P. Smith

a little le funny, a little preachy

Revisado: 03-30-24

Larry has the capacity to be a funny guy. A lot of this book was pretty funny. But as soon as he brings up the subject of politics, he sorta forgets how to do it right, and instead starts preaching his opinion. So, for the sin of being boring at these times, he can't get full marks.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Virtual Voice was better than excpected.

Revisado: 02-20-24

The story was well-written, but wasn't really the reason I listened to this audiobook. I wanted to hear the virtual voice and see how well it compared to a human narrator. In short, it was very good. I've listened to hundreds of audiobooks, many with some truly great narrators, and in no way could this have replaced the best ones out there. However, it could easily replace a narrator who was just average. Most of the time I was listening, I forgot a computer was involved at all.

That said, there were a few glaring issues. There were a few, and just a few, big mispronunciations of fairly common words. But the bigger issue was that the computer got the accent wrong for a major character. The character was described as having an American accent, but the computer used a british accent instead. Even though the accent was wrong, it was still well done, and wasn't too distracting. I got the impression that with a few keystrokes from a competent editor, the problem would have completely gone away.

I wouldn't hesitate to listen to a virtual narrator in the future if it was for pulp sci-fi (I read a lot of it) or some other title I considered a quick, fun, low stakes read. However, if I cared about what I was reading, I'm going to want a talented human. There was a reason this one only got four and not five stars.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

great book.

Revisado: 10-31-22

I enjoyed most everything about this book, minor quibbles about the end aside. you should download it right away. worth it.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

References real info (but doesn't have any itself)

Revisado: 01-27-22

This audiobook is full of spoken URLs. Have you ever heard someone speak out a long URL? it's extremely tedious, and not at all helpful because you're listening to an audiobook. Since you're listening to an audiobook, you're almost certainly not sitting at a computer to type out the URLs. So they're kind of useless. They take up a lot of listening space in this book, while giving no benefit.

Could the info in the URLs be helpful? Yes. I was familiar with some of them. They went straight to the source at Amazon, and Amazon has good information about AWS. But this book does not. It's simply not long enough and doesn't give anywhere near enough detail to help you pass your exam. It isn't even good brush up material to reinforce core concepts. It's a waste of time.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Not suitable for study

Revisado: 01-27-22

This book is supposed to prepare you for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect exam. It does a poor job of this. Some of the sections don't give enough detail, and some of the info is just wrong. I thought I could just listen in the background as supplemental study material, but I found out it was hurting more than helping, so I ended up focusing more on my primary study materials instead.

I just passed the exam. It's not easy. You'll need high quality study materials to do a good job.

The narrator was very engaging. I wish he was working with better material.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Reads more like fantasy than SciFi

Revisado: 12-27-21

The first book was solidly YA starfighter Science Fiction, but this one felt like a walk through a fantastical land filled with creatures who required magical mind powers to defeat. it was a big departure from what I felt I signed up for.

It was well written and worthy of reading, just make sure this is what you're looking for.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Cardboard Characters and Military Stereotypes

Revisado: 04-04-21

I wanted to feel some kind of growth from the characters, but over two books it just wasn't coming. Instead, I got lots of "my training saw me through," "I had to do it perfectly or loose the respect of my men," and "leaders must lead from the front." And I mean lots of those same lines, repeated over and over.

Uh yeah, and the line "Americans have never enslaved Americans," in the first book almost made me stop right there. Because, duh. Then he called the aliens "The yellow hoard" in book two. And he made the Chinese murderers and the Japanese untrustworthy. This is possibly just sloppy writing, but I'm on the fence. I didn't like it in either case.

the narrator did a great job.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

I'm not fond of the twist

Revisado: 01-19-21

Twists can be fine. Sometimes great. But when the first two books of a trilogy play it straight and then you get a twist in the third, it kind of invalidates the faith you've given the series. It's like the next James bond movie ending with a janitor waking up and realizing he dreamed the last 50 years of spy adventure. Sorry, that's not the story we believed we were signing on for.

The narration was mostly good, but it was hard to ignore the big difference in Arthur's voice, especially because he played such a big role.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Woman hater

Revisado: 01-09-21

The story and performance were flawlessly put together, but the hatred of women is hard to overstate. Bond was typically portrayed in a pretty sexist way in the movies, but this book makes the movie guys look like femists by comparison.

Should I mark this down as just reflecting the era in which it was written? No. I've read plenty of books from around this era, and they are not commonly like this. When you end your book, literally the last sentence, with an epithet, you're making a point.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

mostly good, but....

Revisado: 01-01-21

I would have overlooked it had it not been such a crucial point. The author played up the importance of trusting activists over experts during the AIDS epidemic. Then he played up the importance of trusting experts over activists during the COVID pandemic. Both points ate wrong. You trust the person who is clearly following good evidence, regardless of whether that comes from the expert or non expert community. Fauci routinely gets that point. The author didn't.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña