Raphael

Generic, but quite alright

Revisado: 12-05-23

Writing and storyline feel very generic and follow normal cyberpunk megacorporation tropes from the megacorp soldier perspective. It's an easy listen, if you want something light to play in the background! They also put a surprising amount of effort into the recording, so there's also that going for it.

As a side note, author's fixation on power exchange over people dynamics is somewhat amusing.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Painful narration

Revisado: 09-13-22

One of the absolute worst narrators I've encountered in the last 300+ titles. I can practically hear the spittle flying as Elie is shouting into the microphone. The impression of vitreal that the style of writing and the narration together generate also feels to drown out some of the very valid substance of the book.

Really wanted to like this, but think pretty much anyone is better served by reading other books on racial history, discrimination, law and current political landscape in the US. There are so many options to pick from, so do yourself a favour, and use your credit on another title.

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esto le resultó útil a 9 personas

Predictable, repetitive and full of clichés

Revisado: 11-07-15

I'm finding it hard to say anything positive about the Seven Isles. There doesn't seem to be a fantasy/D&D trope or cliché that wasn't used in this book. All characters are completely black and white, and don't deviate a bit from the expected stereotypes. The main character can even see with their mage-sight if people are good or evil (and there's rarely anything between the two extremes). There also seems to be little reason why people act as they do, except, well, because they're either good or evil.

Storyline is pretty linear, Alexander keeps running around doing things they need to do to advance their quest. There is plenty of action, but any tension feels ruined by how perfectly things always turn out. The hero of the story seems to only ever make mistakes, so he can thoughtfully reflect on how not-quite-perfect he still is. And naturally, the main characters will always be saved at the very last moment, often multiple times during the same fight and after an interposed explanation of how dire their situation is. If someone does get hurt in the course of a battle, hey, there's a magic potion or a salve that will heal them instantly. And the bad guys, unless they're supernatural and highly impervious to damage, they're all felled with a single blow from the weapon/projectile of choice.

This title does have a few redeeming qualities, though. The story keeps on (mostly) chugging along at a good pace. Magic system has some flavour, there were some actually interesting moments in the story and the narrator is very good.

tl;dr:
If you want to read a story of how a good hero defeats an evil wizard, triumphing in each challenge put before them, do get this book. If you're instead seeking for some depth in the characters or unexpected twists in the plot, turn the other way.

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esto le resultó útil a 15 personas

Entertaining story, great world-building

Revisado: 10-02-15

Picked this one up on a whim without reading any reviews and was pleasantly surprised. The world and story setting felt both fresh and creative. I particularly enjoyed how the story and background of the twelve kings was gradually discovered throughout the book. I'll be looking forward to the next instalment in the series, just to read more about the world and its story.

Storytelling and progression itself was also entertaining enough. However, don't jump in expecting too much depth from the main characters. Both Çeda and Emre felt somewhat naïve and overly obsessed with a single thought, which I found seriously off-putting and almost binned this as a 3-star book because of it. The overall story and, surprisingly, the narration made me rethink the rating, though.

So, the narration... Yes, the narrator puts a lot of emphasis into the voices. Yes, she can't growl like an angry old man (have you heard Roy Dotrice's female voices, though?). Yes, she makes this feel more like a story book than serious contemplation over politics and oppression of an imaginary city. And yes, without her, I believe the book would have been far less entertaining to listen to. Character dialogues are often lacklustre enough, so I dread thinking what they would sound like in a steadily monotonous voice. :)

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Avoid this one

Revisado: 09-05-15

I would have loved to like this book, but unfortunately the narrator spoiled it for me, sounding like she was forced to read the text. I did try to pick the book up multiple times over the last month or two, each time failing to muster enough resolve to keep on listening for more than 15-30 minutes at a time.

Maybe the stories would have been more interesting if read by someone else. However, as it stands, the ones I did get through felt shallow and didn't seem to go anywhere. It could be that there's a gem hidden somewhere in there and I just never got to it, but I seriously doubt it would have been worth the effort to keep on dredging through this book.

Life is too short and there are plenty of good books read by great narrators out there. This just isn't one of them, so save your time and go listen to something else.

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Interesting subject; lacking in output and content

Revisado: 10-13-13

Terse and limited run through the driving forces during the ancient history of Sumer, Egypt, Babylon and nearby regions. Covers the timespan from the development of Sumerian writing to Assyrian empire during the early iron age. Would have personally enjoyed a more detailed and extensive lecture set. Also, it bothers me that in the "Origins of Great Ancient Civilizations", there is really nothing on East Asian history.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

More of the same

Revisado: 10-13-13

Third book in the series doesn't add as much to the world the author has been building as the first two, instead concentrating on carrying forth the plot lines started before and adding more background and detail to the existing characters. There are definitely some good parts to this book, so I would expect someone whom liked the previous two, enjoying dipping back into Peter Brett's demon world.

I must warn, however, that throughout latter parts of the book, I had a certain feeling that the author is forcefully contriving to bring everyone together for a grand finale to the series. This would probably be timely, as some repeating elements in the storytelling (characters' inner struggles and constant escalation in power) are definitely wearing on me. That, combined with diminishing excitement as demons no longer seem as much of a threat, made some of the sections feel more tedious than interesting.

Overall, there's more of what you've likely already read. The book doesn't necessarily add new revelations, but the story progresses along adding more depth to the characters, has a bit of a dip in the middle, but adds pace towards the end and finishes off with almost a literal cliff-hanger - so there's definitely more to come.

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"Cosmic cheese" and the triumph of poor analogies

Revisado: 11-27-12

The Hidden Reality contains some interesting information and is an entertaining read, but I do have a few quips with the style it was written in.

First is, that the author has an uncanny tendency to impose tidbits of information on you without first building a solid basis for them, with the apparent assumption that you'll be later satisfied with an explanation coming in a few chapters. This might work in a traditional textbook, where one can cross-reference things more easily. In audio, however, related subjects might be hours apart. If you don't plan to listen to everything in one go, the lack of cohesion becomes further magnified with the passage of time. At the same time, Brian Greene sometimes keeps iterating over and over the same things, summoning a plethora of (often poor) analogies to his aid.

That leads to my second complaint. The analogies in this book must be counted in hundreds. It would simply make more sense, if one only explained the science and thinking leading to specific theories, instead of trying to come up with a distant analogy for every occasion, which often only serves to make the obvious obscure. Maybe I'm a bit too harsh on Brian Greene for this, but it was a serious deterrent for me to keep on listening to the book, taking a much longer time than usual to finish.

Overall, though, I don't think this was a waste of time. I feel that I do have a bit more solid understanding of the current stance on the history of and physics behind our universe. Also, a few, mostly offhand, comments made some previously familiar concepts fit better together in my mind, for which I am grateful. Not sure if I'd be anxious to listen to another one of Brian Greene's books, though.

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A pleasant read

Revisado: 11-07-12

Did not expect to see another book by Joe Abercrombie so soon after The Heroes and was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon it by chance. As others have noted, Steven Pacey is a remarkable narrator and would make a mediocre story sound superb. So much the better when the story is a decent one.

There are many parallels in Red Country to the colonization of the Americas, which adds an interesting tone to the story and at least for me, makes it easier to picture the world around the main characters. Storytelling is quite good, albeit the pacing is a little slow, events less grandiose and I would have, personally, enjoyed seeing more tie-ins into the previous books. I'm now more hopeful about hearing more about the fates of many of the old characters, though. There is a long time span between The last argument of kings and Red country along with plenty of characters and events to expand upon, so maybe we shall see another book detailing that time period more closely from the perspective of characters we haven't heard of for a long time.

Only gave the story four stars, because it doesn't quite stand up to the first law trilogy. You just have to be realistic about these things. ;)

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esto le resultó útil a 6 personas

A nice read, even if a bit overly simplified

Revisado: 05-09-12

Parallel Worlds goes over some of the history of modern physics, explaining well how we got to where we are now. Especially the history of string theories and what the current and upcoming issues in regards to them are, was interesting to hear about.

The book also entertains a lot of interesting concepts (time travel, parallel dimensions, source of the universe, M-theory, to name a few) and explains them in very clear terms. Maybe a bit too clear, even, as I was left with a feeling that some corners had to be cut, in order to keep things clear for the reader. The philosophic & theologic questions felt also out of place and I would have personally preferred it, if they were left out for some other book to cover.

Overall, it was a nice read, definitely worth the time and money.

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