Nick B.

MC is OP

Revisado: 06-06-22

Love that we are seeing Leddy grown, but wanted to see some growth also. She's appropriately bored by her situation at the outset, but feels overly self-aware throughout the ensuing adventure. She could have been every bit as impressive and exceeded authority's expectations, while still internally finding her way in an unfamiliar environment.

I've been along for the whole ride, so saying Leddy is Lucas re-incarnate means something to me. Other characters in the book, however, should not so easily transfer their respect for Lucas to Leddy.

Maybe that's a nit I am picking at, but if we are lucky enough to see this series continue, I'd wish for some internal struggle with growth or flaws resulting.

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Excellent storytelling set firmly in this world.

Revisado: 08-15-21

I didn't care for the staccato delivery. Shoulda done your passable Stephen King impression throughout.

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Very Realistic: Thus the Hate

Revisado: 03-07-21

John Sandford has always been one of my favorites. Each negative review here shines a fascinating light on what conservative radio has done to the minds of a sector of our nation. It's the theme of the book itself and introspection is a hard thing. These are good hard-working people and it irks me that they have been conditioned to believe the world and secret forces are against them. All for the sake of selling them funeral plots and snake-oil supplements. When you voluntarily tune in to pure rhetoric, hour upon hour, simple logic becomes difficult and normal conversation nearly impossible. For instance: would anyone be reading audible reviews to make up their mind about getting the THIRTIETH Davenport book? These reviews are the purest form of "virtue signaling" in that they are meaningless hand raising. Entrenchment sponsored by oil and gas billionaires is not better than blind fashion following sponsored by the nouveau riche, even if you say it is 16 times an hour.

I love how Lucas equally employs his political savvy and tactical expertise to achieve the outcome that best serves himself. I hope there's 30 more of these. What a tragedy it would be if the objectively stupid current political climate actually affected Mr. Sandford's writing. It hasn't. He clearly sees it, and crafted an interesting novel with this backdrop, but the plot is disturbingly within the realm of possibility.

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Bernie Would Have Won

Revisado: 04-24-17

John Lee took some time hitting his stride in this one. Does he do Kerr's books about the English football club? I miss the idiosyncratic noir slang of the series opener, but plot and setting are solid here. My personal favorite of this series is the one with the Cuban Casino.

I love these books. If you are interested, I strongly recommend beginning at the beginning. This particular story might not grip a new listener, but the momentum of the series is far from spent. While not knocked over by this installment, I was excited to get it and will be excited for the next one.

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Enjoyable Lighthearted Apocalypse

Revisado: 03-24-17

Here's a well constructed thoughtful sci-fi with an interesting concept at its core. The Spaceship Next Door is chock full of likable characters. Told with an aw shucks folksy tone, the plot maintains elements of mystery and action balanced nicely at about PG-13. Despite early indicators, the author does not shy away from real world consequences of events. I appreciate a book not afraid to get its hands dirty and knees scraped.

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Chaff

Revisado: 09-07-15

OSC has written some wonderful, rich, layered fiction. This isn't it. It's frustrating to see a Card series I haven't read and have no way to separate the wheat from chaff like this. This particular "book" is all set-up, no punchline. I've fallen for this once with Card's Pathfinder 'trilogy' and won't chase this one. The Ender books are individually satisfying tales that happen to share a history and even some characters. I don't think either Pathfinder or this story needed to be padded out to three books. In fact, I think the sloppy format engendered sloppy storytelling in Pathfinder. Here are so many of the same elements: future humankind living in a low-tech society enforced by a super-computer pseudo-diety, a power struggle, a king's ransom tediously converted to or from a small hoard. Having Pathfinder's weak resolution in mind, I decided to accept that I will never know how OSC wound this one up. (None too tightly is my guess)

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Sweeping Space Epic

Revisado: 09-07-15

An eclectic cast native to a detailed vision of the far future, wonderfully voiced and narrated in this audiobook. Some of the dialects used were indeed very 'thick' and hard to follow in this audio version, though I suspect the words would have been more inteligible if viewing the source work. I admit to losing the thread of the narrative more than once and rewinding to re-hear when characters lapsed into these odd modes of speech. The tale woven is richer for the many different fractious groups and the alliances and rivalries among them. The plot progresses at just the right pace, thanks to a nicely constructed format, allowing the author to apply the brakes as needed. This work is truly self-contained, it is a completely satisfying tale, and even if the author understandably chose to revisit this universe, one isn't required to buy another book for resolution. (I'm looking at you, OSC!)

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Untapped Potential

Revisado: 08-23-15

I dislike reviews that give away plot points, so I will try to restrain myself. There were some strong elements present here, but they might have been used better. The world created is quirky and interesting as are the characters who inhabit it. The sci-fi concepts are unique but not well explored. The plot felt a bit forced. The nemesis is less three dimensional than I'd have liked and the resolution of the mystery, while interesting, is substantially unsatisfying. I had high hopes of discovering a new staple writer, and might try another from this author, but the last third of this one cooled my enthusiasm.

There's often the question of movie adaptation for books: this one is tailor made to become a 3-D rendered, first-person puzzle/adventure game like Myst.

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A Well Constructed, Enjoyable Whodunit

Revisado: 01-20-15

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Recommended to fans of the Bernie Gunther series and those who just enjoy Mr Kerr's ability to immerse the reader in a setting.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The protagonist, Scott is quite likable, but I think the main character might have been the game of football (soccer).

Have you listened to any of Andrew Wincott’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I don't think I have, and so can't say whether the accents presented, which sounded spot on to my American ears, we're for this performance only or his natural speaking voice. The reading definitely added to the ambience in this book where ambience is central.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I did go "Hah!" at a point when a female character made what I found a strange and lewd statement. There's certainly passion and feeling on display, but this book was not designed to wring the listener dry.

Any additional comments?

I would draw an analogy to Nightwing by Martin Cruz Smith. In January Window we have a stand alone novel by an author with a popular series primarily about a detective in an iconic setting. Renko and Gunther are among my favorite characters in fiction. Kerr brings us here into Premier League soccer's world as thoroughly as Smith transported us to a Hopi reservation. There are nits one could pick about the plot, but I don't feel that serves any purpose in this forum. Overall I was very pleased to experience anorher Philip Kerr novel and look forward to his next effort, whether or not any Nazis are amok among the pages.

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