UlrikeDG

Muppet voiced!

Revisado: 12-25-24

I didn't hate narrator Nigel Lambert's performance, but the voices he does are all very Muppet-coded! It was a bit jarring.

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Much more complex than I've come to expect from Wodehouse

Revisado: 12-05-24

The plot was much more complex than I've come to expect from Wodehouse. There's a lot of build up to get to the meat of the plot, but the ending is quite satisfying.

Audiobook narrator Jonathan Cecil is my favorite Wodehouse narrator, and he shines here.

Note: this recording was originally released on audio cassette, so there is a longer pause every 50 minutes or so.

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Glad I didn't pay for this one!

Revisado: 10-26-24

I almost DNF'ed this one. It reads like a comic book without the pictures. Everything is over the top and a bit slapstick, even the violence. I tried to read it in that spirit, but...

1) Family dynamics. I LOVED that the family sticks together, but there was nothing in the text to explain WHY. Everything about them is so terribly dysfunctional that it went well beyond my suspension of disbelief that they would stick together like they do. The parents play favorites and leave much of the raising of the younger kids to the older ones. This is a recipe for sibling rivalry, not loving unity. And then, there's the squabbling between the adult children. It's so constant and ridiculous. It's no wonder that one would leave home; the true mystery was why any would stay when given a choice.

2) Bridles.

"Then he began to grow . . . up. His torso lifted tall, stretching a bit, even widening. And beneath his torso, his legs went from human to horse. Even his kilt turned into a horse’s bridle seconds before two more legs appeared as that part of his body stretched and grew massive. Bigger than any warhorse she’d ever seen...

"His body stopped growing, finally. But then, from the sides of his head . . . antlers."

WHY???? What is the purpose of the bridles? They are ridden by humans so rarely I’d bet the vast majority of centaurs have never experienced it. Bridles exist to facilitate control of a horse by a human, but why would a human need to control a centaur that way, either from the ground or while mounted? And if the bridle doesn’t even have reins, that makes it even less functional. If the purpose is just to keep the kilt handy for modesty the next time the centaur takes human shape, why not transform it into a sash like an ambassador or beauty pageant contestant wears? Why are these centaurs wearing leather bridles on their antlered human heads, and WHY ARE ZERO OTHER READERS DISTRESSED BY THIS?

3) Alcoholism is hilarious. One character gets blackout drunk every single day, and it's a running joke.

4) Poor Samuel. He's a squire who receives no mentorship nor training. He's just as helpless at the end of the book as he is at the beginning. Why is he even here?

Finally, the audiobook narrators: I listened to the whole book at 1x speed.

Jason Culp reads the prologue for no apparent reason. He adds and detracts nothing, except I kept waiting for him to come back to read another part of the book.

Mia Barron is a B-tier narrator. She's generally competent and makes few outright errors (in one bit of dialog, she forgets to switch voices at a character change, which is jarring). She has quite a few voices for different characters, though some or her choices seem odd (the dwarf queen's voice stands out as weird). Overall, I think I'd have been a little happier with her if I'd bumped up the speed a little. Alas, her competence couldn't make up for the writing.

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A very cozy cozy mystery.

Revisado: 06-03-24

A bit of a slow start.

Audiobook narrator Patrick Tull reads well. There are some long pauses which could have been edited out. I wonder if this one was originally released on CD and the breaks are an artifact of that. Either way, four stars for Tull.

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Cozy fantasy.

Revisado: 03-24-24

One of my favorite in the series. I only wish it were longer.

Audiobook narrator Grover Gardner earns 5 stars.

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Pretty good

Revisado: 02-27-24

I enjoyed the banter, but the final conflict (last 80% ish of the book) seemed forced and unnecessary.

Kate Reading is among the best of the best for audiobook narrators, but I'm not sure she was the best fit for this one.

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The narration detracted from my enjoyment

Revisado: 09-24-23

This is my second Discworld book. I know it's not a lot of people's favorite, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Unfortunately, and unexpectedly, the narration detracted from my enjoyment. I think Bill Nighy had a grand total of 6 lines (footnotes)? Impossible to screw up, so no problem there. Peter Serafinowicz as "Death" was fine. I don't think he added much, but I assume the idea is for this recurring character to be narrated by Serafinowicz across the series. Andy Serkis was shockingly disappointing. His character choices rarely elevated the story (why does Urn sound like a stoner?), and worse, he frequently lost track of who was speaking using the wrong voice, sometimes switching to the correct one halfway through a quote.

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If you like Ursula Vernon you'll like this

Revisado: 09-05-23

At not even 3 hours 45 minutes, this is a quick read. I see some people have erroneously tagged this as horror. This book doesn't really have any horror elements. It's certainly less creepy than Vernon's Bluebeard retelling (The Seventh Bride) or last year's Nettle & Bone. Some of the flashbacks are a bit intense (the dog dies "off screen" as it were), but since they *are* flashbacks, there's never a worry for the safety of the main characters.

Toadling is a little less practical than Vernon's typical heroine, but she's just as earnest and well-meaning and polite as one would expect.

Audiobook narrator Jennifer Blom is just OK. Three and a half stars for Blom.

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Early works of Wodehouse

Revisado: 09-03-23

Coming at this book after having read all of the Jeeves & Wooster stories (including Extricating Young Gussie, which is the second story in this volume), and being of the opinion that the middle novels are Wodehouse's best, I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed this collection! I frequently reread the J&W audiobooks to fall asleep, but I almost always skip the short stories as less enjoyable. These short stories are almost universally lovely!

I think my favorite story was At Geisenheimer's. If this were a more modern story, I'd have wondered if Miss Roxborough and Mary weren't going to run away together (I may have to check AO3 to see if anyone has written that alternate ending), but I did enjoy the sweet ending Wodehouse gave us.

The Making of Mac's and Black for Luck both feature rather obnoxious male romantic partners, neither of whom deserve to end up with the girl. But the other stories are generally pretty good. Sometimes, it's not clear whether Wodehouse is really a terrible misogynist or if he just writes sexist characters.

I've always been a fan of Frederick Davidson's Wodehouse narrations, and here I can compare him head-to-head (so to speak) with David Thorn, who is the narrator of the version of Extricating Young Gussie that I already own. Davidson comes out miles ahead! Five stars for Davidson.

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Enjoyable mystery.

Revisado: 06-26-23

An enjoyable mystery. The flashbacks seem like a bit of a cheat when it comes to hiding information from the reader that the detective already knows, but we do have plenty of clues before the criminal is revealed, and the story is good.

Audiobook narrator Kate Reading earns a solid 5 stars!

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