Martha K.

Second book in a trilogy.

Revisado: 09-28-21

I dont want to give any spoilers. This book does hold up in comparison with Deadly Education, which I was worried about. The ending was a bit of a cliffhanger though. I assumed from the title that this was going to be it for the Scholomance books, but a search online showed that it will be a trilogy.

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A New Favorite

Revisado: 08-07-18

I picked up this book on a sale, and I am glad I did. I personally love fantasy novels, and this book fills a niche in my library that is hard to fill. While this is the first book in a series, each book, as far as I can tell, can stand alone. Sometimes I just want a book by itself, and not to get involved with a series. That is just not something that shows up all that often.
As for the book itself, the writing is beautiful. It has lots of light dry humor that I loved. For example, to paraphrase the author, "I'm a necromancer, you would be surprised what sources I can dig up". Most of the chapters are short stories that progress the overlying plot. Some are just comedic, but many are well thought out complete stories. Over all the story is well thought out, and well written.
The narration was particularly well done. Cazenove's voice is crisp and he delivered the lines very well. He even sings the Lovecraftian themed spoof of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. I am sorry to say that he did not narrate the rest of the series.
Overall I think this book is a beautifully fun listen, that will hold up well to repeat listening. It makes a good break in between more serious reading or if you just need some light listening. However this book is very dark humor.

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So glad I took my dad's advice

Revisado: 11-13-17

I picked up this book because it is by my dad's favorite author, and I really loved it, even though I usually prefer fantasy over sci-fi. I think this book sticks out to me, because it works on so many levels. The world building is amazing, particularly for the different species. Each species has different world views, ways of thinking, and concepts of morality. A lot of effort was put into showing different cultures and people as fully as possible.

The story itself is also amazing. I will avoid spoilers, but I will say there are quite a few good plot twists that I did not see coming. Deatrin, the main character, really drives the story. As he remembers more of his past Deatrin begins to start to want to make a change in his world.

One thing that might make this book not as appealing for some readers is how the story is put together. The story has three different parts that do not overlap and have there own conflict and resolution. In each section Deatrin is in a different location, with a different goal, and there is only two characters who repeat between sections.

Audible 20 review sweepstakes entry

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Could Not Get Past Mispronunciations

Revisado: 04-22-17

I am a huge fan of Jo Walton, and have every book of hers on Audible except those in this series, so I was excited to find this book on a sale. However after multiple attempts I have only managed to get about half way through this book, and will probably return it. Like most Jo Walton books it has plenty of interesting ideas to get across and well developed characters. Just City does not have a strong plot, which is also characteristic of Jo Walton's writing style. Her ideas, and characters are what draw you into her worlds.

What killed this book for me was that the narrator did not know how to pronounce Athene, who is a main character that gets mentioned about once every ten minutes. Instead of pronouncing the last syllable like a na (as anyone who has taken so much as a middle school level class on Greek mythology would know to do) he says nee. Every time this happened it pushed me out of the story, and I just could not get past it. There were also a few other words like supplicant, and Catullus that the narrator also mispronounced.

If the mispronunciations are something you can get past I would recommend this book to you. Jo Walton is a great author and her stories always give you plenty to think about, and have great re-readability. If you can not get past this give the audible version a pass. If you are not sure if you can get past the mispronunciations you probably can't. They are constant, and even if it only irritates you a little at first, believe me, that irritation will grow.

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Book Four

Revisado: 03-04-16

This series is quickly becoming one of my favorites, so when this book came out I had to get it. While the second book is still my favorite in the series this one was amazing. In many ways it gave more closure for certain characters than book three. It answered a lot of questions left about the four aces from the the first book. I won't give any spoilers, but I will say that there was a mention of Earl that was so emotional it left me crying. It also does not take place in New York which leaves a lot of my favorite characters out of the book. There is also a brief discussion about the writing process for the Wild Card books by GRRM at the end, which is definitely worth a listen.
On the down side for the narration the Hiram's accent is hit or miss with these narrators. They all seem to try to make him sound Scottish, but some of them can't quite manage. In one story Hiram sounded Irish.

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An old favorite ruined by audio

Revisado: 09-14-14

Any additional comments?

I have always loved this book. I have read it every year since I was a little kid because I always got something new out of it. Dinnie just spoke to me more then any other character. She always manages to find something in every situation and person that she liked about them. To me the story is about a girl who always saw herself as part of her family, but when she is sent to live with an unknown aunt and uncle for a year she has to figure out who she is on her own. This book does have a lot of depth though, so there are other ways to see it.

Unfortunately this audio production is horrible. There is music in the background that is louder then the narration at times. Also the narrator reads the whole story in an excited energetic voice. In writing Dinnie shows a range of emotions, from happy to scared and lonely. She is a normal 13 year old girl living away from the family she loves. Hearing how homesick and lost Dinnie feels in an actively cheerful voice is just plain weird.

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The Author Should Not have Read this Story

Revisado: 06-25-14

Any additional comments?

This book is much better then I would have expected. The characters are full and the plot is well thought out. The author managed to keep the story Cinderella, but through in enough twists that it is still exciting. She keeps the stepmother and stepsisters evil, but they are still full characters with both good and bad in them. I also personally enjoyed the addition of the price, and the use of the Faye.
Choosing to have the author narrate was a mistake. As the author Malinda Lo may have a good insight into the story, but she is a terrible narrator. She over does the voice acting so that it feels like someone talking to a small child. Also the way she voices Ash makes her sound like a young spoiled kid.
The story is well worth getting past the narration, especially if you are a fan of fairytale retellings. But you may want to buy this as a book instead of an audiobook.

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The Decameron

Revisado: 04-06-14

Any additional comments?

This is a very fun book. Boccaccio brings his stories to life with wonderful dry humor, and I highly recommend it. The narrator does a beautiful job of revealing each joke that really enhances the story. I am using this book as a primary source for a paper at my school and have found it very useful. There are a few things that someone might want to know before deciding on this book however.
First this translation is possibly not the best choice. It comes from the eighteenth century, and can be hard to understand at first. I found that once I got into it that it became much easier to understand, but if you have issues with that you might want to give this book a skip. Also part of one of the stories the translator decided could not be told in English so you sit there listening to the narrator talk in Italian for several minutes.
secondly the opening might also throw you off. Boccaccio opens by explaining who he is writing for (idle women) and the background of his story (which is Florence during the first out break of plague). By modern day standards his regard for women is severely sexist. I got over this by remembering the different attitude of the time period, and that he is cynical about everything else, so why not about women? Yet again if that is not something you can get past this might not be he book for you.
Finally this book contains adult material. The author does not usually state explicit details, but it is there. I would not recommend this for kids, because they will ask you awkward questions. Boccaccio usually refers to sex as taking pleasure, which is not completely explicit in a modern context, but still it is there. Most of the stories do revolve around sex to a certain level, but no specific details are given. On the bright side of this from reading this you should get at least half a dozen sexual innuendos you can source back to medieval Italy, which as a history major I consider serious bragging rights.

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