Bryan

An ending makes or breaks a book for me

Revisado: 02-13-23

I've been less than thrilled with this series up to this book. It was good enough and entertaining enough to keep me listening and engaged. I liked Marco (Poet) enough to want to hear more. The story wasn't original and you could almost name a movie or book that "inspired" every page (minute?) of this book.

The narrator just needs to stop with the action movie guy voice. I've now said it three times, Mr. Kafer. By all natural and unnatural laws I believe you have to make a change now...I'm pretty sure that's how it works. At least I've decided that's how it should work.

Below I'm going to vent. It's going to be vague, but it might be considered spoilers...its a fine line.

The ending...[Son of a Deity's name here]...the ending. I listen to a lot of scifi and fantasy so I know I have a high bar for original content. I also have a 4 year old and I read a lot of cheesy books to him...some that physically hurt, but he likes it, so I do it. But the ending here was beyond painful and completely unbelieve. Just how? And why? Seriously, NO ONE in the world noticed?? Did they only talk to him?!?! And he monologed it!! He [Insert favorite curse word(s) here] monologed!!!

I'm done, Mr. Arenson. This is where we part ways.

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Over dramatic and nothing new...same as the first

Revisado: 02-13-23

Narrator needs to discover that not every line needs to be read like the action move guy's voice. It's tiresome, but a bad narrator has never stopped me from enjoying a book nor rating it highly.

The book is cliche and seems to borrow from well established stories like Aliens and Starship Troops. The author puts enough of a his own spin on it to make it his, but only just enough and it's nothing ground breaking or amazing. Just entertaining. Didn't see the twist at the end, that was good enough to get me to get the third book in this series.

But then it all feel apart for me with the third book.

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Over dramatic and nothing really new

Revisado: 02-13-23

I normally don't mind the narrator of a story no matter how bad they are, but this one bugged me on just how dramatic he made everything sounds. Think action move guy's voice...all the time. The author isn't terrible but I found him less than original. Throughout the whole story I felt that he was borrowing from movies or other books and just putting enough of a spin to it to say it was his. So, yes it was entertaining, but nothing amazing. It was good enough that I got the second and third book,

The third book is where I stopped and where I will part ways with this story.

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Soft Story and Poor Narration

Revisado: 07-25-18

The Story:
I'll start with the story, which is always the more important part of an audiobook. The story itself wasn't the worst, but it wasn't the best either. It was flimsy and a lot more political-ish that I was hoping for in a first contact book. The aliens weren't really talked about in detail, but instead you have the typical lone team against the military type scenario. The way characters interacted was a bit forced and didn't seem genuine. Not all conversations were this way, but it was more the rule than the exception.

The Narration:
The Narrator was comical. I felt like I was listening to a South Park episode with the story not fitting the narration and the narrator sounding like a cartoon. Now, I'm usually pretty lenient with narrators, since I feel they are doing me a favor by reading the books out loud and putting in an effort to make the characters come alive. This time, Jeff Cummings just did a terrible job. It would have been better if he was monotone. I had to repeat the words in my head and/or out loud in a way that I felt was more fitting to the story. Some touching moments in the story was ruined by the cartoonish way he narrated it and some not great writing was made awful when he read it out loud.

I feel that Mr. Cummings did the book a disservice. If I was the author I would be pretty upset and would wonder if anything even listened to it before putting out for sale.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Starts off slow, but build quickly!

Revisado: 05-22-17

I've been waiting for more Tibbs and more of the Never. This is a great series with a lot to offer any one that likes a story to be more than just empty characters and standard story lines.

Everyone in this book has a story and every one of them is meaningful and relatable. You find out how they are all linked and how family is a strong motivator for most characters.

I saw another review saying that they are looking forward to the finale. I'm looking forward to more than just a trilogy. This is such a great story and Hodges does an amazing job!

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Good Story

Revisado: 05-08-17

This was a good story, not the best I've ever read. but it was interesting and I like how it ended. This is an author I'm going to keep on my radar from now on.

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A thought provoking book

Revisado: 05-03-17

I am looking at the most recent review and frankly I'm shocked. This book isn't an action packet, post-apocalyptic book. Yes, there is some action and obviously its about a global pandemic, but that's not the point. That's only the setting of the story.

To me, it was about friendship, love-lost, and how small the world is. It was a book about how everything ties together. Its a reflection of what we have lost by gaining technology and what we gained when we lost the conveniences of life.

I'm not really doing this book justice. To boil it all down, for me, this book is one of those books/stories, that I will be thinking back on and will reflect on. Not in a spiritual sense, but just something that I don't think I'll be able to get completely out of my head and my soul.

Read it / listen to it. Its a bit slow at first, but its beautifully written.

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I still need more Bob in my life!

Revisado: 04-20-17

Great book! Picks up where we left off in the first book and has all the awesome nerd isms we have come to expect from Mr. Taylor.

This series has everything for a great Sci Fi. Ray Porter does any amazing job of narrorating, as always.

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esto le resultó útil a 14 personas

Good, but a suggestion for Scalzi

Revisado: 03-27-17

If you are like me and have listened to everything Scalzi has out with Audible, then you're probably starting to get some mixed with each other.

With Scalzi's unique writing style and Wheaton's unique narrative, the great books are starting to meld together a bit. Locked In, Fuzzy Nation, and now this one all seem to mesh.

Don't get me wrong! All are great books and all are narrorated nicely. But maybe we could mix up the narrator. I know Wheaton and Scalzi are friends, but just think it over a bit.

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Can we get this into a series? Like ASAP?

Revisado: 03-23-17

I've got a Scalzi addiction. I've listened to all of his books that Audible has to offer and this one is one of a kind. As some other reviews have said, this does not have Scalzi's humor in it, but instead has a darker feel to it. I'm a big fan of comics showing their serious, darker side and Scalzi did not disappointment. The only thing wrong with this book is that it's too damn short. Just when you start to get into this world and trying to figure it out, its over. So, I think we should start a petition and get Scalzi to make a series out of this short story.

Let's talk about Quinto for a second: Does anyone else admire Quinto's work as much as I do? Star Trek, Heroes, and American Horror Story are all examples of his amazing work as an actor and he brings all the talent to his voice acting as well. I need Quinto to read more books for Audible and I hope, if this becomes a series, that Quinto will continue to be the narrator.

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