Toby

True Storytelling

Revisado: 07-18-13

What made the experience of listening to The Name of the Wind the most enjoyable?

The writing was incredible. Rothfuss creates numerous timelines well and truly embues the story with his love of story telling. The levels of different stories can become complex, but are very well done and easily comprehended

Who was your favorite character and why?

Quothe, because he's a liar, a thief, a story teller, a magician, a warrior, a bartender, and a musician

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Stroud has not lost a step

Revisado: 07-18-13

What made the experience of listening to The Ring of Solomon the most enjoyable?

The footnotes. This is characteristic of the previous trilogy, and they are hilarious as well as informative. They add to the humor and depth of Bartimaeus. The book would not be the same without them

What other book might you compare The Ring of Solomon to and why?

The discworld series. again, the footnotes. these are the only two series i've encountered with this attribute, and both use it amazingly

Which scene was your favorite?

Really any time Bartimaeus talks. He is funny, witty, and above all, completely offensive to anyone in power

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Honestly not that good

Revisado: 07-18-13

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

My main problem with the book is that I became very tired of the narrator "bumbling" his way to pain and failure. Those who do not mind listening to someone end up in easily avoidable painful situations may enjoy this book. I honestly have no idea why it became so popular

What was most disappointing about Brock Clarke’s story?

The main character. He was painful to be inside the head of. He was flaccid and useless, letting bad things happen instead of doing anything active. Having taken a class with Brock this is not surprising. He tends to pick books with narrators that are difficult to like let alone relate to

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It had some decent turns of phrase, but really no, it was pretty unenjoyable

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I don't understand how anyone can enjoy Hobb

Revisado: 02-19-13

What disappointed you about Royal Assassin?

If you're looking for interesting, compelling characters, look somewhere else. Hobb and her works are widely celebrated, though I am unsure of the reasons behind this. The names of her characters are rather lazy, hidden under an excuse, but that is forgivable. What are less forgivable are the characters themselves. They are dreadful. The main character Fitz, must spend 80% of his time in the book lamenting over either his relationship with the wolf and other dogs, or his girl friend. It becomes very tiresome very quickly, but the book is extremely long anyway. Most of the plot twists are predictable, and the villains are not brilliant and do not deserve the success they have for so much of the book and series. It is simply that the heros are not heroic. I do not mean this is a: they are not knights in shining armor, instead they have dark sides kind of way. That would be good. Instead I mean the heroes are just bad at being heroes. Fitz and Verity and the Fool bumble for thousands of pages (over the series) and finally pull it together at the end. I do not enjoy reading about people whining and failing for no conceivable reason. I did not finish the series, instead looking up the plot of the last book on wikipedia out of a morbid curiosity.
I know I am in the minority in not enjoying this book, but with the wealth of other series and authors in this genre, I would not recommend this book. There are so many other series that are actually enjoyable and much more worth reading

Would you ever listen to anything by Robin Hobb again?

Absolutely not. There are tons of significantly better authors within the genre who merit a chance instead (Martin, Cook, Sullivan, Sanderson, Jordan, Lynch, Abercrombie to name just a few)

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Honestly, I was so distracted by the poor quality of the story itself that I didn't even notice the narrator. I'm sure he did his best.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Some of the concepts were ok, but there was nothing particularly worthwhile about this story.

Any additional comments?

Don't believe the hype around this author. This book is both a waste of money and of time.

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The origin of dark, gritty, epic fantasy

Revisado: 12-30-12

Would you listen to The Black Company again? Why?

Yes, it is a fantastic book with characters that are easy to love. Though the narration takes maybe a chapter to get used it really starts to work after that point

Who was your favorite character and why?

One-Eye and Goblin, they squabble like children are just very entertaining to read about

What about Marc Vietor’s performance did you like?

Marc Vietor perfectly embodied Croaker, the main character. His performance and delivery did justice to the dry wit and cynicism contained within the story. Most importantly he did not distract the listener from the story

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Not sure it could be made into a film. Audiences would probably not appreciate main characters who are mercenaries...the whole raping and pillaging thing probably wouldn't go over well

Any additional comments?

A common complaint about this book is that it is not descriptive enough. This may be true, but it is actually a strength. Rather than inserting a few hundred pages to add descriptions of every tree the company walk by the story focuses on characters and event. This book is only 350 pages, a mere short story in today's world of tomes. It includes whats necessary and not superfluous words added simply for the sake of being there.Also, in today's world of epic fantasy this book is good, but not quite as dark as the First Law Trilogy or aSoIaF. What makes it stand out is that it predates those series by decades. This was possibly the first book in the genre that did not have the ultra good vs the ultra bad, and in that way it was revolutionary. For this reason alone, let alone the great story and wonderful characters, this book is an important read/listen to any true fan of the genre

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