Thomas

Master of bittersweet story telling

Revisado: 03-21-24

Cold Victory is something like a pseudo sequel to Deep River and follows a member of the same Finnish family serving the US legation commission to Finland shortly after the end of the Second World War.

The author does a characteristically excellent job communicating the pervading despair and bitterness of the Finnish population as they attempt to meet the demands forced on them with the signing of the Moscow Accords which established and armistice between Finland and the Soviet Union.

The story largely focuses on the relationship that forms between a somewhat naïve Oklahoman housewife to a member of the US legation and a counterpart from the Soviet legation.

The story seeks, in some part, to communicate the juxtaposition between two wives coming from to very different nations, family backgrounds and childhoods, but who share a mutual love for their war weary husbands and desire to help the children of a local orphanage in Helsinki.

Ultimately the story attempts to serves as a warning of the dangers of blind naïveté and good intentions in an environment where bitterness and resentment are as cold and the native winter; as well, lamenting the replacement of honor and mutual respect among warriors with politicians, spies and paranoia.

Though the books ending feels somewhat rushed it’s honest to the authors narrative.

I recommend this book.

Thank you for another excellent book Mr. Marlantes.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

a WARNING: For what it's worth.

Revisado: 05-10-21

Firstly, in the interest of being fair I didn't get much further than 2 hours into the book before I quit.

1.) The protagonist is trash.

He reads like a petulant, teenage, emo, Indiana Jones... it's like if someone decided to write a book about Shia LaBeouf's character from Indiana Jones IV.

The author seems to be under the misapprehension that you can adjust for egregious character flaws in a protagonist and somehow still have them be relatable simply by making that person self aware of those flaws.

Again, in fairness the protagonist might grow out of that as the story progresses.

2.) The narrator isn't very good.

I usually try to be pretty careful about criticizing narrators as I don't expect that that's a easy job, but this guy needs to understand that his female character voice is beyond grating and sounds like he moonlights narrating softcore porn.

3.) it's just not a good start.

So typically the literary hook for a book lasts just long enough to inspire you to sit through the few chapters the story will require to set up the characters and situation... it's not enough... he spends all of 8 minutes in the trenches of WW1 then about 2 hours of the insufferable Indiana Jones whining about how unfair his life has been.


if you still want to give this a go after reading through my word salad than good for you and I wish you the best.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

vacillating quality

Revisado: 03-11-21

Really good story and a great narrator, but man there are times when you just want to tell the author to, show and not tell.

He gets sidetracked a lot, or goes from writing a war-porn book and gets almost too prosaic... that said I get the vibe that if he didn't the book wouldn't fit the weird fantasy niche it's clearly aiming for.

I really enjoyed it, would recommend, can't wait for the sequel.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

It's homo-erotic enough to probably be true.

Revisado: 08-24-19

Matt Best doesn't write like a POG so that's pretty cool, I guess.

It sounds way too crazy to be true... but that's the problem, you may be able to exaggerate things like this, but you'd be hard pressed to just make them up.

Also was disappointed that at no point did Matt beat up a 13 year old in the cereal aisle of the local supermarket; because, Hollywood has promised me that upon contact with that many delicious options and no one to tell us what to do... veterans lash out... especially at young children and pregnant women in particular.

Thanks Matt, how am I supposed to deal with this crippling disappointment?

buy the book.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 11 personas

Alternate History.

Revisado: 05-24-19

Should you buy the book?
Yes.

To those of use who are big on historical accuracy it's kind of amazing to finally find a book that absolutely delivers in, of all places, the relm of Alternate History so listening to this was a pleasant surprise and very refreshing.

Descriptions, names and magazine compacites of historical firearms and equipment are usually wrong in most books that I've read and in my mind act to highlight the author's scrupulous care in paying attention to exact detail.

A few problems I have with the book start with the almost universally kind and wise nature of the Newfie soldiers described in the book.
In all fairness I understand wanting to make your primary character's likeable, but the author takes a certain amount of pain to revise the nature of soldiers and their behavior as young men of that age, or frankly any age.

The slightly cliché nature of the Royal Newfie's is that of 'Gruff tough good old boys who'll take you as you are if you win there respect, or if the major says too' And is pretty far removed, at least in my opinion, from any soldiers I've ever met either in my time in the U.S Army, or in those I've encountered, but I think the author may have felt under a certain amount of pressure to paint a slightly more pretty picture of them in order to get a more... delicate... readership to not reject the story he wants to tell.

I really enjoyed the book and I hope that it doesn't wear smooth after a while.

Great Work!

(P.S) The reenactors on the audiobook cover are garbage... go to deviant art and pay a college kid to make you something... please and thank you.

Tom Ready.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Don't hesitate, get it.

Revisado: 06-12-17

if you enjoy the detail of the Bobiveres and David Webers' Safehold series, invest the credit.

Don't worry, it's not as slow as Webers books, but it'll keep you hooked with a serious narrative and light humor.

If the initial premise intrigues you, then get tis audiobook, you won't be disappointed.


*Note to staff at Audible.

Don't you dare not publish the sequel, after buying over 230 plus books from you, owe me this much.

thanks in advance.
Tom.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 103 personas

MOAR

Revisado: 12-15-16

loved it, the humor is edgy and on point and action kept me into the story till the very end.

RC Brey did a wonderful job as usual.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 9 personas

"Laughing"

Revisado: 02-06-16

"Laughing, you bastard, laughing."

yes, it's a good book, you should spend a credit on it.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

A taste of Sullivan.

Revisado: 05-04-14

If you could sum up FREE: The Jester (A Riyria Chronicles Tale) in three words, what would they be?

Intriguing, Witty, Clever.

What did you like best about this story?

This story has both, a solid beginning and ending despite having to work within the constraints of being written to be a short story.

What does Tim Gerard Reynolds bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Tim Gerard Reynolds has an amazing ability to bring a unique identity to all the characters.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

"Your decisions in life define you, choose wisely."

Any additional comments?

This is a great way to see if you would be interested in the Michael J. Sullivan's work.
Chances are that you will be.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 4 personas