Melanie

But to be perfectly honest, I enjoyed the first 2 books of the Commonwealth saga and the Nights Dawn Trilogy books of the Confederation saga much more. The Void Trilogy was good...it just didn't knock me out like the other story lines written by Hamilton. I think it's because the "bad guy or thing" wasn't that "bad". In Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained we have some seriously scary bad guys (The Prime and the Starflyer)...and in Nights Dawn Trilogy the dead come back to life and terrorize the living. Really good stuff!! But in the the Void Trilogy the Void itself just isn't that scary and the I missed having that be part of the story. Took some of the edge and adventure away. I'm hoping he continues with the Commonwealth saga...he seemed to hint at it when one of the characters in the end sets up business to find out what happened to the Ark ships. Hope so...

I am a big fan of Peter F. Hamilton and Alastair Reynolds and have been interested in discovering Iain M Banks for a while. When I saw this book on Audible I jumped at the chance to finally listen to one of his books. Well worth the wait! Banks has a very engaging style of writing...I like to think of it as Dr. Who meets Douglas Adams but I'm being very simplistic. Suffice to say, if you get the book be prepared to be entertained...my only bit of warning is that his gruesome Hell scenes can be a bit graphic. Don't let that stop you...if you like British Sci Fi, you'll love this guy.

I am so glad I downloaded this book, while it wasn't that deep it was a thoroughly enjoyable tale. I liked all 3 heroines, the story wasn't too predictable, and the pace moved along just fine for me. I plan to download Ms. Morton's earlier book since I liked this one so much. A definite recommend from me!

I really enjoyed this book even though I wouldn't rank it in my Audible Top 10. I would recommend anyone who likes this sort of supernatural subject to download it. It's not often I can navigate Los Angeles rush hour traffic and still have enough of a sense of humor to laugh, but I found myself laughing out loud several times while listening to this book. Kind of like True Blood with a more urbane lead character...I think Felix Castor is immediately likeable for such a scoundrel. Must be the British in him! If Showtime or Starz is looking to enter the realm of werewolves, demons, and ghosts...this is the series for them!

The narrator was good at bringing out the sarcasm et al of Felix, but sometimes I felt he droned on a bit. I would give him a B+ for his reading of this novel. I'm a certain that I will eventually download and listen to the other books in this series.

I love long books, but this one dragged out too long. There were brief periods of very edge of the seat narrative, but overall I think this one just missed the mark. I don't know if I think it has "sequel" written all over it like a lot of reviewers here commented on...but I do agree that it ended up with a wimper and not a bang. I'm on the fence as to whether I will read any sequels if or when they appear. Mr. Cronin will have to tighten up his writing style a bit in my opinion.

Finally a fantasy tale that is as gripping as any thriller I've ever read. I loved the story, the characters, the world that GRRM created, and the narrator. All in all a very enjoyable read. I highly recommend this book to folks who don't need fairy tales, but are looking for edge of the seat drama in a ficitional world that comes alive from the start to the end of the novel.

My only gripe about this particular Audible download is some of the reviewers of this work. I read both the positive and the negative reviews to get a handle on whether I'd enjoy the book or not. I can't tell you how annoying it is to read spoilers in a review because the reviewer isn't polite enough to his fellow Audible-ites to give a heads up. I'm a little surprised that Audible doesn't police that better. As to those reviewers who like to spoil the tale for others, their spoiler remarks gave such the wrong impression of how the tale unfolded that no wonder they didn't like the book...they didn't get it at all. Go back to fairy tale reading!

I was really looking forward to my first Anita Blake novel. Maybe it's because I've not read any of the other Anita Blake books, but this is serious dreck. I almost stopped listening when the FIRST FIVE CHAPTERS of the book dealt with a three way...are you kidding me? Did Ms. Hamilton get her start writing letters to the editor of Penthouse? Did she let a teenage male relative start the book? The start of this book was so bad it kinda pissed me off. I listen to audible books on my commute...seriously not interested is such teenage drivel while stuck in traffic.

And I thought Anita Blake was supposed to be the hard charging, take no shit female...and in this book, she's a sex partner to a bunch of whiney guys. BORING! I am not interested in trying another book in the series...totally lost my interest. Maybe it's time for Ms. Hamilton to create another series, cause this one is just plain silly.

And don't get me started on the laughable reading by Cynthia Holloway...I will never download a book she reads ever again. I could have done a better job than she did...flat and boring. I resolved to struggle thru this book because I wanted to see if it got better. About halfway thru, my mp3 player malfunctioned and the book reset to the beginning with no ability to fast forward. I took it as a sign and dumped this miserable sucker. I got it during a "3 books for 2 credits" promotion and think it was a waste of a partial credit.

This is the second Reynolds novel I've purchased and I am now placing him at the top of my SF reading list along with Peter F. Hamilton. This book moves along at a fast pace and does a good job explaining complex physics in a way that even a complete novice to anything scientific (me) can understand. John Lee is fantastic again (of course). At first I couldn't follow which character was telling the story (Campion or Purslane) but it didn't bother me and as I got into the story I had no problem figuring out who was speaking. All his other characters had distinct accents and I think Lee made the voices for the two main characters the same for a very good reason. All in all, an enjoyable read that left me wishing that the story went on longer. I will definitely keep reading Reynolds' books.