Allison

Excellent book, perfectly fine narrator

Revisado: 09-04-22

This was a real pleasure to read. The narrator sounds perfectly fine to me. I thought perhaps the other review that doesn’t like the narrator maybe disliked his English accent but it is a UK review. I’m very grateful to Mr. Capra for publishing this collection of essays. What a treat!

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Solid, good series so far

Revisado: 07-07-21

The main character in this series is very likable and the narrator does an excellent job. I listen at 0.8x bc the speed of the narration is a bit fast for me and in any case, it gives me more listening time. The story is good and I am enjoying the series so far very much. Tonight I’m starting on the prequel series, Holy War, of which the first book is Genesis while I wait for more books. Very, very happy there’s another series in this storyline with the same narrator.

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What to expect

Revisado: 03-04-14

This book is a detective/mystery novel. The aspects of Heaven and Hell that it describes are not integral to the main story line.

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Dresden Series - Appreciable Humor & Life Events

Revisado: 01-06-13

Storm Front is the first in a series of now 14 books (planned to be 20) of New York Times Best Selling Author Jim Butcher. I have withheld any reviews except for Book 13: Ghost Story because of the single instance of a change in narrator. However, I have just finished Book 14: Cold Days, and I must put in my two cents, starting at the beginning.

To start, Books 1 and 2 are not that great. Book 3 feels like family, is much better, and is an enjoyable read. Book 4 throws the gates wide open and one can take pure delight in the world that author Jim Butcher has created.

The main character, Harry, is the Primary Draw to these stories, although almost all of the other characters absolutely cannot be missed (Bob especially, really). Harry is a guy with a life of his own (and a history to be waited for, and if I have said that, a future to relish in), and has hassles, like all of us. He's trying to make a living as a private investigator, but he has unique talents, of the wizard-ing kind, that meet situations that don't always go over well with the general public.

These provide him with Life Experiences (and the books are written in the first person) that (A) entertain you through great wit, often with well-placed sarcasm, in their, best put perhaps (others could do better), incredulity in really compelling life events and adventures (and you thought it was unbelievable what that guy in your line at the bank had going on last week), (B) make you thankful in their resolution of well-imagined supernatural-worldly risks, threats, and pleasures (oddly put, but correct given one's company, desired or not), (C) provide humor that will gain your appreciation and that you will find yourself contentedly thinking of at your desk at work after you have smiled, laughed, or snorted out loud at home, and (D) most of all, teach you some of the oldest but forgotten lessons that can get you through your days.

The Relationships between the characters in the book are solid, meaningful, fun, intriguing, and also edgy, depending on just who or what stands to cause harm or fight...or negotiate, matters can be completely civil, yet extremely, but needfully careful in what is said. Harry's gang, the family a great many of us have come to love, are individually compelling and together they make for a great drink around a worn table in front of a warm open fireplace.

HOWEVER, what brings these books to their most magnificent peak is James Marsters, the Narrator. I have listened to many a book, and there is no better performer than this narrator. Very few narrators are even performers in fact. He brings Harry to life in a way you will ache for at the end of a book.

He repeatedly and consistently demonstrates the ability to create unique and interesting voices for all of the characters that are familiar from book to book. And he gives them all life. He is not reading a book. He is telling a story, his story, Harry's story (remember, written in first person). His intonations, his pauses, his pace, and his pure talent make him the best narrator I have ever heard. (See reviews for Book 13 and take up listening to audiobooks).

Buy this book. Know it's not the best. But get started on a series that you will come to love and desperately wait for the next release - just check around the internet for "books like Dresden files" and "hear" all the voices that have been drawn to this series year after year and are looking to each other for unmatched substitutes to read in the meantime. (But you can get the next book immediately here on Audible). Enjoy!

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Conflicting reviews left me wondering

Revisado: 08-01-12

This is a multifaceted tale, with some elements more intriguing than others. Depending on the vein of the story you are interested in, you may find it wonderful or you may find it lacking.

The female lead is a rational scholar, descended from the first Bishop woman to die in the Salem witch trials. She avoids magic, as it is almost unaccessible. She studies and teaches at Oxford and is a mature adult.

She finds herself in an interesting predicament. She studies an alchemical text, that which describes "chemical transformations in a rational and systematic way, before the periodic table." The imagery and history behind her work is rather fascinating. However, she loses access to this text and all eyes turn to her.

You've certainly read about the romance in the other reviews. I will grant you that, but there is a larger context to their connection that is not even fully revealed in the first book of the trilogy. There is also much European and American history, philosophy, and the melding of art and science. This I particularly enjoyed.

Another stream the book follows is witchcraft. For women or men of older traditions, I believe you will find this pleasing. More modern urban fantasy fans will be bored. I personally loved the sentient house.

The book is well-written, unlike some more modern urban fantasy or sci-fi books and the narration is quite good. The female narrator does a wonderful job with male voices. The pace can be a bit slow, but that is relative to other books to which you are listening.

The story unfolds, along its multiple dimensions, creatures and their habits and disputes, appropriate behavior to fit in with the surroundings, sought after knowledge, in a slow pace. If this is your thing you will like the book. I sort of liken it to the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.

The overall tale is a story to be told, or heard rather, if I have shed any light on the conflicting reviews. I personally enjoyed the book, being of older traditions, loving good mysteries, and always reveling in the mysterious.

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Ironic Plain Jane Makes for Great Book

Revisado: 05-14-12

Strangely, I found this series in the Romance section I believe while looking for a Sci-Fi book. While its main character Jane does date, with the usual adult accompaniments, they are not overdone, although I suppose that depends upon your tastes, but I would keep your children out of the room. The scenes are relatively pretty short.

The book is great, often cited as "laugh out loud funny". It is very humorous, hence making Plain Jane so ironic. There is nothing to which she cannot produce a witty comment or reply to whomever she may face, even in her pajamas, often worn, and I'll leave it to you to learn of their designs when you listen to the book. And yet her status in high school and her soon to be former occupation as it is portrayed would have you believe this woman is totally defenseless within the fabric of everyday life.

People usually use the word cadence to refer to the pattern or rhythm of sounds and there is a wonderful cadence to the narrator's performance, extremely well done, however...there is a cadence to Jane herself, to how she lives, to what happens to her, to how she handles things.

The cadence Molly Harper, the author, and Amanda Ronconi, the narrator, produce becomes very comforting and you nestle in to listen to what comes next and can then really appreciate the humor. Some lines are laugh out funny, but I personally didn't find most of them to be so. I was quiet, listening, tuned in...that rhythm of Jane's life, smiling and chuckling and yes, laughing, but briefly - I didn't want to miss the next part!

The series of "Nice Girls Don't..." is ultimately a series of mystery novels wrapped in a sci-fi romance humor book jacket. You will not be disappointed.

Note: If you listen to Molly Harper's "How to Flirt with a Werewolf" and the other associated werewolf book, know that Amanda Ronconi is again the narrator, which is well and good, but some of the characters sound exactly the same. Two love interests from two different books with the same voice...just know you have to make an adjustment. I had a very difficult time. I actually couldn't make the adjustment to the first werewolf book.

"Nice Girls Don't..." is the better series (and longer, Book 5 due out in print in the fall I believe) so if the same voices between series sounds awful to you, go with the wonderful, thorough, amusing Jane with much moxie, interesting and devoted friends, and the most trying of relatives.

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No

Revisado: 07-26-11

At first the narration is just different. But then, as multiple characters come into the story, distinguishing between characters can get difficult. Sometimes it takes the narrator a while into the new speaker lines to adjust. Characters sound distinctly different at different times in some cases. And, apparently, Chicago has relocated to Jersey. I can understand having to have a new narrator, but frankly, this is ridiculous...being inconsistent and impersonating voices from the East Coast. Also, the narrator has a hard time pulling off being sarcastic. That's where you lose Harry.

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Intricate thoughtful read

Revisado: 06-14-11

I am on the second book in this series, the Well of Ascension, but my review pertains to the series, as I know it so far. Mistborn offers a story about a collection of people that undertake more modern endeavors than one might think, if comparisons are made. Set in another time and place, but not following the exact progression of development we are used to, it does feature magic. It is not complex, or even that interesting. However, the dynamic use of the magic within the context of the story makes it compelling. It is most certainly relevant. It is a long read, but worth it, as in more for your money, to hear a tale in which you become invested in the characters and at what they have at stake.

I rate this book as 4 stars only in that not everyone likes everything. I, personally, become engrossed, intrigued, compelled, and entertained.

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