in village to setup camp for the winter. Even though Gen is the main character and protagonist, Shadan turns out to be more interesting character who moves the story forward in earlier part of the book.

Shadan who is known to be the best warrior anywhere, senses talent in Gen, and decide to train Gen as a warrior over the winter. His motivation is to create a warrior that would provide a challenge in an eventual duel. His methods are brutal but affective, and a good part of the book goes into Gen's training.

My view of the book as a classic fantasy is that there is a prophecy about return of a savior who will fight against a clearly evil being. The leader of the world believe in it, and politics and religion is impacted by it. Gen's rise from being a simple bard from an unknown city to a warrior of great skills and renown makes him a relevant character around the people destined to bring the savior the world.

Books unravels the story slowly, and keep reader wanting for more. It is beautifully written book which I throughly enjoyed. I will be reading the next books in series, and highly recommend this book

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esto le resultó útil a 14 personas

Overrated. Not comparable to Gone Girl

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 05-17-15

I am unsure why this book has such high rating. There are handful of characters and story is told by mainly 3 POVs. Book is compared to gone girl due to the fact that there is a missing person involve, but I do not find that to be accurate. Gone Girl had an antagonist that was intelligent and interesting. I have to say that none of the characters in this book are interesting or remarkable. These characters are going through life and things are simply happening to them. A reader can only enjoy so much about characters getting on train, and then getting off trains and watching people on train ..etc. None of characters really take an initiative or have much of an imagination. Story hinges on a person who can not recall a memory due to the fact she was drunk. Spoiler alert....She does remember finally at the end of the book.
Narration is pretty good and possibly have saved this book to some extent. As a reader who liked gone girl, this book is simply not that good.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

An entertaining walk down memory lane

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 05-08-15

A popular game creator leaves trail of clues/challenges for gamer to find a hidden treasure in a simulation of his creation where the prize is in billions. The simulation contains hundreds of worlds and untold themes (scifi, fantasy..etc). Simulation allowed avatars to be created ranging from fantasy (mages, fighters) to Japanese anime and everything in between. This kind of flexibility allowed author to create settings and characters which are unique to this book; therefore, it can be said that this book contains a truly innovative settings among scifi books.

The clues mainly belong to games/pop culture trivia from 80; therefore, all players in this book are expert in 80's games and pop cultures. The affect on reader of this book is that reader will end up getting more information about 80 than you might care about. Still references to D&D, and Pacman would stir up memories for a lot of readers.

Even with huge settings, book revolves around few characters. These are the elite gamers who are ahead in hunt for the clues and challenges. Of course, there is an evil corporation that hire gamer as employees in order to capture the eventual treasure. This corporation of course is not playing by the spirit of the law and sometime letter of the law. Obviously, our heroes are cool in every possible way in the simulation where they know all the etiquette, tricks and shortcuts to be awesome. Outside of simulation is another matter. Currency of these characters is pretty much the knowledge of 80's pop culture and utilization of spells/magic items of their avatars. Most of our heroes are 99 level avatars either as mage, fighter or some other similar combination. The nerd battles about the 80's knowledge are quiet epic. As a whole I keep getting a sense of movie 'hackers' where the cool was to know your hardware spec and knowledge about computers. At least in movie hackers they did discuss some actual computer science stuff. These guys are generally researching sitcoms. Last gripe is the interaction between character is very much cliché and choppy at times. It could be due to the fact that most characters in this book are high school age.

Regardless of few shortcoming of this book, premise of this book reign supreme due to its unique nature. I was hooked and stays interested until the end of the book. Book has heart that once these characters finally step out of the simulation, reader feels for them and their situation. In the end book has a good message about virtual life and real life.

Narration worked well considering that the narrator is portraying characters that are in high school for most part. I read the book at higher speed, and I would suggest at least 1.25. I enjoyed the book, and I recommend it.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Fast, entertaining scifi thriller

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 05-03-15

Scifi fans will find premise of this book to be familiar, but execution of the premise where this book stands out. Premise of the story is that an advance alien race has identified earth as a suitable planet for habitation. They want to invade to take over the earth. Only problem for them is that earth armies have nukes; therefore, even with advanced technology alien race simply could not invade earth without a nuclear war. The result of such a war would tarnish earth's ability to sustain alien life. In order to remove nuclear threat, aliens send spies to infiltrate armies to take control over earth's nuclear assets.

Story begins with their secret arrival which mostly goes unnoticed by all except for one bored scientist who finds strange anomalies and decides to pursue. What follows is a very fast paced action packed scifi thriller. Alien spies along with their tech are formidable. Book has shades of Pandora's star in a sense that alien spies start to layout a plans for eventual larger invasion while a group of local scientists (in this case) resist their plans. Human scientists have to recruit allies/other humans quietly to avoid leaking the news that alien spies have been detected. Utilization of new tech is amazing, though a little hand wavy at times. Agents are ruthless and determined to achieve their goal where humans are intelligent and methodical to counter their moves.

Story is fast pace and very to the point. There are no lingering side stories but characters are very well developed. There is banter between main characters that is touching/human and out loud hilarious at times. Book is written intelligently for most part, and character make moves which are smart and thought outs.

Narration is amazing as R C Bray again does a great job. He captures the essence/nuances of characters as well as successfully changes the accents between many different nationalities.

I really enjoyed the book and highly recommend it as I wait for next in series to arrive.

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Book brings the horror and chill to this day

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 04-07-15

I find the movie to be one of the all time best horror movie, and I was not sure if book would live up to the expectation. I have to conclude that book brings depth and detail to the story that complements the movie well. Compare to movie, it seems that book takes a long time to get to the conclusion that an exorcist was needed. The banter between the demon and priest during the vetting process was particularly bone chilling. The intelligence shown by the demon was not particularly this evident in the movie. I did feel the hate of an entity that wanted to destroy life. I can only image what impact it would have had on people when book first came out. Book had several shocking scene that I believe were not in book. Also, I think that profanity and hate was toned down in movie compare to the book. Finally, once the exorcism started, book takes it to another level, and all of this has more impact due to the buildup from the beginning.

This has to be the top narrated book by an author. Narrator was able to depict the malevolence, and hate of the demon as well as gentle care of a mother. I am very impressed with narration. Though, I kept the narration speed at 1.25.

I recommend this book to anyone looking for supernatural horror. Book brings something new even for readers who have seen the movie.

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esto le resultó útil a 15 personas

Zombie thriller that is more about living

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 12-14-14

In this post apocalyptic settings, book start with describing that world has overrun by zombies. Life for living is very difficult to near impossible that even toothbrush is a luxury. Book mainly described by main character (Gus)'s POV. Gus got lucky and ended up with an empty property that has a very comfortable setup. He has electricity as well as hot running water along with secure walls and food reserve reserves. The property is on a mountain hence the name 'mountain man'.

First half the book describes the world and day to day activities of Gus. Even with his comfortable settings, what precaution he must take to survive. Along with precaution he pro actively look to keep his food reserves and everyday supplies (such as toilet papers). The details which shows like 'walking dead' look over are discussed, and things are described in very funny manners. Eventually, Gus meets other people and story start to move forward, and even though zombies are in backdrop, book is about living. How good and evil living within people may come out in such settings that when there is no law enforcement. When one can do whatever he/she desires, what people might do to survive. Book discusses the good and worst of humanity.

Start of the book sounded very much like 'The Martian', but it story moved along beyond that initial similarities. Narration is great and very funny. I got several good laughs out of Gus' inner dialogues.

I recommend this book and I will be reading the next two book in the trilogy.

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esto le resultó útil a 9 personas

Not an Iron Mage, but close enough

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 11-24-14

Book is about a ‘mage’ Alex who runs a store for magical item. Alex has magic to foresee possible variation of future at any given moment allowing him to make very clever choices giving him ability to complete tasks which are nearly impossible for normal humans/mages. Alex reside in London and there are two general factions of mages discussed in book while and dark mages. Alex does not seem to have any allegiances, but has certain history which makes the story interesting.

At the start of this book it reminds reader of ‘Iron Druid’. Therefore, comparison to iron druid books are inevitable throughout the book. There are few distinct differences worth mentioning. Alex is not immortal (not ancient with a lot of history) and does not has incredible amount of offensive weapons. Alex is not unique in general that there are various type of mages including other mages with same capability as Alex. Furthermore, there are no deities or talking pets involved in the book either.

Story revolves around investigation of an ancient relic of presumably immense power. All mage factions are interested and want to secure Alex’s services to unlock the relic’s secrets. Story moved at a slower pace for first half of the book, but picks up speed in later half of the book (especially the last several chapters) making up for the slow start. Investigation of relic becomes very interesting and contains several twists.

My minor gripe about the book is lack of sense of humor (at least it is not at the same level as Iron Druid). Second, Alex’s utilization of power sometimes is slightly confusing, but overall it is clean.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, and I will be reading the next book in series. Narration of the very well done and captures the characters well. I recommend this book even to Iron Druid fans.

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esto le resultó útil a 42 personas

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