Michael Mueller

Why is this listed as book 23?

Revisado: 02-06-25

One could be forgiven for wondering why this is listed on Audible as book 23 when it is, in fact, book 2!
One could be forgiven for wondering why Audible lists this book separately at all, when it is included in "Book 1," which is books 1-3.
Once could be forgiven for wondering why that book is still listed at when there are unabridged versions now available.
That said, as many others have noted, this is a heavily abridged version that represents only about 1/3 of the actual text. The lack of key material makes many scenes utter gibberish. I don't find the cheezy 90s tech music and effects nearly as distracting as many have noted, any more than I find blaster or lightsaber effects distracting during Star Wars audiobooks. It's a thing. Get over it.

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Edited Highlights

Revisado: 01-09-25

Honestly, this is just a collection of edited highlights that can all be found in the equally abridged books 1-3, only it has less context.
I wanted to like it more, but the only reason I could follow this at all is because I already knew some of the material.

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Imagine if Harry Potter was actually well written

Revisado: 01-07-25

Some details are lacking, but for the most part, this was light enjoyable fluff. Certain plot details seem to be missing, and if we only had the students POV, that would make sense. Since we get a lot of the POV of the adults, however, it does not. I would have like more detail on other matters as well.
So, that's the complaining out of the way. The world is engaging, if thin (were there other books that explained the set-up? Would have been good to know.) The characters are plausible (given the modern fantasy realm), and since this book is in a world that doesn't have the "Scream" movies, it also doesn't have the "Scary Movie" franchise either. Forget magic--a world without those would be well worth moving to.
Unlike the Harry Potter books, the level of agency the kids have is believable. The adults actions are plausible, and it isn't setting out to make strawman villains and cliche's--no Voldemort, no Malfoys, no Dursleys. In short, it is a hell of a lot better. If not for the movies, the HP books utter lack of descriptions would have been painful to the point of incomprehensible. I can easily visualize the Academy's grounds, buildings, and people from this book.

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Good research and information, but honestly

Revisado: 12-17-24

If you make a living reading books aloud, and you come across an unfamiliar word, why, oh why oh why not pause and look up the correct way to pronounce it? Honestly... Would it be so very bad? Sadly, while the problem isn't unique to this book, I ran into more instances of "non-standard" pronunciations than any other I've run into.
The book itself is a fun and generally accessible view of the differences between how archeology is depicted in movies & tv vs reality.

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DO NOT BUY THIS!!!

Revisado: 12-05-24

I strongly suggest that Audible take this entry down.
Each story has a piece of music that is put on an endless loop that drowns out the inadequate narrator. I say inadequate because he seems to be incapable to putting anything like a performance or even basic accent into his flat reading.
It says something that the company that recorded and released this abomination and insult to the legacy of Dame Agatha went out of business back in 2015--probably from the release of shoddy goods.

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A chore to get through

Revisado: 12-05-24

I vaguely remember reading this when it first came out in paperback, but barely. Mostly I remembered that this was the last Ravenloft (no "Covenant" in the titles at the time) novel I remember trying to read.
The author only ever wrote this one novel. She was mostly a game designer, who contributed to various gaming supplements.
I cannot recommend enduring this tedious novel. It seems to take forever to get anywhere, and does very little beyond attempting to establish an atmosphere that tries to simulate Gothic Romance/Horror, while remaining PG.
Christine Williams does the best she can with the material provided, but honestly, you can't polish a bowel movement.
Update: I gave up after the half-way point. It was just too darned painful.

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Juliet Stevenson is no Joan Hickson

Revisado: 11-19-24

While it is nice to have all the short stories in one place, I grew up with tapes (yes, cassette tapes) of Joan Hickson reading the stories. Joan Hickson was Agatha Christie's chosen actor for Miss Marple. She played the role beautifully. I'm sorry, but Juliet Stevenson does not have the right voice for the character. Not even close.
The stories themselves are, naturally, brilliant.

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yet another alternate universe

Revisado: 10-28-24

There's a trick to writing an alternative universe. The primary key is to keep the story interesting. And in that respect, this failed. I honestly didn't care about what happened to any of the characters, primary or off-shoot universe. There was no sense of consequences if the white-hats failed. Several of the actor's voices have changed a great deal. Characters like Johnathan were totally unnecessary and did not further the plot.
With Amber Benson as part of the writing team, Tara got to be more than the waste-of-space, useless simpering wimp that she was in the TV show, and Mz Benson got to show her acting chops.
Finally, a pet bug-a-boo of mine is that if you don't know how to pronounce a word, FIND OUT!!! Boken is pronounced BOE ken, not bok'in. The sound editing was nice.
While OK to listen to once, it is certainly not memorable, nor is it anything I'd bother with again.

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Great cast, did writers understand Blake's7

Revisado: 10-06-24

The cast is great, but did the writers understand the world of Blake's7? Characters and ships talk about jumping to hyperspace the same way as if they were jumping to Lightspeed in Star Wars. They're instantly safe. Suddenly the Federation has ships that can fly faster than Scorpio with its new star drive? The Federation is now referred to as "The Feds." Lots of other things just don't fit in.

Fortunately, the cast works to make it all palatable.

This collection of two stories made by the BBC with interviews recorded after the first one. Just 10 years later, Big Finish Productions started producing a huge number of B7 stories. If you aren't familiar with BFP from their amazing Doctor Who Stories, you're in for a treat. BFP has produced amazing continuations are remakes of Doctor Who, Blake's 7, Survivors, Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, Highlander, Dark Shadows, The Prisoner, Sapphire & Steel, Callan, and tons more. (Heck, BFP has created and produced more Doctor Who than the BBC, and done a consistently better job of it.)

This is an acceptable entry, but not a brilliant one.

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How did this ever succeed?

Revisado: 10-04-24

I first encountered the Harry Potter phenomenon in 2001. I borrowed a book from a couple who were big fans. I was unimpressed. Book 1 is generic kid fodder. Orphan boy finds out he is rich, famous, special, popular, and super good at sport. What more could a kid want?
Unimpressed, I didn't bother to read any further. It was only because of my girlfriend at the time that I saw the movies. They were better. Sort of. Actually, the Lego Harry Potter games were what caught my attention and held it. They're fun, and mock the source material in a respectful way.
But I had my year supply of Audible credits, so I figured I'd give it another try. People kept telling me that the books get better. So I started with book 1.
It was even worse than I remembered.
I want a book that is actually well written. The writing in this book is /terrible/. I mean it. It's really, really bad.
The teachers are inept, and not in that "adults are being silly" way that might appeal to children, but they're really terrible at teaching. Snape uses the Socratic Method, known to be the single least effective way to teach. Other teachers aren't shown at being much better.
The magic in this world is really poorly thought out. The interaction between the wizarding world and the muggle world is poorly explained, if it was ever thought out at all.

And all of that is before factoring in the bigoted views that have since been expressed by the author.

How did this book ever get published? How did it ever become a success? How did it ever get made into a movie? Certainly merit was not a factor.

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