Litbovely

North struggling to belong

Revisado: 02-22-24

Nice chaotic Borealis fun and mayhem, combined with the group dynamic development central to this series. Really interesting stepping back to North’s trust-issued and distanced perspective, knowing in detail what kind of people the other guys really are from all the previous books.

While Charlie David’s reading of Emery Hazard’s lines in a soft voice was admittedly confusing/distracting (why didn’t anyone notify him?), I really appreciate getting to listen him narrate the North&Shaw episode. Hoping to hear Tristan James next!

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Really entertaining, but confused genders

Revisado: 12-20-22

Great crime-adventure-romance with fun characters, witty dialogue and fast-paced action. Narration (well, acting really) was excellent.
Looking forward to a sequel!

The one thing that distracted me throughout the book though, was that all drag queens were constantly in character and always referred to as “she” without actually identifying them as non-cis people. It felt like drag queens and trans women had been equated by mistake. Hope the sequels - if any - are a bit more explicit/accurate in this regard.

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Simply wonderful

Revisado: 02-04-22

Jay Bell writes the most romantic, thoughtful gay fiction, and this one is definitely in his top three at least. As if that wasn’t enough, Kevin R. Free’s narration lifts the text to new emotional heights. Thank you so much for the book.

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What a treat!

Revisado: 05-25-21

Oh my gods, TJ Klune and Michael Lesley are a match made in stars! Classic fairy tales retold lecherously through the cast of previous Verania books, crowned by the previously only hinted at story of David’s Dragon.

Ps. Incredibly, even Michael’s reading of sound effect credits are always a delight.
(A note from a native Finn though: YLE Arkisto is not an individual, but the Archive of Finnish Broadcasting Company that released a lot of SFX into the public a while back.)

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Nice but too short

Revisado: 11-23-20

The story and characters were fine in principle, but unfortunately this was way too short to develop a meaningful connection with them.

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Emotional and varied, if slighthly outdated

Revisado: 09-07-20

Liked this a lot. Apparently published in 2004, the book contains more gay-related angs and aggression than many newer queer YA books, but somehow the overall mood was still positive and exiting. Couldn't help sympathizing with the three main characters. Anthony Rodriguez's voice and enthusiastic reading was wonderful, especially as Toby.

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Contemporary viewpoint

Revisado: 03-18-20

Evaluating this not as a classic masterpiece but as a book on current standards, Stranger seems like an unnecessarily long and at times intentionally disgusting introduction for a short burst of existential philosophical pondering at the very end. No doubt it was an important milestone in popularizing existentialism, but to me at least, offered no ideas I haven’t encountered numerous times in contemporary fiction, right up to Black Mirror and such. This tends to be the problem with classics in my opinion; knowing them obviously has value, but don’t expect to get new ideas.

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Great for the scientifically minded

Revisado: 01-30-20

I’m extremely allergic to supernatural claims and have often abandoned an otherwise good “spiritual” books because of them.
No such problems here! The author keeps it honest, and I thought the laconic reading actually suited the tone nicely.
All in all, a great intro and discussion of Buddhist(/Hindu) ideas from a purely secular perspective.

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Lovely but/and graphic

Revisado: 05-30-19

Nice, sweet gay romance but also a bit too pornographic to my taste - both in content and narration. Not that I have anything against sex scenes in general, I just find sudden jumps from jump from a heartwarming love story to full-on genital description distracting.

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Great memoir AND a top-notch YA story

Revisado: 05-22-19

Thank. You. Shaun! What a wonderful book and narration.

As a fellow depressive gay guy who lived his teens in the 90s (as well as a fellow fan of Patrick Stewart, Beautiful Thing, XY and whatnot), I found this so relatable I was compelled to spend a day of my foreign vacation just listening to the whole thing from beginning to the end.

The book was especially impressive in how I could enjoy it equally well as an honest memoir or a fluently progressing YA story.

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