OYENTE

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  • 14
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  • 83
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A Quick, Comfortable Philosophy

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

Revisado: 02-04-25

Definitely a "feel good" type of book. The philosophies crossed religious boundaries in a way that wasn't offensive to anyone. The concepts were all nice, comfortable and easy to relate to. I liked the Holy Man but wasn't crazy about Anna as the heir-apparent.

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The Inside Story of Formula 1

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

Revisado: 01-31-25

The book is a great way to get the inside story on Formula 1. The author provides a tremendous amount of information on the teams, drivers, owners, engineers, and promoters of the sport of Formula 1. I really learned a lot, although not so much about who won which race but on the engineering and intrigue behind all of those wins. My only complaint (and it is not a big one) is that the story of each team, owner, driver, etc. is told on their own timeline with relatively limited interaction with their interaction with other teams, owners, etc. The reader is left to align these timelines on their own. It appears that the book was mostly written by 2022 and, in order to make sure the information is all up-to-date, the author covered 2023 as a story about everything that went on that year, involving all of the teams and drivers in a coordinated story. I wish there was a little more of this in the earlier chapters, just to keep everyone aligned in my own mind.

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A Worthwhile Successor to Agatha Christie

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

Revisado: 01-21-25

I really enjoyed this book. This Hercule Poirot mystery is very much in line with those written by Agatha Christie although I thought is was better written in some ways. Of course all of the characters were considered possible suspects and Hercule Poirot goes through a process of collecting evidence that first explains why they are suspects and then why they could not have committed the murder, just to keep the reader completely confused. Many of the suspects were either nasty or simply odd people, which just adds to the challenge. I thought Inspector Catchpool was a good sidekick for Poirot rather than just a stupid foil as in so many earlier books. Overall, I though this was a very good story.

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Another Typical Bourne Novel

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

Revisado: 08-26-24

A fast-paced spy novel. Bourne and his girlfriend, Sara, are amazing. Think on their feet. Unafraid of any obstacle. On the other hand, I found Sarai and her daughter, Sonia, to be far less interesting. I understand that a two-year old would not respond well in a prison setting but just didn't think that they added much to the story except for putting more pressure on Bourne. Apparently Bourne must have perfected teleporting, as he seemed to get from Afghanistan to Singapore to Dubai in minutes. The whole timetable of the story did not seem to be well-thought out. I also found the whiny president when he couldn't have Camilla there immediately for sex to be overdone. I don't think anyone gets to be president if they are that petulant and impatient. The bad guys were thoroughly rotten and almost caricatures rather than people. A good story but not a great one.

I found the narrator's voice for Sonia to especially grating.

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A dark, chaotic story.

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

Revisado: 07-19-24

Probably my least favorite book in this series. The author did such a good job of directing military expeditions led by Darrow I had thought this would be more of the same. Instead most of the book was spend entirely in mayhem, chaos, and anarchy. I appreciate when the heroes have tough jobs to do but not when everything around all of them is entirely impossible and out of their control.
I have never really liked Lysander but I really can't stand the disloyal, merciless worm at this point. I am beginning to wonder if any of the more positive characters are going to be alive by the end of the series.
I hope the next book is a whole lot more uplifting than this one was.
I gave the performance 1 star, not because of the narrators, who, in general, did an excellent job. As with the previous book in the series, my problem is with the sound engineer, who appears to have turned over the volume control to their three year old for most of the book. I wish I could just stand right next to him and blast an air horn in his ear every 30 seconds like he seems to think we want to listen to the book. The narration kept going from a whisper to a shout and back again every minute or so. I like to listen to these books in the car and it became really distracting that I kept having to turn the volume up and down constantly while attempting to drive.
I only gave the story 2 stars because, while the author writes very well, chaos and mayhem are not his strong suit and his writing became chaotic as well, to the point where I often couldn't figure out what was going on, or who these new creatures were that the author kept introducing with no explanation (apparently because he needed something to break the chaos as well.) The long, political monologues, quoting from ancient Roman philosophers got pretty boring as well. The evil people seem to have no redeeming qualities whatsoever and the good people (including Darrow) seem almost helpless to stop them. Definitely not what I was hoping for.

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Proof that Peace can be as Hard or Harder than War

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

Revisado: 04-22-24

Another excellent addition to this series.
Part of the plot of this story details how hard it is to turn a world changed by class-based civil war into a place where victor and loser can work in harmony. As with real-world post-war situations, they find it difficult to make a government created by war into a socially benevolent entity that works toward improving the lives of those freed from their shackles.
Darrow struggles in this most difficult situation as a lifetime of war has made most of the citizens so fed up with war that they will do almost anything (including imprison the heroes) to prevent war from happening again. Here I picture Darrow has his generation's Patton or MacArthur. He recognizes that the war really isn't over until all of the opposition has been defeated or eliminated. He and his howlers end up having to fight these battles without the support of his government and, in fact, with his own government chasing him and trying to arrest him.
I like that new characters, Lyria and Ephraim, are introduced, along with hearing more from Lysander, the grandson of the previous Sovereign. I found their stories presenting interesting perspectives not found in the previous books' Darrow first person narratives.
I was disappointed that this book made Mustang (the new Sovereign, Vivian) out to be so weak and ineffectual after she seemed so strong and intelligent in the previous books in the series. Hopefully this is rectified in future books.
I also hope that the Lysander's character changes in the future books as he currently seems like a whiney, coddled little princeling that has learned little from his years with Cassius, an honest, ethical knight who understands the meaning of self-sacrifice.
The ending seemed to show new levels of desperation in all of the remaining characters. I am confident that the story improves in the next book.
I downgraded my performance rating from a 5 to a 3, not because the narrator's did anything wrong (they were magnificent), but because the sound engineer did an absolutely TERRIBLE job. The sound levels changed multiple times in every chapter, from a whisper that was impossible to hear to a scream that hurt my ears. I understand the need to carry the emotions along with the words when doing narration, but there has got to be a way to do that so I can hear every word and not have to adjust the volume level every minute. Actors do this in live theater all the time so I know it is possible.

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A terrific ending to this trilogy

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

Revisado: 02-26-24

The author has done a terrific job of combining complex military strategy in space, with lots of political intrigue and back-stabbing, while providing even further character development (A hard thing to do in the third book of a series.) The story did all of this while keeping the story moving along at a break-neck pace and throwing in lots of surprise twists and turns.

I am really impressed with the author's ability to create such well-developed characters when everyone is being viewed from only one person's perspective (Darrow). Most books have to jump to different characters so you can see all of them from each other's perspective. Darrow is so self-aware that this is really unnecessary.

The only small negative I have is that, during many of the battles, there is no longer any description of Darrow's thought processes as he develops his battle strategies on the fly. Doing so may have hurt the pacing of the story so I understand why the author might have chosen to not include this detail.

I hope, in future books, we get a better understanding of some of the other colors. For example, while I felt like I had a decent understanding of Ragnar, I have a much harder time with Steffi and the relationship between her and the various tribes of Obsidians. The same goes for Theodora and the Pinks, Orion and the Blues, etc.

This has been a terrific trilogy and I hope the author is able to maintain the momentum is he moves forward with new books in the series.

TIm Gerard Reynolds has again done a masterful job as the narrator. He is so consistent with the voices, the accents, and the distinctions between the various character while delivering just the right level of emotion.

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A Terrific Sequel to Red Rising

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

Revisado: 02-14-24

Absolutely a blockbuster successor to Red Rising! Terrific political intrigue and battle strategy combined with terrific character interaction made for a wonderful story. The author is thorough in his story development with complex, approachable characters, intricately described societies, and great battlefield sequences. I can't wait to read the third book in this series!
The narrator is wonderful. The accents he uses for the different colors are great! The narrator brings an appreciation of the characters that really adds to the story.

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Tremendous World Building and Riveting Characters

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

Revisado: 01-18-24

I loved this book! Much of it came across like a cross between a game of Capture the Flag and Lord of the Flies with a dash of Hunger Games thrown in.
It begins with life on Mars by a group of underground terraformers called Reds who believe they are preparing Mars for a future society. Society is divided by colors into strict castes with each caste having a fairly narrow set of job descriptions and place in society. Golds are at the top of the heap, having taken charge, destroyed most of what was left of earth, and sent colonies on the Luna, Mars, and other planets and moons to prepare for people to live in outer space. (Spoiler Alert) What these poor Reds don't know is that they have been toiling away underground for hundreds of years while society has already existed on the surface of Mars for a long time. Now it is up to Darrow, one of the more adventurous Reds to be physically altered so he can go undercover as a Gold with hopes to rise up in their society, take revenge on the Golds, and overthrow them so all colors (but especially the Reds) can become full participants in society.
What Darrow finds out is that the Golds have their own culling process (called "The Institute") where the top Golds are put on teams with the leader of the top team getting a prime position of power and the possibility to make a real difference. Within The Institute, Darrow finds out how cruel, sadistic, and power-crazed the Golds are. They are willing to do almost anything to anyone, even their own people, in order to get power. It is no wonder that the lower colors are mistreated if the Golds can't even be civil to each other. Most of the book goes through Darrow's learning process as he tries to find his way to power without losing his humanity.
The story moves along quickly with a tremendous amount of world building and character development with a huge cast of characters. I can't wait to see what happens in future books in the series.

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WWII Novel about Polish Jews Hiding in a Sewer

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

Revisado: 12-24-23

This was an enjoyable book about the unlikely friendship between a young Jewish girl, hiding from the Nazis in the sewers in Poland, and a wealthy Polish girl, who spots her through a sewer grate. I thought the story developed very well as both girls come to see the problems each other faces. Ella seemed really shallow early in the story but developed some real character as time goes on. Sadie seemed like a fairly resilient girl as the story begins but proves to be incredibly so as the story progresses.
There were a few places in the book that didn't make much sense. It became harder to believe that the Jews hiding the sewer weren't caught when you know there had to be other people wandering the sewers and they didn't exactly keep themselves hidden or quiet at all times. I thought Elle, a girl whose appearance would have looked out of place in the area anyway, going regularly to stand over a sewer grate to talk to Sadie, would have also been a giveaway. Even so, I enjoyed the story and the surprise twist at the end.

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