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Incredible writing and performance

Revisado: 10-19-24

The story is phenomenal in and of itself but the narrator makes me feel some of the scenes so intensely, he’s just remarkable.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Essential reading

Revisado: 12-16-22

As a nurse practitioner as well as someone in eating disorder recovery, this book was incredibly insightful. Honestly if everyone in society read this and took it to heart our world would be a much better place.

The audiobook narrator is great but I have to admit I super wish it was Aubrey Gordon herself reading it, as I’ve come to absolutely love her voice thanks to the Maintenance Phase podcast.

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Great but...

Revisado: 07-10-17

Great for motivation, but I stopped listening once he goes into diet. As a health care provider, I couldn't help but roll my eyes at his advice. Paleo is a fad like any other. Sure, it can work for weight loss, but it isn't the cure-all answer and I wouldn't advise it as a universal diet for all. I don't care enough to rant about metabolism or lipogenesis, but suffice it to say, he is not a physician or dietician... so please take his advise with a serious grain of salt.

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Gripping supernatural tale

Revisado: 01-01-16

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I want to begin by saying that I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this audiobook. At a stunning 50+ hours long, it kept my attention to such an extent that I would listen to it while driving to work, and then sit in my car in the work parking lot until the very last minute before I absolutely HAD to go inside, all so that I could keep listening.

Kate Reading is one of my top three favorite Audible audiobook performers. I loved the voice she chose for Lasher, and I just love the way she pronounces and enunciates words in general. Her performance for this audiobook is phenomenal. I personally enjoyed the accents she chose for people. In retrospect, there weren't New Orleans accents in her performance, but it did not bother me. I felt like the voices she chose for her characters fit them just fine... especially Lasher.

The story itself kept me guessing until the end. As the listener, you are perpetually left uncertain of whether Lasher is pure evil, redeemably misguided, or a misunderstood good entity. I kept swaying back and forth in my view of Lasher, and it wasn't until nearly the very end that I came to my conclusions of what I felt Lasher was on the good and evil scale (I won't spoil it here).

The multigenerational account of the Mayfair Witches was so detailed that, at times, I forgot I was listening to a fictional account. It was masterfully written and presented, with an organized and long thought-out family tree that is thoroughly examined over the course of the novel. The historical account of the family is just as interesting as the present day goings-on.

I am left in some suspense still, and will now go on to the second novel in this series.

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esto le resultó útil a 13 personas

Fantastic, just like how all Murakami books are

Revisado: 05-05-15

Amazing collection of short stories. While I prefer his novels, simply because I love his writing so much that I love the fact I can stay longer in a novel's unique reality than in a short story's, it must be said that these short stories were also a fantastic experience.

What fantastic voyages! What surreal experiences intertwined with moments that are instantly relatable! I find Murakami extremely brilliant and quotable, I have made countless Facebook status updates that are just quotes from his works. This short story collection is no exception, with plenty poignantly worded quotes that speak to me.

Those who have read Murakami's novels will recognize that one of the short stories is almost like an excerpt from one of his novels... I didn't look at publication years but I assume this short story collection came first. Perhaps the short story is what inspired the novel to come to be? If so, I wonder if any of the other short stories will blossom into full length novels someday.

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esto le resultó útil a 6 personas

Excellent read for 80s kids and scifi fans

Revisado: 07-29-14

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This was a very entertaining read. The main character's personality and voice was so distinct that I immediately found him likeable as well as believeable. I enjoyed the plot immensely and rooted from start to finish for our hapless hero.

I highly recommend this book, and don't want to spoil too much of the plot here, so all I will say is, I enjoyed not only the personas of the main character's friends via virtual world interactions, but as the plot progressed, I enjoyed learning the truth about the people behind the online personas, basically their "real life" selves.

The setting of the plot would likely be most easily understood by those who have played or are familiar with MMORPG games, and a lot of the novel takes place online within a virtual reality. However, I firmly believe someone like my mom would enjoy the novel, and she hasn't played anything except Dr Mario on Super Nintendo way back in the day. The familiar challenge of puzzles and quests, difficult opponents, needing equal parts weapons, armor and strategy - in one way or another, this is present in a lot of epic fantasy novels. It just so happens to be a part of this science fiction novel, as well.

This book might appeal most to certain target audiences, but I think it has a lot of potential for wide range appeal as well. I was recommended this novel by my tattoo artist, who had hours upon hours of time to chit chat with me as he inked me. He hadn't read a novel in a while, apparently, but the 80s nostalgia and video game culture references sucked him in. As I read this novel, I felt the author must have been at least somewhat like me - ultimately, a nerd that was interested in 80s culture, video games (both retro and modern), MMORPG culture, science fiction and the possibilities of a dystopian future. It felt like the sort of novel my friends would enjoy, and I find it a great book to recommend to friends when they ask.

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Predictable and not terribly enjoyable

Revisado: 07-29-14

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I had higher expectations because I saw many positive reviews... Very much surprised at the actual quality and content of the story.

First of all, I found this was truly a Harlequin style romance novel, set in a fantasy world. The plot really circulated around the relationship between Elena and Raphael, and the slow escalation of their relationship from animosity to romance. If anyone reading this review is surprised by that or considers it a spoiler, I am shocked, because it was clear to me from the start of the story where this was all heading. In a way the novel reminded me of how some pornos take time to setup a scene to explain why ultimately there will be intercourse ("ooh I broke the sink, I should call the plumber"). The fantasy world seems to be fleshed out only enough to create context for why Raphael would seek out and meet Elena. This is exactly as much plot as 50 Shades of Grey has - the world it is set in has events going on and they impact the main characters and so on, but overall the world is pretty transparently there as just the stage for the shenanigans of the romantic leads. This is a romance novel first, a fantasy novel a distant second.

I didn't like Elena's character, I found her to be very cookie cutter, I have seen characters like her before. She had traumatic events in her past, is sexually repressed, is a lone wolf. She tries to be a strong female lead but it is impossible because ultimately the whole novel is just a vehicle by which she is driven into Raphael's seductions.

Elena is inevitably dominated and seduced, unable to resist the sexy, magical, unbelievably strong Edward Cullen - I mean, Christian Grey - I mean, Raphael. Boring type of male lead as well because I have seen this male character plenty of times before as well. In fact, this is cookiecutter bad boy from Harlequin novels, except he is an angel here because of the fantasy setting the romance is set in, instead of being a 1700s bad boy pirate, or modern era vampire/warewolf, or modern era businessman.

The reading level is low, I found the author repeatedly reused phrases to a maddening extent. I really hope to not hear or read the phrase "cobalt lightning" again for a LONG time. I am also pretty exasperated with constantly being told about how Elena "felt herself get tight" or "felt a tightening", in her... Ahem. It was so constant, she could have crushed coal into diamonds with the below the belt constant crushing, tightening, churning pressure she must've had going on. It was exactly the same sort of wording I found in other romance novels.

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Fantastic! Highly recommend this.

Revisado: 07-29-14

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I loved the plot of this story. It took me through several countries, and introduced me to complex, interesting characters from all sorts of backgrounds and walks of life. There is a religious extremist/terrorist. There is an Eastern European hacker. There is a Chinese MMO gold farmer. A fascinating web of plot threads weaves together into a rich tapestry as the story unfolds. I found the climax of the novel so riveting I was almost late for work, as I sat in my car listening with rapt attention to the action packed shoot-out (trying to minimize spoilers, I apologize if this is already too much information for some). While it is a very long listen, I think it took me less than a week to listen to the entire thing, which says a lot about how interesting it is.

This novel reminded me of what I enjoyed about Ernest Cline's "Ready Player One", which was the inclusion of the MMORPG fad and it similarly predicted the widespread popularity and commonplace nature of nearly everyone playing an MMORPG in the future. I see this as a feasible outcome in the future, and I like seeing novels set in the future that incorporate it.

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Solid, well written epic fantasy tale

Revisado: 07-29-14

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I felt this was a detailed, interesting world reminiscent of the quality to detail evident in other author's works (such as Brandon Sanderson novels).

The main character was interesting. I liked the plot, and felt intrigued enough to want to keep listening so as to find out what happened next. There were moments that touched me, certain tear jerker scenes, and I am not even an overly sensitive person. I found myself caring about the events in the story, and felt that the author presented challenges or unfortunate circumstances in a compelling way that made me care and drew me into the novel.

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to fantasy novel fans. I found the author to be talented and will read more from this author. I have read all of Jordan's Wheel of Time, all of the books from the Song of Ice and Fire series to date, pretty much everything by Brandon Sanderson.

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Interesting

Revisado: 07-29-14

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An interesting perspective on how we are all human, and the sort of subjective factors that impact surgeons and doctors on a daily basis. This was a very quick listen for me. I found it well written, peppered with humor as well as touching human perspective. I recommend it to those working in the medical profession as well as anyone interested in gaining some insight on the challenges that physicians face on a regular basis. While nobody likes to be the patient that ends up the one the doctor makes a bad judgment call on, it is inevitable, there is no perfect human being and nobody performs without error in ANY profession. The pressure is high and medicine is very tricky, and I feel books like this one help warm people's hearts and break down their ignorance. Perhaps it can help reduce the knee jerk reactions of those who are quick to judge doctors harshly or immediately want to sue over medical errors or judgment calls made in tense, critical moments of life and death.

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