Amateur curmudgeon

Bowled over

Revisado: 02-18-19

I not often write reviews for audio books. But I'll make an exception for this one. To be honest, I do not know why I selected this book, I do not remember, probably it was recommended by Amazon. In essence the story is as old as drama. A witch falls in love with a vampire. OK. It's forbidden love as witches, vampires, and demons are not supposed to have relations outside their species. OK, here come Romeo and Juliet.
The devil, or demon, is in the details. The witch, Diana, a historian who tries desperately to hide, deny, and not use her powers, finds an ancient manuscript that is bewitched. The vampire, Mathew sees her and begins to follow her. Witched, demons, and vampires come out of the woodwork to watch and observe Diana at the Boodleian library in Oxford. And it all goes downhill from there.
I listen to audiobooks during my commute, but this time, I could not wait for Monday so I had to get the kindle edition and, on Monday, at work, had to finish reading the story since I couldn't wait for the evening commute.
Next book in the series in my phone. (and I just went ahead and got the kindle edition too)
The narrator Jennifer Ikeda does an amazing job she puts you right there, inside the pages (virtual pages) of the story.
I can't wait for the evening commute now.

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Not just for your commute

Revisado: 06-23-18

I listen to audiobooks during my commute, or while driving from here to there. I don't listen to at home, I'd rather read, I can read faster than the narrator narrates. The Pendergast series of books, this one being the tenth, have made me look forward to the time spent in my car. This one takes the cake. I have actually had to listen to it at home, or during down time at work, so gripping the story was.
This book reads better if you've read the prior novels, but if you haven't, read at least "The Book of the Dead" and "The Wheel of Darkness" it will save you some confusion. The 9th installment, "Cemetery Dance" though a great book by itself, is not needed to fully savor this one.
This is part of a trilogy, but there is enough closure to enjoy it by itself, though I immediately bought and downloaded the next one "Cold Vengeance"

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Good yarn

Revisado: 02-09-18

There are three points to my review:
1 The story: A great story, compelling and thrilling. I listen during my commute and it made me yearn to get back in my car so I could listen to it.
2 The reader: This is an offshoot of 1. Dick Hill, and other readers, like to increase and decrease the volume of their speech to match the mood of the scene. This is great if you are listening in the comfort of your living room or bedroom, not if you are driving in traffic on an interstate. Having to constantly jog the volume so I can actually listen to what is being read gets annoying.
3: Nitpicking. There are references to scurvy. Without giving a spoiler, scurvy is caused by a deficiency of vitamin C.
SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!


It's not scurvy, it's rickets.

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Less navel gazing

Revisado: 03-13-17

Ann Rice throws the cardinal rule of writing, "show, don't tell" in the garbage bin in just about all her novels; but you can't argue with success and the novels work.
My main beef with the vampire chronicles is the protagonist, Lestat, who is constantly emoting and over emoting like a ham theater actor. That is why, I believe, I liked this book so much. While Lestat narrates the story, much of it is told by Memnoch the devil who gets on to business, so to speak, and does not interrupt the flow of the tale for five minutes of description and exploration of his feelings. Without all that navel gazing, the story flowed much better and kept my interest while on previous novels it tended to wander while Lestat described, ad nauseam, his misery, or elation

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Much better than the movie

Revisado: 02-18-17

I couldn't finish the movie, I watched about half of it and could not get into it.
The audiobook is much better than the movie. The way the story is told, from different points of view is original and tells the tale much better but, like all of Ann Rice's stories it suffers from over emoting and over description.
While listening to it, often I wish that some editor had come in and trimmed about a thousand or two adjectives out of the narrative. Often while the character emotes, suffers for no good reason, or otherwise describes something ad nauseam, my mind would wander and when, at last, the story started again I was left wondering where we were in the story, who was the current actor and what it was about.
The repetitive twins dream sequence made me wish this was in an old tape recorder so I could fast forward through the hundredth reiteration of the same dream scene.

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Too many words

Revisado: 02-18-17

Would you try another book from Anne Rice and/or Simon Vance?

Yes to both questions. I like Simon Vance and heard all of his Aubrey/Maturin series. I also like Anne Rice's vampire series with some reservations

Any additional comments?

Anne Rice brought the modern vampire genre back from the attic. If you've watched the twilight series, or true blood, it was Anne Rice that made them possible.
The problem I have with this and other of Anne Rice's books is the characters constantly emoting like bad actors, and the overly emotional descriptions that bog down the narrative.
I listen to this while commuting and at times I want to yell at my dashboard:
"Enough with this already! Get on with the d@rned story!"

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Crassus crassus rich as Croesus

Revisado: 08-09-16

If you could sum up Arms of Nemesis in three words, what would they be?

Murder and mayhem at the foot of Vesubius

What did you like best about this story?

I liked Olympia's apprentice, forget her name.

Any additional comments?

Enjoyed listening to it during my commute

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Cicero's first case

Revisado: 08-09-16

Would you listen to Roman Blood again? Why?

Probably not

Who was your favorite character and why?

Gordianus the finder.

What didn’t you like about Scott Harrison’s performance?

The narrator's voice was grating and he overacted the dialogue. At times when Gordianus spoke I thought: Why doesn't the person he's barking at break his nose for him.
It gets better when you get used to him

Any additional comments?

Great novel. Well researched. Recommended for Roman history fans. Good start to the series.

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The Clodians at their most entertaining

Revisado: 08-09-16

If you could sum up The Venus Throw in three words, what would they be?

Poison, murder and kinky sex.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the character Clodia. I knew her and her brother Clodius from history. Saylor paints them into real people. They had a "reputation" and Saylor expands and fills in the blanks for them. I also liked Bethesda, we get to know her backstory.

Which character – as performed by Scott Harrison – was your favorite?

Clodia as one of the protagonists and Bethesda in a supporting role

Any additional comments?

When I started listening to the sub rosa series of books I disliked the narrator and thought that his voice grated and tended to over act the dialogues, but I got used to him and think he does a fair job. Don't let the negative reviews dissuade you.
I listen during my commute and look forward to it. If there's heavy traffic, even better.

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Absorbing mystery

Revisado: 03-16-16

Would you listen to When Gods Die again? Why?

Mystery stories are not the best to revisit, unless they are very good, or it's been a long time since you read/listened to them.
I am more likely to reread a story than re-listen to it, so the answer would be no.

Have you listened to any of Davina Porter’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I found Ms. Porter's voice rather annoying at the beginning, but after a while I realized it was quite appropriate and enjoyable

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