joan

I didn't know whether to star-rate this title without the warning or after so I gave it stars based on my enjoyment. HOWEVER:
I bought several of the individual Black Mask tales and loved them. However, this offering is just a compilation of the items I already bought singly. Beware - buy this and avoid the individual offerings.
On a better note, I loved these. I'm a fan of old time radio and really enjoyed these attempts to recreate those days. If you're careful and buy wisely, you're in for a treat.

I'm a lover of this type of tale and I really did want to like it. However, it's slow, predictable and cliche. The reader's voice added to the dullness.

I only got in about an hour and couldn't go any further. Sorry!! To many great things in my queue. You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a handsome prince. One more frog down.

I've always been fascinated by Henry the 8th and the period after his death. The enmity between the church of England and the Catholics has been the subject of much writing and I've read some. If you are ignorant, this might not be the book for you. If, as I am, you're a history buff, go for it.
While reading, I learned quite a bit about this period since much of the book is based on fact, all but the main character. It's a wonderful story, if a bit confusing with all the Lords, Dutchesses etc. If you read it, I would use some reference material (I confess I used Wikipedia) to keep the folks straight.
Plots and counter plots abound and make for a really enjoyable narrative.

.. and loved it. Maybe now it's dated, although it shouldn't be. The story has a great premise but this version left me cold. Maybe "you just can't go home again."

...but the rest ... not so much. In some they seem to try too hard to make their stories fit the theme - taking a first line from a great book and winging it from there. Frankly, I was unimpressed, even though there were tales by some of my favorite authors.

Great sci-fi. If you're curious about my thoughts, see my comments for book 1.

I enjoyed this book but it's a one-liner carried a bit too far. I did, however, enjoy it enough that I might listen to the next in the series. My library has it for me to borrow. Would I buy it? Maybe not.

I loved this book until the last 15%, then, for me, it went off the edge. A silly, vindictive girl messes things up just to work some more suspense into the plot. Made me crazy.

This might have been a good listen but I couldn't get far enough into it to find out. The narrator is bland and sounds like he's reading rather than telling a story. I've read one other by this author (try One Second After - great read) so I thought I'd give this a try (and it was on sale). And I often try books by really prolific authors figuring that if lots of his stuff gets published there must be something there.
Sorry, Mr. Forstchen, I can't waste my time on books I'm not enjoying.

I usually love Ben Bova's writing but.... This book might be better read with ones eyes rather than ones ears. There were more characters in the first 3 chapters than I could keep track of. And it was very involved with many political, environmental and financial plots. I love Rudnicki's narration and here he excelled, but not enough to make up for the embroiled story.

Loved the stories, varied as they were. Kookie, fun, and gory all at once. How? Read and hear.